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apparatus a t hand. There are several dozen adjustments, or variations of methods, each of which will add slightly to the perfection of the image in the microscope. Alone, each of these slight improvements may not seem worth making; but combined they may cause a decided difference in the brilliancy and crispness of the micmscopical image. In this book, the most important of these methods have been brought together from the original papers, and to them have been added the results of the writer's experience gained in years of continuous work with the microscope." The author thus presents his hook as a work on critical microscopy rather than an elementary or general treatise. He discusses various important phases of microscopy, notably simple magnifiers, binocular microscopes, the water immersion objective, corrections of condensers, cover-glass thickness, and the limitation of illumination to the area of the field of view, as well as most of the topics commonly induded in elementary works. Each chapter closes with a list of "practical points." A glossary of terms and a chapter on the literature of [critical] microscopy with a bibliography are induded. There is also a set of study questions, of the "memory" type. Polarized light and ultramicroscopy are not discussed, and photomicrography is dismissed very sketchily. The work is mare of a commentary or o d e mecum than an exposition of principles: indeed, the reader will need to seek his fundamentals and theory elsewhere. It seems unfortunate that important manipulative technic, readily adaptable to all fields of microscopy, should not he described and illustrated in such a manner as to suggest its very wide significance. The sections on "Discoveries with the Microscope" and "A Hundred Microscopical Objects of Biological Interest" s w e further to place kmphasis on the c k m of objects with which the author and biologist in general are most concerned, rather than upon the microscope as an instrument for the revela-
JULY,1930
tion of h e detail in any sort of material. Since there is no mention of the chemical or technical use of the microscope, and indeed little specific reference to the problems of technic encountered in general biological applications, the chief value of the book is likely to cytologists. The chemist will profit most from the chapter on "Fifty Practical Exercises with the Microscope," in which the author has gathered together a series of experiments designed to exemplify the defects in microscopical images and the effectiveness of the different methods of correcting them. These exercises may profitably he performed by every user of the microscope, whatever his field, as an excellent training in obtaining optimum contrast and detail. Numerous items of information, and some criticisms of apparatus, will also he of particular value to microscopists who are qualified to recognize that on some there is a difference of opinion, and to evaluate them in terms of wider demands than those of cytology. C. W. MASON CORNBL'UNIVHBSITY ITS*"*. N. Y.
The New World of Physical Discovery. FWYDL. DARROW.The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Ind., 1930. viii f 371 pages. 15.5 X 23 cm. Illustrated. $3.50. This is a popular history of physics. Its author understands that recent developments cannot be set forth clearly except in the light of earlier history, and devotes several chapters to an account of the classical physics from earliest times to the establishment ,of the laws of the conservation of mass and of energy and the kinetic theory of heat. He describes the well-ordered Victorian universe, filled with ether and impenetrable atoms, where the future seemed predictable and where there seemed no more really important discoveries to he made. Against this background he delineates dramatically the disturbing discoveries of the new physics, the interconnectedness of matter and energy and the relativity of all things.
VOL. 7, No. 7
RECENT
The book is very readable, but too slangy in parts and t w much like a Sunday supplement for the taste of a sober student of science: But these qualities will perhaps make it more acceptable to the m a t e r number. It is clear throughout, has no noteworthy gaps in the narrative, and in places is written in language which is elo&ent. It will be intelligible and interesting to those who are not trained in science. To teachers of science it will supply much which can be used in their lectures. It is the Scientific Book Club's "selection for February"and we applaud the choice. TENNEY I,. DAVIS
Principles of Guidance. ARTRUR J. JONES, F'rofes~orof Secondary Education, School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. F i r s t edition, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 385 pp. 27 tables, 23 1930. xxiv figures, 5 posters. 14 X 20 an. 83.00.
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In this volume the author seeks t o set forth the nature of guidance and formulate its underlying principles and methods so that teachers and administrators can "see the relations of guidance to other phases of education" and thus have the "basis for proper evaluation of procedures and practices." The scope of the volume is indicated by the four prrts embraced in it-(1) the meaning, purpose, and aim of guidance, (2) methods of investigation in guidance, (3) methods of guiding students, and (4) results of guidance. T w often the treatment of problems in the mental and social sciences is defective because basic assumptions are made unconsciouslyassumptions whose validity is highly questionable. The author of the present volume, however, discusses in Chapter 111 seven important "Basic Assumptions of Guidance," and nates at other places in the volume important assumptions underlying aims and procedures. The most enthusiastic hereditarians doubtless will reject the second of
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t h w ' e . , that "native abilities are not usually specialized," yet the author from a brief summary and careful evaluation of data, observations, and opinions finds some justification for the view that "success in a certain group of related vocations or schools or studies is determined more by interests early developed, by facilities, by openings, by opportunities in the particular locality or region where the individual is located" (p. 48) than by a high degree of specialization of native abilities, although he does recognize "the possibility of specialized abilities in music and art." Part I1 contains twelve significant and timely chapters on such topics as general methods of investigation, studying the individual through use of (1) school records, (2) variability and flexibility of scbool organization, (3) tryout and exploratory activities, (4) tests, (5) estimates of personality, traits, and self-analysis, (6) case methods and the services of psychiatrist and visiting teacher, and (7) such inamrrate or useless proeedures as astrology, phrenology, graphology, etc. Part 111 gives a good treatment of methods of guidance with relation to courses, schools, colleges, and occupations (instruction, try-out and exploration, counseling, cbwsing an occupation, placement and follow-up), as well as a brief treatment of civic and moral, leisure time, social, and leadership guidance. The treatment of aptitude tests is inadequate, no mention being made of certain prognosis tests whose value seems to be much greater than that of the Downey Will-temperament tests which are given brief mention. Similarly, the promising work on interest tests for guidance purposes is neglected. The book is well written, with footnote references throughout and with selected references a t the end of each chapter; it is comprehensive, well proportioned. and shows mature and sound scholarship. It should be of distinct value to teachers, administrators, and others interested in
