Nov. I, 1888] 



NATURE 



( by 



first volume. The names of the writers are a 

 guarantee for the excellence of the work ; and, 

 where not wholly rewritten, the articles have been 

 revised and brought up to date. Mr. J. Arthur 

 Thomson is responsible for the zoological articles, which 

 m this volume are Bee (in which Sir Jo'in Lubbock has 

 issisted). Bird, and Butterfly; Mr. Patrick Geddes is the 

 writer of the articles on Biology, Botany, Bud ; Dr. W. 

 Inglis Clark writes on Carbon, Prof. James Geikie on 

 he Carboni-ferous System, Prof. Wm. Thomson on 

 * apillarity, and Mr.A.Fraser on the Calculus. The articles 



n engineering and architectural subjects are contributed 

 by Messrs. D. and T. Stevenson, D. K. Clark, and David 

 MacGibbon. In geography. Sir Charles Warren writes on 



echuanaland, Sir Charles Bernard on Burmah, Mr. S. 

 ne- Poole on Cairo, Mr. Macdonald, of the Englishman, 

 Calcutta, Prince Kropotkine on the Caspian Sea. 

 Amongst other geographical articles are those on Belfast 

 hs Mr. T. Macknight, Birmingham by Mr. S. Barnes, 

 Bolivia by Mr. W. Dundus Walker, Bristol by the Rev. 

 W. Hunt, Brittany by Mr. Thos. Davidson, Bulgaria by 

 Mr. A. Silva White, Cambridge by Mr. G. H. Smith, 

 Canada by Mr. J. G. Colmer, CM .G.', Cape Colony by the 

 Rev. J. Mackenzie, and Cashmere by Major Holdich. Five 

 excellent maps accompany this volume— namely, (i) 

 Belgium ; (2) Burmah, Siam, and Assam ; (3) Canada, 

 Kastern Provinces; (4) Canada, Dominion of; (5) Cape 

 Colony and South Africa. The less important articles are 

 also very satisfactory. For those who desire further 

 information on the various subjects a list of authorities 

 is given. Many of the articles are models of compres- 

 sion. The article on Carlyle is an instance of this. Here 

 the large and growing literature relating to Carlyle, pub- 

 lished since his death, is compressed into the space 

 available in a manner that is little short of amazing. In 

 this and one or two articles which we have noticed, the 

 very dif¥icult art of saying much in a little space, of 

 reducing volumes to paragraphs, and even to lines, is 

 exhibited in a high degree of e.xcellence. 



Star Atlas, containing Maps of all Stars from i to 6'5 

 Magnitude between the North Pole and 34' ^outh De- 

 clination, and all Nebulce and Star-clusters in the same 

 Region, which are visible in Telescopes of moderate 

 fiotvers, with Explanatory Text. By Dr. Hermann J. 

 Klein. Translated and adapted for English readers by 

 Edmund M'Clure, M.A., M.R.I. A. (London : Society 

 for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1888.) 

 This is a most important addition to the stock-in trade 

 of the amateur astronomer. The eighteen maps, printed 

 by Funke, of Leipzig, are as clear as they can be, the 

 letters and constellation boundaries being given in red ink. 

 There are some useful tables given in the introduction, 

 and these are followed by a catalogue of the most interest- 

 ing objects, which seem to have been very carefully 

 chosen by a practical astronomer, and the editor has 

 done his best to bring the accompanying notes down to 

 the latest date. 



In addition to the map?, some excellent illustrations of 

 clusters and nebulae are given, and no pains have been 

 spared to give as much useful and trustworthy information 

 as possible. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of, 

 rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other pari 

 of Nature. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations. "[ 



Alpine Haze. 

 For some years past, occurrences in the Alpine atmosphere 

 have frequently reminded me of effects produced in the "experi- 

 mental tubes'' with which I worked some years ago. When 



the experimental tube was already occupied by a fine "actinic 

 cloud," it was a conmon experiment to precipitate within the 

 tube an ordinary cloud by dilatation. The melting away of this 

 latter, and the reappearance of the finer and more persistent 

 cloud, which it had for a short time disguised, were curious and 

 instructive effects. 



In the valleys of the Alps floats, not unfrequently, a fine haze, 

 much resembling the actinic clouds. This year the haze was 

 more than usually prevalent, being sometimes very curiously 

 distributed. It frequently filled the great Rione Basin, below 

 Alp Lusgen. Amid the haze, patches of true cloud would 

 appear, extending till they became continuous, and filled the 

 basin. A floor of cloud, usually shining white, would then 

 spread below us. Under a strong sun, the cloud would dis- 

 appear, leaving the more permanent haze behind. The haze 

 could not have been aqueous. J have seen the dense true 

 cloud disappear early m the morning, and the haze con- 

 tinue through a fervid summer day. until the moon came 

 out at night to illuminate it. The distribution of the 

 haze this year, and the consequent precipitation were 

 often remarkable. Looked at from our eminence, the haze 

 would be seen filling the lower valley, but divided above into 

 long horizontal stria;, which were obviously the edges of haze- 

 layers, foreshortened from our point of view. Mr. Stirling's 

 beautiful observations were frequently brought to mind by the 

 obvious tendency of the aqueous clouds to form in, and to follow, 

 the haze. A highly picturesque distribution of the clouds was 

 often thus produced. What the haze is I do not, for a certainty, 

 know ; but that it is not water is proved by its persistence in 

 presence of a powerful sun, and above the heated earth surface. 

 The late Prof. De la Rive would probably have referred it to 

 floating germs (see letter to myself " Oa the Organic DuU of 

 the Air," Phil. Mag., 1870, vol. xxxix. p. 229). The prevalence 

 of autumn pollen in the air may, perhaps, account for the 

 singularly striking cloud effects invariably observed at Alp 

 Lusgen, at the end of Septemljer and the beginning of October. 



John Tv.mdali,. 



Hind Head, Haslemere, Ojtober 30. 



Prophetic Germs. 



My desire in this controversy has been to bring the Duke of 

 Argyll's theory to the test of fact. But I cannot obtain from 

 him any statement of fact which tends to support his belief in 

 prophetic gt'rms. He cites the well-known observation that in 

 the growth of the individual from the e^g, organs pass through 

 rudimentary stages, during which they are not used He then 

 says: " On the Darwinian hypothesis this fact applies equally 

 to the birth of species." Does it? It is not worth while posing 

 opinion against opinion. Let us have somi facts. Can the 

 Duke of Argyll, or anyone else, adduce an observation of fact 

 which necessarily leads to the conclusion that a given organ in 

 a given animal or plant has passed through rudimentary stages 

 in ancestral evolution in which that organ's rudiment had no 

 use ? 



I am inclined to think that there are some case> which might 

 appear to be of this nature, but are to be explained as due to 

 " concomitant variation " or " correlation of growth" in a com- 

 plex highly-elaborated organism, one part developing, though 

 without use, as the necessary mechanical or structural condition 

 of the development of another part which has use. 



Such cases will not serve the purpose of establishing a general 

 law. Will the Duke undertake to tell us what were the rudi- 

 mentary stages of the limbs of Vertebrata in which actual use 

 was impossible ? Will he give a similar history of the vertebral 

 column, or of the brain and spinal cord, or of the eye? In 

 short, are there any facts in support of the theory of prophetic 

 germs? Unless such facts are. cited, your readers will conclude 

 that the theory of prophetic germ; is devoid of basis. 



E. Ray Laxkester. 



45 Grove End Roiid, N.W., October 26. 



Mr, Romanes's Paradox. 



I SHOUt^D be sorry to have misrepresented the views of Mr. 

 Romanes, especially on so formal an occasion as a Presidential 

 address at a meeting of the British Association. But, if I have 

 done so, I must plead in extenuation that I know of no recent 

 writer whose papers I find so difficult to thoroughly comprehend. 

 With an appearance of lucidity there seems to rm to be often an 



