BOOK REVIEWS. 
333 
the general reader. In this latest addition to the Imperial Institute Series 
of Handbooks to the Commercial Resources of the Tropics, Dr. Goulding has 
brought together in a readable form and in small compass an accurate account 
of the sources, both botanical and geographical, of all the fibres of commerce, 
and has described their production and preparation for export and, where possible , 
has given statistical data to indicate their importance as articles of trade. To 
describe the utilization of fibres fully would have needed a much larger volume 
than the present, but sufficient has been said with regard to the chief uses to 
which each fibre is applied to enable the reader to gauge its present and future 
importance in commerce. 
The more important fibres, such as jute and cotton, are of tropical and sub- 
tropical origin, but there are others of great utility, such as flax and hemp, that 
might be produced in this country. Prior to the outbreak of war Russia and 
Belgium supplied the bulk of the world's flax, and Russia the greater part of 
the hemp ; but in view of the present condition of these two countries some years 
must elapse before they can again supply the world's demand for these fibres. 
In view of this it would appear desirable for agriculturists in this country to 
devote some attention to these crops, both in their own interests and in the 
interests of those home industries that depend on llax and hemp as raw materials 
for their manufactures. In the preiace which he contributes to this book, 
Professor Dunstan emphasizes the importance of increasing the production of 
fibres within the Empire, and in this connexion it is to be hoped that all horti- 
culturists and agriculturists who migrate overseas after the war will provide 
themselves with a copy of this book as a reminder of what it may be possible 
for them to accomplish in the way of fibre production. 
The book is well printed and free from errors ; it contains twelve plates 
illustrating the more important fibres, but it is to be hoped that future editions 
will include illustrations of little-known fibre-yielding plants, if these can be 
supplied without unduly increasing the present moderate cost of the book. 
" The Chrysanthemum." By C. Harman Payne. 8vo. (Reprinted from 
the Transactions of the Japan Society of London, vol. xv.) 
This artistic and neatly printed pamphlet contains, in a condensed form, the 
substance of an afternoon's chat on some historical and literary aspects of the 
Chrysanthemum. The occasion was the opening of the winter session of 191 6 
of the Japan Society by Sir Albert Rollit, at whose invitation Mr. Harman Payne 
discoursed upon the subject, illustrating his remarks by a large number of lantern 
slides, some of which had been specially prepared for the meeting. 
Of these slides twenty-four are beautifully reproduced in collotype in the 
pamphlet. They represent some of the first introductions into this country, 
from China, a century or so ago ; one or two views of Chrysanthemums in the 
garden of the Emperor of Japan, and quite a number of reproductions of huge 
single, very quaint, specimen blooms of the Kiku, as grown in Japan. 
The text contains references to the Li-ki of Confucius, the first Oriental author 
known to have mentioned the Chrysanthemum, to T'ao-yuan-Ming, a famous 
cultivator of the flower in the fifth century a.d., and to others down to Joseph 
Hardy Neesima, the young Christian Japanese through whose instrumentality 
the famous 'Mrs. Stephens ' Hardy Chrysanthemum, the first of the Hairy Section, 
was introduced into Western gardens. But a very small edition has been printed. 
" Science and the Nation." Ed. by A. C. Seward, with an Introduction by 
the Rt. Hon. Lord Moulton. 8vo., xxii + 328 pp. (University Press, Cam- 
bridge, 1917.) 5s. net. 
This symposium is an attempt to establish in the minds of English readers 
the value of research in pure science, not only for its own sake, but also for the 
direct influence such research has upon industrial progress. The theme is out- 
lined in an introduction by Lord Moulton, and sustained by Professor Pope 
(Chemistry), Professor Bragg (Physics), W. Rosenhain (Metallurgy), Professor 
Hobson (Mathematics), F. W. Keeble (Botany), W. Dawson (Forestry), Professor 
Birfen (Plant-breeding), T. B. Wood (Agriculture), H. H. Thomas (Geology), 
Professor F. G. Hopkins (Medicine), Professor Nuttall (Disease), G. S. Graham- 
Smith (Flies and Disease), W. H. R. Rivers (Government of Subject Races). All 
the essays are valuable, and nearly all the writers have realized the truth of the 
quotation from Huxley which backs the title-page, " What people call Applied 
Science is nothing but the application of Pure Science to particular classes of 
problems," but in one or two cases it does not seem to be realized that a worker 
in pure science cannot always see the way in which his discoveries can be applied 
