Abstract
MANY interesting facts are introduced into this book, but they are so loosely knit together that the reviewer feels sorrow for the missed opportunity. The basis of the book is a graph, after E. C. J. Mohr, consisting of two curves with temperature as abscissa but no quantitative ordinate: from consideration of these curves the author deduces a perspective of tropical soil processes. It does not often happen that such an extended argument is based upon so unsubstantial a foundation. Upon nitrification the author has done experimental work, but his exposition of it is not lucid: it is not clear whether Fig. 7 refers to bacterial or purely chemical change, under insolation or not. Most of the matter is similarly imprecise, with an irritating semblance of precision, as when the equation B = R is allotted a line. Mr. H. Gunnery's sixteen magnificent photographs, skilfully sited and accurately focused, add considerably to the value of the text. The book is well produced and not expensive; it deserves the welcome due to a pioneer, but it is to be hoped that its successors will be more thorough.
Biological Processes in Tropical Soils:
with Special Reference to Malaysia. By Dr. A. Steven Corbet. Pp. xiv + 156 + 16 plates. (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1935.) 7s. 6d. net.
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N., H. [Short Notices]. Nature 137, 443 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137443b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137443b0