'54 



NATURE 



[J UNE 



189: 



a dticriptiun of iKl- lilc-work of the late Prof. J. C. G. de 

 Marignac, by Prof. P. T. Cleve, together with a portrait of that 

 lamented chemist. 



Mr. C. L. Prince has sent us details of observations made 

 made by him at Crowhorough Hill, Sussex, during the great 

 frost of Januar)- and February last. In his report, he contrasts 

 the period with other periods of severe cold which have occurred 

 during the present century. 



The t;uide-l)Ooks to Middlesex and Hertfordshire, published 

 by Messrs. Iliffe and Son, will direct the tourist's steps aright, 

 and afford him instruction upon points of more or less historical 

 interest, but they furnish very little information with regard to 

 the counties from a scientific point of view. 



We have received a " Guide to the Bristol Museum," by Mr. 

 Kdward Wilson, the Curator. The Museum contains a large 

 numl>er of valuable objects, and geology is verj- well repre- 

 •scnled. With this guide to assist them, students of science 

 must find the collections more helpful than they used to be. 



The Lumleian Lectures on certain points in the aetiology of 

 disease, delivered by Dr. P. H Pye-Smith, F.R.S., before the 

 Royal College of Physicians in 1S92, and the Harveian Oration, 

 delivered before the College in the following year, have been 

 published in volume form by .Messrs. J. and -V. Churchill. 

 The volume also contains a memoir ot the life and works of 

 Harvey. 



The fact that the report of the Marlborough College Natural 

 History Society for the year 1894 runs into one hundred and 

 fifty pages, may be taken as an indication that the Society is in 

 a satisfactor)- condition. The report contains summaries of 

 lectures delivered during the year, a description of the College 

 museum and the collections in it, notes and observations, and 

 accounts of the work of sections ; it is altogether a creditable 

 production. 



PCBl.lsHERs" catalogues are frequently of great assistance to 

 librarians and bibliographers. A catalogue lately issued by \V. 

 Kngelmann, ol Leipzig, belongs to that class of useful publi- 

 cation.s. It contains descriptions of all the books, memoirs, and 

 periodicals published by Kngelmann from the foundation of the 

 firm to February of this ye.ir. The books are arranged alpha- 

 lictically according to the authors' names, and are also classified 

 into subject.s. There is, therefore, no difiiculty in finding a 

 volume of which the author or the title is known. 



The annual report of the Zoological Society of I'hilaiklphia 

 shows that, but for grants nude by the City Councils, the 

 Gardens would have had to be closed, the receipts from admis- 

 sions having been loo low to meet expenses. We notice that, 

 in addition to nearly three thousand free admission tickets to 

 charitable institutions, donors, &c., the Society issued fifty 

 Ihuu-iand tickets to the Bjard of Kducation, for the admission 

 of pupils of the elementary schools. The collection of animals 

 now comprises 251 mammals, 416 birds, and 245 reptiles and 

 amphibians, or a total of 912 specimens. 



The n.-w editions received during the past few clays include 

 Ihc sccmd part of IJr. Michael Foster's standard "Textbook 

 •if Physiology " (.Macmillan), dealing with the ti.ssucs o( chemical 

 action and their respective mechanisms, and with nutrition. 

 The work, which is now in its sixth edition, has been brought 

 into line with the present stale of physiob gi :al knowledge. 

 Messrs. J. and A. Churchill have published a sixth revised edition 

 "f " A Treatise on Practical Chemistry," by Prof. Frank 

 Clowct ; and Messrs. Smith, F.lder, and Co. have published a 

 fourth edition of Mir.4hall and Hurst's "Junior Course of 

 Practical Zoology." 



There are only four papers in the June number of Science 

 Progress, but each of them is an important contribution to 

 scientific literature. Prof. Marshall Ward describes the growth 

 of knowledge concerning the fixation of free nitrogen by plants. 

 He briefly states the as|)ects of the question, and gives references 

 to ihe most important papers upon it. A valuable i«per 

 on the ratio of the sjiecific heats of ga.ses is contributed by Mr. 

 J. W. Capstick ; it affords interesting reading in connection 

 with the recent discussion in these columns of points arising 

 from the kinetic theory of gases, and also with reference 

 to the atomicity of argon. Mr. J. W. Rodger concliules 

 his most useful statement of the progress made in physi- 

 cal chemistry during 1894. The papers arc classifieil in such 

 a manner that it is easy to find what was done in ever)- 

 branch of the subject. The fourth jiaper is by Mr. J. K. S. 

 Moore, and has for its subject " The Protoplastid Body anil the 

 Metapla.stid Cell."' 



The current y<)«/-«<i/ of the .-Xnthropological Institute (No. 4) 

 contains the presidential address delivered by Prof. A. 

 Macalister, F. R.S., in January last. The Institute by no 

 means possesses a membershi]i in proportion to the importance of 

 the subjects fostered by it. " When we consider, " remarks Prof. 

 Macalister, " the wide-reaching importance of the myriad of prac- 

 tical problems with which we as anthropologists are concerned, 

 and the useful work which the Institute has done in the past, it is 

 scarcely conceivable that our membership of 362 should be 

 taken as representing the number of persons to whom these 

 matters are interesting. .\nd further, it is little short of a national 

 disgrace thai in the largest empire of the world, within whose 

 bounds there are nearly as many sep.irate peoples, and tribes and 

 kindreds and tongues as in all the other nations put together, 

 there is no Imperial depaitnieni whose function should be to 

 collect and classify the f,icts of the physical, psychical, and 

 ethical histories of our fellow subjects." 



Two years ago the .-Vmerican Philosophical .Society, of which 

 Benjamin Franklin w.is the first I'resiilent, held a meeting, .at 

 Phikadelphia, in cimimemoraliim of the I50lh anniversary of its 

 foundation. The meeting was attended by <lelegales represent- 

 ing learned societies and institutions in most parts of the world, 

 and wxs completely successful. The volume containing full 

 reports of the proceedings h.is only lately appeared, but llu- 

 delay in its publication is probably due to the many addresses, 

 memoirs, and plates contained in it ; for the priming of tlu- 

 communications, and the preparation of nearly sixty plates, 

 necessarily takes lime when the work is so carefully done as it 

 seems to be in the volume before us. Amimg the addresses is 

 one by Dr. Koberls (the delegate of the Royal .\slronomical 

 Society), entitled " llluslraliims of Progress made during 

 Recent \ears in .\slronomical Science." This address is illus- 

 trated by thirteen plates representing some of Dr. Roberts' 

 classical photographs. .\ richly illustrated paper on Tertiary 

 Tipulidie, by Dr. S. II. Scudder, has already been noticed in 

 these columns (vol. 50, p. III). Seven plates illustrate Dr. 

 .\. S. Packarcl's "Study of the Transformalion and An.atomy 

 of Lagoa irispata, a Bondiycine Moth," and sixteen embellish a 

 paper by Prof. .\. Hyatt on "The I'hylogeny of an Acquired 

 Characteristic." Limits of space prevent us from referring to 

 the m.any olh>.r papers. Suffice it to say (hat ihe volume is a 

 worthy memorial of a remarkable meeting. 



The Zeitsi/irifl fiir Aiittrgatiist/ie Clieniie ^WKf. a very com- 

 plete account of the synthesis of metallic ores by crystalli-sation 

 from .solution in Ihe appropriate molten metal, by Friedrich 

 Roessler. The work includes the i>roduction of crystalline 

 sulphides and selenides of such metals as Ua<l, bisnuith, and 

 silver, and of arsenides, antimimides, and bisinulhides of plati- 

 num, palladium, and gold. The production of silver MMiiiilh 



N(. 1337, VOL 52] 



