Aug. 15, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



141 



accomplished of northern Greenland, and, by observation of 

 what seemed to be a distant headhiiid, located it as Cape 

 Robert Lincoln, in latitude 83" 35', longitude 3S° west of 

 Greenwich. 



At B, in our map, is shown Lookwood Island, the highest 

 northern latitude yet reached, and from whence the obser- 

 vation was made, while A marks the highest point attained 

 by Commander Markham, the most successful British ex- 

 plorer in 1870. In a subsequent endeavour to go still 

 farther north, the party was turned back by open water, 

 and, as Greely's report says, " barely escaped drifting into 

 the Polar Ocean." 



There are many other newly-named places, and some 

 material changes will have to be made in the maps of 

 regions hitherto incorrectly laid out, along the west shore 

 of Kane Basin and Kennedy Channel, and in the configu- 

 ration of Grinuell Land, and the north shores of Grant 

 Land and Greenland. Arctic geography will thus, doubt- 

 less, be greatly amended, but whether the results attained 

 will prove sufficient compensation for the loss of life of the 

 brave men who were sacrificed is a query which many 

 people will think most unsatisfactorily answered. — tScientific 

 American. 



JlcblfUiS* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



An Introduction to Mental Philosophij, on the Inductive 

 Method. By J. D. MoRELL, A.M., LL.D. (London: W". 

 Stewart &■ Co.) As an introduction to the study of psycho- 

 logy, at once scientific and popular, it would be difficult to 

 find a work better adapted to its avowed purpose than 

 that whose title heads this notice. While omitting nothing 

 essential to a complete theory of the nature and modes of 

 action of the human mind, it is yet commeudably free from 

 that redundance of verbiage which unfortunately dis- 

 tinguishes so mauy works on mental science ; though while 

 as succinct as need be, it never degenerates into baldness, 

 or slurs over a difficulty for want of detail in the argu- 

 ment adduced to meet it. Dr. Morel 1 begins ab initio with 

 the primordial forms of mental activity, and, proceeding 

 through the nature and development of perception, and sub- 

 sequently of ideas, traces the logical processes of the human 

 mind from the latter. In subsequent divisions of his 

 work he necessarily deals with human reason, the develop- 

 ment of the will, and the feelings generally ; concluding 

 ■with an appendix of very numerous examination papers in 

 mental and moral science set for degrees in the London 

 University. The reader who has been taught to regard 

 everything in the shape of metaphysical or psychological 

 disquisition as essentially dreary will undeceive himself 

 very agreeably by the perusal of Dr. Morell's book ; while 

 the student more familiar with mental science may read 

 such chapters as those on belief and on the freedom of the 

 will by DO means without profit. The work has one 

 solitary defect, which we trust to see supplied in the next 

 edition — it has no index. 



Manual of the Mosses of H'orth America. By Leo 

 Lesquereux and Thos. P. James. (London : Triibner & 

 Co. 1884.) — To every practical bryologist this wonderful 

 specimen of patient and enduring labour of Messrs. Lesque- 

 reux and James will be welcome, containing as it does a 

 detailed description of something like nine hundred species 

 of the mosses found on the American continent ; iu fact, 

 presenting a practically exhaustive account of every one so 

 far known there. It is illustrated with six beautiful 

 plates, crowded with figures, illustrating the genera ; and | 



must be indispensable to every one interested in the lowly 

 type of vegetable organisms with which it so ably deals. 



How to Foretell the Weather ivitli the Pocket /Spectroscope. 

 By F. W. CoRV. (London : Chatto & Windus. 188-1.)— 

 In or about the year 1872 Professor Piazzi Smyth, the 

 Scottish Astronomer Royal, discovered that when moisture 

 was present in the air a band or shading appeared in the 

 spectrum of the light of the sky, on the less refrangible 

 side cf the well-known D, or sodium, lines. The result of 

 a series of observations induced him to believe that the 

 spectroscope might thus be employed as a hygrometer, or, 

 speaking more rigidly, a hygroscope, to foretell the advent 

 of rain ; and, impressed with this idea, he published his 

 discovery to the world. The matter was taken up in 

 England by Mr. Rand-Capron and a few others, but very 

 considerable difference of opinion seems to have prevailed 

 as to the value of the method ; and, during the autumn 

 of 1882, the columns of the Times were the scene of a 

 l)retty lively conflict of opinion on this subject. Mr. Cory, 

 however, appears to have given the spectroscope a pretty 

 fair trial as a means of forecasting rain, and claims to have 

 been quite successful in his vaticinations. To all who 

 wish to follow his footsteps, his little book may be com- 

 mended ; as he gives the plainest possible directions for the 

 use of the instrument to predict rain, illustrated in a way 

 which renders his descriptions almost equivalent to personal 

 instruction. The method is worth a trial, at any rate. 



€ ill tonal »gci£(£(ip. 



The devotees of the science or art, or whatever it is, of 

 " Philately " may be interested to learn that up to the end 

 of the year 1883 two hundred and three countries, states, 

 ic, and twelve private companies had issued adhesive 

 postage-stamps. Of these, sixty-nine have also issued 

 envelopes, and one hundred and seven, post-cards. Between 

 1810 and Dec. 31, 1860, 2,400 stamps of sorts were issued. 

 From 1861 to December, 1870, sixty-six new countries 

 were added, and the stamps rose in number to about 6,400, 

 an increase of 4,000 in ten years. In the next decade forty- 

 nine new countries were added to the list, and another 

 4,000 was added to the number of adhesive stamps. 

 Finally, the number of stamps which, up to Dec. 31, 1880, 

 was about 10,400, had advanced to about 12,000 in the 

 succeeding three years, or at the rate of more than 500 a 

 year ; so that if the same rate of progression should con- 

 tinue, by December, 1890, 16,000 varieties of postage-stamp 

 will be in existence. When I read all this in the pages of 

 Messrs. Alfred Smith <fe Co.'s Monthly Circular, I tremble 

 to think of the sorts and sizes of Stamp Albums that it 

 will be incumbent on the collector of five or six years hence 

 to keep. A moderately complete collection will require a 

 perambulator, at the least, for its transport from place to 

 place ; while a really full one will scarcely be movable in 

 anything short of a donkey-cart. 



I HAVE just obtained what is expressively known as "a 

 wrinkle " from a wholesale price-list of a distiller which 

 has fallen (no matter how) into my hands. That it was 

 never intended to be seen by any mortal eyes outside of 

 " the trade " goes without saying. In this highly-instruc- 

 tive document I find, under the head of " Spirit Flavours," 

 " the attention of consumers in Australia and India " (we 

 needn't say anything about England) " is particularly called 

 to these very useful and excellent flavours. One pound of 

 either of these essences to fifty gallons of plain spirit" (let 



