January 12, 191 i] 



NATURE 



335 



The book is written in the form of letters from a 



arse to her patient. It is intended for the laity. 



iie instructions are practical and the teaching is in 



.cord with the modern school of obstetrics. 



It is questionable what advantage is gained by pre- 



- nting medical subjects in this way, but if women 

 • to be supplied with information on these subjects 

 could not be better given. 



The book is of handy size, and it is supplied with 

 1 index. The type is good. 



iie Modern Geometry of the Triangle. By W. 



(jallatly. Pp. 70. (London : F. Hodgson, n.d.) 



Price 2S. 6d. 



The principal novelties in this tract are the chapters 



1 the orthopole (with some original propositions by 



e author) and on orthogonal projection (mostly after 



rof. Neuberg). A pretty theorem in the latter is that 



! equilateral triang^Ies in a given plane project upon 



lother plane into triangles having the same Brocard 



i^le. The other four chapters discuss various kinds 



coordinates, the Lemoine and Brocard points, pedal 



;d anti-pedal triangles, the medial triangle, and the 



>impson line. No reference is made to the Tucker 



circles, or to Kiepert's hyperbola; even the Brocard 



circle is unmentioned, so the tract is deficient, even 



as 1 summary of the most important parts of the 



subject. A rather irritating- feature is that the symbol 



i> used for two entirely different purposes ; this might 



silv have been avoided. Perhaps the figures will be 



and as useful as anvthing in the tract, for although 



ey are not particularly good, they are drawn so 



at the special points are far enough apart, which 



^ not ver\' easy to contrive when a student is drawing 



4ures for himself. M. 



1 aid Appell : Bwgraphie, Bibliographie analytique des 

 Ecrits. By Ernest Lebon. Pp. viii + 71. (Paris: 

 Gauthier-Villars, 1910.) Price 7 francs. 



This volume is the latest addition to the excellent 



- ries of biographies published under the general title, 

 Savants du Jour," to which attention has been 



directed on several occasions in these columns. The 

 brochure maintains the high character of the series. 

 A biography of Prof. Appell, in which an interest- 

 ig account of his early experiences during the siege 

 : Strasburg, where he was born in 1855, is followed 

 an exhaustive list of the academic distinctions, 

 onorary titles, prizes, and decorations which have 

 en conferred upon him during his strenuous life. 

 lis work in mathematical, analysis was eulogised by 

 M. Charles Hermite in 1889, on the occasion of 

 Prof. Appell's receiving a gold medal at a conference 

 "esided over by King Oscar II. ; and the appreciation 

 here printed. M. Gaston Darboux's account of the 

 -.earches in geometry-, for which Prof. .Appell re- 

 ived the Bordin prize of the Paris Academy of 

 iences, is also included in the volume. A com- 

 lete list of the papers and addresses of the subject 

 : the biography completes what is a valuable record. 



Flower Anthology. Selected and illustrated by 

 -Alfred Rawlings. Pp. iv+163. (London: Philip 

 Lee Warner, 19 10.) Price 5s. net. 



HE quotations in this collection have been selected 

 om the works of many well-known poets, but more 

 specially from Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Herrick, 

 haucer, and Keats. 



The poems have been classified roughly into those 

 aling with the seasons of the year, and the changes 

 ' the animal and vegetable world associated with 

 nem. We are glad to see Edmund Spenser's "The 

 'ageant of the Year," which gives a fine description 

 nd picture of nature in the different seasons and 

 onths. 



NO. 2150, VOL. 85] 



The illustrations form a pleasing addition to the 

 volume, which should meet with the approval of alt 

 lovers of poetr)'. The book is, moreover, very taste- 

 fully bound. 



Hazell's Annual for 191 1. A Record of the Men and 

 Movements of the Time. Edited by Hammond Hall. 

 Pp. lix + 592. (London : Hazell, VVatson and Viney, 

 Ltd.) Price 3s. 6d. net. 

 The twenty-si.xth issue of this useful reference annual 

 is so much uf>-to-date that it contains a biographical 

 list of members of the new HouSe of Commons. So 

 varied are the contents of the volume that it will 

 appeal to workers in most spheres of human activity. 

 The man of science will find, among other useful 

 contents, articles on scientific progress in 19 10, aerial 

 navigation in 1910, Imperial research, scientific insti- 

 tutions, higher education, forestry, and afforestation, 

 agriculture, and daylight saving. It is remarkable 

 how much information has been packed into a small 

 space. 



Plant Anatomy from the Standpoint of the Develop- 

 ment and Functions of the Tissues and Handbook 

 of Micro-technic. By Prof. W. C. Stevens. Second 

 edition. Pp. xv + 379. (London : J. and A. 

 Churchill, 1910.) Price los. 6d. net. 

 The first edition of Prof. Stevens's work was reviewed 

 in Nature for July 9, 1908 (vol. Ixxviii., p. 219). The 

 present issue has been enlarged by the addition of a 

 chapter on reproduction, and the volume has been 

 revised generally. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The 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 intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Recent Earthquakes in Asia. 



I AM informed by Mr. G. W. Walker, superintendent of 

 Eskdalemuir Observatory, that the records of the seismo- 

 graph according to the design of Prince Boris Galitzine, 

 which was recently presented by Dr. Arthur Schuster to 

 the observatory, give the positions of the epicentres of 

 the recent earthquakes in Asia as follows : — 



January- i, lat. 36!° N., long. 66° E. 



January 3-4, lat. 42° X., long. 77° E. 



The first place is in the Hindu Kush range of 

 .Afghanistan, north-west of Cabul. The second is in the 

 north-east of Turkestan, near its junction with the Chinese 

 and Russian Empires. W. N. Shaw. 



Meteorological Office, South Kensington, 

 London, S.W., January 9. 



As it is unusual for the Kew magnetographs to be 

 affected by earthquakes, it seems worth mentioning that 

 on the occasion of the Turkestan earthquake, near mid- 

 night (G.M.T.) of January 3, both the declination and 

 horizontal force traces show unmistakable effects. The 

 magnets oscillated in a way characteristic of mechanical 

 shocks. .According to our Milne seismograph, the pre- 

 liminary seismic tremors reached Kew about n.35 p.m., 

 and the large wav-es about 11.47 pni., when the limits of 

 registration were exceeded for a minute or so. There was 

 then a comparative lull until about 11.54, when the limits 

 of registration were again exceeded, and these very large 

 movements continued with short interludes for more than 

 fifteen minutes. 



The apparent times of commencement of the oscillatory 

 magnetic movements are about 11.53 •" ^^^ declination 

 and 11.55 '" the horizontal force curves, and for four or 

 five minutes the oscillations were so continuous that no' 



