258 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[No\T!MBER 1, 1899. 



fellow-countrj'man of the author, Prof. Chandra Ray, of Cuttack 

 College, has written, will certainly regret that the barrier of an 

 unknown tongue debars them from a more intimate acquaintance 

 with the verj' striking personality that Prof. Ruy describes. The 

 work to which Chandrasekhara has devoted himself, and which 

 he has carried out with very conspicuous success is this : The 

 native Hindu almanacs computed from the Siddh.intas were 

 falling into serious error, and no two current almanacs agreed 

 in their computations. Chandrasekhara, therefore, has re-deter- 

 mined the elements of the old Siddhanta, but has rigorously 

 confined himself to the ancient methods, his principal instru- 

 ment of observation being a tangent-staff, devised by himself, 

 of a thin rod of wood twenty-four digits long, with a cross- 

 piece at right angles to it. With the.se rude means he has 

 obtained an astonishing degree of accuracy ; his values for the 

 inclinations of the orbits of the nearest planets are correct to 

 the nearest minute in almost every instance. The ephemeridee 

 computed from his elements are seldom more than a few 

 minutes of arc in error, whilst the Bengali almanac may be in 

 error as much as four degrees. To Hindus, for whom their 

 religious observances are regulated by astronomical configura- 

 tions, this work by one of themselves, a strict follower of the 

 severest laws of their religion, and conducted throughout solely 

 by traditional Hindu methods, is of the highest importance, as 

 it removes the confusions which had crept into their system, 

 without in the least drawing upon the sources of Western 

 science. But the work is of impoitance and interest to us 

 Westerns also. It demonstrates the degree of accuracy which 

 was ])0ssible in astronomical observation before the invention of 

 the telescope, and it enables us to watch, as it were, one of the 

 astronomers of hoary, forgotten antiquity actually at his work 

 before us to-day. 



Observations ialcen at Dumraori, Beliar, India, dtirin(j the Eclipse 

 of the 22nd January, 1898. By Rev. V. de CampigneuUes, S..T. 

 With fourteen plates. (Longmans, Green & Co. : London, New 

 York, and Bombay. 1899.) Amongst the numerous parties 

 organized to observe the late echpse was one arranged by the 

 Jesuit Fathers of the Western Bengal Mission, who took their 

 station at Dumraon, Behar ; and the present volume is the 

 account of their observations by the chief of the expedition. 

 Father De CampigneuUes. Both the work itself and the report 

 here given of it reflect the highest credit upon the members of 

 the party and on their director. The instruments at their disposal 

 were but of moderate calibre, but were all, with the exception 

 of one of the photographic cameras, quite successful. The 

 other two cameras each secured fourteen good pictures of the 

 corona, whilst the prismatic camera was also very successful. 

 The grating camera failed to give much result owing to the 

 shortness of the exposures, as it was not driven by clockwork. 

 The volume, which is very attractively got up, is far from being 

 a dull dry report. The account of the eclipse itself is brightly 

 written, and two chapters, on solar physics and the spectroscope 

 in connection with eclipses, set forward the principles of eclipse 

 observation in a clear and sufficiently popular manner without 

 for one moment ceasing to be scientific. The results which the 

 Fathers obtained are then sufficiently discussed, and the con- 

 cluding chapter reviews the results obtained at other stations. 

 One or two printer's errors have escaped the eye of the proof 

 reader. In particular, we note on page 97, " this green ray could 

 be followed up to some sis feet from the lunar disc " — minutes 

 of arc of course being meant. 



Results of Ruin, River, and Eraporation Observations made in 

 New South Wales, 1897. By H. C. Russell, F.R.s. (Gullick : 

 Sydney.) Illustrated. .Ss. 6d. When one inspects a com- 

 paratively large volume like this, crowded from beginning to 

 end with dry figures, to obtain which a tremendous amount of 

 work must have been accomplished, the question naturally 

 arises — What is the use of it ? In 1897, for example, there 

 were one thousand five hundred and fourteen observers engaged 

 in bringing together the data here given from as many stations ; 

 these observations show that the average rainfall over the whole 

 Colony for 1897 was 18-89 inches, whereas in 1887 it was 34-99 

 inches. As regards the utility of the work. Prof. BusseU says — 

 " It is becoming generally recognized . . . that the quality of 

 the soil is by no means the only index of value ; it is essential 

 that we know also the character of the rainfall at the place . . . 

 before it can be decided if it will grow wheat, and justify the 

 construction of a railway to it and the settlement of a large 



population."' Maps are given showing the localities where rain 

 gauges are in use, but the average set down is the arithmetical 

 mean of all the stations, so the rain gauge of any spot may not 

 show the average for the district it represents. At any rate, in 

 spite of some drawbacks, Prof. Russell is doing an immense 

 service to meteorological science, and, more particularly, to those 

 engaged in agriculture, as well as intending emigrants to the 

 colony of New South Wales. 



The Cambridr/e Natural Ilistory. Insects. Part II. By 

 David Sharp, m.a. (cantab.), m.b.(edix.), f.r.s. (Macmillan.) 

 17s. net. Comprehensive in scope, satisfying in treatment, with 

 authoritative text and numerous brilliant illustrations, the 

 volumes on insects in the Cambridge Natural History are of the 

 highest merit. The present part concludes the discussion of 

 the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and deals with the 

 Orders and Sub-orders not treated in Part I., namely, Coleoj^tera 

 (beetles), Lepiidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (flies), 

 Aphaniptera (fleas), Thysanoptera (thrips), TIeini2>tera (bugs), and 

 Anoplura (lice). To describe the characteristic insects in these 

 Orders in satisfactory detail, without giving undue prominence 

 to any particular Order, is a difficult task, but Dr. Sharp has 

 performed it in a manner which will be approved by most 

 entomologists. It is interesting to notice the numbers of insects 

 of various kinds. Dr. Sharp estimates that there are one 

 thousand five hundred species of bees at present known ; eight 

 hundred species of solitary wasps, and five hundi-ed or six hundred 

 of social wasps. The number of species of beetles at present 

 known is about one hundred and fifty thousand, of which 

 three thousand three hundred have been found in Britain, and 

 there are about fifty thousand species of butterflies and moths, 

 and forty thousand species of Diptera, or two-winged flies. It 

 is therefore not surprising that much has yet to be learnt 

 concerning the structure and habits of many insects. It would 

 be easy to quote many interesting facts with regard to insect 

 life and intelligence from Dr. Sharp's pages, but we prefer to 

 advise students of natural history to see the volume for themselves. 

 The work is not popular in the sense usually understood, but 

 it contains an account of insects written in the clearest possible 

 language consistent with accuracy and the scientific spirit. 



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