April, 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE c\: SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



8g 



one from which both the broad-paddled and narrow-paddled 

 forms of the Lias have originated, thus upsetting the older view- 

 as to the narrow-paddled group being the primitive type. 

 * * * 



Cobra Poison. 



An important communication on the action on the human 

 system of the poison of the Indian cobra is published in a 

 recent issue of the Philosophical Transrictions of the Royal 

 Society, based on investigations undertaken at the instance of 

 the Secretary of State for India by Surgeon-Captain Elliot. 

 While earlier investigators ascribed death from cobra-venom 

 in most cases to paralysis of the respiratory centres, the 

 author concludes that the main cause is a rise of blood-pres- 

 sure caused by the contraction of the mieute arteries, which 

 thus afford a barrier to the circulation. 



Papers FLead. 



At the meeting of the Zoological Society on February 21, 

 Mr. Lydekker contributed one paper on the giraffes of Nigeria 

 and the Kilimanjaro district, and a second on dolphins from 

 India. Messrs. Thomas and Schwann gave an account of a 

 collection of South African mammals, describing a new species 

 of shrew; and Mr. Pocock pointed out that the Somali kudu 

 was subspecifically distinct from the typical southern form of 

 that animal. On March 7, at the meeting of the same Society, 

 notes were contributed on the marine fauna of the Cape Verde 

 Islands, Mr. Regan reviewing the species of certain South 

 American genera of fishes ; and Captain Meinertzhagen 

 described a new kind of oribi antelope from British East 

 Africa. At the meeting of the Linnean Society on March 2, 

 the subject of zoological nomenclature was discussed, and 

 the hope expressed that tautonomies, such as viilpcs vulpcs and 

 other comical arrangements, would be discarded. 

 -» « • 



It is generally understood that insects, like other " cold- 

 blooded " creatures, have no temperature of their own, but 

 put themselves in equilibrium with that of the surrounding 

 medium, air or water. M. Acloque summarising in Cosmos 

 recent investigations on this subject, suggests, however, 

 that there are several experiments to show that the 

 generalisation is not true in all cases, and that there are 

 reasons for supposing that insects produce heat. A 

 Fahrenheit thermometer was found by Inch to rise seven 

 degrees in an ant-hill, and Swammerdam and Reaumur 

 observed that the temperature of beehives keeps above that of 

 the external air in winter. According to Huber, who repeated 

 these observations, this temperature is nearly constant at 

 88° Fahrenheit. Reaumur added that when the bees were 

 agitated they caused their wings to vibrate with great rapidity, 

 and the interior heat then increased to such a point that the 

 walls became warm, and sometimes even the wax melted. 

 However this may be, we may say that the heat given off 

 individually by insects is always very slight. By way of com- 

 pensation, they confirm the general law according to which 

 living creatures resist cold better as their ability to give 

 off heat is slighter. Caterpillars do not necessarily die when 

 turned into bits of ice; and this resistance to cold explains 

 why we can find insects in regions very near the Pole, and 

 why the rigours of our own winters do them so little injury. 

 Certain species, and in particular some lepidoptera, hatch out 

 only in winter, which explains again, perhaps, how it is that 

 some flowers like the yellow Cape jessamine, now blooming in 

 Surrey, can become fertilis'^d in winter. Insects bear heat as 

 well as cold, and Kirby and Spence have affirmed that some 

 can survive immersion in boiling water. 



SCIENCE YEAR BOOK. 



Attention may be called to the announcement that appears in 

 our advertisement pages of the Reduction in price of the Science 

 Year Book for 1905. This should be an opportunity for all 

 persons interested in Science to acquire, at a very small cost, 

 this book which Nature says " should be foitnd on the writing 

 table of every astronomer and meteorologist," and "all who are 

 interested in natural phenomena or concerned with scientific 

 progress." 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



Terrestrial Magnetism and Us Causes, by F. A. Black. 



(Published by Gall & Inglis ; price, 6s. net). The complex 

 question of the magnetism of the earth and its consequent 

 intfuence on the compass needle has been treated from 

 an entirely new basis of hypothetical speculation by Mr. 

 F. A. Black, in this recent work. The elucidation of the 

 natural laws which cause the magnetic needle to point approx- 

 imately North and South ; the daily, seasonal, and secular 

 variation in its direction, and in its inclination or dip ; the 

 causes of magnetic storms and their connection with sun-spots 

 and aurorse ; in short, every subject connected with the earth's 

 magnetisation and its inlfuence on the magnetic needle is 

 dealt with by the author in the theory promulgated by him. 

 He adopts the assumption, based on scientific opinion, that a 

 tenuous medium of an electrical nature permeates the space 

 through which the earth moves in its orbit; that the sun's 

 activity causes displacements or currents of this medium 

 which are impelled with great velocity towards and upon the 

 earth, thus causing the earth in its diurnal rotation to be enve- 

 loped from apex to apex by a sheet of electricity with an 

 apparent contrary motion, so that it is magnetised by induc- 

 tion, and is consequently an electro-magnet. The various 

 puzzling phenomena connected with the magnetic needle in 

 relation to the earth's magnetism are treated in an exhaustive 

 manner, and the deductive reasoning proved by means of 

 diagrams. The book is unmistakably the result of deep study 

 and research on the part of the author, and the able arguments 

 set forth in support of his theory are undoubtedly well worthy 

 the consideration of magnetists, physicists, and others inte- 

 rested in this department of science. 



Astronomy for Amateurs, by Camille Flammarion, translated 

 by Francis A. Welby (Fisher Unwin). Price 6s. 340 pp. This is 

 one of those fascinating little books that do so much to spread 

 scientific interest among the people. Being written by so well- 

 known an astronomer and author, it should have an even 

 wider interest than many other books of its kind. Much of it 

 is almost poetic in its imaginative descriptions, and the trans- 

 lation has been most successfully carried out. It is, however, 

 a pity that some of the illustrations do not follow suit. They 

 may be poetic and imaginative — many are of young ladies in 

 flimsy attire gazing at the hazy heavens — but they are neither 

 artistic nor descriptive. The " Contents " includes an " Intro- 

 duction " and an " Index," but neither of these desirable ad- 

 ditions appears in the print. 



Popular Star Maps, by Comte de Miremont, F.R.A.S. (G. Philip 



and Son ; price los. 5d. net.) These maps, with an introduction 

 to explain the principle employed in projecting them, short 

 account of '• Star Nomenclature," and lists of stars shown in 

 the maps, both in alphabetical order and in order of Right 

 Ascension, certainly form " a rapid and easy method of finding 

 the principal stars." On the other hand, this work forms a 

 somewhat bulk}- and elaborate apparatus for so simple a 

 requirement. Ten large plates are given, in which the white 

 stars stand out well on a dark blue ground, each with its key 

 map. Yet only the brightest stars are depicted, with but few 

 smaller than the 3rd magnitude. The constellations are thus 

 distinctly portrayed for the novice in astronomy, but for those 

 seeking more detail there is little information. 



Chemistry in Daily Life, translated from the German of Dr. 

 Lassar Cohn by M. M. Pattison Muir, M.A. (Grevel and Co.; 

 price, 5s.). This is the third edition of a cousre of thoroughly 

 practical lectures, which should be widely read as giving a most 

 necessary addition to the education of the average Englishman. 

 It would be hard to be.at this little work for simplicity and 

 clearness of language and great scope of its teachings. The 

 latter may be made evident from a glance at the table of con- 

 tents, which includes: Analysis of air, breathing, combustion, 

 matches, candles, oils, petroleum, coal gas, incandescent gas 

 lights, electric furnace, food of plants, manures, food of men 

 and animals, diets, digestion, wines, explosions, fabrics, leather, 

 dyeing, painting, inks, acids, soaps, glass, bricks, photography, 

 X-rays, metals and alloys, and many other items. It must be 

 acknowledged that to have some scientific knowledge on all 

 those every-day subjects is both of great interest and un- 

 doubted utility, and a man who can pack the information con- 

 tained in this book into his brain will, in our opinion, be of far 



