266 



NATURE 



[July 19, 1894 



advances usually attributed to Hipparchus, especially 

 those in which mathematical acumen was requisite, he 

 had been preceded by others, though undoubtedly his 

 store of observations was of great value to his successors, 

 and in practical methods he made many and important 

 inventions. "Trigonometry," we read in the article on 

 Ptolemy in the Encyclopxdia Britannica, " was created 

 by Hipparchus for the use of astronomers." M. Tannery 

 gives reasons for believing that his qualifications were 

 not of a kind to enable him to make discoveries of this 

 nature, whilst as for the systematic development of 

 the hypothesis of epicycles and eccentrics to represent 

 the celestial movements (which, since the time of Kepler, 

 " n'est plus que I'objet d'un d(5dain qu'a vrai dire, elle ne 

 merite gucre en elle-meme "), the testimony of antiquity 

 attributes this to the great geometer, Apollonius of 

 Perga. Even in the systematic utilisation by Hipparchus 

 of the ancient Chaldean observations of eclipses, he had 

 probably to a great extent been anticipated by Conon of 

 Samos, best known as the friend of Archimedes, and for 

 his ingenious flattery of the Egyptian queen by raising 

 her hair to the heavens as the constellation Coma 

 Berenices. Seneca, it is true, speaks of Conon's use of 

 Egyptian observations ; but this was in all probability an 

 error for Chaldean, brought about by the astronomer's 

 residence in Egypt. It would seem, in fact, that 

 Hipparchus should rather be compared to Flamsteed 

 than Newton amongst the moderns. M. Tannery goes 

 on to dwell upon the mathematical importance of the 

 work of .Apollonius, who was probably the same as the 

 astronomer of that name who also lived under Ptolemy 

 Philopator, and was called Epsilon on account of his 

 researches on the theory of the moon ; the old ordinary 

 form of that letter resembling a crescent. 



Geminus and Cleomedes (whose native places are un- 

 known), Theon of Smyrna, the elder Pliny, are passed in 

 review ; but the principal part of the work before us 

 respects, as before said, the great composition of Ptolemy, 

 of which a very complete and interesting account is given. 

 The ancient astronomer who, unknown to Copernicus (as 

 it appears only from a work of Archimedes inaccessible 

 to him), had anticipated him in the theory of the earth's 

 motion, was Aristarchus of Samos. Hut, however worthy 

 of admiration this may be, " on ne doit nullement exagcrer 

 le tort que subit la science astronomique par le fait 

 qu'Hipparque et Ptoldmde ont maintenu le systiime g(^o- 

 centrique. Au point de vue mccanique et physique, la 

 conception h<:liocentrique rcalisait un immense progrcs ; 

 au point de vue gcometrique, que la science des anciens 

 n'a pas dcpass(; pour les astres, cette conception ne pre- 

 sentait aucun avantage reel." The position and work of 

 Copernicus is so often little understood, that it may be 

 well here to quote further M. Tannery's language : — 



" Le v(!ritable titre de gloire de Copernic est peut-etre 

 moins d'avoir rOprouvd le syslcme d'Aristarquc que 

 d'avoir en mc-me temps, mais Ji la suite d'un travail 

 consid(:rable ct tout-ii-fait indcpendant de ce syslcme, 

 simplifid extrOmement les hypotheses relatives aux 

 dpicyclcs et cxcentriques, tout en conservant les mCmes 

 principes gcomdtriqucs que les anciens pour I'cxplication 

 des mouvements des planctes." 



The space at our disposal renders it quite impossible 

 to do more than offer some indications of the contents of 

 NO. 1290, VOL. 50] 



a work of which we may well say with Osiander of 

 that of Copernicus, " erne, lege, fruere." But we may be 

 permitted to express our concurrence with its closing 

 remark :— " En tout cas, on ne pourra se refuser h 

 admettre cette verite que la scicntc ne sc diveloppe que 

 lorsqu'clU est cultivcc pour cllc-nu-me ; voili sans doute la 

 plus solide conclusion que Ton puisse tirer de son 

 histoire." 



There are several interesting appendixes, particularly 

 those on the trigonoinetry of the ancients, on the great 

 year of Josephus, on the conjectural opinions of the I 

 ancients concerning the distances of the planets from the 

 earth, and one (by M. Carra de \'aux) on the celestial 

 spheres of the Persian astronomer Nasir-Eddin Attusi i 

 (born at Tus in Khorasan, a.d. 1200), with a translation | 

 of part of his work. But there is not, what there certainly 

 should be, a general index to the whole. W. T. L. 



SCOTTISH LAND-NAMES. 

 Scottish Land-names. By Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., 

 M.P. (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and j 

 Sons, 1S94.) 



TH 1 S book is practically a collection of a course of lec- 

 tures called the " Rhind Lectures in Archaeology," 

 published "just as they were delivered." Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell has done well to print them, by way of furnish- 

 ing material for future workers, amongst which we may 

 hope that he may himself make one. 



The book furnishes a large number of notes and sugges- 

 tions ; and good work might be done by some philological 

 scholar, who would go over the suggested etymologies, 

 and verify them one by one. It is tolerably certain that 

 some of them will not stand any very rigid test ; whilst 

 others will, no doubt, be found to be quite correct. 



The author clearly recognises the great principle upon 

 which all such investigations must be conducted. We 

 must in every case try to find out the earliest written 

 form in some charter or deed ; and it will then often be 

 found that such early form wholly contradicts the sug- 

 gestion which the modern name presents. 



" From a charter of the same king (William the Lion) 

 it is evident that Granton, near Edinburgh, is not, as it 

 appears, Grants-town, like Grantown-on-Spey ; for it is 

 written grendun, the Anglo-Saxon grCne diin—^reen 

 hill." Similarly, we may remark, we find in England 

 such names as Grendon and Grindon. 



After laying down this all-important principle, it is not 

 a little surprising to find, at the end of the work, an index 

 of place-names, with etymologies, in which not a hint is 

 given of the authority upon which each explanation rests. 

 Thus "the Braid Ilillj" is explained from the Gaelic 

 bragliad (braad), the breast ; and, of course, if there is 

 documentary evidence for it, there is no more to be said. 

 But if not, it is by no means clear why braid may not be 

 the ordinary Lowland-Scotch word for " broad." In every 

 such case, we have a right to expect that the evidence 

 should in some way be given ; precisely as, in Bardsley's 

 book on Surnames, the whole value of the work really 

 resides in the copious lists of references which are given 

 at the end of it. 



We have noted a considerable number of other points 

 on which we desire further information. The remarks 



