254 



NATURE 



[November 29,. 191 7 



chaeta; Dr. H. E. Jordan gives an account of the 

 structure of the striped muscJe of Limulus, and also 

 traces the embryonic history of the germ-cells of the 

 loggerhead turtle from the emigration of the primordial 

 germ-cells from the yolk-sac endoderm to their arrival 

 in their final positions. 



RESEARCH PAPERS FROM THE 



' . UNivERsrry of Sydney. 



T^HE University of Sydney has recently issued (for 

 ■*■ private circulation) several volumes of reprints 

 of papers by members of its staff and by its research 

 students during the period 1909-16. It is clear that 

 the University is domg its duty in contributing to 

 scientific progress, and m training its best students in 

 the methods of research. Thus in vol. A we have a 

 list of upwards of sixty papers (twenty of which are 

 included in this volume) ranging over the subjects of 

 mathematics, physics, chemistry, agriculture, and 

 engineering ; and although, of course, they are of un- 

 equal value in the eyes of an expert, they are all con- 

 cerned with genuine scientific problems, the solution 

 of which means something more than a mere class 

 exercise. One paper is of an exceptional kind, as 

 dealing with a chapter of mathematical history. This 

 is Prof. H. S. Carslaw's Napier commemorative lec- 

 ture, which gives a clear and interesting account of 

 what Napier's logarithms were (even yet this is often 

 wrongly stated), and of the way in which they were 

 calculated. The other papers are technical, and we 

 must content ourselves with noting those in the com- 

 plete list which obviously deal with specially Austra- 

 lian matters. These are : (i) Two papers on super- 

 annuation and pension funds; ; (2) one on the teach- 

 ing of mathematics in Australia; (3) one on Australian 

 coalfields and collieries ; (4) one on the Hargreaves 

 goldfield, N.S.W. None of these, however, appear in 

 this volume, probably because the stock has been 

 exhausted. 



An interesting record of the activities in research 

 of the anatomists and biologists of the University is 

 contained in vol. i., series B. Unfortunately the 

 volume is by no means complete, for of the fifty-seven 

 papers which have actually been published during the 

 period covered (1909-16) only twenty-eight are repre- 

 sented. This, however, is live more than we are led 

 to expect from the table of contents, which is to that 

 extent inaccurate. These papers represent the original 

 research of a dozen different authors, and naturally 

 range over a wide field, from pathological anatomy 

 to zoogeography. The most distinctively Australian 

 contributions are those dealing with the fauna of the 

 great island-continent. The botanical side of biological 

 science is but slightly represented, though we may 

 expect to see a great advance in this direction now 

 that a separate department of botany has been estab- 

 lished in the University. A good many of the papers 

 were originally published in English journals, and are 

 already well known to workers in this country. Of 

 the remainder, the Proceedings of the Linnean Society 

 of New South Wales furnish a very large proportion. 

 We may direct special attention to Mr. E. F. Hall- 

 iTiann's " Revision of the Monaxonid Sponges described 

 as new in Lendenf eld's Catalogue of Sponges in the 

 Australian Museum." Such a revision was greatly 

 needed, for the catalogue in question is a singularly 

 unsatisfactory piece of work. Mr. R. J. Tillyard's 

 papers on dragonflies constitute a conspicuous feature 

 of the volume and a very notable contribution to the 

 study of this group of insects, which is dealt with from 

 the different points of view of systematic zoology, geo- 

 graphical distribution, and physiology. We note that 

 Messrs. Hallmann and Tillyard are, or were, both 



NO. 2509, VOL. 100] 



Linnean Mackay fellows in zoology. These fellow- 

 ships have done much to promote tne study of zoology 

 in a country where an immense amount of work still 

 remains to be done before our knowledge of the fauna 

 can be placed upon a really satisfactory footing. The 

 issue of this volume coincides with the retirement of 

 Prof. Hasvvell from the chair of zoology, which he has 

 so long held. He himself contributes four memoirs 

 to the collection, and we hope that his valuable re- 

 searches in Australian zoology will long be continued. 



Series B, vol. ii., is concerned with geology, patho- 

 logy, and physiology, the first-named science occupy- 

 ing by far -the greatest portion. The papers iriclude a 

 series by W. N. Benson on the "Great Serpentine 

 Belt of New South Wales," where the perennial 

 subject of the connection between radiolarian cherts 

 and pillow-lavas comes up for discussion in the case of 

 rocks of Middle Devonian age. The association of 

 frequent casts of Lepidodendron with radiolaria has 

 raised interesting physiographic questions. The allu- 

 vial deposits of Copeton, N.S.W., containing tinstone 

 and diamonds, have been worked since 1873, and Mr. 

 L. A. Cotton has recorded (1914) a diamond in a 

 quartz-dolerite of the district. He regards the basic 

 magma as the true matrix, and does not suggest a 

 derivation from underlying rocks. Prof. Edgeworth 

 David has stimulated so much of the geological work in 

 the LIniversity of Sydney that his address to the Aus- 

 tralasian Association in 1913 seems very fittingly in- 

 cluded in this volume. It deals with the influence of 

 an Antarctic continent, varying in dimensions in geo- 

 logical time, on the climate of Australia, and attributes 

 the cold Permo-Carboniferous conditions to the im- 

 mense extension of land in the south of the southern 

 hemisphere. Among the physiological papers is one of 

 importance to chemists, by Mr. H. Wardlaw, on "The 

 Accuracy of Neumann's Method for the Estimation 

 of Phosphorus." Though this author's work has been 

 largely concerned with milk, of human or other origin, 

 he has found time for a specially Australian study on 

 the variations of temperature in Echidna. 



THE SURVEY OF INDIA. 



THE Indian Survey Report for 1915-16 contains 

 nothing of special interest either in the department 

 of exploration or in that of science, but it is a good 

 record of solid work carried out under the direction of 

 Sir Sidney Burrard, curtailed in certain branches by 

 the exigencies of war service, but on the whole a most 

 satisfactory report. The progress made in the topo- 

 graphical mapping of the huge area of India in the 

 ten years preceding 19 16 shows that between one- 

 fourth and one-fifth of that area has been completed 

 on various scales and by various methods up to date, 

 but one is left in doubt as to the comparative values 

 of the revision necessary in the mapping of an older 

 date than 1905. The whole of India (or very nearly 

 the whole) must have been mapped by then, on scales 

 which are much the same as those now adopted for 

 various classes of land area. Surely very little revision 

 is necessary in those barren areas (within the frontier) 

 that were mapped on the smaller scales. On the other 

 hand, much of the i in. per mile mapping must have 

 required actual re-survey. The area remaining to be 

 mapped amounts to 1-382767 square miles (or there- 

 abouts?), so the Survey of India has still a career 

 before it. 



It is worthy of note that thirty-six " Impe- 

 rial " officers have been withdrawn for active 

 service, and that of that number no fewer than seven 

 have already laid down their lives for their country. 

 A survey party has been attached to the forces in 

 Mesopotamia, and the result of its work will be of 

 special interest, but otherwise no trans-frontier geo- 



