OcL 7, 1 875 J 



NATURE 



50 1 



laws of storms has suffered an exception, that the wind 

 has on one occasion not blown perpendicularly to the 

 direction of the centre, they will be tempted to cast aside 

 the rules which have hitherto 'guided them. This would 

 only be to sacrifice reahty to an empty illusion, and 

 science to error. 



It is for this reason that we have insisted at some 

 length on a prejudice which might result in consequences 

 so deplorable. But half of our task is still before us. 

 We have yet to point out the true theory of these pheno- 

 mena, and to show how the sailing rules hitherto adopted 

 are justified by it. In this way will these rules, thus 

 cleared from empiricism, be invested with the authority 

 which they at present stand in need of. 



{To be continued.) 



NOTES 



The following are some of the principal works in the various 

 departments of science and in travel which are announced for 

 publication during the present season. Messrs. Longman and 

 Co. have the following in preparation : — " The Moon and 

 the Condition and Configurations of its Surface," by .Edmund 

 Neison, F.R.A.S., illustrated with maps and plates. "An 

 Epitome of the Geology of England and Wales, " by Horace B. 

 Woodward, F.G.S., Geologist on the Geological Survey of 

 England and Wales ; and a new volume of the "Text-Books of 

 Science," "Telegraphy," by W. H. Preece, C.E,, and J. Sive- 

 wright, M.A. " Shooting and Climbing in the Tyrol," with an 

 account of the manners and customs of the Tyrolese, by W. A. B. 

 Grohmann, with numerous illustrations from sketches by the 

 author. " The Frosty Caucasus, an account of a walk through 

 part of the Range and of an ascent of Elburz in the summer of 

 1874, by F. C. Grove, with map, and illustrations engraved on 

 wood by E. Whymper, from photographs taken during the 

 journey. '* The Indian Alps and how we crossed them," being 

 a narrative of two years' residence in the Eastern Himalayas, and 

 two months' tour into the interior towards Kinchinjunga and 

 Mount Everest, by a Lady Pioneer. This work will contain a 

 large number of wood engravings and twelve full-page chromo- 

 lithographs. "A Journey of a Thousand Miles through Egypt 

 and Nubia to the Second Cataract of the Nile," being a per- 

 sonal narrative of four-and-a-half months' life in a Daha- 

 beeyah on the Nile ; with some account of the discovery and 

 excavation of a rock-cut chamber or Speos at Aboo-Simbel ; 

 descriptions of .the river, the ruins, and the desert, the people 

 met, the places visited, the ways and manners of the natives, 

 &c., by Amelia Edwards, author of " Untrodden Peaks and 

 Unfrequented Valleys," &c. The work will also contain ground 

 plans, facsimiles of inscriptions, a map of the Nile from 

 Alexandria to Dongola, and about seventy illustrations engraved 

 on wood from finished drawings executed on the spot by the 

 author. — Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. have nearly ready for pub- 

 lication Mr. John Forrest's " Explorations in Australia." The 

 work will include three difterent journeys, namely : (i) Expedi- 

 tion in search of Dr. Leichardt and his party ; (2) A journey 

 from Perth to Adelaide, around the Great Australian Bight j 

 (3) From Champion Bay, across the desert to the Telegraph and 

 to Adelaide. The book will contain illustrations from the author's 

 sketches. Messrs. Longman have also in the press the fol- 

 lowing :— A work by Dr. Arthur Leared, on " Morocco and the 

 Moors," being an account of travels, with a general description 

 of the country and its people, with illustrations. A new volume 

 on Assyria, by Mr. George Smith, entitled "Assyrian Disco- 

 veries," containing the Chaldean accounts of the Creation, the 

 temptation and fall of man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel and 

 Confusion of Tongues, Nimrod, <S:c. This book will be profusely 

 illustrated. A translation of llcrr Edouard Mohr's " Nach den 



Victoriafallen des Zambesi " (reviewed in Nature, vol xii. 

 p. 231), containing an account of the South African Diamond 

 Fields, &c. , is also'promised ; it will be accompanied bynumeious 

 full-page and other wocdcut illustrations, several chromolitho- 

 graphs, and a map. — Messrs. Daldy, Isbister, and Co. have in 

 the press a " Geology for Students and General Readers," em- 

 bodying the most recent theories and discoveries, by A. H, 

 Green, Professor of Geology and Mining in the Yorkshire Col- 

 lege of Science. It will be divided into two parts, the first con- 

 taining the elements of Physical Geology ; and the second, the 

 elements of Stratigraphical Geology. Each part will contain 

 upwards of 100 illustrations by the author. — Messrs. Macmillan 

 and Co. have in preparation for the ensuing season, "A Course of 

 Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology," by Prof. Huxley, 

 F.R.S., and H. N. Martin, B.A. "The Modem Telescope," 

 by J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. ; lectures delivered at the 

 Royal Institution, with additions by G. M. Seabroke, 

 F.R. A.S. This work will be copiously illustrated, and will be 

 uniform with the author's "Solar Physics." Also a work on 

 " Stethometry : Examination of the Chest by a new and more 

 exact method ; " with some of its results in physiology and 

 practical medicine, by A. Ransome, M.D. The tv/o following 

 books of travel will also be published in the autumn by Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co. : — "The Two Expeditions to Western 

 Yunnan, commanded by Major Sladen and Col. Horace 

 Browne," by Dr. Anderson, Director of the Indian Museum, 

 Calcutta, and Professor of Comparative Anatomy in the Medical 

 College, Calcutta, with numerous maps and illustrations. "The 

 Zoology and Geology of Persia," by W. T. Blanford, with 

 narratives of travel by Majors Lovett, St. John, and Evan Smith, 

 and an introduction by Sir Frederick Goldsmid. This work will 

 contain coloured plates and maps, and will be issued in two octavo 

 volumes. — Among Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. 's announcements 

 of forthcoming baoks we notice the following which may be of 

 interest to our readers : — " Science Byways," by Richard A. 

 Procter ; and " Notes on the Climate of the Earth, Past and 

 Present," byCapt.'.R. A. Sergeaunt, Royal Engineers. This last 

 work will be illustrated with diagrams. 



The Yorkshire College of Science at Leeds, which was infor- 

 mally opened a year ago, was formally " inaugurated " yesterday 

 by [the Duke of Devonshire and other eminent men. There was a 

 luncheon in the Great Northern Hotel, and a public meeting in 

 the evening, addressed by the Right Hon. Lyon Playfair and 

 others. The first session of this College, it is said, was as successful 

 as could be expected. We have already stated that we cannot 

 regard this institution on its present basis as satisfactory. Except 

 for students whose education up to a certain point has been com- 

 plete, the curriculum of a science faculty by itself, however com- 

 plete, may easily do more good than harm. What we want are 

 not separate science colleges, but first-rate secondary schools in 

 which science should find its proper place. When these secon- 

 dary schools exist, then the students who have passe.d through 

 them may benefit from a technical school in which no literature 

 is taught —but not till then. 



The inaugural sitting of the International Geodesical Con- 

 gress took place on the 20th September at the Ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs, Paris, under the presidency of General Hanez, 

 the delegate for Spain. No delegate was present for Great_Britain 

 or for the United States j'the German Empire was represented by 

 General de Bayer, the Russian Empire by General de Broch, the 

 Austrian Empire by Dr. Oppolzer ; Italy, Belgium, Roumania, 

 Switzerland, and the several German States were also repre- 

 sented. M. Cliarles Jourdain, member of the French Institute, 

 and general secretary of the Minister of Public Instruction, 

 deli veered a speech in the name of M. Wallon, who is travelling 

 in the provinces. It was replied to by General Hanez and by Ge- 



