410 Notices respecting JSew Books. 



Radium. X-rays, and the Liviny Cell; with Physical Introduction. 

 By Hector A. Colwele,M.B.,D.P.H., and Sidney liuss, D.Sc. 

 London : G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. 1915. 



The main object of this volume has been to describe the established 

 facts in regard to the effects that X-rays and the rays from radium 

 have upon living cells. But in order to do this intelligibly it has 

 first been necessary to give a summary account of these rays from 

 the physical point of view. The mass of material available is now 

 so great that this summary is unavoidably very curt ; but the 

 attempt has been successfully made to give an outline of those 

 multifarious facts which will put the medical man into touch with 

 the properties of the physical agent with which he has to deal. 

 It was time that such an attempt should be made, and the fact 

 that it has been made by Dr. Russ is sufficient guarantee that it 

 has been authoritatively made. The general impression left is 

 the need for much more experimental work to be done even on 

 the physical side. Measurements of X and other rays are neces- 

 sarily physical measurements, and it cannot be said at present 

 that the medical man has yet been provided with a satisfactory 

 means of determining how much and what kind of these rays he 

 is utilizing. So important is the point that we think the authors 

 might with advantage have given more space to it. 



The action upon the living cell is somewhat outside the scope 

 of this Magazine. There is one part, however, which deserves 

 serious mention, viz. that dealing with the dangers attending the 

 use of these rays. Physical investigators, as a rule, no doubt 

 take even superabundant precautions against dangerous physio- 

 logical consequences to themselves ; but even to them a fuller 

 knowledge of what these dangers are may not be without benefit. 

 To the large number of amateur workers the warning is urgently 

 needed ; and it may be hoped that this work will fall into their 

 hands. 



"We wish the volume success ; it is a marked advance ou anything 

 that has appeared previously. 



The Limitations of Science. By Louis Trenchard More, Ph.D., 

 Professor in the University of Cincinnati. London: Constable 

 & Company Ltd. New York : Henry Holt & Company. 1915. 



In this book, whose seven chapters appeared originally in some- 

 what shorter form as separate essays in various journals, the 

 author gives an unsparing criticism of the modern tendency to 

 metaphysical hypothesis. As explained in the brief preface, the 

 continuity of the whole was planned from the beginning. The 

 motto chosen by Professor More is the famous passage from 

 Newton opening with the words "Hypotheses non fingo." The 

 scientific man may make as many hypotheses as he pleases in 

 order to get behind some established law of Nature ; but he should 

 never forget that they are hypotheses. Prom lack of clear philo- 

 sophic thinking there is a tendency in some quarters to confuse 



