80 



KNOWLEDGE. 



February, 1913. 



SECOND-HAND INSTRUMENTS.— More than fifteen 

 hundred pieces of scientific apparatus for sale, or on hire, 

 are given in Mr. C. Baker's current list of second-hand 

 instruments. We have often alluded to the usefulness of 

 these catalogues and commend the present issue to our 

 readers. On one of the advertisement pages we notice the 

 announcement of a new one-sixteenth inch oil immersion 

 objective, the price of which is £6 10s. 



PORT ERIN BIOLOGICAL STATION. — Professor 

 Herdman's Annual Report of the work done at Port Erin 

 Biological Station is always interesting, and the twenty-sixth 

 one which has come to hand is particularly valuable because it 

 contains a number of maps, charts, and plans of Port Erin 

 Bay and the neighbourhood, prepared for the use of 

 advanced students or research workers, on which they can 

 record localities and captures. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION ADDRESSES.— A corres- 

 pondent signing himself O.B.L. sends us the following note. — 

 " I see from the Publishers' Circular an announcement to 

 the effect that Messrs. Longman are publishing 'The only 

 authorized address of the President of the British Association ' 

 delivered at Dundee. From this are we to assume that the 

 copies of the address sold by the association to the members 

 at Dundee, and that the version which appears in the Annual 

 Report in about a year's time, are unauthorised ? " 



HORNIMAN MUSEUM LECTURES.— The following 

 Saturday afternoon lectures will be given at the Horniman 

 Museum during February. — 



Feb. 1st. — "Tools and Weapons of 



the Old Stone Age " Dr. H. S. Harrison 

 (Curator of the Museum). 

 ,, 8th. — " The Gun-flint Industry 

 of Brandon : a Sur- 

 vival of the Stone 

 Age" ... ... Mr. Edward Lovett 



(of the Folk-Lore Society). 

 „ 15th. — "Japanese Ivories and 



Designs" ... Mr. A. R. Wright, F.R.A.I. 



„ 22nd. — " The Day's Work of a 

 Root" 



Dr. E. Marion Delf. 



HINTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY.— We have received from 

 Messrs. Charles Zimmermann & Company the "Agfa" hand- 

 book, which is published by the photographic department of 

 the Actien-Gesellschaft fiir anilin-fabrikation, Berlin, containing 

 a number of chapters by well-known English photographers 

 on such subjects as time development, rodinal for the develop- 

 ment of gaslight papers, and exposure meters. Messrs. 

 Zimmermann will send a copy on receipt of a penny 

 stamp. 



EGYPTIAN LEGENDS.— The forthcoming book in Mr. 

 Murray's " Wisdom of the East " Series is " Ancient Egyptian 

 Legends," translated by Miss M. A. Murray, the well-known 

 lecturer on Egyptian Literature, of University College, 

 London. The author has given a free rendering of the 

 fascinating legends of the ancient Egyptian Gods, Isis, 

 Osiris, Horus, Ra, telling of their loves, battles, prayers, 

 adventures, and sacrifices, which are likely to appeal to 

 a wide public, while at the same time in her notes on 

 the subject she has made provision for the more serious 

 student. 



MEDICAL BOOKS.— Messrs. Adam and Charles Black 

 will, in future, publish the following medical books which were 

 formerly issued by Mr. James Currie, Edinburgh. — " Hand- 

 book of Medical Treatment; A Guide to Therapeutics for 

 Students and Practitioners, with an Appendix on Diet," by 



James Burnet, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.P.E. ; " Manual of Medical 

 Jurisprudence, Toxicology, and Public Health," by W. G. 

 Aitchison Robertson, M.D., D.Sc, F.R.C.P.E., F.R.S.E. ; 

 Second edition, with thirty-nine illustrations, crown octavo. 

 "The Pocket Clinical Guide," by James Burnet, M.A., M.D., 

 M.R.C.P.E.; "The Pocket Prescriber." by James Burnet, 

 M.A., M.D.,' M.R.C.P.E. 



A PHILATELIC MICROSCOPE. —We have received 

 from Mr. Harold Cheavin a description of the inexpensive 

 microscope which he has designed for philatelic workers, and 

 recently exhibited before the Royal Microscopical Society. 

 The microscope will prove useful in examining small details 

 which are of great importance to stamp collectors, and by a 

 simple adjustment, water-marks may be made out as well as 

 the texture of the paper used. It is also very easy to fit the 

 microscope into the front of a camera from which the lens 

 has been removed, and so to take any photo-micrographs 

 that may be required. The instrument is made by Messrs. 

 Watson & Sons, but all communications should be addressed 

 to Mr. Cheavin, Somerset Road, Huddersfield. 



THE PRESERVATION OF FLORA AND FAUNA.— 

 It will be remembered that at the Dundee meeting of the 

 British Association in September last the President of the 

 Zoological Section, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., took as 

 the subject of his address : " The Preservation of Fauna." 

 At the close of the meeting the General Committee passed on 

 to the Council, for consideration, a resolution, which has now 

 been adopted, in the following terms: — "That the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science deplores the 

 rapid destruction of fauna and flora throughout the world, and 

 regards it as an urgent duty that steps should be taken, by the 

 formation of suitably-placed reserves or otherwise, to secure 

 the preservation of examples of all species of animals and 

 plants, irrespective of their economic or sporting value, except 

 in cases where it has been clearly proved that the preservation 

 of particular organisms, even in restricted numbers and places, 

 is a menace to human welfare. 



THE ALCHEMICAL SOCIETY.— The first general 

 meeting of the Alchemical Society, which has been formed for 

 the study of the works and theories of the Alchemists in their 

 various aspects, was held on Friday evening, January 10th, 

 at the International Club, Regent Street, W. The Hon. 

 President of the Society is Professor John Ferguson, M.A., 

 LL.D., F.I.C., F.C.S., and amongst other notable members we 

 may mention Mr. H. Stanley Redgrove, B.Sc, F.C.S., Mr. 

 Arthur Edward Waite, Mr. W. Gorn Old, Mr. Philip S. 

 Wellby, M.A., and Madame Isabelle de Steiger. At the 

 meeting a lecture was delivered by Mr. H. Stanley 

 Redgrove, B.Sc, F.C.S. (whose " Alchemy, Ancient and 

 Modern," is well known to students), on " The Origin of 

 Alchemy." The lecturer pointed out that the alchemists in 

 the past had been too harshly condemned as half charlatans, 

 half fools. As he said, although some of them were of this 

 nature, many of the alchemists were men of fine intellect and 

 inspired in their studies with noble ideals ; and he suggested 

 that, in spite of the fact that their assumptions led them into 

 many fantastic errors, they did seem to grasp certain funda- 

 mental facts concerning the universe of very great importance. 

 But, even supposing their theories to be utterly wrong, it was 

 still necessary to account for the fact that they gained almost 

 universal credit. Why, asked the lecturer, did the alchemists 

 adopt such views concerning natural phenomena ? Here, he 

 said, was a proper subject for scientific investigation. His 

 reply, which he illustrated at considerable length, was that the 

 alchemists started with two assumptions: (1) the truth of 

 mystical theology, especially the doctrine of the soul's 

 regeneration ; and (2) the truth of the statement that natural 

 objects are the symbols of spiritual verities. They, thus, 

 reasoning a priori, attempted to explain natural phenomena 

 by the application to them, by analogy, of the principles of 

 mystical theology. 



