A Concise History of Astronomy

BOOKS ROGUE QUEEN by L. Sprague de Camp Doubleday & Co., New York $2.75 Reviewed by John S. Campbell Instructor in Engineering Drafting RoGUE QUEEN, the latest work from the prolific pen of L. Sprague de Camp '30, is a light and charming fantasy with a. faintly discernible moral, which describes the effect of an expedition from Earth upon the inhabitants of another world. These people, the Avtini, have developed a beehive society of female workers and drones which is quite uncompli-cated by sex, until the advent of the Earthmen. What happens then is told in tongue-in-cheek fashion, mostly from the Avtini viewpoint. The terrestrial infuence is at first mainly psycho-loical, but presently the hormones are involved too, and then the situa-tion gets completely out of hand. Both Earthmen and bee people go through a series of chase adventures somewhat like those in the late Edgar Burroughs' Mars stories, but of Burroughs' rough and tumble planet; in fact, de Camp's tale is a sort of pastel-shaded version of the Martian horse operas. There is one point which should be corrected: Rogue Queen is described on the jacket as science fiction. Rogue Queen is a delightful bit of fantasy, but be and science fiction there is, or should be, a wide gap. In science fiction a plausible "scien-tific" idea is developed, and the story is centered about the struggle of the quences of the idea. In fantasy, on the other hand, the fantastic situation serves merely as a background for the development of a normal human WHERE TENSION CONTROL AND LEATHER make a good team FLAT LEATHER BELT CONTROLLING problem. The problem may be pre sented in disguised form, as it is in Rogue Queen, but it is nevertheless reducible to a familiar form-in this case to the age-old struggle between convention and instinct. The Avtini may be most unearthly in appearanc and customs, but their troubles tur out, in the end, to be very human. Rogue Queen is not science fiction but it is a nicely written bit of fantasy with a slightly racy flavor and a moral at the end, if one looks for it. A CONCISE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY by Peter Doig, F.R.A.S The Philosophical Library, Inc., New York $4.75 Reviewed by Edison Petrit Staff Member, Mount Wilson Observatory THIs воок hills a long-standing need for a brief survey of the history of an old science. The first chapter, called "The Oldest Astronomy, is highly speculative and cannot be called history. The succeeding three chapters, divided according • to geo- graphical origin ("China," "Egypt," etc. cover the well-known ancient and medieval history of the subject in a commendable manner. Chapters cover the early modern astronomers by name, from Coper- nicus through William Herschel and the subject matter up to the year 1800. Person-nel covered here are reminiscent of the catalogue of lunar formations. The form then changes into classi-fication by century, and this form is retained with the subclassification according to subject throughout the In the fielder's glove, a hand controls the tension that makes the leather take hold. In the Uni-Pull drive, tension-controlling motor base and a modern leather belt team up in practically the same way. The base maintains belt tension keeping leather's high PuL ley grip at work, effectively cransmitting power, American LEATHER BELTING Association Headquartars for Authentit Power Trensmission Data AT PARX NOW, HEW YORK IN, HIW TORK Al 5 and such operational "Star Catalogues Radial Velocities, "Stellar Paral. laxes," "Rotation of the Galaxy, "External Universes," etc., in The Twentieth. Century. A reference list and index complete the book. The large type makes easy reading and the subject matter is the end result of extensive reading by the author. However, it is axiomatic that the local associations and specia interests of the author are reflected CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 BOOKS... CONTINUED in the accuracy and detail of the subject matter reported upon. The treatment of planetary astron- omy leaves little to be desired, but in solar astronomy some passages could be improved. The classifica- tion of prominences remains where Lockyer and Young left it in the 1880's. This passage is a prize: "Eruptive prominences appear only in the belts of the sun where spots are found, and are usually connected with spots, or rather with disturbed areas surrounding spots. Generally they are not very larre. but they may, however, attain enormous heights. One observed on June 4, 1946- It could be pointed out that this was the kind largest prominence any ever photographed either 011 the disk or against the sky. It was not associated with a spot or "in the belts of the sun where spots are found." And, as a matter of record ory a few eruptives were associated spots. Probably the most important piece of observational evidence prominences obtained in recent years or the discovery that ran dopes upon the sun, indicating that chromospheric matter in considerable extent pervade he earner. but this ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES by Charles Darwin Philosophical Library, N. Y. $3.75 THIS HANDSOME, pocket-sized book is a reprint of the original edition of Darwin's great work. This edition has never been reprinted be-tore, and most of the people who read Darwin have read him in one of the later (there were six in and longer, This, then, is Darwin's book first presented it to the spoilt by later hesitation, " says C. D. Darlington, F.R.S., in his introduc- tion, "unimpaired by yielding to the trivial and captious critic... the bare body of (Darwin's) argument with its strength and its weakness unconcealed." LOS ANGELES: A Guide to the City and its Environs Hastings House, N. Y. $4.50 This guidebool published was originally in 1941 as one of the series of American Guides compiled by workers of the WPA writers® program. The guides were one WA pro ext which suces fully withstood They were the best guidebooks going. In recent years Hastings House has begun to update a number of the WPA Guides, and this 1951 edition of the Los Angeles one (which covers not only the city but the nearby beach and mountain resorts from Malibu to Palm Springs) is still the best guidebook to the area-and good reading besides. ADEQUATE WIRING... everyone benefits! ADEQUATI When there's a Certificate of Adequate Wiring with your new home, everyone benefits. A Certificate of Adequate Wiring is evidence that the home is equipped with the facilities for modern electrical living, now and in the future. It has the circuits, ourlets and switches for easy installation and satisfactory performance of all the appliances that might be desired. The family living in such a house is assured of all the comforts and conveniences that electric service has to offer. 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