464 



NATURE 



[September 9, i^'97 



In an address delivered before the British Medical Association 

 at the meeting in Montreal last week, Dr. T. G. Roddick, the 

 President of the Association, gave a description of the condition 

 of medical education in Canada. He showed that laboratory 

 methods prevail in the medical schools of the Dominion, all 

 with the idea of developing the scientific spirit in students, and 

 of cultivating methods of thought with observation. Referring 

 to the value of a preliminary science course, he said that the late 

 Prof. Huxley thought it was a most self-evident proposition that 

 the educational training for persons who proposed to enter the 

 medical profession should be largely scientific ; not merely or 

 even principally because an acquaintance with the elements of 

 physical and biological science is absolutely essential to the 

 comprehension of human physiology and pathology, but still 

 more because of the value of the discipline afforded by practical 

 work in these departments in the process of observation and 

 experiment, in inductive reasoning, and in manipulation. 



Education in science is not obtained by reading, but by 

 personal observation and experience. It is possible, however, 

 to create and stimulate an interest in natural knowledge by 

 means of books wisely selected and used. This is what the 

 National Home Reading Union aims at doing. The work of 

 -the Union is mainly concerned with literature and human 

 fhistory, but it also includes natural history. During the session 

 1897-98, shortly to commence, a course of reading in elementary 

 botany will be taken. The session is not a favourable time for 

 ■the study of flowering plants, but flowerless plants can be studied 

 as well in the w inter as in the summer. Among the latter plants 

 especial weight will be given in the course to those forms of fungi 

 and algoe which have been recently shown to play so large a 

 rdle in the preparation of soil, in the ripening of cheese, and in 

 other industrial processes, as well as in the causation of disease 

 in plants and animals. The course will thus not only draw 

 attention to interesting forms of plant life, but will also be of 

 assistance in understanding the nature of bacteria. We presume 

 that the students who take up the course are recommended to 

 obtain a small microscope, and are instructed how to use it in 

 .the observation of the organisms described. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 30.— M. A. Chatin in the 

 chair.— On the hypocycloid of Steiner, by M. Paul Serret. — On 

 plasmolysis, by M. Mouton.— Photography of fluoroscopic 

 images, by M. Charles Porcher. — Pseudocommis vitis (Debray), 

 a parasite of marine plants, by M. E. Roze. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, July 28.— Prof. J. T. Wilson, President, 

 n the chair.— On the occurrence of the genus Palackinus in the 

 Upper Silurian rocks of New South Wales, by John Mitchell. 

 The author described and figured a fragmentary specimen com- 

 iprising the middle portion of an interambulacral area showing 

 .four rows of plates, frqm the Middle Trilobite Bed, Bowning 

 Village, N.S. W. — Two ornate boomerangs from North Queens- 

 land, by R. Etheridge, junr.— New Australian lepidoptera, by 

 • Oswald B. Lower. Eighteen species, chiefly referable to the 

 CEcophoridcE and Gekchiada, are described as new.— On the 

 Cinnamomums of New South Wales : with a special research 

 on the oil of C. Oliveri, Bailey, by R. T. Baker. The genus 

 Cinnamomwn, hitherto unrecorded for New South Wales, is 

 now shown to occur over a large area of the coastal district, 

 being represented by two species, C. Oliveri, Bailey, and C. 

 virens, sp. nov. The former species has in the past been mis- 

 taken in the northern colony for Beilshmiedia obtusifolia, and 

 has only recently been identified as a CinnamoniU7n : very pro- 

 bably the same confusion of species has occurred in New South 

 'Wales. C. virens appears to stand somewhat alone, its afhnities 

 with known species not being very marked. Descriptions of 

 the timber, gall-fungus, bark and oil are given. The oil obtained 

 from C. Oliveri is highly aromatic, and is found to contain 

 ■cinnamic aldehyde, eugenol, together with other constituents. 

 The bark gave nearly i per cent, of oil. It is hoped that a new 

 <:ommercial product may result from these investigations. — On 

 the Rhopalocera of Lord Howe Island, by G. A. Waterhouse. 



The late Mr. A. S. Olliff enumerated ten species as occurring on 

 the island [" Lord Howe Island," &c. Memoirs of Australian 

 Museum. No. ii. p. 98, 1889]. The number is now increased 

 to eighteen species, of which eight were not previously recorded. 

 All the species are known to occur on the Australian continent. 

 — Stray notes on Papuan ethnology, part ii., by C. Hedley. 

 Two articles from New Guinea are described : [a) A gigantic 

 fish hook, 19 inches long, usually miscalled a shark hook, 

 brought from Milne Bay by Mr. N. Hardy. Recent researches 

 in the Ellice Islands indicate that this is employed to catch a 

 deep-sea fish there called " Palu " ; possibly an unknown 

 species of the Macrtu-idce. The present hook differs from any 

 hitherto known by a mounting of wicker work for the attach- 

 ment of the fishing line, {b) An intricate knot used by the 

 women of East New Guinea in making the "grass petticoat ; and 

 attention is drawn to the value of such a detail in tracing the 

 migration or descent of races. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— The New Psychology : Dr. E. W. Scripture (Scott) — Leghe 

 MetalHche ed Amalgame : I. Ghersi (Milano, Hoepli).— La Fabricazioni 

 deir Acido Solforico : Dr. V. Vender (Milano, Hoepli).— Manuale del 

 Chimico e deir Industrial : Prof. L. Gabba (Milano, Hoepli).— Philosophy 

 of Knowledge : Prof. G. T. Ladd (Longmans).— Laboratory Practice for 

 Beginners in Botany : Prof. W. A. Setchell (Macmillan).— Natural Ele- 

 mentary Geography: J. W. Red way (New York, American Book Com- 

 pany).— Chart of the World : Dr. H. Berghaus, xii. edition (Gotha, 

 Perthes). 



Pamphlets.— A Critical Period in the Development of the Horse : Prof. 

 J. C. Ewart ( Black).— Archeological Studies among the Ancient Cities of 

 Mexico : W. H. Holmes, Part 2 (Chicago).— Observations on Popocatepetl 

 and Ixtaccihuatl : Dr. O. C. Farrington (Chicago).— List of Mammals from 

 Somaliland : D. G. Elliot (Chicago).— Baeveren i Norge dens Udbredelse 

 og Levemaade : R. CoUett (Bergen, Griegs Bogtrykkeri). 



Serials.— Contemporary Review, September (Isbister)— National Re- 

 view, September (Arnold). —Scribner's Magazine, September (Low).— The 

 Atoll of Funafuti, Part 3 (Sydney).— Fresenius' Quantitative Analysis, 

 translated by C. E. Groves, Vol. 2, Part 5 (Churchill).— The Atlantic 

 Monthly, September (Gay).— The Fortnightly Review, September (Chap- 

 man).— Observatory, September (Taylor).— Geographical Journal, Sep- 

 tember (Stanford).— Journal of the Chemical Society, Septemter (Gurney). 

 —Imperial University, College of Agriculture, Bulletin Vol. iii. Nos. 2 and 

 3 (Komaba).— Astrophysical Journal, August (Chicago). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Abelian and Theta Functions. By G. B. M. ... 441 



The Culture of Fruit 442 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Courtney: " Masonry Dam.s from Inception to Com- 

 pletion" 443 



Sergi : " Biblioteca di Scienze Moderne " 443 



Meadowcroft : "The A.B.C. of the X-Rays" . . . 444 

 Letters to the Editor:— 



The Corona Spectrum.— J. Evershed 444 



The late Earthquake in India. (Illusirated.)—'Rfv. 



J. D. La Touche 444 



The Centipede-Whale.— Kumagusu Minakata . . 445 

 The Approaching Total Eclipse of the Sun. VI. 

 {Illustrated.) By Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., 



F.R.S 445 



Victor Meyer 449 



Notes 450 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Dedication of the Yerkes Observatory 454 



Southern Double Stars 454 



Variable Stars in Clusters 454 



The Magnitudes of the Asteroids 454 



A New Nebula Photograph 454 



A Successful Experiment in Lobster-Rearing . . . 455 

 The British Association : — 



Section K. — Botany. — Opening Address by Prof. H. 



Marshall Ward, F.R.S. , President of the Section 455 



Physics at the British Association 461 



Chemistry at the British Association 462 



University and Educational Intelligence 463 



Societies and Academies 464 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 464 



NO. 1454, VOL. 56] 



