NoVBMBEB, 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



257 



is i)re8erveil in the matrix. The best of the two mammalian 

 specimens belongs to a form nearly allied to the little 

 PUiijiaitJax of the Dorsetshire Purbeek, a species ever 

 memorable on account of the controversy which took j)lace 

 as to whether it was herbivorous or carnivorous. 



j^otucs of Boolfes. 



".Vmmai. Forms ; A Ski .>mi T5o(ik of Zoology." By D. S. 

 Jordan and H. Heath, v Loudon : Ilirschfeld.) Pp. vii. + 268. 

 Illustrated. — If American writers intend to make a serious 

 atteni]it to capture the English market for zoologic;il text-books, 

 they would do well to see that their work is suited to its environ- 

 ment. In a vohime bearing only the name of an English publisher, 

 and betraying to those unacquainted with the nationality of its 

 authors no indication of its trans-Atlantic origin, save certain 

 peculiarities of orthography and diction, it is nothing short of 

 absurd to find that the expression " this country " means North 

 America. For example, the student is likely to be puzzled by the 

 stitement on page 241 that "in this country the group [of cats] 

 is represented by the lynx (Lynx riDiadtii.ii.'i), the wildcat 

 (L. ru/us), and the panther or puma (Felln cuucolor]." Neither 

 is the sentence (p. 230) that " the native hollow-horned 

 ruminants ( Bnriihr) are at present confined to the western plains, 

 and comprise the prong-horned antelope, the wary bighorn or 

 Rocky Mountain sheep, and the bison or buffalo," calculated to 

 make matters clear to the mind of the average English reader. 

 AVe might, moreover, take exception to the last sentence on the 

 gi-ound that the ])ronghorn is not generally regarded as a 

 member of the lioiuhi. A further objection we venture to 

 make is the employment of American misnomers in a work 

 professedly English, as exemplified by the title " American elk " 

 to the plate of Rocky Mountain wapiti. If it is worth while 

 to publish an American work in a professedly English guise, 

 the least the authors can do is to prepare an edition specially 

 revised for the new field. As regards the character of the work 

 itself, we are glad to be able to express a favourable opinion, 

 the descrii)tions of the various groups being couched in language 

 easy to be understood by the beginner, and the illustrations 

 admirable in character and in execution. Especially striking 

 and original is the figure of a group of lamp-.shells on page (59, 

 where the artist, by the ingenious introduction of a cliff of 

 carboniferous strata, has been enabled to show the members of 

 an extinct family alongside their living representatives. The 

 classification adopted is in the main well up to date, and the use 

 of technical terms avoided as much as possible. We are, 

 however, somewhat surprised to see the laneelet included among 

 the fishes, instead of with the protochordates ; and we are still 

 more astonished at the statement (j). 231) that " the duck-moles 

 are the only mammals which lay eggs." So far as we are aware, 

 it is only the spiny anteaters that are definitely known by 

 ocular evidence to lay eggs ; and it is commonly asserted that the 

 duck-mole produces a pair of young annually (presumably in 

 the form of eggs), and not a single one, as stated by the authors. 

 If re\*ised on the lines pointed out above, the volume before 

 us may laj' claim to a share of patronage by English students. 



"Webstkk's Intf.knatio.sal Dictionary." Anew edition 

 with Supplement. (George Bell and .Sons.) — If we refrain from 

 declaring this magnificent work to be the best dictionary, it is 

 only because we do not work habitually with Webster ; but we 

 entirely agree with the late Lord Pauncefote in his appreciation 

 of the extraordinary learning and industry which have besn 

 bestowed upon the work. Its American origin is, of course, a 

 disadvantage to it among English students and litterateurs, bnt 

 it is a work of the utmost practical utility, and is certainly 

 among the best working dictionaries of the English language. 



"The Ei.e.mkntaky Principles op Che.mistky." By Prof. 

 A. V. E. Young. Pp. xiv. -i- 252 -^ lr6. (Hirschfeld Bros., 

 Limited.; Illustrated, ."js. net. "Element.s oi' Physics." By 

 Dr. C. H. Henderson and Prof. J. F. Woodhull. Pp. x. + 

 388 -t- 112. (Hirschfeld Bros., Limited.) Illustrated. 6s.net. — 

 These two volumes belong to a series of Twentieth Century Text 

 Books, designed to meet the demand for short treatises written 

 from the point of view of modern science in literary style, 

 accurate diction, and laboratory mood. The aims are high, 

 but they are true ; and though it would be too much to say 

 that the authors have been completely successful, yet their 



books are well worth the attention of teachers and students. 

 Each book consists of a theoretical or descriptive part, and a 

 second part, with separate pagination and index, containing 

 details for illustrative experiments in laboratory and lecture 

 room. Full-page portraits arc given of distinguished men who 

 have contributed to the progress of science, and the illustrations 

 of apparatus are in most cases admirably done. 



Prof. Young h,as produced an inspiring and philosophical 

 work, which should be of real assistance to students of chem- 

 istry. Beginning with general considerations as to properties 

 of bodies of practical importance, he passes to fundamental laws 

 of chemical action, equivalent and combining weights, the 

 atomic theory, and then the chief elements and their com- 

 pounds, taken collectively and separately. The experimental 

 work referring to points in the text is of an instructive character, 

 and the hints on the manipulation of apparatus and materials 

 will be found useful. The separation of the experiments from 

 the descriptive text has the advantage of permitting an unbroken 

 argument to be stated, but there are some objections to it when 

 the te.xt is made to depend upon the students' experiments. A 

 better plan is to make the text a didactic statement of ex- 

 perience, to be read by the student before or after he has done 

 his practical work, but not actually depending U|>on his results. 

 In the example of a record from a laboratory note-book, given 

 on page 1113, two long division sums and one multiplication are 

 worked out. Students who use a book of the type of Prof. 

 Young's ought not, however, to do sums in this way, but by the 

 use of logarithms. But these are minor points, and do not 

 prevent the book from containing as good a survey of chemical 

 .science and jihilosophy as it is possible to give within its limits. 



The te.xt-book of ))hysics by Drs. Henderson and Woodhull 

 is more of the conventional type than Prof. Y'oung's volume ; 

 in fact, we have found little to distinguish it from other manuals 

 of physics, either in scope or treatment. Three kinds of levers 

 are classified, though the division is quite unnecessary ; the 

 wave theory of light does not receive sufficient attention ; no 

 experimental method by which the velocity of light has been 

 determined is described, and most of the matter is of a very 

 elementary character, though this is partly accounted for by the 

 extent of the subject. The standard of the work is about that 

 of first and second year .students in schools of science, or the 

 junior division of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities' 

 Local Examinations. For such students the descriptive text 

 and experimental course would be found very suitable. 



"European Fungus Flora : Agaricace.e." By (Jeorge 

 Massee. (Duckworth.) Gs. net. — In a single volume of handy 

 size, Mr. Massee lists and describes the Agarics of Europe. To 

 accomplish this task in 280 pages requires a large amount of 

 condensation, and hence we find the description of each species 

 occupying on the average but three lines, essential characters 

 only being mentioned. No attempt is made to indicjite the 

 range of the species, except that non-British plants are enclosed 

 in brackets. As a key to this great group of fungi Mr. Massee's 

 work will be of much value, while the author's name will carry 

 with it confidence in the critical worth of the work. It is some- 

 what discouraging to the beginner at British Agarics to learn 

 that the foreign species mostly fit in between the British ones, 

 when the difficulty of discriminating between many of our 

 native species is remembered. Altogether 2750 species are 

 described, of which 1663 are known to occur in Britain — -a 

 considerably greater number, Mr. Massee remarks, than is at 

 present on record from any other European country. A 

 useful Bibliography of more recent and important works is 

 appended ; under Great Britain it is strange to find no mention 

 of Stevenson's IIii)iieiH)miiceU's, the most important British book 

 on the subject. There is a full index of species, and the book 

 is exceUently printed and neatly bound. 



We have received froiii Messrs. Erdmann & Schanz one of 

 their " Triumph '' Aluminium Stereoscopes, together with a 

 selection of stereo slides, representative of some of the several 

 series catalogued by this well-known house. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Kathlamet Texts. By b'ranz Boas. (Smithsonian Institution.) 

 Niels Henrik Abel Memorial PuhUc a L'occasion du Centenaire 

 lie sa Naisaance. (Williams & Xorgate.) 21s. net. 



The Cat Manual. By Dick Whittingtoii. (Newnes.) Is. 6d. net. 

 Science Teacher's Pocket Book and Diary, l'J02-3. (Woolley.) Is. 



