436 



NATURE 



IMarck 8, 1888 



as to dangle or float on the water, the bags being pierced 

 with small holes by a sail needle, through which the oil 

 slowly exudes. These bags are placed in different positions, 

 according to whether the ship is flying before the tempest, 

 or lying-to comparatively motionless. This simple appli- 

 ance is therefore within the means of every ship, and 

 there can be little doubt that already many vessels owe 

 their immunity from damage, and in some cases even their 

 safety, to its employment. 



Among remarkable instances of saving life, is one, cited 

 by Admiral Cloue, of the boats of a ship burnt in 1885, 

 800 miles from the Seychelles Islands, in which the crew 

 were making their way to land. A cyclone was encoun- 

 tered, which raised a terrific sea, but the boats, provided 

 with oil by the prescience of the captain, weathered it out 

 in perfect safety for sixty hours, riding to a floating 

 anchor of their masts and oars, to which was attached 

 a bag of oil. 



Our author points out that from the time of Pliny oil 

 has been thus used, but only by small communities, or 

 by individuals, whose efforts to bring it into general 

 use have always failed. Benjamin Franklin presented a 

 paper on the subject to the Royal Society of London, 

 which is printed in the Philosophical Transactions, 1774, 

 but it remained without fruit. 



Experiments were carried out in this country in 1883 

 by Mr. Shields, at Peterhead and Folkestone, with a view 

 of diminishing the heavy sea at the entrance of these 

 harbours. These experiments were successful, but at the 

 expense of a great quantity of oil ; the fact being that the 

 conditions of breaking seas in shallow water are totally 

 different from those in the open ocean. 



Admiral Cloue remarks on the great utility of oil when 

 wrecks have to be boarded ; and suggests that the builders 

 of rock lighthouses, when their work is delayed by the 

 difficulty of landing material, might find it to be of much 

 service. 



The general application of oil is in fact yet in its in- 

 fancy, and everyone must welcome any such good collection 

 of facts, and of suggestions tending to extend its sphere 

 of usefulness, as that given in " Le Filage de I'Huile." 



W. J. L. Wharton. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Comparative Morphology and Biology of the Fttngi, 

 Mycetozoa, and Bacteria. By A. De Bary. Translated 

 by Henry E. F. Garnsey, M.A. Revised by Isaac 

 Bayley Balfour, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. (Oxford: Clarendon 

 Press, 1887.) 



Anyone acquainted with the numerous researches of 

 De Bary, published in German, will readily indorse 

 Prof. Balfour's remark in the preface to this English 

 translation, viz. " it brings within reach of all English- 

 speaking students the most thorough and comprehensive 

 treatise upon these groups which has appeared in any 

 language," and after perusing this volume we should add 

 that " a finer volume, and a more handsomely and ex- 

 haustively illustrated one," is not known in the literature 

 of this subject. 



The book seems to us more like a well and comprehen- 

 sively arranged collection of classical monographs on Fungi 

 and allied organisms, written by a master mind, translated 

 by a scholar, and revised and edited by a practical worker 

 and teacher of these subjects. 



It is difficult to pick out any one chapter in which this 

 is not conspicuous. The array of facts, and of phenomena 

 as to form, growth, and development of Fungi, and minute 

 details bearing important relations to one another and to 

 the whole, are told with singular lucidity and in com- 

 prehensive sequence ; and numerous suggestions that at 

 once engage and invite the reader's and student's in- 

 quisitive mind are everywhere, almost on every page, to 

 be met with. As the title of the book indicates, the sub- 

 jects of Fungi, Mycetozoa, and Bacteria are each separately 

 treated in the first, second, and third parts of the volume 

 respectively. 



As was to be expected from De Bary's researches, the 

 first part forms the bulk of the volume. As far as our 

 present knowledge of the ever-enlarging subject of the 

 thallus, spores, and development of Fungi goes, hardly 

 anything could be added to make the book complete both 

 for students and workers ; but we venture to think that in 

 Chapter V., besides the important bibliography added to 

 the description of the different groups of Fungi, an 

 appendix setting forth briefly the various species hitherto 

 recognized, not only in name but also in distinguishing 

 characters, would be a valuable addition. 



This is still more the case in the third part — Bacteria. 

 We doubt whether this will advance the knowledge of the 

 student beyond a general insight into the nature and 

 mode of life of Bacteria, though he will find here a most 

 valuable and suggestive account of the different modes of 

 spore-formation. 



The illustrations are very numerous and well rendered. 

 The bibliography in the first part (Fungi) is carefully and 

 judiciously arranged. 



As to the translation little need be said. It is excellent, 

 and the book reads more like an original than a translation, 

 if it were not that one is repeatedly reminded of the 

 contrary by the presence, after an exact rendering in Eng- 

 Hsh, of the original German. There seems to be really no 

 necessity to put(p. i) after filamentous Fungi {Fadenpilze) ; 

 (p, 2) after compound Fungus body {Zusammetigesctzter 

 Pilzkorper) ; (p. 4) after sprouting Fungi {Sprosspiize) ; 

 (P- 73) endogenous spore-formation {Endogene Sporen- 

 bildujig) ; (p. 84) solution or gelatinous sv/t\\mg{Au/ldsung., 

 gallertige Verqiiellting). 



Why should (on p. no) to "tube germination" be 

 added {Schlauchkeimioig) ; to " sprout germination " 

 {Sprosskeimung) ; to " germ tube " {Keimschlauch) ? 



It is different with "abjunction" and "abscission" 

 explained on p. 61 in a footnote, for here confusion might 

 arise as tothe exact meaningof the GQrma.n^^ Abgliederung''' 

 and "Abschniirung." 



The " Explanation of Terms " at the end of the volume 

 is in this respect most welcome. E. Klein. 



Emin Pasha ift Central Africa. A Collection of his 

 Letters and Journals. Edited and Annotated by 

 G. Schweinfurth, F. Ratzel, R. W. Felkin, and G. 

 Hartlaub. Translated by Mrs. R. W. Felkin. (London : 

 George Philip and Son, 1888.) 

 The personal interest connected with this volume is even 

 greater than its scientific interest. Emin Pasha already 

 ranks as one of the heroes of the modern world, and the 

 record of the bare facts of his career has all the fascina- 

 tion of a good romance. Appointed in 1878 to be 

 Governor of the Equatorial Province, he ruled his terri- 

 tories with astonishing vigour and discretion, so that in 

 1882 he was able to report that slave-dealers had been 

 wholly banished from his borders, and that the people sub- 

 ject to him were prosperous and contented. The troubles 

 in the Soudan created for Emin many most formidable 

 difficulties, but his courage never failed him, and we may 

 hope that long before this time he has been stimulated to 

 fresh hope and activity by aid received from Mr. Stanley. 

 The letters translated in this volume begin with one 

 [ dated Dufild, July 16, 1877, and include several received 



