48 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Februaky 1, 1897. 



distilled water. In the chemical section the author voices 

 the general opinion in pronouncing Frankland's combustion 

 method to be difficult, liable to numerous errors, " and 

 the results not indispensable for forming a correct opinion 

 on the sanitary value of the water." 



The illustrations, type, and general mounting are 

 excellent, as would be expected from the high price ; but 

 the work itself is fragmentary, and would be improved by 

 the omission, in a subsequent edition, of such irrelevant 

 matter as the long description of the Festival of Juggernaut, 

 etc., on page 48, and by a better digestion of the statistics. 



The Land of the Monuments. By Joseph Pollard. 

 (Hodder & Btoughton.) 7s. 6d. The writer who really 

 loves his subject can hardly fail to interest his sym- 

 pathetic readers, and the author of this book certainly 

 has his heart in " the land of the monuments." Such 

 as relish a story of travel told in a chatty way will 

 appreciate the volume, even though there are not in it 

 any very striking features. It is a matter for regret that 

 photographs were not used in certain cases instead of a 

 brush unable to render the majesty of Egypt's temples. 



Results of Ilain, River, and Evaporation (Jhservations made 

 in New South Wales durinr/ 1894. By H. C. Eussell, B.A,, 

 C.M.G., F.K.S. In 1870 there were live stations reporting 

 rain ; in 1893 there were one thousand two hundred and 

 eighty-seven ; in 1894, one thousand three hundred and 

 twenty-nine. These statistics wUl show how successfully 

 Mr. Russell has worked and organized the extensive obser- 

 vation of the meteorology in New South "Wales. 



Though much of the matter contained in this volume is 

 tabular, and therefore appeals only to an earnest student 

 of meteorology, the introduction is devoted to the discussion 

 of the statistics, and the knowledge that may be thereby 

 attained of local rainfall and drought, and of evaporation 

 from lake or river, sandy soil or grassy run or gauge. 



The important factors in rainfall are the pressure of 

 certain wmds and the altitude of the station, the latter 

 being especially effective if the ground rises rapidly to it. 

 Wind also plays an important part in the amount of 

 moisture evaporated, being of much greater account in a 

 wide expanse of water like Lake George than on the small 

 surface of a gauge. The effect of the humidity of the 

 season must be also taken account of. 



The most distinguishing features of the volume are the 

 charts of temperature and rainfall. The iirst is a map of 

 New South Wales, showing in black figures the average 

 temperature for each month in the year in each square 

 degree. A reticule of twelve squares covers each degree, 

 corresponding to the months of the year. The second 

 map gives the mean shade temperature for the four seasons, 

 the mean shade temperature for the year, and the highest 

 and lowest shade temperature recorded in each square 

 degree. The third gives the number of inches of rainfall 

 at each observing station. 



The Indian Calendar. By Robert Sewell and Sankara 

 Balkrishna Diksit. \Yith Tables of Eclipses visible in 

 India by Dr. Robert Schram. (Swan Sounenschein.) 

 31s. Gd. This is a work which very few besides its authors 

 could criticize. The object of its compilation was a practical 

 one. Documents bearing dates prior to those given in 

 any existing almanack are produced before Indian courts 

 of justice as evidence of title ; and since forgeries, many of 

 them of great antiquity, abound, it is necessary to have 

 at hand means for testing the authenticity of such 

 documents. Under these circumstances, Mr. Sewell was 

 instructed by the Government of Madras to undertake 

 the preparation of this great work, and in conjunction 

 with Pandit Sankara Balkrishna Diksit and Mr. T. Laksh 

 Miah Naidu he has drawn up a set of tables for the 



following purposes amongst others : the conversion of 

 any Indian date — luni-solar {tit hi) or solar — into the 

 correspondmg date a.d. and vice versa, from a.d. 300 to 

 1900, and finding the week-day of any such date ; finding 

 the karan'i, nakshatra, and i/oija for any moment of an 

 Indian or European date and thereby verifying any given 

 Indian date ; turning a Hindu solar date into a luni-solar 

 date and vice ver-n! : conversion of a ]\Iuhammadan Hijra 

 date into the corresponding a.d. date and vice versa. The 

 immense importance of such a work for judicial pur- 

 poses in India is at once apparent. But besides this 

 purely practical use, the book will be of great value to 

 those interested in the history and antiquities of India, 

 and to us even in England the work has a high astro- 

 nomical interest. Eclipses have a special importance in 

 the Indian scheme, as, being reckoned especially propitious 

 days, important transactions were often negotiated upon 

 such occasions or were dated from them. A very valuable 

 feature of the work, therefore, is the appendix contributed 

 by Dr. Schram, containing tables of all the solar eclipses 

 in India for the thirteen hundred years included in the 

 scope of the book. It is a work involving enormous labour, 

 and has been carried out with the most sedulous care. And a 

 most diffictilt subject has been treated with the greatest 

 clearness and attractiveness of which the case admitted. 



Xavii/ation and Xautical Astronamy. By F. C. Stebbing, 

 M.A. (Macmillan.) 8s. 6d. NecessarOy the value of a 

 new treatise on navigation and nautical astronomy must 

 chiefly consist m the arrangement, style, and scope of the 

 work, since the subject itself has been of such great im- 

 portance to England as a nation that little has been left 

 to be discovered in it. Briefly, Mr. Stebbing's work is 

 intended as a text-book for the student in learning the 

 elements of navigation rather than as a book of reference 

 for the navigator, and as such it is admirably adapted. It 

 is divided into the two portions of geo- and ccelo-navigation ; 

 the first of which does not require a knowledge of astro- 

 nomical definitions nor of splaerical trigonometry (with 

 the exception of the part dealing with great circle sailing), 

 and the second supposes an acquaintance with the more 

 advanced mathematical methods. These two parts cover 

 the whole range of practical education in seamanship. In 

 Chapters XVI., XVII., and XVIIL, Mr. Stebbing collects 

 together all the more important problems in theoretical 

 astronomy that have a bearing on nautical matters. As a 

 text-book its value is much increased by the number of 

 numerical examples that are scattered through the text. 

 The definitions also, both nautical and astronomical, are 

 printed in italics, an invaluable aid to the memory. It 

 also possesses the indispensable feature of a book of 

 reference in a complete and accurate index. In brief, it 

 is in all respects an admirably devised and thoroughly 

 well executed text-book. We notice one slight erratum 

 not included in the list on page 328. On page 217 it is 

 the arc H a, which measures the angle Z S— the sun's 

 zenith distance — not the arc H A, which is a quadrant of 

 the circle. . — _-, — 



SHORT NOTICES. 



The Amateur Observer's Aluianaci; 1897. Bv Ai-thur Mee. 

 F.R.A.S. (Ai-thur Mee, 41, Hamilton Street, Cardiff.) 6d. Mr. 

 Mee lias certainly compiled a vast amount of useful data, from tlie 

 best sources, on a single card, about sixteen inches by twelve inches in 

 size, suited for hanging on the wall. For amateur astronomers it is 

 about the best sixpennvworth we have seen in the fonn of a chart 

 The constellations visible in our latitude are indicated for the entire 

 year, and the planets, as well as the sun and moon, are timed as to 

 their risings and settings, etc., etc. All the astronomical signs, 

 distances of celestial objects, etc., find a place, and even the best 

 books for beginners are suggested. It would be a great improvement 

 to have all the matters more carefully printed on a larger and stoiiter 

 sheet, should the almanack survive another year. 



