July 19, 1894J 



NATURE 



277 



that alga by themselves possess the power of fixing free 

 nitrogen, yet they are in a symbiotic relationship with the 

 nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and he regards it as probable that 

 these latter draw on the assimilation-products of the algae to 

 supply the carbon they require in growth. 



Mr, Bernard Qijaritch, Piccadilly, has issued a new list 

 (No. 143) of the old and valuable books he has fjr sale. The 

 list contains a number of rare books of travel, and many im- 

 portant works on botany, entomology, and ornithology. 



Messrs. Henry Sotheran and Co. will shortly issue a 

 second and cheaper edition of Mr. J. G. Millais' "Game 

 Birds, and Shooting Sketches," with illustrations by the 

 author, and a frontispiece by Sir J. E. Millais, Bart. 



We have received a copy of " Bourne's Handy Assurance 

 Manual " for 1894, now edited by Mr. William Schooling. The 

 volume differs from its predecessors in several important 

 respects, and some of the tables in it may be found useful to 

 students of demography. 



The first volume of "The Royal Natural History, " edited 

 by Mr. Richard Lydekker, F. R.S., has been published by 

 Messrs. Frederick Warne and Co. It is illustrated with 

 numerous coloured plates and engravings, and forms a desirable 

 addition to any library. We look forward with pleasure to the 

 publication of the remaining volumes of Mr. Lydekker's im- 

 portant work, a work that possesses scientific interest and has a 

 high educational value. 



The frontispiece of the July number of the Monist is a por- 

 trait of the late Dr. Romanes. Accompanying it and a short 

 obituary notice, are two stanzas from a memorial poem 

 addressed by the deceased investigator to Charles Darwin, and 

 embodied in a volume printed for private circulation. The 

 number also contains, among other matter, a paper entitled 

 " Tne Non-Euclidean Geometry Inevitable," by Prof. G. B. 

 Halsted ; one on "Leonardo da Vinci as a Pioneer in 

 Science," by Mr. W. R. Thayer ; and another on " Monism in 

 Arithmetic," by Prof. Hermann Schubert. 



ltn\\e jfournal of Botany ioT July is "A Tentative List of 

 British Hieracia" which affords a remarkable instance of the 

 tendency to "splitting" displayed by botanists who devote 

 themselves to monographing genera or families. Hooker's 

 " Student's Flora " enumerates 10 British species of Hieraciuni, 

 the eighth edition of Babington's " Manual" 33. The present 

 list comprises no less than 103 specific names, besides varieties. 

 Of these species 36 are attributed to two English botanists 

 who have made the genus their special study, Mr. W. R. Linton 

 and Mr. F. J. Hanbury. 



As in previous years, the Photographic Annual for 1894, 

 edited by Mr. Henry Sturmey, contains a number of excellent 

 pictures illustrating various systems of photographic and photo- 

 mechanical reproduction. Some of these illustrations are 

 extremely fine. We are specially interested in four figures re- 

 produced from photographs of microscopic objects, obtained by 

 Mr. Frederick lies in a novel manner. By a method of stereo- 

 scopic illumination, not described, he has procured "stereo- 

 micrographs " showing objects in beautiful relief, and which 

 greatly disparage pictures obtained with ordinary illumination. 

 Plant sections, medical sections, crystals, and other translucent 

 objects are found by Mr. lies to furnish good results. Judging from 

 the photographs reproduced, the method may have important 

 scientific applications. The text of the Annual includes records 

 of the progress, during 1S93, of photographic chemistry, by 

 Mr. C. H. Bothamley ; photographic optics, by Mr. Chapman 

 NO. I 290 VOL. 50] 



Jones ; and an admirable summary of work in astronomical 

 photography, by Mr. Albert Taylor. The Anniial also con- 

 tains the usual complement of articles on practical photography, 

 and information on recent novelties in photographic apparatus 

 appliances, and processes. 



The first edition of the late Sir Andrew Ramsay's well-known 

 " Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain " (Edward 

 Stanford) appeared in 1863. Between then and 1878 five 

 editions of the work were issued, and a sixth has just been 

 published. This edition has been prepared by Mr. H, B. 

 Woodward, and his " restoration " has been admirably done. 

 It is a difficult task to enter thoroughly into the spirit in which 

 an investigator like the late renowned geologist indites a bcok, 

 but Mr. Woodward has allowed his personality to merge into 

 that of the lamented author, and the result is that the work 

 begins a new life in all its original freshness and vigour. More 

 than thirty years ago. Sir Andrew delivered the lectures out of 

 which the book has grown. The object of the course was " to 

 show how simple the geological structure of Great Britain is in 

 its larger features, and how easily that structure may be ex- 

 plained to, and understood by, persons who are not practised 

 geologists." Some of the author's theoretical views have been 

 called into question, but others have served to establish his 

 perspicuity on geological matters. Throughout the book, how- 

 ever, controversial subjects are fairly treated in the light of latter- 

 day evidence. The part in which the greatest changes have 

 been necessary is that referring to Archaean rocks. Consider- 

 able changes had to be made in order to bring this section of 

 the book into touch with current opinion. Not only have such 

 necessary emendations been made, but most of the more or less 

 uninteresting details inserted in the fifth edition have been 

 omitted or condensed. Where the author's theories have been 

 entirely controverted, the accepted views have been substituted 

 for them, but opinions still subjuJice have been left in their 

 original form. Several changes have been made in the excellent 

 little geological map which forms the frontispiece, especially in 

 the northern part of Scotland. All the revision has been in 

 the direction of improvement, and we have no doubt that 

 numerous readers will appreciate the careful manner in which 

 it has been done. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Lesser White-nosed Monkeys {Ctr- 

 copithecus peiaurista, cJ 9 ), a Campbell's Monkey {Cercopithecus 

 campbdli, ? ), a Brush-tailed Porcupine (^M«:/-«ra afrUana) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. H. iJoyle ; a Mona 

 Monkey {Cercopithecus mona, i ) from West Africa, presented 



by Mr. Charles Gardiner ; two Tortoises (TesluJo, sp. inc.) 



from the Aldabra Island, presented by Rear-Admiral W. R. 

 Kennedy ; a Crowned Lemur {Lemur coronatus, 9 ) from 

 Madagascar, deposited ; an Eland (Oreas canna, i ) frum 

 South Africa, a Livingston's Eland {Ureas canna livingstonii, 

 9) from the Transvaal, two Short-toed Hedgehogs {Eruuueus 

 brachydactylus) from Somaliland, purchased ; a Thar {Capra 

 jemlaica), a Japanese Deer {Cervus siia, « ), a Wapiti Deer 

 {Cervus canadensis, 9 ), born in the Gardens. 



Oa/i ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Variations of Latitude. — Since 18S5, the fifteen polar 

 stars of which the apparent places are given in the Con- 

 naissance dcs Jemps, have been legularly observed at Lyons 

 Observatory. The materials thus obtained are used liy M. F. 

 Gonnessiat, in the Bulletin Astronomique (vol. xi. June and 

 July 1894), for an inve>tigation of the variations of latitude. 

 The calculations show that from one maximum to the next the 

 mean interval is I'iSs years ; while the mean interval between 



