36o 



NATURE 



[March 7, 1878 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



The spectroscope and its Wdrk. By Richard A. Proctor. 



Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. (London : 



1877.) 

 In a little work of 127 pp. Mr. Proctor has clearly and 

 logically explained the principles of the science of 

 spectroscopy, and has given a sketch of the main results 

 of spectroscopic research into the nature of the sun, stars, 

 and nebulae. 



One of the features of this book is, we think, the logical 

 manner in which the principles of spectroscopic analysis 

 are developed from the facts gained by observation and 

 experiment ; the steps of the various reasonings are 

 succinctly but clearly stated ; this is a point of much 

 importance. In too many so-called scientific text-books 

 there is a loose and illogical method of connect- 

 ing facts, and conclusions drawn from these facts ; by 

 the perusal of such books the general reader is either 

 strengthened in his prejudged conviction that science 

 teaching is of little or no value as a mental exercise, or 

 he is taught, often almost unconsciously, to believe that 

 the generalisations of science and the facts of science rest 

 upon exactly the same evidence. Another feature in Mr. 

 Proctor's little book is the adoption, necessarily to but a 

 limited extent, of the method of historically developing 

 the facts of the science of which he treats. The leading 

 steps in the history of the most important advances in 

 spectroscopy are traced, frequently by quotation from the 

 classical memoirs of the great workers in the science. 



The book is divided into eight chapters, headed respec- 

 tively " Analysis of Light," " Dark Spaces in the Spec- 

 trum," " Various Order of Spectra," " Interpretation of 

 Solar Spectrum," " Solar Prominences, &c.," " Spectra of 

 Stars, &c.," "Atmospheric Lines in Solar Spectrum," 

 " Measuring Motions of Recession and Approach." 



Whether as an introduction to the fuller study of 

 spectroscopic analysis, or as a work from which the 

 general reader may gain a clear, and, so far as it goes, 

 complete view of the science, Mr. Proctor's work is 

 deserving of the warmest recommendation. 



M. M. Pattison Muir 



The Great Thirst Land; a Ride throiioh Natal, Orange 

 Free State, Transvaal^ and Kalahari Desert. By Parker 

 Gillmore. (London : Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.) 

 Captain Gillmore's work is disappointing. The title 

 suggests Major Butler's " Great Lone Land," but the 

 result of a comparison of the two works would not be 

 very favourable to Capt. Gillmore's. He has nothing 

 new to tell the geographer, and many of the hunting 

 stories are comparatively tame. The work is unneces- 

 sarily large, and could with advantage be compressed to 

 half its present size. Still there are a number of obser- 

 vations on the Boers and the natives which will interest 

 many, and there are a few good lion stories. The book is 

 handsomely got up. 



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 tlie writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The press/ire on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible othendse to ensure the appearance cve>> of com- 

 ■iiiiinications containing interesting and novel facts. \ 



Strychnia and its Antidote 



The following circumstance I think worth noticing. Wanting 

 to banish some mice from a pantry, I placed on the floor at night 

 a slice of bread spread over with butter in which I had mixed a 

 threepenny packet of " Battle's vermin killer," vh'ch contains 



about a grain of strychnia along with flour and prussian blue. 

 The following morning I was roused by a servant telling me that 

 a favourite skye terrier was lying dead. I found that the mice 

 had dragged the slice of bread underneath the locked door and 

 that the dog had thus got at it and eaten part equal to about 

 one-sixth of a grain of strychnia ; it lay on its side perfectly rigid ; 

 an occasional tetanic spasm showed that life was not quite 

 extinct. Having notes of the experiments made by direction of 

 the British Medical Association last year, on the antagonism of 

 medicines, and wherein it was conclusively proved that a fatal 

 dose of strychnia could be neutralised by a fatal dose of chloral 

 hydrate, and that the minimum fatal dose of the latter for a 

 rabbit was twenty-one grains, I at once injected under the dog's 

 skin forty-five grains of the chloral in solution, my dog being 

 about twice the weight of a rabbit. In a quarter of an hour 

 fancying the dog was dead, as the spasms had ceased and it lay 

 apparently lifeless, I moved it with my foot, when it at once 

 struggled to its feet and shortly after staggered to its usual 

 corner by the parlour fire ; it took some milk, and except for 

 being quieter than usual seemed nothing the worse for the ordeal 

 it had passed through. 



That the fatal effects of a poisonous dose of strychnia was thus 

 counteracted so successfully by what I should say was a poisonous 

 dose of chloral, given hypodermically, is an interesting fact veri- 

 fying the experiments I alluded to. Without such experiments on 

 the lower animals, a medical man might often be found standing 

 by helpless to aid his fellow-man under similar effects of poison. 



Sudbury, Suffolk, February 27 J. Sinclair Holden 



Age of the Sun in Relation to Evolution 



I THINK I may be permitted to point out that Dr. Croll has 

 missed what I had intended to be the main feature of my criticism 

 of his article on the " Age of the Sun in Relation to Evolution." 

 I should therefore wish to reiterate that, in his theory, he takes 

 no account of the proper motions of the stars in space. If 

 it be true that suns or stars have been formed by the collision of 

 bodies possessed of great energy, proper motion can be none 

 other than the unused and unconverted energy of the oiiginal 

 components. Supposing the forces, before impact, to be equal 

 and opposite in direction, there can be no misunderstanding 

 that the result will be the entire convertion of the " motion 

 of translation to molecular motion," i.e., heat ; but this, ac- 

 cording to the law of chances, must be of exceedingly 

 rare occurrence. Yet, from our knowledge of the motions of 

 the stars in space, this, or something very like this, has in- 

 variably occurred. Surely here is a reductio ad absnrdutn. In 

 conclusion I will merely state that I have never yet claimed to 

 have suggested a theory reconciling the age of the sun with 

 prevailing opinions in geological science or with the hypothesis 

 of evolution. Having felt the difficulty, I have endeavoured in 

 some measure to stretch the interval wherein thesa may have had 

 time to effect their changes, but I have not claimed to have suc- 

 ceeded to the desired extent. I am not, therefore, interested in 

 replying to the former part of Dr. Croll's letter, and indeed, 

 with certain minor reservations, have no hesitation in subscribing 

 to it. John J. Plummer 



Orwell Dene, Nacton, February 28 



The Zoological Station at Naples 



Permit me to correct some statements made in Nature, 

 vol. xvii. p. 329. The small steam launch was given to the 

 Zoological Station by the Berlin Academy of Science, in 

 exchange for a working table in the laboratory, which is to be 

 placed at the disposal of the Academy for ten years. The 

 Prussian government subscribed 300/. towards the expenses of 

 the launch, which was built by IVIessrs. J. Thornycroft, Cliurch 

 Wharf, Chiswick, and has proved an excellent little craft. 



As to the publications of the Zoological station, the Prodronnc 

 Fatmce Meditcrranem will be a compendium of all the species 

 hitherto observed in the Mediterranean, and recorded in scien- 

 tific works. Its publication is mainly intended to facilitate the 

 nomenclature of the chief work, the " Fauna and Flora of the 

 Gulf of Naples and the Neighbouring Seas," which is to appear in 

 monographs. The Prodromus has been undertaken by Prof. T. 

 Victor Carus, whose great knowledge both of zoological litera- 

 ture and classification will answer its exactitude and completeness 



The first monograph to be published is noton the ElanophoriC, 



