Feb. 



889] 



NATURE 



387 



In the chapter on the classification of stars according 

 to their spectra, both Vogel's and Secchi's classifications 

 are given. Now, Prof. Young admits that these are based 

 on the " doubtful assumption " that stars like Sirius and 

 Vega are the hottest, and he further remarks that it is 

 possible for a red star to be younger than a white one. It 

 scarcely seems consistent, therefore, to omit the new 

 classification suggested by Mr. Lockyer, which is the 

 only one that takes into account the probability of there 

 being bodies with increasing as well as with decreasing 

 temperatures. The latter classification is certainly a very 

 new one, but other parts of the book show that Prof, 

 Young must have been acquainted with it. 



One remark of Prof. Young's is worth quoting. After 

 stating that there are two Observatories established solely 

 for the study of solar physics (Potsdam and Meudon), 

 he remarks with characteristic straightforwardness that 

 "There ought to be one in this country (America)." 



We know of no other book which is so comprehensive 

 and at the same time so well adapted for the use of those 

 who aim at something more than a mere smattering of 

 astronomical knowledge. For the benefit of those whose 

 time may be too limited to take up everything in the 

 book, those parts which may be most conveniently 

 omitted are printed in small type. The language is 

 clear, and to simplify matters there are over two hundred 

 excellent illustrations. Further, as might be expected 

 from the fact that Prof. Young teaches astronomy, the 

 book is not diluted with irrelevant matter. A. F. 



AN INDEX-CATALOGUE. 

 The Index-Cat alogue to the Library of the Surgeon- 

 GeneraVs Office, United States Army. Vol.' IX. Medicine 

 (Popular) — Nywelt. Pp. 1054. (Washington : Govern- 

 ment Printing Press, 1888.) 

 THE progress of this magnum opus seems irresistible. 

 Year by year the volumes reach us with a regularity 

 that implies strength, and a completeness that indicates 

 a more than mechanical accuracy of work. It still 

 remains, so far as we know, unique among printed cata- 

 logues in classifying under subject-headings, such as 

 Mercury, Milk, Neuralgia, &c., not only the books, but 

 also the whole of the signed medical articles in the 3500 

 periodicals which form the medical press of the world, 

 from Pekin to Paris, from Newfoundland to Uruguay. 

 The newspaper articles are still, as they have always 

 been, collected under the subject-title only, and not 

 under the name of the writer also ; for, if the latter cross- 

 cataloguing had been adopted, we should have had more 

 than 300,000 cross-entries, which would have necessitated 

 already two more volumes at least as large as the present ; 

 but those articles or essays which the authors have thought 

 it worth while to reprint all come under their names 

 as pamphlets, and this is no inconsiderable number. 



This volume includes some names which are em- 

 barrassingly popular among medical writers. It needs a i 

 clear head to deal with a catalogue of the works of 206 

 authors of the name of Meyer ; but when the librarian ' 

 comes to Miiller, he finds 343 different authors awaiting 

 him with much more voluminous works, and he must be 1 

 thankful for the great variety of Christian names, and ; 

 that not more than seven besides the great physiologist j 



contented themselves with the plain Johannes. When 

 we notice that the librarian of the most complete pro- 

 fessional library in England has not to do with more than 

 eighteen and thirty-seven authors with these surnames re- 

 spectively, we can form some rough comparison of their 

 relative completeness ; and the student must become aware 

 of what a debt he owes to his Transatlantic co7ifrlrc, who 

 has undertaken and carried through the task of collecting 

 and cataloguing the works of the 494 other medical 

 authors of the same names. 



In the first forty-six pages of this volume, the immense 

 collection of facts which had been so well grouped in 

 Vol. VIII. under Medicine, is concluded; and the two 

 longest articles left us are those on the Nervous System, 

 and — perhaps not unnaturally — on New York. That on the 

 Nerves and Nervous System (103 pp.) is one of the most 

 valuable to the student, as such a very large proportion 

 of that rapidly-growing part of medical knowledge is 

 embodied not in books so much as in journalistic and 

 pamphlet literature. The strength of the historic feeling 

 still affecting Mr. John S. Billings and his fellow-workers 

 is shown in the great collection of sixteenth and seventeenth 

 century literature that is to be found under such a heading 

 as Medicine (Popular), and many others. It is very rare 

 nowadays to find in a newly-formed collection, dating 

 from about a quarter of a century ago, any such tendency 

 to accumulate the materials for those great works on the 

 history of disease which we are leaving our successors 

 to write. That is a point towards which the strong 

 modern development of historic research, the earnest 

 inquiry into the origin of species of disease is gradually 

 leading us, but even the great work of Hirsch has left us 

 much to learn and teach, a great field for genius in 

 tracing correctly the broad generalizations in the evolu- 

 tion of the morbid tendencies of men. We are a little 

 surprised to notice the complete absence of the works of 

 Conyers Middleton, which contributed considerably to 

 the understanding of Roman medicine ; but we have 

 been much more surprised at the almost unimpeachable 

 way the Index-Catalogue has stood firm in our tests on 

 minute points of very trifling general interest. 



Now that these first nine volumes have covered the 

 ground as far as the end of the letter N, it is not 

 unlikely that the work may be finished in five more 

 volumes, and that at Christmas 1893 the enthusiastic 

 student of medicine may be able to possess himself of a 

 work not much smaller than the latest edition of the 

 " Encyclopaedia Britannica," containing a catalogue of 

 some 150,000 medical authors, and the titles of about 

 600,000 of their books, pamphlets, and articles that have 

 been got together in a generation, mainly by the untiring 

 energy of Mr. John S. Billings. A. T. Myers. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Anatomy of Megascolides australis {the Giant 



Earthworm of Gippsland). By W. B. Spencer. 



Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. I. 



Part I, pp. 1-60,6 Plates. (Melbourne: Stillwcll and 



Co., 1888.) 

 The Royal Society of Victoria, which has hitherto issued 

 only an octavo volume of Proceedings each year, will 

 in future publish also Transactions in quarto. The 

 present memoir is the first part of this new series ; the 



