June 27, 1895] 



NATURE 



197 



Dental Microscopy. V>y A. Hopewell Smith, L.R.C.P., 

 L.D..S., &c. Pp. 119. (London: The Dental Manu- 

 facturing Company, Limited.) 

 Student.s of dental microscopy will find this work a 

 valuable guide to the preparation, obser\ ation, and photo- 

 graphy of microscopical sections of hard and soft dental 

 tissues. The volume is practical throughout, and is 

 illustrated by eight lithographed jilates, from which typical 

 structures may be rcadih' recognised. It should prove of 

 great assistance to workers in dental histology. 



On^anic Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical. By 

 Prof J. S. Scarf, F.I.C., F.C.S. Pp. 240. (London 

 and Glasgow : \V. Collins, Sons, and Co., Limited.) 



WlC find no feature which distinguishes this text-book 

 from others "adapted to the requirements of the Science 

 and Art Department, and of the London University." 

 The book may assist students to pass the examinations 

 for which it has been constructed, but it is not a desir- 

 able introduction to the science of organic chemistry. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[Tlie Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return., or to correspond with the ^uriters of., rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is tal;en of anonymous com/iiunications.\ 



The Antiquity of the Medical Profession. 



Dr. Black displays a surprising facility of misajiprehension — 

 greater than I should have supposed possible. 



The final sentence of his letter runs thus : — " It would seem, 

 then, from history, that the medical profession is quite as old as 

 either that of theology or law." 



Now since the first sentence of my essay contains the clause — 

 ■' In rude tribes it is difficult to distinguish between the priest 

 Hid the mc<licine-uian '" : and since various illustrations are 

 hen given of the unicjii of the priestly and medical functions in 

 the same individual ; and since it is thereafter shown that this 

 inion long continues among early civilised peoples — Egyptians, 

 liabylonians, Hebrews, Hindus, CJreeUs it is a necessary 

 implication that, as Dr. Hlack says, "the medical profession is 

 quite as okl as either that of theology or law." For if two pro- 

 fessions are at first exercised by the same jiersons they are 

 nece.s.sarily of equal anticjuity. So that, strangely enough. Dr. 

 I'.lack points out to me a truth which it is one of the purposes of 

 iiy essay to teach. I can only suppose either that he did not 

 read the first part of the essay at all, or that before he had reached 

 the end he had forgotten the beginning. 



Westerham. Kent. Hkkbkrt Spkncer. 



Halley's Equal Variation Chart. 



I HAVK read Mr. Ward's interesting letter on this topic in 

 Naturk of May 30, p. 106. I embrace this opportunity to 

 correct some typographical errors in my letter in the issue of 

 May 23. 



No. 974 (4) should be 977 (4). 



In foot-note 3, p. 79, the title of atlas referred to should he 

 ' TahuKv Nautic<d Varialiones Magneticas Denotantes." 



I have compared .Mr. Ward's description of his own chart 

 with my notes. He evidently is the lucky possessor of the ex'- 

 i cdingly rare Halley chart 977 (4). I should be pleased to have 

 .lim inform me if the word " Britannia^ " in the dedication is ! 

 not spell with two t's. 



The size of the British .Museum copy is about 48 x 57 cm., tlie 

 shorter dimension being in an east-west direction : it is in a 

 splendi<l condition. 



The earliest mention made of Halley's Equal \ari ation 

 Chart is found in " Hisloire de I'Acad. de Paris," 1701, p. 9. 

 The chart referred to there must be the above 977 (4), of which 

 we now know that two copies exist — the British Museum's 

 and Mr. Ward's. L. A. BAfER. 



The t'niversity of Chicago. 



to the art of netting. It is of intere.sl to note that the following 

 citation is found in a Chinese cyclopaedia: "Y'uen-kien Lui- 

 han"(i70i, torn, ccccxlix. art. "Chi-chu,'' 2): — " In ' Pau- 

 puh-tsze ' it is said, ' Tai-hau [or I'ao-hsi] made a spider his 

 master and knitted nets.' " 



In the " \'ih-King,'' the oldest authority that ascribes to Pao- 

 hsi the invention of the net, no mention is nmde in this con- 

 nection of spider (see Legge's translation, in the " Sacred Books 

 of the East," vol. xvi. p. 3S3) ; but the above-quoted passage 

 of " Pau-puh-tsze " is tantamount to prove such a view, as sug- 

 gested by Mr. Pocock, to have already occurred among the 

 Chinese in the fourth centur)-, A. n. , when the book was written 

 by a Taoist recluse named Koh Hung. 



June 17. KfMAGfSU MiNAKATA. 



The Bird of Paradise. 



I DESIRE to call the attention of your readers to a fashion 

 which in the month of May was at its height in London, and is 

 now much patronised throughout the country. I refer to the 

 wearing in hats and bonnets of a graceful spray of soft fine 

 plumes with drooping or curly tips. These the milliners call 

 Bird of Paradise feathers, the assurance being constantly given 

 that they are real. They are often mixed with osprey tips, 

 which, to the shame of womanhood, have so long been in 

 fashion, and are still largely used. I may state on trustworthy 

 authority that during the past season one warehouse alone has 

 disposed of no less than sixty thousand dozens of these mixed 

 sprays '. 



The Bird of Paradise most used in millinery is that obtained 

 in the Papuan Islands and New Guinea. Mr. Wallace, in 

 describing the Paradisea apoda, says : — " From each side of the 

 body, beneath the wings, springs a dense tuft of long and 

 delicate plumes, sometimes two feet in length, of the most 

 intense golden-orange colour and very glossy, but changing 

 towards the tips into a pale brown. This tuft of plumes can be 

 elevated and spread out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal 

 the body of the bird." In his " Oiseaux dans la Mode'' of 

 October 20, 1894, M. Jules Forest bitterly deplores the de- 

 struction which has been going on during the last decade. He 

 emphasises the fact that it is no longer possible to procure such 

 perfect specimens as were common ten years ago, since the 

 unfortiuiate birds are so hunted that none of them are allowed 

 to live long enough to reach full maturity, the full plumage of 

 the male bird requiring several years for its development 1 He 

 further st;rtes that "the liirds which now flood the Paris market 

 are for the most part young ones, still clothed in their first 

 ]ilumage, which lacks the brillianc}- displayed in the older bird, 

 and are consequently of small commercial value." Since 

 January I, 1892, strict regulations for the preservation of the Bird 

 of Paradise have been in force in Cerman New Guinea, and M. 

 Forest appeals to the English and Dutch Governments to follow 

 thei.- good example. 



The ciuumon sense of every thoughtful woman must at once 

 tell her that no comparatively rare tropical species, such as the 

 Bird of Paradise, can long withstand this drain upon it, and 

 that this ruthless destruction, merely to pander to the caprice of 

 a jiassing fashion, will soon place one of the most beautiful 

 denizens of our earth in the same category as the Great Auk and 

 the Dodo. 



The women of England are earnestly entreated not to counten- 

 ance the sacrifice of this bird by encouraging the demand for its 

 precious feathers. Let them resolve to do what they can to 

 prevent the extermination of this " wonder of nature" by stoutly 

 refusing to purchase or wear anything purporting to have once 

 belonged to a Bird of Paradise. 



Mari;aretta L. Lemon. 



Ketlhill. Surrey, June 21. 



The Invention of the Net. 

 In your number of February 28 |p. 417), .Mr. R. I. Pocock 

 suggests that the observation of a spider's web may have given rise 



NO. 1339, VOL. 52] 



THE TICK PEST IN THE TROPICS. 



THOSE living in temperate climates have probably 

 small idea of the virulence of insect and other pests 

 in the tropics. A ])l:iguc of caterpillars may destroy a 

 season's crop in F.ngland, but there is the winter's frost 

 to be passed through before a second attack need be 

 feared. It is otherwise in the tropics. \'egetatiofi is 

 much more luxuriant, and the food supply is permanent : 

 and, when once a plague has obtained :i firm foothold 



