January 27, 1898J 



NATURE 



291 



appears from the fact that while the original single volume 

 contained 764 pages, the work has now grown to three 

 volumes, numbering, in all, 1360 pp. On reading it one 

 cannot but be astonished at the extent of erudition and 

 research which is displayed on every page. 



Naturally, in a work dealing with the climatology of 

 the whole globe, we do not expect to find detailed tables 

 of temperature or of rain for every country ; what we do 

 find are careful excerpts of data from typical stations, 

 illustrated by frequent extracts from travels and other 

 works describing personal experiences in distant regions. 

 Thus, for Siberia we have copious citations from 

 Middendorff and Adolph Erman, for Hindostan from 

 Blanford, for Java from Junghuhn, and so on. 



The first volume, 400 pp., deals with the main factors 

 of climate, and then passes on to general climatology. It 

 treats, firstly, of solar climate, or that which would result 

 from the action of the sun alone ; and, secondly, of 

 physical climate under the two heads of {a) Land and 

 Sea Climate and {b) Mountain Climate. On the latter 

 subject Dr. Hann is, admittedly, the highest living 

 authority, and his remarks on the effect of mountains, on 

 such winds as the Scirocco, the Bora, and the Mistral, 

 as well as on the various air movements, in different 

 directions in different countries, which are all classed 

 under the generic term of Fohn winds, are well deserving 

 of careful study. 



Dr. Hann points out that every spot along the northern 

 Mediterranean shores, which is famed for the mildness 

 of its winter climate, owes this entirely to the immunity 

 from the access of cold winds afforded to it by a mountain 

 range in close proximity. 



Vol. i. closes with a brief notice of the various theories 

 of climatic changes, cyclical and otherwise, which have of 

 late been put forward by Croll, Bruckner, and others. 



Vol. ii., with 384 pp., is devoted to the climatology of 

 the tropics. This is necessarily treated in a more or less 

 incomplete manner, for while the data for the interior of 

 tropical Africa are fragmentary, next to none are attain- 

 able for the entire tropical region of Brazil, and very little 

 for the tropical Pacific Islands. 



To show what knowledge we have already gained of 

 the climates of the east and west coasts of Africa, 

 respectively, in low latitudes, we may say that the east 

 and west coasts each occupy some fifty pages, while the 

 interior is but briefly discussed. 



Vol. iii. is even fuller than its predecessors, mounting 

 up to 572 pages. It deals with the meteorology of the 

 temperate and frigid z<jnes. For the former, at least, the 

 literature is far more abundant than that for the tropical 

 countries, and a careful selection has been made. 



The sections on East Siberia and on the United States 

 are especially interesting, as showing how the difference 

 in the trend of the mountain chains affects the climate 

 of each region. The chain in the west of the two 

 Americas lies close to the coast, and sweeps westwards 

 towards the Bering Straits, whereas in Europe the Nor- 

 wegian mountain line turns to the eastward. Accord- 

 ingly, in the New Continent the influence of the Pacific 

 Ocean is reduced to a minimum, while in the Old that 

 of the Atlantic extends far inland. 



Comparing the United States with Eastern Asia, we 

 find that the whole of the States are exposed to the 

 N'O. 1474. VOL. 57] 



visitation of icy northerly winds owing to the absence 

 of cross-mountain ranges of any considerable altitude. 

 In Asia high mountains and tablelands effectually check 

 the outflow of chilled air from the Siberian centre of 

 cold, about the valley of the Lena. 



The notices of Chili, Argentina, and the whole southern 

 part of South America are extremely interesting reading. 



The account of Arctic and Antarctic meteorology is 

 very full, and as the data from all the expeditions of the 

 years 1882-83 have been utilised, the information afforded 

 is much more complete than any before presented to 

 the public. Dr. Hann expresses his regret that the only 

 publication of the scientific results of the English ex- 

 pedition of 1875-76, under Sir G. Nares, has been in a 

 Blue-book, and is therefore almost inaccessible to men 

 of science. 



The entire work is eminently what the Germans call 

 " epoch-making," and it is only to be regretted that, as 

 it is in German, readers in England will be but few. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Natiirliche Schopfun^s-geschichte ; gemeinverstandliche 

 wissenschaftliche Vortrdge iiber die Entwickelim^s- 

 lehre. Von Ernst Haeckel. Ninth edition. Pp. Ixii -I- 

 831. Portrait and thirty plates. (Berlin : Georg 

 Reimer, 1898.) 



This well-known book has now reached its ninth edition. 

 The original form is retained, but many corrections have 

 been made, and the phylogenies have been brought up 

 to date according to Prof. Haeckel's interpretation of 

 newly-ascertained facts. 



The author's aim is to simplify the enormous mass of 

 observations, reasonings and theories which we call 

 biology, and to show that it can all be explained by a 

 relatively few general principles. The worker at any 

 special group of plants or animals will often, perhaps 

 usually, find it impossible to satisfy other specialists as to 

 the systematic relations of all the forms on which he has 

 been engaged, or to clear up those vestiges of remote 

 history which some of them may present. Haeckel, 

 however, does not hesitate to deal with the whole animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms, placing and deriving all the 

 chief groups. Most philosophical naturalists find it 

 hard to explain any fact of nature adequately, and put 

 forth their conclusions timidly, as those who look for a 

 day of fuller knowledge. Haeckel offers us a theory of 

 development, by which all the chief groups of biological 

 phenomena can be " mechanically explained and under- 

 stood " (p. 790). This cheerful conviction that we already 

 hold the main clues to a philosophy of nature is very 

 engaging to those who have no great sense of responsi- 

 bility as teachers or writers ; it rouses the most profound 

 scepticism in those who have found by trial how little we 

 can really explain. Haeckel's " Schopfungs-geschichte " 

 is based upon wide knowledge ; it has been corrected 

 many times ; it is clear and persuasive. Nevertheless, 

 there is no book of our own day of which we should 

 more confidently predict that a future and not distant 

 generation will find it grotesquely inconsistent with 

 natural fact. There are books which after many gener- 

 ations still seem modern ; Malpighi and Swammerdam 

 have written such. There are also books which become 

 antiquated in the life-time of the author, and to our mind 

 the book before us is one. It wants altogether the 

 reserve, scepticism and modesty which were the safe- 

 guards of Lyell and Darwin when treating subjects of 

 such unfathomable complexity. 



A special student, critically examining that one of 

 Haeckel's phylogenies with which he is chiefly concerned, 



