^o 



NA TURE 



{Nov. lo, 1887 



students the methods of teaching so well introduced and 

 so thoroughly carried out in the laboratory at South 

 Kensington, the birth-place of the modern English school 

 of morphological botany. It now remains for one of our 

 competent younger botanists to prepare a course of 

 practical instruction in the physiology of plants, intro- 

 ducing the experiments employed in our best laboratories ; 

 and there are signs that such a volume will meet with a 

 hearty welcome from students of botany in this country. 

 The importance of the subject needs no comment. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



A Chapter in the History of Meteorites. By the late 

 Walter Flight, D.Sc, F.R.S. (London : Dulau and 

 Co., 1887.) 



This work, though left incomplete by the early death of 

 its author, will be found of great service by all who are 

 interested in meteoric studies. The first 144 pages were 

 printed off twelve years ago, and were thus safely beyond 

 revision. The rest of the work has been revised, and the 

 whole has been prepared for press, by editors who, per- 

 haps wisely, have chosen to be anonymous : their part of 

 the task we may dismiss with the remark that it appears 

 to have been executed with at least ordinary care. The 

 task of the author has been to give a brief summary of the 

 memoirs which have been published relative to meteorites 

 since the year 1868, and thus to furnish an appendix to 

 the work of Buchner. To collectors of meteorites such a 

 convenient summary of memoirs, themselves scattered 

 over a wide range of periodicals, chiefly foreign, is in- 

 valuable. There are seven plates and six woodcuts : 

 the frontispiece is an excellent engraving of Chladni, who 

 did so much to compel men of science to recognize the 

 reality of meteoric falls. There is also a hand-painted 

 picture of the wonderful meteorite of Busti, in which two 

 minerals new to terrestrial mineralogy were discovered by 

 Maskelyne. In an introduction there is a short sketch of 

 the life and work of the author. Only 240 copies have been 

 printed ; the proceeds of their sale are to be added to 

 the Flight Memorial Fund, which at present amounts 



A Hand-book for Steam Users. By M. Powis Bale, 

 M.I. JVI.E., A.M.I. C.E. (London: Longmans, 1887,) 



Mr. Bale's little hand-book supplies a want long felt by 

 steam users. Its contents are entirely of a practical 

 nature, and the technical terms used are very properly 

 those of the ordinary mechanic. The book embraces the 

 whole of the many duties of the engine-driver and fireman, 

 and explains to them what to do, and what not to do, under 

 varying circumstances. The arrangement of the informa- 

 tion is simple and effective, the writer evidently knowing 

 how to get at the understanding of those for whom the 

 book is written. 



The information and rules given are eminently 

 practical, and will prove very useful to those steam 

 users who do not pretend to be engineers. In the 

 preface we are told that the author has for many 

 years urged the necessity of a compulsory system of 

 boiler inspection, and of granting certificates of com- 

 petency to those having boilers under their charge. In 

 this we entirely agree, and we trust the time is not 

 far distant when Parliament will establish a system of 

 examination similar to that of marine engineers, under 

 the control of the Board of Trade for all who have charge 

 of stationary boilers and engines, as well as locomotives. 

 Michael Reynolds, the author of several books on the 

 practical working of steam-engines, has long advocated 



the introduction of certificates of competency for locomo- 

 tive drivers and firemen. Their duties are as arduous 

 and responsible as those of the marine engineer, and yet 

 this fine class of men is entirely recruited from the lower 

 grades employed in the locomotive running sheds and 

 works, and their promotion generally depends on years of 

 service on the footplate. 



Students of steam and mechanical engineering will here 

 find information which, although not generally taught in 

 the lecture-rooms, will indicate some of the many points 

 an ordinary engine-driver has to be thoroughly acquainted 

 with. N. J. L. 



Vol. VI. (Part II.) 



The Encyclopcedic Dictionary. 

 (London : Cassell and Co., 18J 



The special characteristic of this work is that the com- 

 pilers have tried to make it combine some of the 

 advantages of an encyclopaedia with all the advantages 

 of a dictionary. The result, upon the whole, is very 

 satisfactory. The information given in the encyclo- 

 paedic part of the work is not, of course, sufficient 

 for students ; but it will meet the wants of readers 

 who may wish to obtain a concise and trustworthy 

 account of any subject in which they happen to be 

 interested. Special attention is devoted to the various 

 branches of science, and scientific terms are very care- 

 fully defined and explained. So far as we have been 

 able to test the volume of which this is the second part, 

 we have found it in all respects equal to the preceding 

 volumes. 



A Treatise on the Principle of Sufficient Reason : a 

 Psychological Theory of Reasoning, showing the 

 Relativity of Thought to the Thiftker, of Recognition 

 to Cognition, the Identity of Presentation and Repre- 

 sentation, of Perception and Apperception. By Mrs. 

 P. F. Fitzgerald. (London ; Thomas Laurie, 1887.) 



This is neither a treatise nor has it anything particularly 

 to do with the principle of the sufficient reason, or with the 

 philosophical views mentioned in the second title. It is 

 rather a kaleidoscope of phrases, original and otherwise, 

 that have apparently from time to time touched the 

 author's fancy, and are now vaguely but gratefully 

 remembered to have once possessed a meaning for her. 

 Quotations from Ouida, Plato, Lord Dundreary, and 

 other philosophical authorities,, are tossed together im- 

 partially, without apparent purpose except to fill 400 

 pages ; and though some reference is made occasionally 

 to opinions said to be held by the author, such reference 

 is nearly always too vague to show what the opinions 

 really ai-e. Only the hard-hearted can find even amuse- 

 ment in the book. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he tuider- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the 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 pressure on his space 

 is so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the 

 appearance even of communications containing interesting 

 and novel facts. 1 



" Infusorial Earth." 

 The following letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Royal 

 Society, has been forwarded to us for publication : — 



Foreign Office, October 27, 1887. 

 Sir, — I am directed by the Marquess of Salisbury to state to 

 you, for the information of the President and Fellows of the 



