244 



NA TURE 



[January 13, 1898 



examination questions. The book is written with ability 

 and vigour, and evidently with a keen appreciation of 

 the special needs of India. A full discussion of any 

 subject in the brief limits to which the author confines 

 himself is, of course, quite impossible, but enough is 

 done to arouse interest and inquiry, and this apparently 

 is the author's object. One paragraph we must quote. 

 Alluding to the present effect of Government education 

 in India, namely the withdrawal of the educated classes 

 from agricultural pursuits, he says : "The first great step 

 in renovating the profession of agriculture must come 

 from the introduction of rational systems of national 

 education. Governments must needs rectify their 

 educational codes so as to give greater encouragement 

 to studies tending to the enlightenment of rural popula- 

 tions in regard to food production and the relation of 

 the science of rural economy thereto, combined with 

 systematic demonstrations of economical methods of 

 applying science to agricultural practice." This advice 

 is equally needed in our own country. R. W. 



The Zoological Record. Volume the Thirty-third ; being 



Records of Zoological Literature relating chiefly to the 



Year 1896. By J. A. Thomson, R. Lydekker, R. 



Bowdler Sharpe, G. A. Boulenger, W. A. Herd man, 



B. B. Woodward, A. W. Brown, D. Sharp, Florence 



Buchanan, R. T. Giinther, and R. von Lendenfeld. 



Edited (for the Zoological Society of London) by 



David Sharp, M.A., F.R.S., FZ.S., &c. Pp. 890. 



(London : Gurney and Jackson, 1897). 



Great credit is certainly due to the zoologists for 



the way in which they keep up their " Record," and 



for the punctual manner in which the annual volume 



is brought out. The zoological literature of 1896, which 



has appeared in various works, memoirs and periodicals 



all over the world during that year, has been already 



investigated and abstracted by these diligent recorders, 



and the summary of it appears in the present volume, 



the preface of which is dated in September last, and 



which was actually issued to the public in November. 



In no other branch of science, so far as we know, has a 



" Record " been kept up for so long a period, or issued 



so nearly up to date. 



Besides eighteen records relating to as many branches 

 of zoology, the present volume contains a very useful 

 alphabetical list of the journals and other periodicals 

 that contain zoological papers. This is arranged accord- 

 ing to the abbreviated titles by which the journals are 

 quoted in the various " Records," but the- full titles are 

 also added, so that we have here a complete and most 

 useful catalogue of zoological periodicals. We have not 

 counted their number, but the list takes up about forty- 

 two closely printed pages, so that if we reckon them at a 

 thousand we shall not be much over the mark. Besides 

 analysing the separate publications referring to his 

 particular subject, the unfortunate recorder may, there- 

 fore, have nearly a thousand periodicals to consult, in 

 order to collect together the fragments relating to his 

 particular subject. So great being the field of work 

 in zoology alone, it is difficult to over-estimate the 

 extent of the task about to be undertaken by the Royal 

 Society of preparing an annual record of the literature of 

 all branches of science. 



As regards the individual records in the present 

 volume, we observe with regret that several of them are 

 without any«sort of introduction. It is obvious, as we 

 pointed out last year, that an introduction, specifying the 

 principal points in which an advance has been made in 

 the particular subject, is a necessary part of a good 

 record. Such an introduction would be read with 

 interest by many zoologists, who do not require to go 

 into details very deeply — and should on no account be 

 omitted. Considerable care and time is, no doubt, in- 

 volved in its preparation ; but we trust that Dr. Sharp, 

 who in this respect himself sets an excellent example as 



NO. T472, VOL. 57] 



regards the Insecta, will not allow any of his " re- 

 corders " to shirk this part of their task, however unwilling 

 he ma) be to add to their arduous duties. 



Annuaire pour VAn 1898, publie par le Bureau des 

 Longitudes. Pp. 613 + 147. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars 

 et Fils.) 



Afinuaire de V Observatoire municipal de Montsouris 

 poicr PAnnde 1898. Pp. 636. (Paris : Gauthier- 

 Villars et Fils.) 



These two year-books of scientific information annually 

 increase in value by the addition of new data and re- 

 vision of the old. The Annuaire of the Bureau of 

 Longitudes has undergone several changes. In the 

 astronomical part the tables of mean positions of stars 

 supposed to be variable have been omitted, the tables of 

 the elements of minor planets have been curtailed, and 

 in the same way the number of coordinates referring to 

 the orbits of double stars has been diminished. The 

 table of elements of periodic comets only observed at a 

 single apparition has been transferred to the Connais- 

 sance de Temps., but comets observed at a return are 

 retained in the volume. The chapter on tides has been 

 rearranged and revised, and new tables inserted. M. 

 Moureaux contributes three new charts showing the 

 magnetic elements in France, based on direct observ- 

 ations ; the charts are for the epoch January i, 1896. 

 M. Berthelot brings up to date the tables in the section 

 on thermo-chemistry. The articles in the Annuaire are 

 all interesting. MM. Lct^wy and Puiseux contribute a 

 paper on recent progress in the knowledge of the 

 lunar surface, obtained by means of photography ; M. 

 Poincare contributes a valuable paper on the stability of 

 the solar system ; an account of Fizeau's scientific work 

 is given by M. Cornu ; and M. Janssen describes the 

 work done at the observatory on the summit of Mont 

 Blanc in 1897. Finally, there is an address by MM. 

 Janssen and Loewy, delivered on the occasion of M. 

 Faye's jubilee last January. 



The Annuaire of the Municipal Observatory does not 

 cover so wide a field as that of the Bureau des Longi- 

 tudes. It contains the results of observations made, 

 during 1896, in the departments of meteorology, 

 chemistry, micrography, and hygiene under the control 

 of the Municipal Council of the City of Paris. In each 

 of these branches, and especially in the sections of 

 chemistry and micrography, a large amount of work 

 was done beyond the mere compilation of statistics, and 

 the volume is thereby rendered serviceable to all who 

 are interested in the science of public health. 



Memoires de la Societe de Physique et d'Histoire 

 naturelle de Getieve. Tome xxxii. Seconde Partie. 

 Pp. Ixxxi -f- 401. (Geneve : Georg et CK Paris : 

 G. Fischbacher, 1896-97.) 

 There are five papers in this volume, illustrated by 

 fourteen plates and numerous figures in the text. In 

 a long memoir. Mile. C. Schepilofif describes her re- 

 searches on the nerves of the labyrinth or internal ear, 

 and the functions of the brain and medulla of frogs, with 

 a general comparison of the central nervous systems of 

 various batrachians. A demonstration of a fundamental 

 theorem referring to the primitive factors of prime 

 numbers is developed by M. Ch. Cellerier. Anatomical 

 i-esearches on a number of plants are described by M. 

 J. Briquet. M. P. de Loriol describes some echinoderms, 

 and M. J. Briquet makes a contribution to a flora of 

 Paraguay. 



Elemetttary Practical Physiography. (Section I.) By John 

 Thornton, M.A. Pp. vii-f3ii. (London: Long- 

 mans, Green, and Co., 1897.) 

 The elementary stage of the physiography examination 

 of the Department of Science and Art is now divided 

 into two parts, the first part (Section One, as it'is termed) 



