205 



NATURE 



[December 30, 1897 



origin. As a possible cause of their foliation, Mr. Lomas 

 suggests tidal action in the incompletely-consolidated crust. 

 Prof. G. H. Darwin has shown that huge tidal wrinkles must 

 have been raised by the moon when near the earth, forming 

 idges and troughs which ran north and south near the Equator, 

 and curved to the eastward as they approached the Poles. The 

 strike of the gneisses of Britain and Scandinavia corresponds to 

 the direction of these tidal wrinkles in those latitudes, and 

 there is evidence that the Palaeozoic strata were deposited in 

 troughs parallel to the gneissic ridges. In Anglesey, according 

 to Mr. Lomas, we have a portion of one such ridge that may 

 never have been submerged under the sea. 



The Cambridge University Press has just published a volume 

 of " Solutions of the Exercises in Taylor's Euclid " (Pitt Press 

 Mathematical Series), Books VI.-XI. 



Mr. H. Trimble reprints, from the American Journal of 

 Pharmacy^ a series of papers by himself and the late Prof. E. S. 

 Bastin, on " Some North American Coniferse." Some of the 

 more important American species from an economical point of 

 view are described in detail, special attention being given to the 

 microscopical structure of the leaf and stem and to the chemical 

 composition of the wood. Excellent photographs are given to 

 show the habit of each species, and woodcuts of microscopic 

 sections, 



A SECOND edition of Mr. Arthur Mee's " Observational 

 Astronomy," greatly enlarged and improved, has just been pub- 

 lished by the office of the IVesiem Mail, Cardiff. The new 

 edition is, in point of illustration, vastly superior to the original 

 work, some of the half-tone blocks being very fine reproductions ; 

 the text also has been through the refining fire. The volume 

 should be in the possession of every amateur astronomer, how- 

 ever limited his instrumental equipment may be ; for it will bring 

 him right into the current of astronomical thought, and inspire 

 him to make the best use of his opportunities. 



Vol. VIII., part i, of the Proceedings of the Liverpool 

 Geological Society contains a valuable series of papers. These 

 include the presidential address on " Glacial Geology," and a 

 paper on " Ayrshire Geology," by Mr. Mellard Reade ; detailed 

 and illustrated accounts of the " Carboniferous Limestone of the 

 Clwyd Valley," by Mr. G. H. Morton ; of the "Igneous Rocks 

 of Aran Mowddwy," by Mr. T. H. Cope ; and of the 

 " Varanger Fjord," by Messrs. Dickson and Holland. Mr. 

 Lomas investigates the earthquake of December 17, 1896, and 

 traces the isoseismal lines ; and Dr. Callaway criticises the 

 chemical evidence for the existence of organisms in Archaean 

 times, finding it quite fallacious. 



The Thornton- Pickard Manufacturing Company, Ltd., have 

 sent us a copy of their new illustrated catalogue for 1898. 

 Several very fine half-tone reproductions of photographs illustrate 

 the catalogue, and testify to the excellence of results obtained 

 with cameras and instantaneous shutters manufactured by the 

 firm. Among the apparatus which call for special mention are 

 a new 5x4 size of the Amber camera, a new patent film 

 carrier, and a new aluminium shutter. The firm offers 200/. in 

 prizes for the best results obtained with their cameras and 

 shutters. Full particulars of this competition, as well as many 

 serviceable hints to photographers, will be found in the catalogue, 

 a copy of which will be forwarded on application. 



We have received the yearly report of the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society for the year 1896, and it is full of interest. 

 It contains, as usual, the obituaries of the members whom the 

 Society lost during the year, condensed reports of the expedi- 

 tions of the Society, a review of its publications, and excellent 

 accounts of the work done by those geographers to whom 

 NO. 1470, VOL. 57] 



medals were awarded by the Society in 1896. Very valuable 

 feature of this year's reports are the yearly reports of the Siberian 

 branch of the Society (Irkutsk) and of the Amur branch 

 (Khabarovsk) for the years 1894 and 1895, ^^ also of the 

 Society for the Study of the Amur Region for the year 1895. 

 Unfortunately, one does not find in the report any information 

 concerning the extremely interesting but almost quite unknown 

 activity of the West Siberian branch of the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society. 



A SECOND edition of Prof. J. J. Thomson's " Elements of the 

 Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism " has just 

 been published by the Cambridge University Press. The first 

 edition, published in 1895, was reviewed in Nature (vol. liv. 

 p. 97), and as few alterations have been made, we need do no 

 more than announce the appearance of the new edition, and 

 express pleasure that the work is finding its way into the hands- 

 of an increasing number of students. — Prof. J. A. Ewing's work 

 on " The Steam Engine and other Heat Engines " (Cambridge 

 University Press), reviewed in Nature three years ago (vol. li. 

 p. 219), has also reached a second edition. A considerable 

 amount of new matter has been added to the volume, and the 

 section relating togas engines has been much extended. To the 

 thoughtful student of engineering science the bnok is invaluable. 

 — Part 2 of "An Illustrated Manual of British Birds," by Mn 

 Howard Saunders, has been published by Messrs. Gurney and 

 Jackson. The work will be completed in twenty parts, and will 

 contain illustrations of nearly every species. 



The annual report on the work of the Institute of Jamaica 

 has been received. The Science Section of the Institute appears 

 to have been particularly active in the period covered by the 

 report. A number of changes have been made in the systematic 

 arrangement of the objects in the museum. In the zoological 

 collection a 4 to 6 per cent, solution of formalin has been 

 mostly employed as a preservative fluid and found to work very 

 satisfactorily, though the colours of the objects were not retained 

 for long in specimens exposed to strong light. For delicate 

 objects, such as jellyfish and sea-anemones, it is found to be 

 extremely serviceable, preserving perfectly the natural form and 

 histology. Research work, mainly upon the Actinaria of the 

 island, has been continued in the Biological Laboratpry of the 

 Institute. A paper on the Jamaica Zoanthidre, embracing a 

 description of ten species, has been prepared by the curator for 

 publication; also one on the Actinian family Aliciidre, describing, 

 amongst others, a new Jamaica species of Bunodeopsis. During 

 the summer months three students from the Johns Hopkins 

 University, under the direction of Prof. Brooks, established a 

 temporary marine laboratory at Port Henderson. Contributions 

 to Jamaican zoology have been made by them, and many 

 specimens were presented to the museum. Investigations of 

 Indian remains have been continued from last year, and more 

 valuable material collected from the caves and refuse-heaps. 

 The objects, however, do not differ greatly in type from those 

 referred to in the last report. An account of the results, 

 illustrated with numerous figures, plates, and a map, will shortly 

 be published in the Journal of the Institute. The report thus 

 shows that the Institute is actively assisting in the advancement 

 of knowledge, as well as working in various ways to create and 

 stimulate interest in scientific objects and study. 



In the current number of the Berichte, P. Walden describes 

 the very remarkable effect produced by the addition of a uranyl 

 salt to a solution of an optically active substance. When a 

 substance such as /-malic acid is dissolved in water along with 

 one molecule of uranyl nitrate and about four molecules of 

 caustic potash, the rotation produced by the solution is more than 

 five hundred times as great as that of the acid alone, whilst it 

 remains of the same sign. Similar, but less intense effects are 



