March io, 1892] 



NATURE 



437 



receive some sort of tentative answer through the re- 

 searches of the palaeontologists of the future. Prof. 

 P'lower is no doubt wise in not attempting to theorize on 

 the subject ; but this is the kind of question on which, 

 in our experience, the " intelligent layman," whom the 

 editor of the " jVIodern Science " series has in view, most 

 greedily seeks information. Details of structure, no 

 matter how clearly and lucidly described, do not appeal 

 to him. He says, in effect, to the distinguished man of 

 science : " My dear sir, from you I can take the details 

 on trust ; of them give me only sufficient to illustrate 

 your methods of research : what I really want is your 

 opinion on those broad general problems in which every 

 man of hberal culture, who follows the thought of his 

 time, must take a keen interest." 



Prof. Flower divides his book into four chapters, of 

 which the first deals with the horse's place in nature, and 

 its ancestors and relations. The second chapter is devoted 

 to the horse and its nearest existing relations. This con- 

 tains a short account of the tapirs and the rhinoceroses, 

 as well as the existing members of the horse tribe. The 

 cuts with which it is illustrated are from photographs, 

 and are admirable. The last two chapters (iii. and iv.) 

 deal with the structure of the horse, chiefly as bearing 

 upon its mode of life, its evolution, and its relation to 

 other animal forms, the head and neck and the limbs 

 being selected for detailed treatment. 



Especially interesting are the paragraphs on the ergot, 

 a roundish bare patch in the fetlock covered with rough 

 thickened epidermis. It is suggested, and the suggestion 

 is both valuable and interesting, that this represents 



" the palmar or plantar pads of those animals which walk 

 more or less on the palm and sole. Owing to the modi- 

 fied position of the horse's foot, standing only on the end 

 of the last joint of the one toe, this part of the foot no 

 longer comes to the ground, and yet the pad with its bare 

 and thickened epidermic covering, greatly shrunken in 

 •dimensions and concealed among the long hair around, 

 and now apparently useless in the economy of the animal, 

 remains as an eloquent testimony to the unity of the 

 horse's structure with that of other mammals, and its 

 probable descent from a more generalized form, for the 

 well-being of whose life this structure was necessary." 



Of the other callous patches, the so-called " chestnuts," 

 or *• mallenders " and " sallenders," which occur on the 

 inner aspect in the fore-limb just above the " knee," and 

 in the hind-limb just below the " hock," Prof. Flower says 

 that their signification and utility are complete puzzles. 



There are one or two misprints or inelegancies which 

 will probably be removed in a second edition. On p. 52 

 we read : " The upper molars have a very characteristic 

 pattern, admirably adapted for bruising and crushing 

 coarse vegetable substances, and which is clearly a modi- 

 fication of the pattern," «S:c. Another redundant and 

 before which occurs in the very awkward sentence on the 

 top of p. 136. A somewhat quaint misprint occurs on 

 the top of p. 68, where the " various species of the 

 American general called Merychippus and Protohippus " 

 are spoken of. One can imagine how the printer's devil 

 prided himself on his knowledge of American proclivi- 

 ties. They give the name "general" even to an ancient 

 fossil equine ! 



C. Ll. M. 

 NO. I 167, VOL. 45] 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



A System of Sight- Singing from the Established Musical 

 Notation, based on the Principle of Tonic Relation. 

 By Sedley Taylor, M.A. (London : Macmillan and 

 Co., 1891.) 



This book is divided into two parts : (I.) the tonic sol-fa 

 notation, (II.) the staff notation. Part I. differs from the 

 "official" tonic sol-fa system only in the method of 

 writing music in the minor key. Mr. Taylor is an out- 

 and-out tonicist, and therefore most strongly opposed to 

 the so-called " Lah mode " of the official system. It must 

 be allowed that Mr. Taylor's method has the merit of 

 consistency. For practical purposes, however, it is not 

 so certain that the " Lah mode '' is a mistake. At any 

 rate, the opinion of most tonic sol-faists appears to be in 

 its favour, as being the best method, from a utilitarian 

 point of view, of treating the minor mode. 



Part II. is an appHcation of the tonic system to the 

 ordinary staff notation. Mr. Taylor suggests that the 

 line or space on which the tonic falls should be clearly 

 marked by a thick line, of varying colours for major and 

 minor keys. As long as there is little or no modulation 

 in the music, there can be no objection to this, but when 

 modulation sets in, the appearance which the stave 

 assumes when these lines are inserted, becomes most 

 puzzling. Two examples taken at random from the book 

 will suffice to show this. In Ex. 142 the Do-line changes 

 6 times in the space of 9 bars of 2-4 time. Ex. 147, in 4-4 

 time, has 5 changes in as many bars. 



It appears to us that these constant guides are calcu- 

 lated only to worry instead of directing the singer ; " the 

 graphic up-and-down-ness of the pitch-notation of the 

 staff" (to use Mr. Taylor's words) seems to us to point 

 out the way just as well without as with their assistance. 



The book is most clear, logical, and interesting through- 

 out ; and whether one agrees with the reforms proposed 

 in it or not, one cannot help feeling that the author, in his 

 endeavours to minimize the difficulties of vocal music, 

 deserves the thanks of all musicians. 



The Statesman's Year-book for the Year 1892. Edited 

 bv J. Scott Keltie. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 1892.) 



The " Statesman's Year-book " is too well known, and 

 too highly appreciated, to need the commendation of re- 

 viewers. It presents such great masses of important 

 faqts, and these are generally so accurate and so well 

 arranged, that the work has become indispensable to all 

 who desire to obtain the latest information on the various 

 subjects with which it deals. The changes for the year 

 1892 are described as " heavy and extensive," and all of 

 them, we need scarcely say, add to the usefulness of the 

 volume. The date of issue was somewhat later than 

 usual ; but it was well worth while to postpone publica- 

 tion, as the delay enabled the editor to include, among 

 other valuable statistics, the results of the censuses of the 

 leading countries of the world. This year the volume 

 has been enriched with four admirably executed maps. 

 They relate respectively to the density of the population 

 of the globe on the basis of new censuses and estimates, 

 the distribution of the British Empire over the globe, the 

 partition of Africa, and the international frontiers on the 

 Pamirs. These maps are most welcome, and will be of 

 great service to all who may have occasion to refer to 

 them. 



The Optical Lantern as an Aid in Teaching. By C. H. 

 Bothamley. (London : Hazell, Watson, and Viney, 

 Limited, 1892.) 



Those who wish to acquire a general knowledge with 

 regard to the manipulation of an optical lantern, without 



