.IrLV. 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



mv) 



Mount Terror. This rookery was oecuined by millious of 

 Peu;,'uins. . . . The brown disooloration caused bv these 

 birds can be seen some miles off." The nestintr jilaoo and 

 the eggs of the Einporor Pengiiiu were souijht for in vain. 

 It is to be hopetl these may at last be brought to light by 

 the " Discovery '' expedition now in progress. 



Condor lat/inq in Confinemenl. — The Zooloifist for May reconls an 

 instance of a Condor { Sarcorhamphus gri/phus) wliidi laid an egg on 

 April l()th, at the Natural History lluseum, Xenvastle-on-Tyne. 

 The bird was brought from the Chilian Amies as a nestling sixteen 

 years ago. 



Greaf Auk's Eijg. — An unusually fine specimen of the Great Auk's 

 egg was disposed of at Messrs. Stevens' rooms on May 15tli. It 

 n-alised 29t> guineas — only a little below the reooi-d price— and has, 

 we believe, passed into the hands of a private eolleetor. 



Monltinq the Bill in the Wall Crnp,r.- The Field of May 3l6t 

 draws attention to a tradition to the effect that the A\'aU Creeper 

 ( Ticliodroma muraria) moults the distal half of the bill in the autumn. 

 There seems to be some evidence to the truth of this, but as yet 

 corroboration is needed. Ornithologists living in Loudon would do 

 well . to keep the epecimeu lately added to tlie Zoological Society's 

 i-ollcction under careful observation during July and August. 



All contributions to the column, either in the leay of' notes 

 or photogra/ihs, should be forwarded to W. P. Pycr.\ft, at the 

 Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, S.W. 



j^oticc a tif B ooftg. 



"Selection of SuB.iEcr ix Picimriat. Piiotogr.\i'iiy." By 

 W. E. Tindall, r.h.a. (Iliffe iVr Sons.) — This book concerns a 

 branch of photography little heeded by the majority of those 

 mnltitudes who possess cameras. The walls of two photographic 

 exhibitions are covered annuallj' with examples of well-|iroduceil 

 photoglyphs, but among these it is rare to find anything that 

 shows substantial artistic training. This is to be deplored, since 

 fleeting forms of beauty can be seized by the camera in a way 

 denied to the |)ainter— bewildered by nipidly changing e.xpres 

 sion. And more, for Nature not infrequently casts a picture, 

 totally harmonious, faultlessly composed, and which is sometimes 

 as pleasing in monochrome reproduction as in the doabtful 

 hues imjiosed by some artists, ifr. Tindall has endeavoured 

 in the book before us to supply this artistic knowledge by 

 illustrating certain laws of composition. His effort scarcely 

 can be called happy. The illustrations, chosen from his own 

 sketches, frequently rely on a mere effect of light for their merit 

 rather than on those subtle and reposeful lines which render 

 the works of a ])ractised artist things of beauty. Plates j, 7, 

 and 10 nre instances of this. Again, to offer a photogia]iher a 

 sketch for bin tuition, is to ignore the distinction between the 

 use of a brush and a camera, and this fundamental error 

 renders much of the book valueless. For a beginner, however, 

 those parts of the book which deal with elementary rules of 

 composition, with faults of posture in portraits, and with 

 correct distances to be maintained in figure studies, will be 

 useful. We can further recommend the aspiring photogra])her 

 steadily to contemplate ihe title of this book in the hope that 

 by this means a faint impulse in the direction of taking time 

 before the reckless exposure of a plate may be given him. 



"Tin: Prixciit.es of Inorcamc Ciikmistky." By Wilhelm 

 Ostwald. Translated by A. Findlay, m..\., is.sc, imi.d. Pp. xxvii., 

 785. (Macmillan.) Illustrated. 18s. net. — There are dozens 

 of elementary text books of chemistry, but they can mostly be 

 arranged in two classes, one of which comprises descrijjtive 

 books which commence by defining elements and compounds, 

 and then i)ass to the consideration of non-metals and metals in 

 various orders, while the other follows the more reasonable plan 

 of beginning with the study of common substances and chemical 

 changes and making the results obtained suggest conclusions. 

 The latter is the more scientific method, and is the one now 

 adopted in many schools. Professor ()stw.ald"s work belongs to 

 neither of these categories, but stands practically by itself as an 

 authoritative statement of the position of chemical .science and 

 philosophy, so far as inorganic substances are concerned. In 

 its pages the methods and results of inorganic chemistry are 

 surveyed in the light of modern theory ; so that the book pro- 

 vides the student with a view of the essential facts and intenire ■ 



tations of chemistry as seen from the position of the greatest 

 living exponent of the science. A notable characteristic of 

 the book is the plan of treatment. Theory is made subservient 

 to practical work, and is only introduced when the results 

 described are sufficient to justify theoretical conclusions. .Such 

 subjects as molecular weight, or molar weight as Prof. Ostwald 

 prefers to style it, valency, catalysis, and the phase-rule are 

 dealt with in connection with various elements and compounds, 

 according as the appropriate opportunity occurs for considering 

 them. So it is throughout the book ; in fact, not until the last 

 chapter are combining weights and the periodic system 

 discussed. Of course the ionic aspects of chemistry receive par- 

 ticular attention, and no student of the science can now afford 

 to neglect them, for the days of chemical atoms and molecules 

 are numbered. The book is one which every teacher and adult 

 student of chemistry should consult, and for this purpose it 

 ought to be added to every public and college library. The 

 illustrations are line drawings, and some of them are quite out 

 of keeping with the general character of the book. Thus no 

 one who reads the book is likely to need the sketches of the 

 measuring flask and jar on page 188, or those of Bunsen burners 

 on page 409. Far better figures are known to every child who 

 learns chemistry nowadays. 



"The Jol'KNAI. OF THE AXTIIBOPOLOGIC^L INSTITUTE," 



July to December, lyoi. Pp. 161-H15. "Man," Nos. 77-153. 

 (London: Anthropological Institute.) 10s. net. — There are 

 thirteen papers in the journal under notice, several of them of 

 great value. In addition, we have a number of original articles 

 and notes in the pages of Jfan bound up with the journal. In 

 the United States or Germany, such contributions to knowledge 

 would be published at the expense of the State, but in England 

 the cost has to be borne by societies or individuals, and the 

 only return is the gnititude of students of antlu'opology. One 

 of the papers, bj' the Rev. J. A. Crump, deals with tre])hining 

 in the South Seas. The natives of some of the South Sea 

 Islands undergo the grave operation of trephining for fractures 

 of the skull, insanity, epilepsy, and even for headache. Though 

 the cavity is cut in the skull with a piecs of shell or flake of 

 flint, many of the patients recover. A number of skulls were 

 found in Peru some years ago having holes in them which had 

 evidently been made during life ; and Mr. Crump's observations 

 show that primitive men of the present time perform operations 

 like those of which the Peruvian skulls give evidence. Another 

 very interesting paper is by Dr. C. Hose and Mr. W. McDougall 

 on the relations between men and animals in Sarawak. Many 

 of the superstitions described read like stories from a book of 

 fairy tales. Dr. W. H. R. Rivers describes observations made 

 by him in Egypt, and indicating that the Egyptian peasant, like 

 some other peoples, have no name for blue in their vocabulary. 

 Prof. Flinders Petrie shows by pictures from various Egyptian 

 monuments that several distinct types of face can be distin- 

 guished, representative of different races. Among the remaining 

 papers are an account, with illustrations, of Irish copper celts, 

 by Mr. G. Coffey, and an illustrated paper on the Lengua 

 Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco. There are many other 

 articles and notes, all of them of interest to students of human 

 races and customs. 



"The Summer Birds of Fi.atheai) Lake." By P. M. 

 Silloway. (Uiiiversitj' of Montana. 11)01.) This interesting 

 paper contains some observations on the nidification of the 

 birds recorded, and is illustrated by sixteen plates representing 

 nests and eggs, some of which are admirably reproduced. 



" Regenekation.'' By Prof. T. H. Morgan, imi. p. Pp. xii., 

 311). (Macmillan.) 12s. 6d. net. Illustrated. — Biological 

 science is enriched by this profoundly interesting book. There 

 has been so much speculation in connection with organic evolu- 

 tion during the past ten years tliat a work like Prof. Morgan's, 

 recording results of experiments and observations upon the 

 regeneration of ])arts of organisms, is as a breeze to a jaded 

 spirit. It has long been known that when certain organisms, 

 such as hydras, are cut in two, each part produces a new 

 individual. An earthworm cut in two can ])roduce two new 

 worms ; tadpoles can regenerate their tails ; so can lizards and 

 salamanders ; shrimps, lobsters, crayfish, crabs, and hermit-cr.abs 

 ain grow their walking legs if they lose their old ones ; the 

 beaks of birds will regenerate ; and even in mammals some of 

 the internal organs have extensive powers of regeneration. 

 These remarkable instances show the kind of materinl with 



