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The depth and breadth of the market for contingent claims, including exotic options, has expanded dramatically. Regulators have expressed concern regarding the risks of exotics to the financial system, due to the difficulty of hedging these instruments. Recent literature focuses on the difficulties in hedging exotic options, e.g., liquidity risk and other violations of the standard Black‐Scholes model. This article provides insight into hedging problems associated with exotic options: 1) hedging in discrete versus continuous time, 2) transaction costs, 3) stochastic volatility, and 4) non‐constant correlation. The author applies simulation analysis of these problems to a variety of exotics, including Asian options, barrier options, look‐back options, and quanto options.

The latest information from the magazine chemist is extremely valuable. He has dealt with milk‐adulteration and how it is done. His advice, if followed, might, however, speedily bring the manipulating dealer before a magistrate, since the learned writer's recipe is to take a milk having a specific gravity of 1030, and skim it until the gravity is raised to 1036; then add 20 per cent. of water, so that the gravity may be reduced to 1030, and the thing is done. The advice to serve as “fresh from the cow,” preferably in a well‐battered milk‐measure, might perhaps have been added to this analytical gem.

The aim of this publication is to list the catalogues of the Department of Manuscripts which are in regular use. Catalogues which have been superseded by later publications are not normally included, since whatever their historical or bibliographical interest they are no longer everyday working tools. To save space in cross‐reference, the catalogues, etc., here listed have been numbered serially in Clarendon type, thus: 31. This numeration has no other significance.

The foundation collection of the printed books now forming the Library of the British Museum was that of Sir Hans Sloane. This comprised about 40,000 volumes. To it was added in 1759 the Royal collection, begun in the time of Henry VII and inherited by George II from his predecessors on the throne.

A report on this subject has recently been issued by the Local Government Board. It owes its origin to the interest—unfortunately brief—that was aroused some two years ago, when certain allegations were made concerning the methods in vogue on the other side of the Atlantic for, the preparation of meat products intended to be placed on the English market, and has been drawn up by Dr. A. W. J. MACFADDEN. The report is based on the results obtained by Public Analysts throughout the country, who, in the performance of their official duties, were called upon to examine various samples of canned meat sent out by the United States packing houses; on certain statements made by trade representatives to Dr. MACFADDEN; and, finally, on the results of some analyses of canned meats made by Mr. ELLIS RICHARDS, F.I.C., at the request of the Board. The figures must be regarded as representative of the state of affairs then and now. By far the greater quantity of canned meat that reaches this country and is consumed therein is imported from the United States, and hence, almost of necessity, any criticisms that are made regarding this part of our food supply resolve themselves into criticisms of the Federal Meat Inspection law of the United States and the way in which it is applied by the officials there. The conclusion that Dr. MACFADDEN draws as to the efficacy of this law so far as it regards ourselves is one that was expressed in this journal in May last. He observes that “our position, so far as safeguards provided by American law are concerned, is apparently much as it was before the enactments came into force,” that “so far as the use of preservatives is concerned, the new law has not affected the conditions under which the canned meat trade has been conducted with this country in past years,” and that “the onus of protecting their inhabitants in this respect continues to rest, in the first place, with the Governments of the foreign countries themselves.” The first two statements are sufficiently damning, and the corollary is, of course, obvious. The difficulties must be tackled from this side, but the entire absence, up to the present, of all official standards renders the task of the Public Analyst and the other municipal officials who are jointly concerned with him as regards the health of the districts with which they are connected, a most difficult one, and the business of the unscrupulous “poisoner for dividends,” to use an American phrase, correspondingly easy. We go a little farther than Dr. MACFADDEN, and say that the new law does not protect us even with regard to the general wholesomeness of these products. As late as January last the Inspecting Officer of the Manchester Port Sanitary Authority had occasion to draw attention to the unsatisfactory nature of certain canned goods that were imported direct from America. The examination of a consignment of 1,200 six‐pound tins of canned meat showed that 157 tins were blown, and that 156 tins were of doubtful quality. It follows that in this single instance 1,800 pounds of garbage were exported to this country from the United States, the new law notwithstanding.

This survey covers civil, electrical and electronics, energy, environment, general, materials, mechanical, and traffic and transportation engineering. Areas such as biomedical and chemical engineering will be dealt with in future issues. Readers may find that the classifications included in this survey are not mutually exclusive but do occasionally overlap with one another. For instance, the section on environmental engineering includes a review of a book on the environmental impact of nuclear power plants, which might as easily have been part of the section on energy technology. Before we go into a discussion of data bases and indexes, I would like to note in this introductory section some recent bibliographic aids published during the period surveyed. Most engineering libraries will find them very valuable in their reference and acquisition functions. Since normal review sources will cover these books, I am merely listing them below: Malinowski, Harold Robert, Richard A. Gray and Dorothy A. Gray. Science and Engineering Literature. 2d ed., Littleton, Colorado, Libraries Unlimited, 1976. 368p. LC 76–17794 ISBN 0–87287–098–7. $13.30; Mildren, K. W., ed. Use of Engineering Literature. Woburn, Mass., Butterworths, 1976. 621p. ISBN 0–408–70714–3. $37.95. Mount, Ellis. Guide to Basic Information Sources in Engineering. New York, Wiley, Halsted Press, 1976. 196p. LC 75–43261 ISBN 0–47070–15013–0. $11.95 and Guide to European Sources of Technical Information. 4th ed., edited by Ann Pernet. Guernsey, Eng., F. Hodgson, 1976. 415p. ISBN 0–85280–161–0. $52.00.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Although this is a survey of research techniques, it has become increasingly apparent, as the study has progressed, that our investigation of research methods for use in tourism and travel studies, without prior consideration of the nature and scopes of tourism and travel themselves, would he inadequate. At the outset it would be imperative to distinguish three interrelated terms. These are recreation, tourism, and travel.

It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.