May 13, 1909] 



NATURE 



50s 



Ijuts them into a logical system more or less com- 

 plete within itself, and the young student often com- 

 ()letely misses the relation of that which occupies his 

 tJiind to the universe as a whole. The author has 

 worked out his idea in an ingenious and suggestive 

 way. 



It is impossible in a brief notice to deal adequately 

 V. ith the volume as a whole. In many points it 

 sliows that the writers are dealing with a condition 

 <if things that has really passed away in our country. 

 For example, we should expect a sentence like this in 

 ;m English book of a generation ago : — 



" The reform we are advocating calls for nothing 

 less than a fight d outrance against verbalism in every 

 form. Such a battle could issue in nothing- but good. 

 Writers on the teaching of science have begun it 

 alreadv, but the old mistakes and prejudices are not 

 easily overcome." 



\\"hilst there is not doubt that in the material equip- 

 ment of our schools on the scientific side we are a 

 long way ahead of the Germans, it still behoves us 

 to remember that verbalism is not impossible side 

 by side with lecture experiments and laboratory 

 courses. It is the " carrying idea " that gives 

 vitality to what the boys are doing — whether 

 it be essaj'-writing or using a balance. There 

 is still a good deal of misunderstanding in regard to 

 this matter. Sensory accessories do not constitute the 

 difference between the real and the verbal. 



J. A. Green. 



COLWTF GEOGRAPHIES. 

 Cambridge County Geographies : — Essex. Pp. viii + 

 167. Kent. Pp. viii+146. Surrey. Pp. viii+151. 

 Sussex. Pp. viii+144. By G. F. Bosworth. (Cam- 

 bridge : University Press, 1909.) Price js. 6d. 

 each. 



THE idea of this series is excellent. A series of 

 elementary geographies, each dealing with a 

 single county, obviously ought to exist. The present 

 volumes are all on one model, and the model is 

 good. First a short survey of the origin of the 

 county under notice, and of its name, is given. Its 

 extent, relief, river-system, geology, natural history, 

 and climate follow. Next the population and indus- 

 tries are dealt with ; then the historv of the countv, 

 its antiquities, its communications past and present, 

 its administrative divisions ancient and modern, and 

 the roll of famous men born within it. Finally there 

 is an alphabetical gazetteer of the chief towns and 

 villages (which, it may be added with regret, is the 

 nearest approach to an index provided in the 

 volumes). Following the text are certain diagrams 

 showing density and other features of population, 

 and agricultural conditions. At the beginning of 

 each volume is a map (by Messrs. Philip) showing 

 the relief of the land by the flat-colour contour 

 system, and at the end another map, the same in 

 outline, but coloured according to geological forma- 

 tions. 



Here, then, is an excellent skeleton, and on the 

 whole it is well clothed. Of details of the clothing, 

 NO. 2063, VOL. 80] 



however, some criticism may be offered. If we 

 rightly apprehend the purpose of the series, the treat- 

 ment of the relief of the land appears to have been 

 given less prominence than is perhaps its due, while 

 the geology — a subject which, in its strict sense, 

 cannot appeal to a large circle of students — is given 

 proportionatelv too much. In each volume the re- 

 marks introductory to some of the subjects differ 

 hardly at all save in wording. This may have been 

 inevitable, though it might have been thought suffi- 

 cient to infer the reader's acquaintance with the 

 generalities of each subject. At any rate, it is a 

 matter for congratulation that in the introductory 

 remarks on climate common to all the volumes, the 

 faint praise of the Meteorological Office's weather 

 forecasts, " which are often correct," only occurs 

 in one instance. Some of the sections deserve special 

 commendation — the notices of the history of the 

 counties and their architectural and other antiquities 

 mav be indicated. 



The illustrations are partly from photographs and 

 partly from line drawings. In each case the repro- 

 duction is well carried out. The architectural photo- 

 graphs are the best as a class. One would have 

 welcomed a better attempt to illustrate characteristic 

 land-forms, and in any case photography is a better 

 medium for illustrating a work of this sort than 

 line drawings, which in the present cases are not 

 wholly successful. The maps are bound in on the 

 excellent plan of attaching half of each one com- 

 pletely to the cover of the book — a good method of 

 preserving them. Considered cartographically, while 

 otherwise very fair, they have the somewhat serious 

 fault of showing no physical features or geological 

 formations beyond the confines of the county dealt 

 with, so that they do not help in considering the 

 county in relation to its surroundings, as the text 

 very properly does. 



But after these remarks it should be said that the 

 series is well conceived, and so far well produced, and 

 deserves success. O. J. R. H. 



SOLID AND PLANE GEOMETRY. 

 (i) Practical Solid Geometry. By the Rev. P. W. 



Unwin. Pp. xii + 267. (London : G. Bell and 



Sons, 1909.) Price 4s. 6d. 

 (2) Cassell's Elementary Geometry. By W. A. 



Knight. Pp. vii+2S3. (London : Cassell and Co., 



Ltd., 1909.) Price 2s. 6d. 

 (i) T^HIS volume deals with the orthogonal pro- 

 -L jections of solids and of their plane sections, 

 with explanations of figured plans and scales of slope 

 of planes, followed by a chapter on metric or parallel 

 pictorial projections, and one on miscellaneous 

 problems. 



It is an excellent book, well graduated, with clear 

 though concise explanations of the numerous fully 

 worked problems, and seems to be remarkably free 

 from misprints for a first edition.' It should well 

 fulfil the author's desire to make his readers " think 

 in space." This volume is arranged to cover Stage i 



1 We have found only one, viz. on p. io2, I. 4, where H.P. should be V.P 



