20 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[January, 1907. 



instcnd of GrccU letters for his constellation stars, and has 

 at times revised the order when he considers Bayer's system 

 not consistent, so that ideiilirnation is not always easy. 



CiEOLOOY. 



The History of Devonshire Scenery, by Arlluir \V. Clay- 

 den, M.A.; pp. 195 ami Index; 4;, photopjraphic illustra- 

 tions (Exeter : James G. Commin ; London : Chntto and W'in- 

 dus ; price los. 6d. net). — Princip.al (."layden's conlril)iilion to 

 the fjeolof^^y of Devonshire is one of those books which it is a 

 ple.-isure to read. It is complete in itself, is scientific in 

 everv way, and yet can be read with profit by even a br- 

 pinncr in the scientific study of scenery. Commencinfj with 

 the earliest rocks, and after a short discussion, dismissins.; 

 the terms " azoic " and " eozoic " in f.ivour of " pre-Cam- 

 brian," we are told th.-it the i^'recn and £jrey crystalline 

 rocks which make up the country by .Salcombe, and reach 

 from the Bolt Tail to beyond the Start, are believed by 

 some peolojjists to be of jire-Cambrian ajje. The Devonian 

 rocks are fully described, and a special chapter is fjiven on 

 the Culm measures. We should, of course, expect to find a 

 good deal about the Dartmoor ijranitcs and other volcanic 

 rocks, and we arc not disappointed. " The Salt Lake 

 Period " and " The Asjc of Reptiles "' are interesting; chap- 

 ters in the history of tlie evolution of the county, and then 

 with " The Return of the Sea," we have a chapter on the 

 " Chalk," and the problems as to the ancient coast lines 

 arc temperately and judiciously discussed. " The Bovey 

 Lake " calls to mind the ever-recurrinfj problem as to 

 whether the Bovey Tracey lijjnites and clays are Eocene or 

 Miocene, although now they are acceptably placed with the 

 Oligocenc beds of the Isle of Wight. If we want evidence 

 to show subsidence of the land, we have it in the fact that 

 the basin in which are these beds extends at least 400 feet 

 below the present sea level, as proved in a boring recentlv 

 made near Ileathficld station. The illustrations are excel- 

 lent in every w-ay, and by presenting actual photographs to 

 the reader they assist in preparing him for the appearance 

 which the various rocks reallv present in the field. And 

 W'here at all obscure, a key has been usefullv added on the 

 same page, showing clearlv the dividing lines to be looked 

 for. '^ E. A. l\r. 



METEOROLOGY. 



British Rainfall, 1905. (E. Stanford, London, 1906, Svo., 

 359 pp. ; IDS.). — The title page of this (the forty-fifth) annual 

 volume has been somewhat altered, and now reads : 

 " British Rainfall, 1905. On the Distribution of Rain in 

 space and time over the British Isles during the vear 1905, 

 as recorded by more than 4,000 observers in Great Britain 

 and Ireland, and discussed with Articles upon various 

 branches of Rainfall work, by Hugh Robert Mill." The 

 late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., in i860, commenced the 

 collection of rainfall statistics, and published them in an 

 annual volume entitled " British Rainfall." This work, 

 which he continued up to the time of his death in 1900, is 

 now. ably carried on by Dr. H. R. Mill. These annual 

 volumes are rich storehouses of rainfall data, and they be- 

 come more valuable year by year. The growth of the num- 

 ber of observers has been as follows : — 



I 86 I 472 I 89 I 2799 



1871 1504 1901 3506 



I 88 I 2145 1905 4096 



The present volume contains in Part I. : — (i) A Report to 

 the Observers, without whose generous work " British 

 Rainfall " could not exist ; (2) Original .Articles, dealing 

 w-ith a remarkable publication of rainfall data in Germany, 

 and with the relation of evaporation to other meteorological 

 phenomena ; (3) Tables of the amount of evaporation at 

 II stations, of the duration of rainfall at 8 stations, and of 

 the complete daily observations of rainfall at 10 stations; 

 (4) .An account of the staff of observers and of changes in 

 the stations at work, together with a map showing those 

 parts of the country where new observers are most urgentlv 

 wanted; and (5) a long obituary list. In Part II. the con- 

 ditions of 1905 are exhaustively treated as to (6) Observers' 

 Notes on the rainfall and weather; (7) Heavy Falls of Rain, 

 their distribution over the country, and their relation to 

 atmospheric disturbances, with several maps ; (S) The dis- 

 tribution of rainfall in time, including the number of rain 

 days classified according to amount of fall, droughts, and 



rain spells ; (9) The monthly and annual rainfall in relation 

 to the average; and (10) The (jenera! T.ible, giving the 

 names of all observers or responsible authorities, particulars 

 as to position and exposure of the r.iin gauges, the total 

 ;innual rainf.all, and the number of r:iin d.ays. T.Mking the 

 year as a whole it appears that 1905, like 1904, was a dry 

 vear. The distribution of r.-iiiif.-dl over the British Isles 

 was : — 



1005. Diflerencc from Average. 



Engl.ind and Wales . . 28 So ins. - 5-62 ins. or - i6 percent. 



Scotlruiil .. .. 4.i04 ,, -2-35 ,, ,, -5 



Ireland 35'8o ,, -472 ,. .. -12 1. 



The greatest r.ilnf.ill in 1905 was 176.60 ins. at Glaslyn, 

 Snowdon, ("arnarvonshire, :uul the least 14-57 ins. at .Shoe- 

 buryness, Essex. 



PHOTOGRAPHY. 



Collodion Emulsion, l>y Ihiiry Oscar Klein (London: 

 Penrose and Co., 109, I'";Mringdon Road, E.C., 1905; price 

 5s. net.)— This is a conip.iratively small volume of 95 pages, 

 and is written by a practical man for practicd workers. It 

 seems a pity that collodion emulsion processes should have 

 been almost driven out of existence by other methods. It 

 may be considered a debatable point as to whether it is a 

 case of the survival of the fittest, and, therefore, the author 

 does good service in presenting the subject with its modern 

 variations and applications in a convenient form. Of course, 

 the use of collodion CTiiulsions is a favourite topic with the 

 author, but he does not recommend them without discrimina- 

 tion, for he points out their disadvantages for very fine line 

 work. He describes the applications of emulsions to the 

 preparation of ferrotvpes, lantern slides, and transparencies, 

 photographing on wood, for photo-mechanical purposes, and 

 in three-colour work by various processes. The sensitising 

 of emulsions for colour is treated of at length. We wish 

 that the author had restricted himself to the practical aspects 

 of the subject for his few excursions into theoretical matters 

 are, to sav the least of them, unfortunate. If these parts 

 are to be retained in future editions they should be 

 thoroughlv revised. 



SOCIOLOGY. 



Sociological Papers, Vol LI. By Various Authors. 

 Published for the Sociological Society. (I^ondon : Mac- 

 miUan & Co., 1906; price, los. 6d.). — This volume com- 

 prises the papers read before the .Sociological Society during 

 1904-5, with the discussions that followed. Sociological pro- 

 blems are so complex and many-sided that from one point or 

 view or another they can scarcely fall to appeal to all thinking 

 people, and the volume contains much of universal interest 

 and importance. The editors have suggested a classification 

 of the predominant characteristics of the several papers ac- 

 cording to their methods of approaching the subject. Thus 

 the Historical Approach is illustrated by Mr. J. .S. Stuart- 

 Glennie's papers, " The Place of the Social Sciences in n 

 ClasMcaiion of Knouicdges," " The General Historical 

 LaxBS, the Anthropological Bases of a Science of Socialisa- 

 tion," and " 2'/ic Application of General Historical Laics to 

 Contcmporari/ Erents." The Ethical Approach by Professor 

 Hoffdlng with "On the Belation hetween Sociology and Ethics, ' 

 and by Dr. Westermarck in " The InHiicncc of Magic on 

 Socicd lielations." The Psychical .Approach bv Professor 

 Sadler in " Tlie School in some of its lielations to Social 

 Organisation and to National Life." The Biological 

 .Approach by Mr. Francis Gallon in " Hestrictions in 

 Marriage," "Studies in National Eugenics," and "Euge- 

 nics as a Factor in Keligion." And the Geographical 

 .Approach in Professor Geddes's paper on " Civics: as 

 Applied Sociology." Mr. Gallon's paper on " Restrictions in 

 Marriage " is designed to meet the objections often urged 

 against Eugenics, that human nature would never brook 

 interference with the freedom of marriage. He takes as 

 examples the questions of monogamy, endogamy, exogamy, 

 the Australian system of marriages, taboo, prohibited de 

 grees, and celibacy to show how unquestioningly mankin I. 

 .•it all grades of civilisation, has submitted to marriag'^ 

 restrictions, when these have been sanctioned or imposed by 

 custom, law or religion. The three papers of Mr. Gallon, 

 and the 30 pages of discussion to which no less than 26 well- 

 known workers contribute, demonstrate the author's claim 

 that " Eugenics is a virile creed, full of hopefulness, and 

 appealing to many of the noblest feelings of our nature." Dr. 

 Westermarck brings a wealth of illustration to prove the in- 



