March i6, 1893] 



NATURE 



471 



An interesting address delivered by M. Paul Richer at the 

 last meeting of the French Association for the Advancement 

 of Science is printed in the current number of the Revue Scien- 

 tifique. The subject is the relation of anatomy to art. M. 

 Richer gives a lucid account of the canons of the human figure 

 which have been adopted during various periods in the history 

 of art, referring especially to those of the Greek sculptors 

 Polycleitos and Lysippos and to those of Leonardo da Vinci, 

 Albert Diirer, and Jean Cousin. He then shows that we now 

 have materials for the establishment of a scientific type of the 

 proportions of the human body, so far at least as the white race 

 is concerned. This type is not, of course, to be reproduced in 

 the works of artists ; but M. Richer thinks it may be of real 

 service to them as a guide tin the appreciation of the propor- 

 tions of the different models they have from time to time to 

 study. 



Mr. a. C. Macdonald contributes to the Agricultural 

 Journal oi Cape Colony a full and interesting account of what 

 has been done to develop the dairy industry in Great Britain, 

 Speaking of the same industry in Cape Colony, he says that it 

 is there only in its infancy. This is largely due to the difficulty 

 which farmers otherwise favourably circumstanced have had 

 hitherto to contend with in the transport of their dairy products 

 to market in good condition. Now, however, the extension and 

 union of railways have more or less removed this difficulty, and 

 many of the leading farmers, taking advantage of the facilities 

 afforded by such extension and union, have greatly increased 

 their butter production. In fact, within the last two years the 

 increase in the manufacture of this commodity in the colony has 

 been very large. Mr. Macdonald sees no reason why in dis- 

 tricts such as Alexandria, Bathurst, Peddie, Victoria East, Fort 

 Beaufort, Albany, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, and East London, 

 where it has now become difficult to farm with small stock or 

 grow grain profitably, dairying should not prove as great a 

 success as it has done in the Australian colonies, which in some 

 respects are not so favourably situated as Cape Colony, pro- 

 vided that the same means are used. 



The nucleus of a paiaeontological collection was formed at 

 the Johns Hopkins University five years ago by Dr. W, B, 

 Clark from the deposits of the Atlantic coastal plain. He was 

 able to gather together a very large amount of material owing 

 to the richness of the formations in fossils and their accessibility 

 to the city of Baltimore ; and since that time additions have 

 been made each year by collection and by exchange with the 

 National and State Surveys and educational institutions. We 

 learn from the new number of the University's "Circulars" 

 that there was a greater increase of the fossil collections during 

 the past year than during any preceding one. This was accom- 

 plished mainly by exchange and purchase, although a consider- 

 able amount of material was collected in the field. Among the 

 more notable additions was a collection sent in exchange by Mr. 

 G. F. Harris, of the British Museum, This collection is very 

 rich in tertiary fossils, illustrating many of the typical English 

 localities. It contains hundreds of species from the Eocene, 

 Oligocene, and Pliocene of England. Owing to the fact that 

 the richest and finest collections of the Palseontologlcal Museum 

 of the University are from the American tertiary, these English 

 tertiary fossils are said to be of the highest interest and useful- 

 ness to students of geology. 



An interesting paper on Artesian wells as a water supply 

 for Philadelphia was lately read by Prof. O. C. S. Carter 

 before the chemical section of the Franklin Institute. A long- 

 continued drought caused much inconvenience at Philadelphia 

 during the summer of 1892, so that the inhabitants would be 

 likely to welcome any practicable suggestion for providing them 

 with new supplies of fresh and wholesome water. Prof. Carter, 

 NO. 1220, VOL. 47] 



after careful investigation, strongly recommends the use of 

 artesian wells, the water of which, he says, would be of con- 

 siderable quantity and excellent quality. 



An instrument for measuring densities of liquids, which for 

 simplicity can hardly be surpassed, is described by A. Handl in 

 the Wiener Berichte. It consists of two glass tubes joined by 

 an indiarubber tube. One of them is 30 cm. long and about 

 I cm. wide, and bears two marks scratched into the glass at a 

 distance of 20 cm. This tube is immersed in the liquid to be 

 examined up to the lower mark. Meanwhile the othei: tube is 

 totally immersed in water. On pulling it out the liquids in 

 both tubes rise until that in the first tube reaches the second 

 mark. The height of the water-column, read off on a suitable 

 scale, measures the density of the liquid, 



Messrs, Simpkin, Marshall and Co have issued Miss 

 Eleanor A. Ormerod's " Report of Observations of Injurious 

 Insects and Common Farm Pests, during the Year 1892, with 

 Methods of Prevention and Remedy." This is Miss Ormerod's 

 sixteenth report. She notes that during 1892 most of the insect 

 infestations commonly injurious to field crops and fruit were 

 present to such an extent as to cause inquiry as to their nature 

 and as to methods of prevention, but that for the most part 

 they did not affect large districts to a serious extent. 



A NEW scientific journal devoted to the interests of general 

 systematic botany has made its appearance, published at 

 Chambesy, near Geneva, under the title Bulletin de V Herbier 

 Boissier. 



A Botanical Dictionary, by Mr. A. A. Crozier, has just 

 been published by Holt and Co., of New York, containing 

 definitions of over 5000 words, 



Messrs, Perken, Son, and Rayment have issued an illus- 

 trated catalogue of photographic apparatus, magic lanterns, and 

 optical instruments. 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co. will issue in their Specialists' 

 Series a work on "The Dynamo," by C. C. Hawkins and F. 

 Wall is, and a new edition of Sir David Salomons' work on 

 "The Management of Accumulators." They have also in 

 preparation in the Library of Popular Science an introductory 

 work on " Electricity and Magnetism," by S. Bottone, and one 

 on "Geology," by A. J, Jukes-Browne, Mr. Perren Maycock 

 has completed the second part of his work on " Electric Light- 

 ing and Power Distribution," and it will be issued in a few 

 days. An illustrated work on " British Locomotives," by C, 

 J, Bowen Cooke, of the London and North- Western Railway, 

 is in the press, and will probably be issued in May, Messrs, 

 Whittaker have also in the press a new work by J. Horner ("A 

 Foreman Pattern-Maker "), entitled " The Principles of Fitting," 

 and the second part of Mr. Brodie's "Dissections Illustrated," 



Messrs. Griffin and Co. announce "A Manual of Dyeing," 

 by Dr. Knecht, Mr. Chr, Rawson, and Dr. R. Loewenthal ; 

 "Oils, Fats, Waxes, and Allied Materials, and the Manufacture 

 therefrom of Candles, Soaps and other Products," by Dr. C. 

 R. Alder Wright ; " Painters' Colours, Oils, and Varnishes, by 

 Mr. Geo, H. Hurst ; " Griffin's Electrical Price-Book," edited 

 by Mr, H, J. Dowsing ; the tenth annual issue of the " Year- 

 Book of Learned and Scientific Societies ; " "A Treatise on 

 Ruptures," by Mr, J. F, C. Macready ; "Forensic Medicine 

 and Toxicology," by Prof, Dixon Mann ; " The Medical Dis- 

 eases of Children," by Mr, Bryan Donkin ; " A Medical Hand- 

 book for the Use of Students," by Mr, R, S, Aitchison ; " The 

 Physiologist's Note-Book." by Dr. W. Hill ; and " A Text- 

 Book of Biology," by Prof. T- R- Ainsworth Davis, 



Messrs. L. Reeve and Co. have in preparation a new work 

 on the British Aculeate Hymenoptera from the pen of Mr, 



