196 



\ NATURE 



[July i, 1897 



paper and printing are in their way admirable, but the 

 thickness of the former does not make for portal)iIity. 

 The custom of arranging Latin and English names under 

 separate indices should be prohibited. It is a time- 

 honoured survival in some Floras, but a constant source 

 of annoyance to their users. Whether the 120 coloured 

 plates of Alpine plants scattered through these pages 

 will prove acceptable to purchasers of the work, we can- 

 not say. A very large number of them are to be found 

 in Wooster's "Alpine Plants," published a quarter of a 

 century ago, though we have searched in vain for any 

 indication of this fact. Then, too, some trouble was 

 taken in the printing, and the result was not unpleasing. 

 In Mr. Bennett's "Flora," these old plates have been 

 mutilated, as will be obvious to any one who cares to 

 compare the two works. In these days of modern 

 methods and high-priced books we expect an advance, 

 not a retrogression. We have said sufficient to show 

 that the ideal Alpine Flora still remains to be produced. 

 Our own view is that it should be somewhat on the lines 

 of Hooker's "Student's Flora of the British Islands," 

 with a separate volume of woodcuts similar to those of 

 the well-known " Companion " to Bentham's " Hand- 

 book." If coloured plates are wanted, a draftsman 

 of high artistic capacity and requisite botanical know- 

 ledge must be employed, whilst the printing must be of 

 the very best. Nor would the public which travels in 

 the Alps, and collects and examines the flowers growing 

 there, be backward in its recognition of such a work. 



First Staqe Mechanics of Fluids. (The Organised Science 

 Series.) By Prof. G. H. Bryan, Sc.D., F.R.S., and 

 F. Rosenberg, M.A. Pp. vi -I- 208. (London : W. B. 

 Clive, 1897.) 

 In the pages of this book the authors have brought 

 material together to cover that part of the subject of 

 mechanics which is required by the Science and Art De- 

 partment in the elementary examination. There are 

 also chapters devoted to that portion of dynamics which 

 is required by the corresponding syllabus in the mechanics 

 of solids. The twenty-three chapters which fulfil the 

 above-mentioned requirements are so arranged as to 

 form an excellent elementary treatise, and also a good 

 introduction to those who wish to make a further study 

 of the subject. The style of treatment is similar to that 

 adopted in other books of this series. The authors 

 advocate strongly the importance of each student work- 

 ing out examples by himself, and with this idea have 

 inserted numerous solved and unsolved problems. They 

 have also kept down the number of formulas, in order that 

 the reader shall attack problems from first principles, and 

 not trust to his memory ; for those formula; which have 

 been inserted, proofs have been added. Numerous 

 typical illustrations and figures are inserted in the text, 

 thus rendering it still more serviceable to the young 

 beginner. 



Illicstrative Cloud Forms. By C. D. Sigsbee. (Wash- 

 ington : U.S. Hydrographic Office, 1897.) 

 In this book we have a collection of coloured plates, 

 sixteen in number, illustrative of the different typical 

 forms which clouds assume under various conditions. 

 The classification, nomenclature, and descriptive te.xt are 

 derived from the "International Cloud Atlas" (Paris, 

 1896), but the plates are from the original paintings made 

 for the Hydrographic Office by Mr. Rudolf Cronau. In 

 addition to the ten standard types which are included in 

 the classification, six further plates are devoted to illus- 

 tratingcertain modifications of these, such as fracto-stratus, 

 fracto- cumulus, mamato cumulus, &c. Each plate em- 

 braces the horizon and sufficient extension of view, so that 

 the observer can obtain a good idea of cloud perspective. 

 The paintings themselves have been made as accurately 



NO. 1444. VOL. 56] 



and as true to nature as possible, and photographs, 

 printed exemplars, together with the artist's personal 

 observations and knowledge of clouds, have all been 

 brought to bear on them, (ireat pains have been taken by 

 the Hydrographic Office to ensure a faithful reproduction 

 of the originals, and we can safely say that the observer 

 has here before him a most excellent guide for the 

 classification of clouds, which branch of meteorology is 

 becoming every year of more importance as a means of 

 forecasting the weather. 



Among British Birds in their Nesting Haunts., illus- 

 trated by the Camera. By Oswin A. J. Lee. Part iv. 

 (Edinburgh : David Douglas.) 

 The first three parts of this work were noticed in these 

 pages a few weeks ago (May 13, p. 26) ; the photo- 

 graphic reproductions in the present part are as attrac- 

 tive as those which preceded them, and will interest 

 every student of bird life. There are ten large plates 

 showing the nests of the Woodcock, Oyster-catcher (two 

 plates). Tree Pipit, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover (two 

 plates), Little Tern (two plates), and Jackdaw. Brief 

 notes upon the birds and their nesting haunts accom- 

 pany each plate. 



More brilliant photographic pictures of the nests of 

 birds have never been published than those which now 

 bear testimony to Mr. Lee's skill with the camera. The 

 work in which the pictures appear is already known to 

 most ornithologists, and it will long receive a full measure 

 of admiration. 



The Indigenous Drugs of India; Short Descriptive 

 Notices of the Principal Medicinal Products met with 

 in British India. By Kanny Lall Dey, Rai Bahadur, 

 CLE. Second edition. Pp.. 387. (Calcutta : Thacker, 

 Spink, and Co.) 



A WORK like the present, which is intended to promote 

 the extension of our knowledge of Indian drugs, is much 

 to be welcomed. Indian Materia Medica presents a 

 wide field of research for the botanist, chemist, and 

 pharmacologist. Dr. Lall Dey's book is a useful epitome 

 of the characters and uses of Indian indigenous drugs, 

 and contains a great deal of valuable information. It 

 will form an excellent introduction to larger works on 

 the subject, such as Dymock's " Pharmacographia 

 Indica," and Watt's well-known Dictionary. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



\The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

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

 iiiannscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. '\ 



The Storm in Essex on June 24. 



I AM doubtful if an English thunderstorm has ever assumed 

 the proportions that one reached here on Thursday last. Al- 

 though there is nothing new under the sun, yet there is a good 

 deal new to each individual, and the following facts were not 

 looked on as possibilities by me before I witnessed them on that 

 day. 



The 24th was an intensely hot day, and after much distant 

 thunder the storm broke on us about 2.45 p.m. (while hay- 

 making was in full swing) from the north-west. After about 

 ten minutes of the heaviest rain, hail began to fall, and soon a 

 terrific hurricane, accompanied by hailstones larger than hens' 

 eggs (mixed in with others of all sizes downwards), came on and 

 lasted for five minutes, during which most of the damage was 

 done. After this the storm gradually abated, and in something 

 over halfan-hour had passed away. The scene was quite unique 

 and winter-like. The ground was quite white, and in many 

 places the hail had drifted to a foot deep, and every ditch and 

 depression in the ground was full of water and hail. Every 



