February 20, 1896] 



NATURE 



375 



-uajevo and Mostar, daily observations at four stations, and 

 monthly and yearly results at all the stations, for the year 1894. 

 A fully-equipped mountain observatory has also been established 

 on ihe Bjelasnica (lat. 43°42'N., long. 18° 15' E.), at an altitude 

 of about 6800 feet; the publication of these results will com- 

 mence with the next volume. 



The Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Inforiiiation often furnishes 

 us with material for notes ; and in looking through the volume 

 containing the numbers published during 1895, we are struck 

 with the large amount of valuable information to be found in 

 its pages. Kew has trained and sent out botanists to botanic 

 gardens in most parts of the world, and it is chiefly due to them 

 and the Director of the Royal Gardens, that the Bulletins are 

 able to do so much to extend the knowledge of economic plants. 

 The services thus rendered to the national welfare, by the pub- 

 lication of exact information with reference to botanical enter- 

 prise and the potentialities of newly-explored regions, cannot be 

 over-estimated. All who wish to see how science can assist in 

 developing the resources of our colonies, are advised to turn to 

 the 1895 volume of the Bulletin of the Royal Gardens, and they 

 will not be disappointed. 



The " Electrical Trades' Directory and Handbook for 

 1896" (14th year), published at the office of The Electrician, 

 furnishes wonderful evidence of the extent of electrical industries 

 at the present time. It consists of over five hundred pages of 

 handbook matter, and nearly seven hundred pages of directorial 

 information. The volume is invaluable to all who are concerned 

 with the production and supply of electricity. Another handy 

 book for electrical engineers and contractors is " The Universal 

 Electrical Directory," published by H. Alabaster, Gatehouse, 

 and Co. This publication, which has now reached its fifteenth 

 year, contains a complete record of all the industries directly or 

 indirectly connected with electricity and magnetism, and the 

 names and addresses of manufacturers at home and abroad. 



The Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund 

 ^January 1896) contains the usual detailed record ot careful 

 exploring work. Of more general interest is the adventurous 

 expedition of Mr. and Mrs. Gray Hill to the isolated and 

 remarkable Crusaders' Castle of Khauranee, of which photo- 

 graphs are given. Lieut. -Colonel C. M. Watson has attacked 

 the problem of the position of the Temple of Jerusalem. 

 He states his views with much plausibility; his method is the 

 scientific one of first considering the historical written evidence, 

 and then the levels of Mount Moriah as it originally existed 

 before Solomon began to build the Temple ; and he has drawn 

 his plans in accord with the historical documents, and also with 

 what exploration has shown to be the actual facts. Lieut. - 

 Colonel Conder has an essay on the Syrian language and the 

 history of Samala. 



Dr. G. Brown Goode's report upon the condition and pro- 

 ss of the U.S. National Museum, under the direction of the 



iiithsonian Institution, during the. fiscal year ending June 

 JO, 1893, ^135 come to hand. The report is especially noteworthy 

 (jn account of the description Dr. Goode gives of the develop- 

 ment, organisation, scope, and work of museums generally, 

 and the National Museum in particular. The description is 

 lavishly illustrated by full-page plates reproduced from photo- 

 t;raphs of objects and cases in the museum. Bound up with the 

 report are ten papers describing and illustrating collections in 

 the National Museum, among them being "The Poisonous 

 Snakes of North America," by L. Stejneger ; " The Onyx 

 Marbles," by Ci. P. Merrill ; " The Cowbirds," by Major C. 

 IJendire; "The Weapons and Wings of Birds," by F. A. Lucas; 

 and "Ethnology of Tibet," by W. W. Rockhill. These papers, 

 which are accompanied by numerous full-page plates, are most 

 valuable contributions to knowledge. The papers, together 

 NO. 1373. VOL. 53] 



with Dr. Goode's report, fill nearly eight hundred pages, and 

 the whole stands as striking evidence of the liberality of the 

 Smithsonian Institution in matters of publication. 



The third annual report (vol. iv.) of the Iowa Geological 

 Survey, dealing with the work accomplished under the auspices 

 of the Survey during 1894, has been received. The report 

 shows that a large amount of valuable information was accumu- 

 lated with reference to the geological structure, and geological 

 products of economic importance, in several counties of the 

 State of Iowa. The method followed by Dr. Samuel Calvin, 

 the State geologist, is to give reports of the geological features 

 of each county separately. He recognises, of course, that this 

 involves following an artificial subdivision of the State ; for 

 county boundaries have no relation to the distribution of geo- 

 logical formations. But, at the same time, he points out that 

 the present citizens, as well as prospective settlers and investors, 

 think not of naturally-defined areas, but of counties in which 

 they become interested ; and they will turn to the geological 

 report of the several counties under consideration for information 

 concerning the resources of them. Dr. Calvin reports that the 

 work of the Survey continues to demonstrate that the Iowa coal- 

 measures are far richer than they have been believed to be. 

 The report is illustrated by numerous maps and figures, and is 

 standing evidence of the vigour and thoroughness with which the 

 work of the Survey is carried on. 



Among the many interesting articles and notes in the 

 number of the Asclepiad just issued (No. 44, vol. xi.), 

 is a biographical paper on Dr. Thomas Young, by Sir B. 

 W. Richardson, accompanied by a fine autotype portrait 

 of him. Dr. Young is perhaps better remembered by his 

 optical observations than for his medical researches. His 

 mind was turned towards natural philosophy, and it was in that 

 domain rather than in his profession that he earned distinction. 

 He did, however, make some contributions to medical science. 

 About the year 181 3, he wrote an essay on the medical facts of 

 climate, containing a large amount of valuable information. In 

 the same year he prepared an introduction to medical literature, 

 including a system of practical nosology, and his essay on con- 

 sumption attracted considerable attention. Throughout his life 

 he was a close student of vision and of the eye, and in the 

 Bakerian Lecture which he delivered before the Royal Society 

 in the first year of this century, he entered largely into the 

 dimensions and refractive qualities of the eye, and the size of 

 the pictures which are developed on the retina. It was in 

 I physical investigations that Young excelled, and especially in 

 I connection with interference and the wave-theory of light. He 

 died in May 1828, after just completing his fifty-sixth year. 



The current number of the Berichte contains an interesting 

 historical note, by Dr. G. W. A. Kahlbaum, on the origin of the 

 " Liebig's Condenser." The inventor of this indispensable piece 

 of apparatus appears to have been C. E. Weigel, Professor of 

 Chemistry and Botany at Greifswald. The account of this 

 apparatus, with diagram, a facsimile of which is reproduced in the 

 Berichte, first appeared in 177 1 , thirty years before Liebig was born. 

 It should be noted, however, that Liebig never described this 

 condenser as his own, but called it Gottling's ; and the latter, 

 again, who seems to have made these condensers for Liebig, 

 distinctly refers its invention to Weigel. On these grounds, Dr. 

 Kahlbaum thinks it should be henceforth known as " Weigel's 

 Condenser." 



The chemistry of the simpler organic fluorine derivatives, 

 after a period of comparative neglect, has during the last few 

 years been vigorously followed up, more especially in France. 

 At the meeting of the French Academy of Sciences on 

 February 3, two papers were presented on the acid fluorides, one 



