266 



NA TURE 



\Feb. 3, 1876 



number of hypothetical scenes illustrating the fauna and 

 flora of the past, as well as several phylogenetic trees. 



Le Valhalla des Sciences Pures ct Appliquecs.galerie com- 

 memorative ct succursale du conservatoire des Arts et 

 Metiers de Paris, a cr^ct dans le Palais NeuJ de Man- 

 sart, an Chateau de Blois. Par le C®. Ldopold Hugo. 

 (Paris, 1875.) 

 The four names of Watt, Fulton, Stephenson, and Denis 

 Papin, inscribed on the roof of the railway station at Blois, 

 suggest a train of thought to the author in connection 

 with the triumphs of steam and its applications. Having 

 previously described the Chateau de Blois, the writer 

 puts forward a proposal (sometimes he calls it a dream) 

 to turn the now abandoned chateau into a noble valhalla 

 of science. A principal feature is a statue of Papin (born 

 at Elois about 1650) ; there should be also statues of 

 other scientific writers of all time and climes, appropriate 

 inscriptions, portraits on the walls, and representations of 

 interesting scenes in the history of science, chambers 

 for the exhibition of models and instruments, a sci- 

 entific library, and other mattes. So his dream is to 

 make this a Versailles of science. A classification of the 

 sciences and a plan close this part of the pamphlet. 

 We do not, however, concern ourselves here with this 

 proposal or dream or whatnot, but pass on to a brief 

 glance at the three appendices. The first is " Definition 

 de la double-tendance Philosophique de la Science.'' 

 Noting the objects the "immortal" Bacon had in view in 

 his New Atlantis, he applies himself to the consideration 

 of what is the classification that we can make of the 

 sciences, and combats Auguste Comte's arrangement 

 according to the increasing complexity which appears 

 inherent in them. In our author's eyes all sciences have 

 the same complex character (caractere de complication) 

 either virtually or actually. Comte begins with mathe- 

 matics, Hugo exalts them to a high place : " L'interet 

 philosophique des sciences mathdmatiques est de marcher 

 a la rencontre des sciences naturelles. II n'y a rien la qui 

 ressemble a une subordination des certaines sciences." 

 The second is " Examen gdometrique sommaire des orbites 

 plandtaires (ovhelites)." The writer remarks that recent dis- 

 coveries in Astronomy have pointed to a new movement 

 of the solar system in space, hence the orbit or trajectory 

 of our planets is not a plane curve. This orbit is a helicoidal 

 curve with an elliptical or oval projection. Hence ov-hdl-ite. 

 In the geometrical description of such a curve we must 

 indicate whether the ti'ace is dextrorsmn or sinistrorsiiin. 

 The ovhdHtes of the planets and of the earth are geo- 

 metrically traced sinistrorsnm. In this paper, which was 

 originally communicated to the Mathematical Society of 

 Paris, the author states the theorem " Les ovht^lites pland- 

 tairessont tracdes sur les cylindres h, section droite ellip- 

 tique (sauf perturbation) ou du moins ovalaire. Une des 

 lignes focales des susdites ovhdlites est commune ; cette 

 ligne est la trajectoire solaire." The third appendix is "' Base 

 scientifique de la numeration ddcimale." We will again let 

 the Count speak for himself, "Je propose aujourd'hui 

 d'utiliser une des plus anciennes et des plus curieuses 

 theories de la gdomdtrie, restde jusqu'a ce jour sans emploi, 

 pour dtabhr un lien entre la g^omdtrie et rarilhmetique, 

 en donnant comme base a cette derniere science un noiiibre 

 absolu ct eternel." The five regular solids were treated 

 of by Pythagoras. Cauchy and Poinsot have added to 

 these four stellated polyhedra. " En y joignant k mon 

 t'Our la sphere (qui est le regulier infinioidique) j 'arrive k 

 constituer gdomdtriquement le nombre infranchissable de 

 Dix." Thus we see there is a resemblance between the 

 nine digits and zero on the one hand and the nine regular 

 polyhedra and the sphere on the other. Further, there is 

 a curious feature, there are five primes among these, and 

 there are five regular convex solids. Such then is " la con- 

 ception philosophique et vraiment scientifique du nombre 

 fondamental dix." After two thousand years we have 

 arrived at an application of the theory of the regular 



figures, there is hope also of establishing a rival to 

 Euclid. A commission was appointed in March of last 

 year to pronounce upon the Hugodecimal theory. " De 

 la propridtd rdguliire essentielle de I'espace, de I'absolu 

 rdgulier, avoir fait jaillir le nombre dix !" These are 

 the principal points of interest in the pamphlet. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ Tht Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.'] 



The Article "Birds" in "Encyclopaedia Britannica " 



In reply to Prof. Huxley's letter of last week with reference 

 to my review of the article "Birds" in the " Encyclopcfidii 

 Britannica," I may mention that it is to the illustrious Nitzsch, 

 as far as I am aware, that we owe the combination of the 

 Swifts and the Humming Birds into a single family. Bur- 

 meister's edition of Nitzsch's " Pterylography " was published 

 in 1840, and in Mr. St;later's translation of tiiat invaluable work 

 (p. 86) we read, under the heading Macrochires, " In this 

 family I place the two genera, Cypsehu and Tiochilus, ^which 

 indeed present but little external similarity, but are very nearly 

 allied in the structure of their wings." 



In 1867, the year in which Prof. Huxley promulgated his 

 Classification of Birds, the palatal structure of the Humming 

 Birds was imperfectly known, as may be gathered from the fol- 

 lowing passage in his memoir * with reference to the Cypselo- 

 morpha; : — "The vomer is truncated at the anterior end, and 

 the maxillo-palatines are slender and disposed nearly as in the 

 typical Coracomorphse (J Trochiliis)." I believe that, at that 

 time, no accurate account of it had bsen given by anyone. 



When, in 1873, after I thought that I had fairly mastered 

 Prof. Huxley's classification, Mr. Parker kindly mformed me 

 verbally that from his investigations on the subject he had dis- 

 covered that the vomer of the Trochilidae is sharp-pointed in- 

 stead of being truncated. Upon re-reading Prof. Huxley's data for 

 his division of Carinate birds in the Schizognathse and the Des- 

 mognath^, in both which groups the vomer is pointed (or not 

 ossified), and the Aegithognathre, in which the vomer is trun- 

 cated, I naturally was led to see, as Mr. Parker has since stated 

 in print,t that the Trochilidse are not Aegithognathous, but 

 Schizognathous ; and I further inferred, justly I believe, that if 

 Prof. Huxley had, in 1867, known that the vomer of the 

 Humming Birds is sharp-pointed instead of being truncated, he 

 would never have placed the Trochilidae among the Aegithog- 

 nathce, for in so doing he would have been compelled to have 

 given up the only common character of any importance which 

 links together that group. When, therefore, I say in my re- 

 view that "Professors Huxley and Parker place them [the 

 Swifts and the Humming Birds] in quite different divisions," 

 there can be no objection to my mcluding Prof. Huxley's name 

 with that of Mr. Parker in a general remark which is so fully 

 borne out by the spirit of the classification introduced by the 

 first and adopted by the second of these illustrious biologists. 



That Prof. Huxley did, in 1867, adopt Nitzsch's combination 

 of the Swifts with the Humming Birds, I would not attempt to 

 deny, but then the palatal structure of the latter sub-family was 

 not correctly known. 



10, Ilarley Street A. H. Garrod 



The Difficulties of the Public Analysts 



Having for some time past watched with painful interest the 

 prosecutions under the new Adulteration Act, and seeing very 

 clearly that whatever may be its success or failure in reference to 

 its intended object, this Act of Parliament is becoming eminently 

 successful in bringing chemical science into contempt, I am 

 gla 1 to see that you have taken up the subject in the columns of 

 Nature. I hope that it will be freely discussed. It may be 

 safely affirmed that in the majority of cases where the vendor has 

 made an effort to defend himself he has been able to flatly and 

 positively contradict the certificate of the public analyst by 

 counter-certiticates of other analysts of equal or superior emi- 

 nence. The butter case you have quoted is no exception, but 

 may be taken as about a typical or average sample of such 

 prosecutions. If this deplorable state of things is to continue, 



* Proc. Zoolog. Soc 1867, p. 468. 

 t Trans. Zoolog. Soc. vol. ix. p. 292. 



