March i, 1888J 



NATURE 



411 



LIVING LIGHTS. 

 Living Lights : a Popular Account of Phosphorescent 

 Animals and Vegetables. By C. F. Holder. (London : 

 Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1887.) 



THIS pleasant volume of 167 pages is intended foryoung 

 students of science, " their unscientific elders, and 

 the boys and girls in general who have not yet had their 

 interest aroused in Nature's works." The field covered is 

 very wide, and the book is truly Germanic in its meander- 

 ings. The author would appear to be under the spell of 

 those who " not only know all that is known by other 

 people, but also all that they themselves imagine, which 

 nobody else can possibly know." When it is said that 

 the results obtained by the expeditions of the Challenger, 

 Talisman, Albatross, Travailleur, and Magenta, are in- 

 corporated, no one can raise the charge of antiquity. 

 The author discusses all possible sides of his subject^ 

 from luminous man to cosmic dust in its relation to 

 sun-glow and even luminous paint itself, which was, 

 as is well known, anticipated by the Chinese (oh, Mr. 

 Balmain !). It must not, however, be imagined that the 

 volume is a mere compilation. Quite the reverse ; for, 

 while the author embodies much that is original, he incor- 

 porates manuscript notes, placed at his disposal by our 

 veteran Gosse, and by luminologists such as Giglioli, 

 Dubois, and others. 



Technicalities are for the most part relegated to an 

 appendix, with full references to authorities ; the result 

 being that while the book, as a whole, furnishes the 

 specialist with a work of reference the body of it is 

 rendered assimilable by the feeblest tyro. The subject 

 is introduced by a consideration of the bottom of 

 the ocean, which the author naively terms the "lower 

 firmament " — an idea which he elaborates in the subse- 

 quent chapters, treating of "meteors*' and "fixed lumin- 

 aries" of the sea. We meet with many friends of our 

 youth, such as, for example, M. de Tessan's well-worn 

 picture of the phosphorescent sea at Simon's Town, with 

 its accompanying description. 



By way of relieving monotony, anecdotes and similes 

 are freely intercalated with the text. Some of the latter 

 are very happy, as, for example, the comparison drawn 

 between the blind-man and the Bathypterus (p. 92). On 

 p. 13 we read : " By having a companion to keep up a 

 continuous motion of the (luminous) water, I have almost 

 been able to read the print of a newspaper by the light of 

 these disintegrated (animal) forms " — a literal stern reality 

 this, sufficient to break the heart of a Ruskin. 



The author appears to be suffering under a phos- 

 phorescence mania. He leads off with the rather extra- 

 vagant statement, " Among the revelations of modern 

 science none have a more absorbing interest than 

 those relating to the illumination of the deep sea." He 

 is, moreover, a genuine enthusiast, and, like all such, 

 sees the salvation of his race in his own hobby, for he 

 gives it as his opinion (p. 41) that "the discovery of the 

 secret of phosphorescence, and its practical application 

 to the wants of mankind, would result in revolutionizing 

 present systems ; a heatless, inexpensive, inex-tinguishable 

 light being the perfection of possibilities in this direction." 

 Similar sentiments are expressed in the peroration : these 

 we commend to^the physicist. 



The book is exceedingly well got up, and illustrated by 

 twenty-six plates, most of which have been especially 

 designed for it. One of these, representing the now 

 famous giant Pyrosoma of the Challenger, in size propor- 

 tionate to that of a man, is especially striking, and the 

 publishers have, very properly, reproduced it on the 

 cover. We would, however, suggest that, in the case of 

 sponges and corals more especially, the animals them- 

 selves, and not their mere skeletons, should be delineated ; 

 the course here adopted is too suggestive of a " matching " 

 of ordinary museum specimens for the sake of effect. 

 Here and there we note a looseness of style and expres- 

 sion such as is frequently met with in a first issue. 

 The book— strictly a general treatise on luminosity — is a 

 conscientious exposition of a fascinating subject, sound 

 though superficial, and in no sense sensational. We 

 wish it success. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Food Adulteration and its Detection. By J. P. Batters- 

 hall, Ph.D., F.C.S. (New York : Spon, 1887.) 



The most striking points of this book are the photo- 

 graphic reproductions of various food-stuffs : starch- 

 grains, fat-crystals, also margarine, milk, tea-leaves, &c. 

 In the introduction Dr. Battershall laments the general 

 inefficient state of the law in America, which would 

 apply very much more forcibly to us, regarding adultera- 

 tion. 



The author does very good service in his introduction, 

 drawing attention to the statistics of recent adulteration. 

 From one table, taken from the work of the Public 

 Analysts' Society in England, it appears the percentage of 

 adulteration has not decreased in any appreciable degree, 

 having been iS'io per cent, in 1875-76, and 17*47 ii"^ 1880, 

 and i6'4 in 1883. The Annual Report of the New York 

 City Board of Health for 1885 furnishes some statistics 

 of adulteration which are by no means pleasant, and show 

 a not very high commercial morality, although the majority 

 are said not to be injurious adulterations — merely fraudu- 

 lent. The author is quite right when he says " that attempts 

 to awaken public interest in the subject are only of real 

 service as they are conducive to the adoption of more 

 advanced and improved measures for the suppression of 

 the practice." 



Generally, the subjects are treated in the book in a very 

 practical manner, and a good deal of information is also 

 contained under each heading. Regarding the adultera- 

 tion of wines, for instance, a good many interesting receipts 

 for making wines are given, and similarly in the case of 

 spirits and liquors. The section on water is a good 

 resume of processes of water analysis. Prominence 

 is rightly given to Prof. Mallet's very sensible con- 

 clusions as to the value of analytical methods in re- 

 spect to the hygienic character. Dr. Koch's biological 

 method, cultivation in prepared gelatine, is mentioned, 

 and a plate showing the living forms in Croton water and 

 Brooklyn water is given, but we are not frightened by 

 any alarmist theories or statements as to the injurious 

 nature of these organisms ; indeed, we are told that the 

 greater number are unobjectionable, and frequently even 

 of service, which is doubtless the case. The really active 

 Bacteria are much less impressive in appearance. 



There is a pretty long chapter on legislation in the 

 United States on adulteration, which is not of much use, 

 but is still interesting, to an English reader. The biblio- 

 graphy is very useful. Altogether it is a readable and 

 useful book, and will doubtless meet with a good 

 reception. W. R. H. 



