210 NATURAL SCIENCE [September 



contours of Newcastle district of the Moume Mountains. There is 

 scarcely need to mention the photographic reproductions of Mr Welch, 

 every reader of Natural Science must be familiar with them ; but it 

 may be as well to note that the original photographs naturally far 

 surpass these reproductions. For these alone it will repay every 

 geologist to invest his shilling. 



The other book is of quite similar class to the first, which, as we 

 said above, it complements. Here the Geology is dealt with by Pro- 

 fessor Cole, the Botany by Mr Praeger, Fishing by J. S. Hamill, Antiqui- 

 ties by W. Gray, and Sketching localities by Miss Sydney Thompson. 

 An excellent and liberal selection of Mr Welch's views are also drawn 

 upon, and many other pictures of interest. We note the exterior and 

 interior of the homestead of Francis M'Kinley, whose descendant is 

 now President of the United States. Like the above book, this is of 

 especial interest to geologists by reason of its pictures, and we strongly 

 recommend it to any one who has seen or is interested in the district 

 of Larne to the Giant's Causeway. 



Vitalism 

 Duking the recent academical year Prof. Leo Errera, of the Uni- 

 versite Libre of Brussels, lectured on the question — " Is there such 

 a Thing as a Vital Force ? " He has been good enough to send us 

 a syllabus of his lectures, which contains a very useful bibliography 

 of the subject. He comes to the conclusion that there has not yet 

 been demonstrated in living beings any source of energy independent 

 of external energies, although the resultant of these various energies, 

 as exhibited in the structure of an organised being, may conveniently 

 be spoken of as ' vital.' To abstract what is itself an abstract is 

 hardly possible for us ; but those who are interested in the subject 

 might do worse than write to the Libraire Lamertin, Eue Marche-au- 

 Bois, Bruxelles, for a copy, which costs 75 centimes. 



The zoological results of Dr Arthur Willey's travels in New Britain, 

 New Guinea, the Loyalty Islands, and other islands of the South 

 Pacific, during 1895-97, are to be published by the Cambridge 

 University Press in a series of monographs. The writers, besides 

 Dr Willev himself, include Dr Paul Mayer, Mr K. I. Pocock, Dr D. 

 Sharp, Prof. S. J. Hickson, Mr A. E. Shipley, and Mr Jeffrey Bell. 

 The work is expected to be completed in five or six parts, of which 

 two will be issued during the autumn. 



We have received from Messrs Blackie & Son a small manual, 

 entitled " Elementary Chemistry, Practical and Theoretical, First 

 Year's Course," by T. A. Cheetham. Since this is outside our scope 

 we can only say that Mr Cheetham appears to have combined the 

 practical and theoretical divisions of his subject in an intimate and 

 successful manner. The descriptions of the experiments are clear and 

 should enable them to be carried out easily by the student. 



Scraps from Serials 



To the paper of Mr Jukes-Browne, which appears in its English form 

 in the present number, a reply by Mr G. Dollfus, entitled "Bole de la 



