trends and problems relevant to the needs for more sustainable agriculture, e.g. in Indian, Chinese, African, and Asian regions. The problems include rising populations, needs for more balanced diets, extending pest resistance to chemical pesticides, effectively declining fertile soil resources per capita, the earlier-unforeseen longer-term dis- advantages of monocultural practices using selected or genetically-engineered crop varieties, inadequately managed agro-chemical usage, ‘artificial’ irrigation (as distinct from natural precipitation), etc. The needs for attention more to crop-yield optimization than maximization are indicated, as recognized by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio 1992): ‘Optimization takes into account that sustainable agriculture benefits by protecting the natural constraints of undisturbed ecosystems on crop pests and disease and implementing more ‘Integrated - Pest and (soil) Nutrient Manage- ment’ programmes. Above all, in looking ahead the proceedings and discussions recognized the importance of encouraging farm-community involvement with appropriate technical assistance and education.

F. P. w. Winreriflgham

Planetary Overload; Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species. By A.J. McMichael. Pp. 352. Cambridge University Press. 1993. Hardback f35, US $64.95 ISBN 0 521 44138 2; Paperback f12.95, US $16.95 ISBN 0 521 45759 9.

This work is an authoritative and unusually- integrated appraisal of the now-escalating societal impact of science and technology. A condensed history from the pre-agricultural millennia of hunter-gatherer existence through the last two centuries of ‘industrial revolution’ provide an appropriate scientific background. Current trends in world population, environmental damage, depletion of non-renewable resources, extending losses of wildlife species and biodiversity, naturally-productive soils, accessible water reserves, etc are discussed. Problems and the longer-term implications of net deforestation, mechanization, pollution, acid rain, consumerism, wastes, the potentially catastrophic threats to human health of unnaturally-rapid anthropogenic changes in climate are also reviewed. The import- ance of considering the truly global implications of these problems, and the needs for international cooperation for their solution are indicated. The appraisal is based on a wide range of well- documented information and data. The con- spicuously shameful disparities in human welfare and access to the real benefits of modem science are frankly exemplified. The dangers of research and development being too closely harnessed to short-term market-force and insular nationalistic interests are also illustrated, e.g. by identifying ‘development’ with the scientifically-trivial parameter of rising Gross National Product. The needs for truly ‘sustainable development’ coupled with the necessary strengthening of the United Nations system is, perhaps understandably, only briefly indicated in final comments about the future. Nevertheless, this book is highly recom- mended as mandatory reading for all scientifically orientated teachers and students with any concern

for the security and welfare of future generations worldwide.

F. P. W. Winteringham

Environmental Change and Human Health. Ciba Foundation Symposium 175. Pp. 274. Wiley, Chichester. 1993. ISBN 0 471 93842 4.

These Symposium Proceedings review the spreading interactions between research and technology-based development, society, local environments (urban and rural), and the natural global environment., Fourteen papers address wide-ranging topics such as the implications of global warming for agriculture, and for human health; the problems of rising populations, urbanization, pollution, agricultural intensifica- tion, limited soil and water resources, and of world-wide travel and its consequences in terms of disease transmission and human health disparities. Specific topics such as River Rhine pollution, the molecular-biological problems of individual and stochastic-risk assessment (e.g. of late cancer), the emergence of insecticide-resistant disease-vectors and drug-resistant parasites are also illustrated. The papers are supplemented by discussions and a final summing-up. Reviewing such a wide and complex subject area inevitably exposes further questions and needs: e.g. the needs for a dramatic strengthening of the United Nations System and its specialized Agencies, and for a bigger role for science in policy forrnula- tion and government. These, in turn, for achieving world peace, sustainable development, and for reducing the shameful disparities in human health and welfare. Inevitable liits notwithstanding, the publication provides a valuable up-dating review in the context of global environmental science.

F. P. W. Winteringham

Pesticides in Urban Environments. Fate and Significance. Edited by K.D. Racke and Anne R. Leslie. Pp. 378. American Chemical Society, Washington D. C. 1993. ISBN 0 8412 2627 X.

Pesticides are being used on an increasing scale in the urban environment to control weeds, insect pests, and rodents. This book addresses some of the issues and problems resulting from their use by both homeowners and the professional pest control industry, and was developed from a symposium sponsored by the Agrochemical Division of the ACS in 1992. The 30 contribu- tions primarily address issues of current concern in the U.S.A, but the book may be of general interest to legislators and researchers elsewhere. The symposium focused particularly on the problems created by the rapid development of the lawn-care industry in the U.S.A. and southern Canada and by the increased use of cblorpyrifos and other soil insecticides following the with- drawal of chlordane as a termiticide in the U.S.A. In the former case difficulties have been created by the exposure of pets and chemophobic neigh- bours to pesticide residues and drift, and in the latter by a lack of knowledge as to the persistence of the replacement chemicals in different soil

types. The book is divided into five sections. The tirst

provides an overview of the use of pesticides by the public and professionals. A nation-wide survey of domestic consumers of pesticide products is

described, and trends in the professional and consumer markets for pesticides are reviewed. Control of pesticide use at the federal and state level is discussed both by EPA regulator and a representative of the pest control industry. The second and third sections cover the safety, movement, and dissipation of chemicals applied to turf as lawn-care products or to the soil as termiticides. Contributions on operator and by- stander exposure to pesticides during pesticide application are included in the fourth section, and the final section deals with exposure of non-target wildlife.

G. Lepatowel

Man-made Lowlands (translated from the Dutch). Edited by G.P. Van de Ven. Pp. 294. Uitgeverij Matrijs, Utrecht. 1993. ISBN W-5345-03&0.

Mainly for reasons of self-preservation, the pioneers of land reclamation, polder formation, and sea defences in northern Europe were the Netherlanders. Their skills were much in demand elsewhere, for example in draining the Great Level of the Lincolnshire fens in England in the seventeenth century. This handsomely produced book is a scholarly and very comprehensive review, by a group of Dutch experts, of virtually every aspect of the history of land reclamation and water management in the Netherlands from about AD 800 to the present time. No such work previously existed and historians of all persuasions will welcome it. For most scientific readers the main focus of interest will be the technological aspects: the building of dykes, construction of sluices, drainage by scoop wheels and windmills, dredging of navigation channels, cutting of peat and extraction of salt from it, and the like. Description of civil engineering techniques is in some places sketchy, but mainly because archaeo- logical excavation in search of evidence is often impossible. Disappointing, at first sight is the absence of a bibliography. The explanation is that almost all the relevant references are in the Dutch language and thus of little use to English-speaking readers. They are, however, to be found in the original Dutch edition. Such readers must count themselves fortunate that a single volume has in one step added so substantially to the available literature on the history of land reclamation and water management.

Trevor I. Williams

Critical Assembly. A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-45. By L. Hoddeson, P. W. Hem&en, R.A. Meade and C. Westfall. Pp. 509. Cambridge University Press, 1993. f45, US$39.95 ISBN 0 521 44132 3.

Many books have been written about the project to build the first atomic bombs at Los Alamos, from popular accounts to personal reminiscences and historical studies, and with the passage of time, authors have generally had more facts at their disposal as more information has become declassified Critical Assembly is a historical study based on as much information as possible, some of it still classified, and it provides a detailed account of one particular aspect of the project.

The authors have investigated how Los Alamos developed as a research laboratory from its

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inception to the explosion of the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In particular, they show how the teams of scientists and engineers tackled the many problems they faced in such a new field of research: at the start so much was unknown beyond the basic principle. It is a detailed, technical account that will best be appreciated by physicists, chemists, and engineers who have worked in research. They will most readily appreciate what it meant to have more or less unlimited support for a project that began in people’s minds as requiring perhaps two dozen physicists and an equal number of support staff to one that finally employed some 3000 technical workers.

Christine Sutton

Sir Jonas Moore. Practical Mathematics and Restoration Science. By Frances Willmoth. Pp. 244. Boydell Press. 1993. Hardback f35, US $63 ISBN 0 851 153216.

As well as being a careful reconstruction of the life of Sir Jonas Moore, this book provides a wealth of contextual detail, including life in early seventeenth century Lancashire; the problems faced by mid-century publishers and sellers of mathematical books; a brief history of the drainage of the Fens; the development of printed carto- graphy; attempts to build a defensible harbour in Tangier; and science in Restoration London. But the main story, told with clarity and learning, is of a determined individual who, sometimes against the odds, carved out a place for himself as a theoretical and practical mathematician during a period both of political uncertainty and of con- tention over the nature and use of mathematics. Willmoth weaves together a convincing account from an impressive range of sources, clearly identifying Moore as the champion of a unitary mathematics, integrating the theoretical and the practical.

In style the book is sometimes slightly truculent, particularly when referring to the contributions of, or omissions by, other historians. Nevertheless historians of mathematics, instruments, astron- omy, technology, and Restoration science among others will all find something of interest and value in this comprehensive biography.

M. E. W. Williams

Learning from Mt Hua. By Kathlyn Maurean Liscomb. Pp. 229. Cambridge University Press. 1993. f50 ISBN 0521 41112 2.

Biographical information about Wang Lti (Li) is sketchy. He was probably born in 1331, supposedly from a family of physicians, when China was under Mongol rule, but lived to see home rule established under the Ming dynasty in 1368. He died co. 1391. He was one of the leading physicians of his day and probably studied under Zhu Zhenheng (1281-1358), perhaps the most renowned of all Chinese doctors. He travelled widely to sit at the feet of other teachers. Of his writings only a collection of critical essays on medical ethics survives, but he is known to have written also books on astronomy, geomancy, and other topics.

Such biographical details as are available are

fully pursued and critically annotated, but the emphasis is on Wang’s other passion, that of landscape painting, which he indulged freely on his travels. In particular, he became fascinated by Mount Hua, the scenically magnificent sacred mountain of the west, which acquired for him a mystical significance. His style was highly individualistic and he followed no recognized school. This book reproduces and comments on some 50 paintings from his Mount Hua Album - eight of them in delicate colour - and a translation of, and commentary on, Wang’s own preface to it.

A delightful book: meticulously researched and written by a specialist on Ming art with a clarity of style that will appeal to scholars and general readers alike.

Trevor I. Williams

If I am to be Remembered. The Life and Work of Julian Huxley with Selected Correspondence. By Krisna R. Dronamraju. Pp. 294. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore. 1993. ISBN 9 810 21142 2.

In 1970 Sir Julian Huxley, who died in 1975 at the age of 88, wrote, ‘I seem to have been possessed by a demon, driving me into every sort of activity and impatient to finish anything I had begun’. Huxley, grandson of T.H. Huxley and great-grandson of Thomas Arnold, began his career as an academic biologist, but after he became secretary to the Zoological Society of London in 1935 he led an increasingly public life, culminating in his appointment in 1946 as the first Director-General of UNESCO. He became known to a wide public as a populariser of science, first in his collaboration with H.G. Wells and his son G.P. Wells in ‘The Science of Life’, and later in his appearances on the Brains Trust for the BBC. He was well-known as a humanist, believing that man alone, because of his control of the environ- ment, would be in control of evolution.

This book is interesting for the letters, selected from the collection of Huxley papers at Rice University, Texas, but the absence of an index to the letters is a drawback, as is the lack of an adequate index to the book as a whole. The first half of the book is a summary of Huxley’s life and career, but in 170 pages Dronamraju can only begin to cover the many aspects of Huxley’s life, a problem that he acknowledges in his preface. No full-length biography exists: Ronald Clark devotes small sections of ‘The Huxleys’ (1968) to Julian Huxley, but Huxley’s own two-volume autobiography, ‘Memories’ (1970 and 1973) remains the fullest account. Dronamraju’s book adds little to what has already been written, and it is time that a proper biography appeared, perhaps written by a scientist who writes as well as Huxley did himself.

Anne Baker

Non-verbal Communication in Science Prior to 1900. Edited by Renato G. Mazzolini. Pp. 620. Leo S. Olschki, Florence. 1993. Paperback. Lire 98ooO. ISBN 88 222 4069 3.

Archaeologists and prehistorians are accustomed to rely heavily on artifacts - ranging from arrow

heads to foundations of buildings - to inform their inquiries. In contrast, historians of science - interested largely in the period subsequent to the introduction of printing - are mainly con- cerned with written material. This book, the proceedings of a IUHPS conference held in Trento in October 1991, is a compelling reminder that we can all learn much from non-verbal sources. It comprises some 20 lectures, delivered by distinguished scholars. The themes range widely, from representations of animals and plants recently extinct to portraits of machines in fifteenth century Siena; the Gottingen collection (mostly instruments) of perinatal medicine to Victorian illustrations of palaeontological scenes; illustrations of seventeenth and eighteenth century textbooks of natural philosophy to laboratory design and the nature of physics.

These Proceedings differ in two important respects from most such works. First, apart from the usual trappings of scholarship - copious references, footnotes, etc. - it is profusely illustrated in both black-and-white and colour. Many of the illustrations derive from specialist collections and so will not be generally familiar. Second, there is a comprehensive (eight-page) index of names mentioned in the text: too often with such works it is difficult to relocate a topic noted in an earlier reading. The modest binding belies the treasures within; the organisers did well to concentrate their resources on the latter. Altogether one of the most interesting and stimulating books of its kind that has come my way for a long time.

Trevor I. Williams

Defining Science: William Whewell, Natural Knowledge and Public Debate in Early Victorian Britain. By Richard Yeo. Pp. 280. Cambridge University Press. f35, US $54.95 ISBN 0 521 43182 4.

‘Science was his forte but Omniscience his foible.’ Chiefly remembered as the target of this quip by Sydney Smith, William Whewell (1794-1866) was a Lancastrian who spent his entire career at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he served as Master from 1841. His sometimes rude and over- bearing manners may well have been a cloak to disguise his low-born social origins, for he was the son of an artisan and he married into ‘trade’. Significantly, he remarked on meeting the French physicist, J.B. Biot, that his ‘bad English and false accent’ made him feel superior.

Yeo’s fascinating book is, however, not a biography but an essay in Victorian ideas about science and culture. In this respect, Yea interprets Whewell not as a statesman of science, but as its ‘metascientific critic. ’ In 1834 Whewell coined the word ‘scientist’ for those who sought know- ledge of the material world, while between 1837 and 1840 he pioneered the critical study of the history and philosophy of science in five large volumes. Yeo shows how this literary activity related to Whewell’s anti-utilitarianism, his concern for the moral integrity of science, and to his far-reaching influence on liberal education. This is intellectual history at its most readable.

W. H. Brock

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