April 21, 1898] 



NA TURE 



581 



example of this. About sixty or seventy years ago its 

 population was estimated at 3000 ; in 1870 Mr. Becke 

 counted only 160 ; and now it is said that there are over 

 500 inhabitants. Nanomaga, too, can scarcely be quoted 

 as an example of the extinction of the native, for here, 

 in an area of a square mile, we find a population of 

 more than 600 — a density only equalled by that of some 

 ■ of the islands of the neighbouring Gilbert group. It is 

 to be hoped that the author of " Wild Life in Southern 

 Seas" may some day put his knowledge of the islands 

 into more regular and scientific form. F. H. H. G. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Mediterranean., Malta, or Undid ant Fever. By M. 



Louis Hughes, Surgeon-Captain Army Medical Staff. 



Pp. xi + 232 ; figs. IV. ; tables xv. ; charts xx. (London : 



Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1897.) 

 The book before us is an exhaustive monograph upon 

 an apparently, up to the present, neglected variety of 

 continued fever, viz. Mediterranean or Malta fever. The 

 author, at the beginning of the monograph, gives reasons 

 why this fever should be regarded as a definite specific 

 disease— distinct, on the one hand, from malarial and, 

 on the other, from enteric fever, and suggests that it 

 should in future receive the name of undulant fever. 

 The term Mediterranean, Gibraltar, or Malta fever is, 

 according to him, misleading, as apparently ascribing to 

 the disease a geographical limitation which it does not 

 possess. 



In Chapter ii. a discussion will be found of the 

 bacteriology of the disease. The author's observations, so 

 far as the presence of a definite micro-organism, and the 

 artificial production of the fever in monkeys are con- 

 cerned, confirm Bruce's earlier results. Chapter iii. is 

 devoted to symptomatology, and concludes with a de- 

 scription of the usual complications and sequela?. In 

 Chapter iv. the author discusses fully differential dia- 

 gnosis, prognosis, and morbid anatomy. The final 

 chapter is devoted to the consideration of prophylaxis 

 and treatment. Two good indices conclude the volume. 



The work will doubtless be of great service to those 

 who are engaged in military or civil practice at Gibraltar 

 or Malta, and must further be regarded as a valuable 

 addition to the literature of continued fevers. 



F. W. T. 



Lehrbiich der Vergleichenden M ikroskopischen Anatomie 

 der Wirbelthiere. Zweite Teil, Schlund und Darm. 

 Von. Dr. Med. Alb. Oppel, a. o. Professor an der 

 Universitat Freiberg i.B. Pp. 681, with Plates. (Jena : 

 Gustav Fischer, 1897.) 

 This volume is a worthy successor to its predecessor on 

 "The Stomach," published in 1896, and we have nought 

 but praise for it. At first sight it would appear well- 

 nigh impossible that two such works could be success- 

 fully compiled in so short a time ; but there is internal 

 evidence that the book bears a direct relationship to a 

 series of papers which its author has published during 

 the last eight years, and that its preparation has been a 

 prolonged labour of love. The present volume opens 

 with a dissertation upon the structural plan of the ali- 

 mentary canal and its derivatives, extending to thirty- 

 one pages ; and in the rest of the book the ordinarily 

 recognised regions of the intestine, and the ceso- 

 phagus, are successively dealt with in an exhaustive 

 manner, structure and function being alike considered. 

 The work closes with a 36-page alphabetical record of 

 literature arranged according to authors' names. The 

 mode of treatment of the subject, like that of the pre- 

 ceding volume on the stomach, is thoroughly systematic 

 and logical ; and while the pages of the book bristle 



NO. i486. VOL. 57] 



with references to original authorities, its style is no- 

 where pedantic. Though termed a text-book, it is an 

 exhaustive work of reference such as we believe the ad- 

 vanced scientific text-book of the future must become. 

 There are 343 admirable text illustrations and four ex- 

 quisite plates, well worthy the text and the immense 

 labour its author has bestowed upon it. We note one or 

 two omissions, as, for example, of all mention of the 

 intestinal valve in the Teleostei {Cheirocentrus) and of 

 Huxley and Parker's observations upon the coecal and 

 colic valves of Lepus. The fuller paper by Laguesse might 

 have been referred to, as might the observations of 

 Mazza and Perugia upon the rectal glands of ChimcBra 

 and other matters which could be mentioned. All that 

 is really important, however, is recognised. The work 

 fills a gap in our literature, and to its author students 

 and teachers stand alike indebted for a masterly 

 treatise which will long remain the standard book of 

 reference upon the subject with which it deals. 



Spectrum Analysis. By John Landauer, LL.D. Author- 

 ised English edition by J. B. Tingle, Ph.D., F.C.S. 

 Pp. 239 -f x. (New York : Wiley and Sons. London : 

 Chapman and Hall, 1898.) 



That there is a real need for a fairly comprehensive 

 text-book of spectrum analysis of moderate size will be 

 acknowledged by all who have occasion to teach the 

 principles of the subject, or to employ its methods for 

 analytical purposes. To meet this need appears to be 

 the object of the book before us, though it does not 

 claim to be exhaustive. The treatment of the subject is 

 historical throughout, and there is a great number of 

 useful references to important memoirs, while particulars 

 of the spectra of elements and compounds occupy nearly 

 one-third of the volume. As a general text-book of the 

 subject, apart from its astronomical appHcations, the 

 book has much to recommend it ; but it leaves a great 

 deal to be desired as a guide to the practical details of 

 spectroscopic work, which, as the translator remarks, 

 " furnishes so many opportunities for an excellent train- 

 ing in accuracy of observation and manipulative skill." 

 The lack of the practical touch is frequently indicated. 

 In the table of magnesium lines (p. 143), for example, 

 the lines of the arc and spark spectrum are grouped 

 together, and the omission of the most striking line of 

 the latter at X 4481, possibly for the reason that it is all 

 but invisible in the arc, might cause much loss of time 

 to a student who happened to observe this line and 

 attempt to ascertain its origin. Again, there are no in- 

 structions for photographing spectra, although in the 

 majority of cases this is by far the best method to adopt 

 in practice. Least satisfactory of all, the whole subject 

 of comparing observed with tabulated spectra is far too 

 cursorily dealt with to be of real value to the practical 

 student. 



In various theoretical matters, such as the relationship 

 of the lines of an element to each other, the subject- 

 matter is well up to date ; but, as already hinted, the 

 astronomical applications are scarcely touched upon. 



The illustrations call for little remark. Most of them 

 are well-worn, and we especially regret that the author 

 has seen fit to prolong the life of the feeble map of the 

 solar spectrum on p. 187, which so inadequately represents 

 Fraunhofer's beautiful original. 



Tabellarische Uebersicht der Mineralien nach ihren 

 krystallographisch-chemischen Beziehungen geordnet. 

 Vierte Aufiage. By P. Groth. (Braunschweig, 1898.) 



The fourth edition of the well-known tables of the Munich 

 Professor closely resembles its predecessor in appear- 

 ance and in general character, but has in reaUty been 

 considerably modified. Each well-define d mineral group 

 is now mtroduced by a general discussion of the chemical 



