Decembee 11, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



841 



THE TARIFF AND SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



To THE Editor of Science: The House 

 Committee on Ways and Means is now hold- 

 ing hearings on the proposed revision of the 

 tariff and is asking all interested parties to 

 appear before it to state their views. Is any 

 one preparing to appear before the committee 

 armed with the necessary facts to show the 

 folly and injustice of the tariff on scientific 

 books written in the English language? Ee- 

 garded as a means of raising revenue, this 

 tariff is insignificant; regarded as protection, 

 it is an insult. From any other point of view 

 it is simply an oppression suffered by Amer- 

 ican men of science, whose efficiency is usually 

 impaired besides by incomes insufficient for 

 their needs, and this tariff has for its sole 

 effect to make good scientific work more dif- 

 ficult than it would otherwise be by hindering 

 the ready access to the literature published in 

 another country. 



Of course any effort to remove the tariff on 

 English books will be opposed by the pub- 

 lishers of school books, and perhaps also by 

 those who publish popular fiction. The tariff 

 on these classes of books probably does no 

 great harm, and it might be allowed to stand 

 at the present rate of twenty-five per cent. 



This being admitted, there arises the ad- 

 ministrative difficulty of distinguishing in the 

 custom house between English books which 

 would be dutiable and those which would be 

 on the free list. But this difficulty would not 

 seem to be insurmountable. For example, 

 there is, I believe, a clause of the copyright 

 law which provides for the admission of for- 

 eign books to American copyright. Might not 

 the difficulty be met and our object be gained 

 at the same time by the simple provision that 

 all English books which are copyrighted in 

 the United States shall be subject to the 

 present import duty of twenty-five per cent. 

 ad valorem, and that all other books may be 

 imported duty free ? Under this provision- the 

 publishers of school books and popular fiction 

 in America would receive the same protection 

 as at present; while the English publishers of 

 scientific works, for which the demand is too 

 small to be a temptation for reprinting, might 



be expected to avoid the copyright as an un- 

 necessary expense and a hindrance to the free 

 entry of their books into this country. 



E. P. BiGELOW 



SOIENTIFIG BOOKS 

 Climate. Considered especially in Eelation. to 



Man. By Egbert DeCouecy "Ward. 8vo, 



xiv -f 372 pp. New York, G. P. Putnam's 



Sons; London, John Murray, 1908. (The 



Science Series.) 



In 1903 Mr. Ward rendered excellent serv- 

 ice by translating and publishing the first 

 volume of Hann's classic " Handbuch der 

 Klimatologie," thus making available to a 

 larger circle of readers the best text-book on 

 the principles of climatology that has thus 

 far appeared. Ward's " Climate " may be re- 

 garded as a supplement to the first volume of 

 Hann's handbook, in which the author sets 

 forth clearly and systematically some of the 

 broader facts and relations of climate, pri- 

 marily for the benefit of the general reader, 

 although the needs of the teacher and student 

 are not overlooked. 



The introduction is essentially a condensed 

 sjmopsis of the first six chapters of Hann's 

 handbook, preparing the way for a better 

 understanding of the chapters which follow. 

 The classification of climatic zones is treated 

 at considerable length, including a discussion 

 on the climatic types resulting from the 

 control of land, water and altitude. Chapters 

 IV. to VI. give an excellent account of the 

 characteristic features of the different zones, 

 and chapter Vll. discusses the relations exist- 

 ing between weather, climate and diseases. 

 The three following chapters are devoted to a 

 consideration of the life of man in the three 

 principal zones. In the final chapter the 

 author considers the evidences of change of 

 climate during the historic period. 



In the primary classification of climates Mr. 

 Ward wisely adheres to the simple and time- 

 honored classification into three zones — ^the 

 tropical or warm zone, the temperate or inter- 

 mediate zone, and the polar or cold zone — 



