July 23, 1891] 



NATURE 



i(i^ 



As an instance of the rapid progress of an industry 

 interfering with an adequate account being published in 

 the early pages of such a volume, I may refer to the 

 article on electro-plating, by Prof W. C. Williams, which, 

 although giving a clear account of the older processes, 

 scarcely represents the position of to-day. Thus no 

 reference is found to recent methods of the electro- 

 deposition of metals, as, for example, the Elmore copper 

 process, or to that of plating by aluminium ; nor does 

 any mention occur of the electric power suitable or used 

 for depositing metals. 



To justify the opinion that this volume is no unworthy 

 successor to that published last year, I would refer to a 

 few articles which are certainly the best I know on their 

 several subjects. First, " Explosives," by W. H. Deering, 

 coming from the pen of one who has had long experience 

 in the Chemical Department of the Royal Arsenal, Wool- 

 wich, is, as we should expect, up to the level of the time, 

 and in every respect excellent. Second comes Prof. 

 Percy Frankland's article on fermentation. No one is 

 more competent than he to write on this most fascinating 

 subject, and his article reads like a novel, and even better, 

 for " truth is stranger than fiction " ; and Percy Frank- 

 land tells his story so clearly and well that I will not 

 spoil the pleasure of his readers — and they ought to be 

 many— by any attempt to abstract its results. Thirdly, 

 the article on " Matches," by Mr. Clayton, may be cited 

 as an admirable treatise on this important branch of 

 chemical manufacture, condensed into 24 pages. Not 

 the least important contribution are the nine tables giving, 

 in chronological order, lists of the numerous patented and 

 other inventions in thisdepartmentof chemical technology. 

 Lastly, I will select Mr. Wynne's exhaustive article on 

 naphthalene as perhaps the most able and valuable in 

 the whole volume. When we learn that, although it 

 occupies 65 pages of the dictionary, it treats ex- 

 clusively of the derivatives of one hydrocarbon, and 

 only of those of them which are now used in the arts, 

 and valuable for industrial purposes, we begin to form an 

 idea of the extent and importance of the results of 

 modem organic research, which has opened out regions 

 illimitable, leading to practical results such as the 

 chemists of the last generation would have deemed 

 impossible. 



In a dictionary of applied science the question of selec- 

 tion is even more difficult than in a similar work of pure 

 science. Here the knowledge and tact of the editor are 

 especially called into play. Prof, Thorpe has, I think, 

 chosen well, but here and there some pages are taken up 

 with matters of which I should be glad to learn the 

 present industrial value — for in the future all may have a 

 use. Thus I find close together the following : elaidic 

 acid, ericolin, erucic acid, erythrol — all, doubtless, com- 

 pounds of scientific interest, but hardly, I would venture 

 to suggest, of industrial importance. 



As I said of the first volume, so I may say of the 

 second — that it does credit to the authors of the articles, 

 to the editor, and to the public-spirited publishers. It is 

 good that English scientific literature keeps up its 

 prestige for thoroughness, clearness, and conciseness, 

 and that in this volume of the dictionary no falling off 

 from this standard is visible. H. E. ROSCOE. 



NO. I 134, VOL. 44] 



THE FISHES OF SWITZERLAND. 

 Faune des Vertdbrds de la Suisse. Par Victor Fatio. 

 Vol. V. " Histoire naturelle des Poissons." 2me partie, 

 avec 4 planches, pp. 576. Suppldmens, pp. 13. (Geneve 

 et Bale : H. Georg, 1890.) 



AS more than eight years have elapsed since the pub- 

 lication of the last volume of the " Faune des 

 Vert^br^s de la Suisse," I may preface this notice with a 

 few words as to the general scope and progress of this 

 important work. The first volume, published in the year 

 1869, was devoted to a detailed account of the Mammals 

 of Switzerland ; the third (1872) to the Reptiles and 

 Batrachians ; and the fourth (1882) to a part of the 

 Fishes (Acanthopterygians and Cyprinoids) ; the second 

 volume, which will contain the Birds, being still in course 

 of preparation. 



The part now published, which is the fifth of the series, 

 treats of the remaining half of the fishes, notably the Sal- 

 monoids, which take up nearly two-thirds of the volume, 

 and whose study has probably occupied the author by 

 far the better half of the eight years which he has devoted 

 to its preparation. 



As regards the plan of the work, the thoroughness and 

 originality with which the author treats his subject, and the 

 fairness of his criticism of his predecessors, I may be 

 allowed to refer to what I have said in my notice of the 

 first volume of the Swiss ichthyology (Nature, vol. xxvii. 

 p. 220) ; stating again that " this work rises far above the 

 level of a local publication, and is of as great value to the 

 student of European freshwater fishes as to the Swiss 

 naturalist." 



The species treated of in the present volume are the 

 following : 3 loaches, 2 shad, 8 Coregoni, i grayling, i 

 salmon, i trout, i char, i pike, i Silurus, i eel, i burbot, 

 I sturgeon, 3 lampreys. These bring the total number of 

 Swiss freshwater fishes to 51. 



The hydrographic system of Switzerland comprises 

 the head-waters of four rivers, viz. the Rhine, Rhone, Po, 

 and Danube. The first contributes the largest contingent 

 to the Swiss fish fauna, viz. 42 species ; however, this 

 number is reduced to 28 in the upper course of the river, 

 above the falls of Schaffhausen. At an altitude of between 

 600 and 900 m. the majority of the Cyprinoids, and 

 between 1000 and iioom. the perch, salmon, eel, and 

 burbot disappear. Only five species remain at that altitude, 

 viz. the miller's thumb, minnow, loach (A'", barbatulus), 

 grayling, and trout — species which likewise have the 

 greatest horizontal range in a northward direction. 

 Between 1800 and 1900 m., first the grayling and the 

 loach are lost, and then successively the trout, miller's 

 thumb, and minnow. The trout, however, can still sub- 

 sist in lakes up to 2630 m., into which this fish has been 

 introduced. The Rhine contributes five types of fishes to 

 the Swiss fauna which are not found in the other hydro- 

 graphic systems, viz. Acerina (the pope), Rhodeus, the 

 salmon, the sea lamprey, and the stickleback. The 

 absence in the southern and eastern waters of the four 

 first is readily accounted for by their distribution gener- 

 ally ; but it seems very singular that a fish like the 

 stickleback, which in the west of Europe extends far 

 southwards, and reaches even Algeria, and which is 



