The Mineralogy of the Rarer Metals: A Handbook for Prospectors
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April 29, 1920]
Nature
thing at school. Most of the work in the courses for students in their first year, and some of that in the second, in all the engineering schools with which I am acquainted, is of a kind that a boy might well be expected to do at school. There is no reason why a boy of eighteen, of the mental calibre which would justify his becoming an engineer, should not have a good working know ledge of the calculus and the elementary parts of differential equations, and have read a consider able portion of dynamics. Tb's could, I am con vinced, be done without undue specialisation, and without depriving the boy of the literary training which is essential, if he is to keep his sympathies wide and his mind receptive.”
W. C. U.
Health and the Teacher.
A Text-book of Hygiene for Training Colleges.
By Margaret Avery. Pp. xv + 324. (London:
Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 7s. 6 d. net. HIS book is intended to cover the subject- matter of the Board of Education Certificate Examination for Training Colleges in England. It includes the usual anatomico-physiological “properties ” long familiar in books of this order since the days of Huxley’s “Physiology”: elementary ideas about structure of tissues, the skeleton, the muscular system, the circulatory system, the digestive system, etc. But the exposi tion is kept well within the technicalities suited to the students concerned. There are chapters on food, clothing, cleanliness, mental dullness and deficiency, fatigue, infectious diseases, temper ance, school building, medical inspection and treatment, special schools, welfare of infants and young children, legislation affecting school children, and eugenics.
This is a very large programme for so small a book, but the expositions, which, incidentally, retain a good deal of the somewhat loose notes- for-lecture style, are, on the whole, relevant and practical. The author has kept close touch with official memoranda, reports, and standard books. The result is that the volume, all through, con tains good informational material which has obvi ously stood the test of experience in the class room.
It is difficult to say how much medical informa tion proper should be included in a book like this, but to untrained lay persons it is of no value to state that, in anaemia, “a little iron often has excellent results ” (p. 42). Again, as to the cause of rickets, something more is wanted than that “the cause is wrong food, chiefly lack of fat, a lack existing in all patent foods ” (p. 88). This kind of information may fulfil the terms of a NO. 2635, VOL. 105 ]
syllabus, but it is of no value whatever to the student, though, usually, in a practical curriculum, there are many opportunities of supplementing these generalities by demonstrations of cases.
The chapter on “ First Aid ” relies on accepted instructions, but Schafer’s method for recovery from drowning should have a place. The chapters on legislation affecting children and on eugenics are judiciously proportioned, but the remarks on the causes of pauperism as implying “ a want of grit and independence ” (p. 305), and on feeble-mindedness and heredity, show that the author has accepted somewhat too uncritically the theoretical deductions of “experts.” The book will, however, serve as a good text-book for the practical teacher.
Our Bookshelf.
The Mineralogy of the Rarer Metals: A Handbook for Prospectors. By Edward Cahen and William Ord Wootton. With a foreword by F. W. Harbord. Second edition, revised by Edward Cahen. Pp. xxxii + 246. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1920.) Price
105 . 6 d.
This book is neatly bound, and is of handy size for the pocket. The mineral descriptions are con veniently treated in a general way in the alpha betical order of the metals. The alkali metals come first; then follow beryllium, cerium, and so on to zirconium. Under each metal the properties, preparation, industrial application, and ores are first considered; following this an account of the chemical methods for its detection, and a list of the minerals containing the metal, are given. Much care appears to have been taken in describ ing the chemical and physical character of the minerals and the tests available for purposes of identification. Separate sections at the end of the book deal with the geographical distribution of rare metals and methods of analysis.
To the critical reader of the book many of its features suggest questions and scope for improve ment. Is it permissible to regard titanium as a rare metal? Ilmenite is certainly not a rare mineral, and it is incorrect to refer to this mineral as “ a chief constituent of monazite from Travan- core and Ceylon ” (p. 130). It would be more correct to say that the chief producer of rutile is Virginia, U.S.A., than to imply, as the author does, that the chief producer is Norway (p. 131). Under tungsten no mention is made of the wolf ramite deposits in China, which has recently been the leading producer (p. 141). Zircon is men tioned as occurring in “Scotland and Ireland,” but no mention is made of its universal distribu tion in sands and gravels such as those of Hamp stead Heath (pp. 182, 189).
The section dealing with geographical distribu tion has been revised, but it might with advantage be amplified to include such countries as Spain,
© 1920 Nature Publishing Group
Nature
[April 29, 1920
Portugal, and France, where there are many occurrences of greater importance than some that receive mention in this book. T. C.
A Text-book on Machine Drawing for Electrical
Engineers. By E. Blythe. (The Cambridge
Technical Series.) Pp. vii + 8i. (Cambridge:
At the University Press, 1920.) Price 20s. net. All teachers of electrical engineering are aware of the need for a text-book on the drawing and construction of electrical apparatus. This attempt, however, to supply the need is disap pointing. Apparently the author intends the book to serve for a complete course of machine drawing for electrical students, for he commences with the laws of projection and gives several very simple examples in illustration of them. He proceeds then to fastenings, cable sockets, junction-boxes, switches, and dynamos. The subject-matter is confined entirely to such apparatus as is found in small continuous-current power stations (but instruments are not included); consequently the alternator, induction motor, oil-switch, and other important pieces of electrical apparatus are notably absent. Several complete plates are devoted to non-dimensioned sketches showing types of ap paratus, e.g. one on brush-holders; a few such examples are undoubtedly useful for practice in sketching, but here too much space is occupied in this way. The drawings are clear and very well arranged, but the descriptive matter is un necessarily prolix. The examples given do not always represent good practice; for instance, in several places a single-piece armature disc is shown with a dove-tailed key, while a bearing is shown on p. 73 which would be destroyed by a little end-thrust. The book is well got up and has been prepared carefully; but the ground covered is insufficient—at the price.
Mathematics for Engineers. Part ii. By W. N.
Rose. (The Directly Useful Technical Series.)
Pp. xiv + 419. (London: Chapman and Hall,
Ltd., 1920.) Price 13s. 6 d. net.
Part ii. of this book is devoted principally to the differential and integral calculus, and includes chapters on spherical trigonometry and mathemati cal probability. The book is intended for en gineers, most of whom are not called upon in their profession to show capacity for high mathematical flights, but are expected to com prehend clearly such fundamental principles as enter into their work, and to be ready successfully to apply them to practical problems. Examining the book from this point of view, we believe that it will find favour with most engineers and students of engineering. If we include also the matter com prised in Part i. the volumes contain practically everything in the way of mathematical principles which the engineer is likely to require. The treat ment is clear and of a kind which appeals, to engineers, and a very large number of practical applications are given. Many of these are fully worked out to the arithmetical result, and .there are very few w'hich can be said to be of an
No. 2635, Vol. 105]
academical nature only. These examples cover a wide field, having been drawn from all branches of engineeering, and represent a large amount of labour for which engineers will be grateful. We can heartily recommend this volume, as well as its predecessor, to all students of engineering.
The Manufacture of Intermediate Products for
Dyes. By Dr. J. C. Cain. Second edition.
Pp. xi + 273. (London: Macmillan and Co.,
Ltd., 1919.) Price 10s. net.
Probably no one in this country is more com petent to write on intermediate products than Dr. Cain, and the fact that a new edition of this book has been called for within a year is the best testimony to its success. The opportunity has been taken to improve certain sections and to incorporate new work, most of which, it is of interest to note, originates now in America. It is gradually being realised that intermediates are the crux of the dye situation, and the wisdom of the policy adopted in this direction by British Dyes, Ltd., in building their new factory at Hud dersfield is becoming apparent. Given the inter mediates, the manufacture of the several dyes is usually a fairly straightforward problem, but there is still much leeway to make up in connection with intermediates, which will require the most ample resources, alike in capital, plant, and technical experience. This will take considerable time to fructify, and some form of closer co-operation with the heavy chemical trade would appear most desirable.
The British colour industry is receiving some adverse criticism from the users of the rarer colours for which the demand, at the most, is but small, but it has a more important task at the moment than to fritter away its energies in making these colours. The colour industry is based on intermediates; it is the manufacture of these by the best methods, w'ith the largest yields, and of satisfactory purity which must be studied in the laboratory and in the works. This is being done, and Dr. Cain, through his book, in which the available information is clearly presented, is helping to do it.
Solutions of the Examples in a Treatise on Differ ential Equations. By Prof. A. R, Forsyth.
Pp. 249. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd.,
1918.) Price 105. net.
Even from the point of view of an undergraduate, the subject of differential equations is very differ ent from what it was fifty years ago. But in a large and miscellaneous collection of examples like this there are a number of survivals 'which remind us of De Morgan’s application of the proverb: “Those that hide know' where to find.” Teachers and solitary students (if such there be nowadays) will be grateful to Prof.. Forsyth for providing them with a key. It is one more example of the author’s untiring industry and, so far as we have tested it, of his accuracy in details of analysis. M.
© 1920 Nature Publishing Group