44 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[February, 1907. 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



ASTRONOMY. 



Sixth Report of the Section for the Observation of Vari- 

 able Stars (Mrmiiirs o( llu- 15iili'-li .\--liomiinu:il AsMuialiiiTi, 

 Vol. XV., pp. 140 with 14 plates; price to non-members js.). 

 - — Of the nimurous observinpf sections of llie n..\..\. the 

 variable star .section, uniler the enerf,'elic direction of Col. 

 MarkwicU, is by no means the le.ist lloiirishinjj^. X'ari.ible 

 st.ir observation does not necess.irily require any expensi\c 

 outfit, anil is, therefore, peculiarly attractive to workers un- 

 provided with a telescope, or with only a sm.ill one, especi- 

 allv since the discovery of Nova Persei. The perioil covered 

 bv the present report is the lustrum 1400-11)04, .ind a few 

 previous observ.ilions are included. The work has 

 naturallv bei-n confined to fairly well-known vari.ible st.irs, 

 of which 2(1 " lonij-period " anil two " irretjular " v.iriables 

 provide the whole of the 5,717 observations. The director 

 himself, usinij a telescope of 2,"-inch aperture, is responsi- 

 ble for more than 2,000 of the number, so lh;it he is some- 

 thinjj more th.'in an armchair director. Of the sl.irs in the 

 list, X Cvijni is, perhaps, tlie best observeil, with 508 ob- 

 servations bv 13 observers. Harvard mai^^nitudes have been 

 used for the comparison stars whenever |)ossible in order to 

 make the results strictiv comparable with those of Harvard 

 Collefje Observatory. The observ.ilions have been printed 

 very fully, each day and each observer beinij given 

 separatelv in every case, and the resultihpf mat^nilude com- 

 p.'ired with th;it c.-ilculaled. The plates tjive the results in 

 di.ij^-rammalic form with dots for measures and curves for 

 observed and calculated light-curves. The labour involved 

 in the comiHil.ilions and preparation for press must have 

 been considerable, and in this the director acknowledges 

 valuable assistance from Mr. C. L. Brook, who also con- 

 tributed largely towards the expense of printing, which 

 would have been too great for the .Association, but which 

 was met bv gr.ants and subscriptions from the .\ssociation 

 and the Roval Societv (Government Grant Committee), 

 and two of the observers, Messrs. Brook and W'orssell. 



Astronomical Calendars for 1907. — We have received from Mr. 

 Arthur Mee, of Llanishen, Cardiff', a copy of his " Heavens at a 

 Glance, 1907," price yd., post free. On the one side appears two 

 star maps, which, to use Mr. Mee's own words, are "intended 

 only for those who have no access to a planisphere or a 

 celestial globe or atlas," and on the reverse a calendar for the 

 year together with useful astronomical information. 



Also received, too late for notice in our last issue, was 

 Hirschfeld's Star Calendar (Hirschfeld Bros., Ltd., Furnival 

 Street, is. net) for this year. This consists of the 4 cards, as 

 in previous if sues, each card giving a rough but clearly 

 marked chart of the constellatioDS for three months, also a 

 monthly calendar. 



BOTANICAL. 



New Creations in Plant Life, by W. S. Harwood (Mac- 

 millan and Co.). — Mr. Harwood is obviously to a great 

 extent blinded by hero-worship, and his knowledge respect- 

 ing fhe creation of plants, as he is pleased to style what is 

 usually known as hybridisation, appears to be mainly con- 

 fined to the work done by Burbank, otherwise the introduc- 

 tory remark that his hero " is the foremost plant-breeder in 

 the world," and that " he has produced more new forms of 

 plant life than any other man " would have been to some 

 extent qualified. Burbank has undoubtedly done some 

 good work, and has given to the world many improved 

 plants of sterling value, and a straightforward account of 

 his accomplishments and methods would have been wel- 

 comed by all, but unfortunately such practical matter is 

 completely swamped by a superabundance of rhetorical 

 flourish that the subject proper is somewhat difficult to 

 locate. " Speaking of making a blue rose, he (Burbank) 

 said it was one of the easiest things in the world if one 

 should set out diligently about it, but it would consume verv 

 >nuch time in the making, and it would be doubtful after all 

 if it added much to the charm of this rare flower. He ha; 

 studied the rose with great care, and he has seen in the 

 consideration of its colouring an easy avenue to a land of 

 blue roses." We sincerely trust that Burbank mav be 

 induced to reconsider his decision, and make a blue rose; 

 many people have already attempted to do so, but without 



success. Kverybody desires a blue rose, .inil if the only 

 person in tlie world cap.'ible of creating u\n: declines to do 

 so, the oppoiUmity will probably be lost fur ever. We arc 

 told that Burb.ink li.is cle.irly demonslrated the utter 

 f.ill.icv of the Meiidelian L.iws, ;md has ;ilso brought to 

 light the absurdily of the gener.ally ;icknowl(dged statement 

 that " .acquired characters .-uc never transmitted." On the 

 other h.iiul he has established the opposite, that acquired 

 characteristics are the only ones that .are transmitted. 

 I'uller details on these points will be awaited with interest. 



CHEMICAL. 



Practical Physical Chemistry, by .\. hindl.iy, M.A., rh.D., 

 O.-Sc, pp. xii. .inil ^Sj (London: Longm.ins, Green and 

 Co. ; 4s. ()d.) Most ilemenl.uy books of chemical analysis 

 include a number of physical exercises, such .is the deter- 

 mination of the specific gr.avily, molecul.ar weight by diCfer- 

 enl methods, .and so on ; but we know of none which deals 

 solely with the physical side of the science. 'I'here are, it is 

 true, several large manuals, such as Ostvvald's text book, 

 but these are far loo .advanced for the beginner, and hence 

 there is every reason for the existence of a book like that of 

 Ilr. Findlay which sh.ali serve as ;i |jractic:il physical guide 

 to the general student of chemistry. The work includes 

 chapters on density, thermal .and optical measurements, 

 molecular weight, electrical conductivity, electromotive force, 

 .and the velocity of chemical reaction. It is very clearly 

 written, and in each case good descriptions with illustra- 

 tions of the necessary .apparatus .are given, together with 

 lesl exercises in the use of this ap|);iralus. The author, who 

 is a lecturer on physical chemistry in the L'niversitv of Bir- 

 mingham, is to be congratulated on the success of his at- 

 tempt to provide a suitable lillle text book for use in 

 schools and universities. 



Problems in Animal Metabolism, by J. B. I.eathes (Lon- 

 don : Murray, igob; pp. viii +205 ; price 7s. 6d. net). — That 

 the contents of this little volume— which is practically the 

 report of a course of lectures given in the Laboratory of 

 London LIniversity, a couple of years ago — are thoroughly 

 to the point and up to date, we have not the slightest doubt. 

 H, however, the work is intended to appeal to any other 

 class of readers than the student — and students of a rathct 

 specialised type — it should have been written in a much 

 less " cut-and-dry " style. When we first opened it, ws 

 hoped to find in this volume a readable account of the won- 

 derful chemical processes which are constantly taking place 

 in the human body. To our great disappointment, we 

 found that llie book is absolutely unreadable except by a 

 professed chemist and physiologist. Had the author but 

 taken as his model the admirable articles on the " New 

 Chemistry " which have recently appeared in the Cornhi!'. 

 Magazine, he might have produced a work which 

 would have been an acceptable and useful one to scientific 

 men who are not specialists in chemistry and physiology, as 

 it no doubt is to those who devote their attention to these 

 blanches of science. The author's style is also capable of 

 much improvement ; the commencement of two consecu- 

 tive sentences on page 31 with the word " but," being a 

 glaring example of one of his common failings. As we have 

 said, the work is, no doubt, admirable for students of meta- 

 bolism, but it may be hoped that in a second edition it will 

 be so modified as to meet the requirements of a wider circle 

 of readers. 



METEOROLOaiCAL. 

 Meteorology in Mysore for 1905. Thirteenth Annual Re- 

 port, by John Cook, M..\., F.R.S.E. (Bangalore, igo6; 

 4to 56 pp. and 8 pl.ates). — This volume contains the results 

 of the meteorological observations made at Bangalore 

 (3,021 ft.), Mysore (2,518 ft.), Hassan (3,001 ft.), and Chital- 

 drug (2,405 ft.) during the year igo5. 'Lhe following are 

 the averages of some of the results for the thirteen years 

 1893-1905 :— 



Bangalore. Mysore. Hassan. Chilaldrug. 

 Temperature- 00^0 



Mean 740 75-5 721 76-8 



Mean Maximum 84 9 S64 83-2 87 o 



,, Minimum 64-4 65-8 62-4 tty-i 



Daily Range 20'5 206 20-8 ig-6 



Rainfall- 

 Total ... ... 34'68ins. 30-77iDS. sS'ijins. 2522ins. 



No. of Rain Days 104 103 124 Sg 



