NATURE 



[May 3, 1888 



feel secure that in the new Tay Bridge of Mr. Barlow, 

 as well as in all recent structures, ample allowance of 

 strength is provided for against the effect of wind. 



The book is copiously illustrated with excellent dia- 

 grams of real practice in the construction of bridges, 

 based on the theories of the text, and should prove not 

 only an indispensable hand-book of the practical en- 

 gineer, but also a stimulating treatise to the student of 

 mathematical mechanics and elasticity. 



A. G. Greenhill. 



TWO FRENCH BOOKS. 

 Les Pygmies. Par A. de Quatrefages. 

 Les Ancetres de nos Animaux, dans les Temps Geologiques. 



Par Albert Gaudry. (Paris : J. B. Bailliere et Fils, 



1887-88.) 



r I ' HESE two works form two volumes of Bailliere et 

 •*-» Fils' " Bibliotheque Scientifique Contemporaine." 

 The first, by the eminent Professor of Anthropology at 

 the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, treats of the Pygmies, 

 a diminutive race of mankind known to the ancients, 

 alluded to by Homer, insisted upon as really existing by 

 Aristotle, next believed to be but myths, and now estab- 

 lished as a veritable race of the human kind. The author 

 accepts for them the terms, suggested by Hamy, of 

 Negritos and Negrilles, the latter being confined to the 

 African Pygmies, and the former to those of the Asiatic 

 Isles. 



Avowedly a compilation, this little volume has all the 

 peculiar charm that distinguishes Prof. Quatrefages* 

 writings, and abounds with much curious and interesting 

 details. The first chapter treats of the Pygmies from an 

 historic point of view ; the second, third, and fourth, of 

 the Negritos, they being exclusively insular. The Negritos 

 are to be found in New Guinea, and 'all over the Mela- 

 nesian Archipelago, as far as Fiji ; but, while the typical 

 Negrito is confined to this area, conquest, emigration, 

 and slavery have spread the race to Timor, Ceram, Bouro, 

 Gilolo, to the western shores of Borneo, and so to other 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean. Northwards they can be 

 traced to the Carolines, and southwards to New Zealand 

 where they preceded the Maoris. Mr.* Ten Kate reports a 

 Melanesian skull found in the little Isle of Santo Spiritu, 

 off the coast of California. To the northwards they can 

 be traced to the Loochoo Isles, Formosa, &c, while 

 their western limits seem to be the Nicobar and Andaman 

 Islands. 



The question of the mixing of races on the borders 

 of their distribution is discussed, and a good deal of 

 recent information on this subject is given. The various 

 modifications dependent on the wide range of distribution 

 are also investigated, and the manners and habits of the 

 several groups are described at some length. Good copies 

 of photographs of native heads and figures are appended. 



Chapter VI. treats of the Negrilles, or African Pygmies, 

 the details of the Akkas, Tobbo and Chairallah, reared 

 in Italy by Count Miniscalchi Erizzo being full of 

 interest. The last chapter is devoted to the Bushmen 

 of the Cape, and in connection with them' there is an 

 account of the Hottentots. The volume has thirty-one 

 figures intercalated with the text. 



The second work is by an equally well-known writer, 

 — though of a very different school from that of Prof. 

 Quatrefages — Prof. Albert Gaudry, also a Member of the 

 Institute, and the Professor of Palaeontology at the 

 Museum. Well known for his able writings, and for 

 his liberal and modern views on science, he has in this 

 little volume given us a most delightful account of his 

 ideas on the origin and development of the Mammalia 

 during geological time. The volume begins with a 

 chapter on the history of the progress of palaeonto- 

 logy, followed by one on evolution and Darwinism. 

 Though a disciple of D'Archiac, who was a strong op- 

 ponent of Darwin's views, Prof. Gaudry read " The Origin 

 of Species" with the most passionate admiration, and his 

 labours since then have very materially helped to com- 

 plete the palaeontological record. The third chapter is 

 devoted to the subject of the evolution of the Mammalia 

 in geologic time ; the fourth introduces us to the author's 

 researches at Pikermi, where, as he tells us, he spent 

 some of the most pleasurable moments of his life, en- 

 gaged in excavating the remains of the quadrupeds which 

 in times long ago roamed at liberty over the plains of 

 Greece. Here were found an assemblage of animals 

 of large size, such as has never been found before within 

 so limited an area. Beautiful figures of many of these 

 are given, and their relations to existing forms are ex- 

 plained. In another chapter we find an account of similar 

 researches carried on at Ldberon, near Cucuron (Vau- 

 cluse), where the remains were chiefly those of Herbivores, 

 and an interesting table is added of the succession of 

 the terrestrial Mammalia in France during the Tertiary 

 period. In a concluding chapter there are some short 

 sketches of the well-known palaeontologists of the 

 Museum : Alcide D'Orbigny, D'Archiac, Edouard Lartet, 

 followed by a description of the fine new gallery for 

 fossil forms at the Museum. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Elements of Graphical Arithmetic and Graphical 

 Statics. By John Y. Gray and George Lowson, M.A. 

 (London and Glasgow : W. Collins, Sons, and Co., 

 1888.) 



In the year 1871, Prof. Crofton, F.R.S., explained before 

 the London Mathematical Society his diagrams illus- 

 trative of the stresses in Warren and lattice girders, and 

 in the course of his remarks said that he had not found 

 anything to help him in English text-books, and referred 

 to papers by Profs. Rankine and Clerk-Maxwell. It was 

 at this meeting (April 13) that Prof. Henrici drew atten- 

 tion to a work then little known in this country, viz. 

 Culmann's " Graphische Statik " — " l'excellente ' Graph- 

 ische Statik' de M. Culmann" (Prof. Cremona) — and 

 showed that Prof. Crofton's constructions had been 

 anticipated and the methods applied to a very wide 

 range of subjects. On this occasion also Prof. Henrici 

 illustrated the subject by a simple and ingenious 

 notation. He subsequently drew up an abstract of 

 Culmann's work (1866), which was printed in the 

 Appendix to vol. iii. of the above-named Society's Pro- 

 ceedings (pp. 320-22). The work is now well known, and 

 its methods are very generally employed by engineers, 

 and are the subject of lectures in more than one of our 

 Colleges. 



The object of the book before us is to give an element- 

 ary account of the fundamental principles of the subject 



