400 



KNOWLEDGE. 



October, 1913. 



because a heavy bag swung over the shoulder is likely to 



suddenly shift when you are in some awkward situation 



and shake your nerve, if it does nothing worse. 



By the courtesy of the publishers we are able to reproduce 



on page 395 one of the many excellent photographs with 



which the book is illustrated. ... ,, ,,, 



W. M. W. 



A Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of British 

 Birds. — By H. Kirke Swann. 266 pages. 8f-in. X5f-in. 

 (Witherby & Co. Price 10/- net.) 

 In this list the accepted English names of British birds are 

 printed in capitals throughout, and under the principal 

 headings there is given much folk-lore and many legends 

 with regard to the more familiar species. Some of the stories 

 are very curious ; for instance, the popular belief about the 

 song-thrush is to the effect that the bird acquires new legs 

 and casts the old ones when about ten years old. Another 



notion, which comes from the Border, with regard to the pied 

 wagtail is that it ought always to wag its tail nine times on 

 alighting and before beginning to run about or feed, and 

 should the number be less or more it is very unlucky for the 

 person who is counting. More important from an ornitho- 

 logical point of view is the fact that Mr. Swann gives a 

 reference to the first usage of the various names. Altogether 

 there are nearly five thousand names of all kinds gleaned 

 from literature, from county lists, from several languages 

 and many dialects, and it is obvious that to bring them 

 together, quite apart from the many interesting details that 

 have been added, must have entailed a prodigious amount of 

 work. The time is gone by when the labours of the compiler 

 were not properly recognised, and the value of Mr. Swann's 

 book to all writers upon and students of birds will be acknow- 

 ledged as very great. W. M. W. 



NOTICES. 



ALEXANDER AGASSIZ.— Messrs. Constable will publish 

 almost immediately the " Life and Letters of Alexander 

 Agassiz," edited by his son. 



THE FOX. — Mr. J. C. Tregarthen's " Life Story of a Fox," 

 which has gained the admiration of many nature-lovers by 

 the accuracy of its observation and its charming style, is 

 shortly to be issued in a cheaper form by Messrs. A. & C. Black. 



THE CENTURY MAGAZINE— In the issue of this 

 magazine for September, Mr. Robert Sterling Yar,d, the new 

 editor, reviews the aims of the magazine in the past, and sets 

 forth what they will be in the future. We wish him every 

 success. 



UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA.— Mr. A. Henry Savage- 

 Landor has been for the past seven months hard at work on 

 his new book, "Across Unknown South America," describing 

 his remarkable journey across that beautiful and virgin 

 continent. The book is now completed and will be published 

 shortly, in two volumes, by Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton. 



A NEW NATURAL HISTORY.— For many years Messrs. 

 Cassell have specialised in Nature-study volumes, and the 

 latest addition to their series of books upon this subject 

 will be ''Cassell's Natural History," which will deal with all 

 the latest discoveries in Nature Science, and contain photo- 

 graphs taken direct from Nature in natural colours, as well as 

 an abundance of other photographs. 



THE NEW ENCYCLOPAEDIA.— Messrs. T. C. and 

 E. C. Jack announce the publication of a new encyclopaedia. 

 The work will be original throughout, and owing to the way in 

 which the matter is condensed and the illustrations treated, 

 the one thousand six hundred pages will contain as much 

 information as is usually put into six large volumes. All the 

 entries are thoroughly up to the latest date, and science is a 

 strong feature of the work. Struck by the inconvenience to 

 the reader of having from a dozen to twenty volumes to choose 

 from, and the consequent confusion and irritation, the 

 publishers have put the whole into one good-sized volume. A 

 large edition has been printed, and the work will be issued at 

 a popular price. 



MACMILLAN'S NEW BOOKS.— From the classified list 

 of announcements of new books which Messrs. Macmillan 

 and Company have issued, we find quite a number dealing 

 with anthropology and archaeology. Among these are the 

 two parts of " The Golden Bough," which will complete the 

 third edition of Professor Frazer's great work. In " Marriage 

 Ceremonies in Morocco " Professor Westermarck repairs the 

 omission of which he says he was guilty when he wrote " The 

 History of Human Marriage" more than twenty years ago. 

 We notice also that the first volume of an English edition of 

 Windelband and Ruge's " Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical 

 Sciences " is being brought out under the editorship of Sir 

 Henry Jones. There are besides a number of scientific books 

 which should be of interest to our readers. 



BIRKBECK COLLEGE.— We have received the Calendar 

 of the Birkbeck College for 1913-14. Founded by Dr. George 

 Birkbeck in 1823, this institution has played a very great part 

 in the education of the Metropolis, and is now conducted in 

 relation with the University of London. Classes are held both 

 in the day and evening ; thirty-two members of the staff are 

 recognised teachers of the University. 



The courses of study provide for Degrees in the Faculties of 

 Arts, Science, Laws, and Economics. 



In Science there is a very extended curriculum for 

 Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, and 

 Geology. The laboratories are well equipped with modern 

 apparatus and appliances, and research work is carried on in 

 all the departments. 



The 91st Session of the College commenced on Monday, 

 29th September, when the Opening Address was given in the 

 Theatre, at 7 p.m., by Sir Francis Darwin, F.R.S., LL.D., D.Sc. 



ARTIFICIAL FERTILISATION.— Dr. Jacques Loeb, 

 head of the department of Experimental Biology in the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, has written a 

 companion work to his " Mechanistic Conception of Life," 

 which attracted much attention on its publication last year, 

 entitled " Artificial Parthenogenesis and Fertilisation." It 

 will be issued during the autumn by the Cambridge 

 University Press, as British agents for the University of 

 Chicago Press. The subject of the book is an analysis of the 

 mechanism by which the male sex cell, the spermatozoon, 

 causes the animal egg to develop. The author has gained a 

 world-wide reputation for his achievements in artificial 

 fertilisation, and this work penetrates, in great measure, the 

 mystery which surrounds the term " life " to the extent of 

 showing how the action of well-known chemical and physical 

 agencies may be substituted for that of the mysterious 

 complex called the " living spermatozoon." 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN ASTROSPECTRA.— 

 In November, Professor Bickerton will commence in " Know- 

 ledge " a series of articles on stellar spectroscopy for 

 beginners. These articles although intended for persons having 

 no knowledge of spectrum analysis, will by simple basic steps 

 lead the student to the solution of problems that eminent 

 astronomers admit themselves unable to explain. They may 

 therefore be useful to all interested in stellar spectra or in 

 the making and reading of even complex spectrograms. By 

 the term " spectrogram " is generally understood a photograph 

 of a celestial object taken by means of a telescope or camera 

 armed with a prism or diffraction grating. 



Professor Bickerton has been for many years in New 

 Zealand, where he held a chair in experimental science for 

 over a quarter of a century. The Chairman of the Board of 

 Governors of his College, writing in the New Zealand 

 Spectator, of which he is editor, says : — " Professor Bickerton 

 is a man of intellectual power, a most picturesque writer, 

 and above all one who can invest scientific subjects with a 

 literary charm that makes them intensely interesting to the 

 lay mind." 



