August i6, 1894] 



NATURE 



395 



-haracters generally accepted for specific diagnosis in the 

 Diatomaces. 



The Romanes Lecture on "The Effect of External Influences 

 upon Development," delivered by Prof. Weismann, at Oxford, 

 last May, and reported in these columns (vol. 1. p. 31) has been 

 published in English by the Clarendon Press. The translation 

 has been done by Mr. Gregg Wilson. In the preface, Prof. 

 Weismann adds his tribute to the many that have been paid to 

 the memory of the late Dr. Romanes. 



Messrs. J. and A. Churchill will shortly publish a new 

 edition of Dr. F. Kohlrausch's indispensable handbook to 

 practical physics — "An Introduction to Physical Measure- 

 ments." The edition has been translated from the seventh 

 (lerman edition, published in 1892, and it contains nearly four 

 times the number of pages that the first one did in 1869. Mr. 

 r. H. Waller and Mr. H. R. Procter are the translators. 



Glacial action in .\ustralasia has much attention devoted 

 ti> it in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 

 I^ 13. Mr. R. M. Johnston contributes an elaborate review of 

 ' • evidences of former glaciation in Australasia, with critical 

 ervations upon the principal hypotheses which have been 

 a livanced to account for glacial epochs generally, and there are 

 everal papers on the discovery of glacial action in Tasmania. 



In the current number of Mind, Mr. Francis Gallon contri- 

 butes an article on " Discontinuity in Evolution," which should 

 he read by all who are interested in modern biological theory. 

 It owes its origin to the publication of Mr. Bateson's recent 

 work, and contains a summary of the views on discontinuous or 

 " transilent " variation and on "organic stability, " which Mr. 

 I ialton has published in " Natural Inheritance," in " Finger 

 Prints," and in the preface to a reprint of " Hereditary Genius." 

 riie data on which these views are based lie somewhat off the 

 beaten track of biological inquiry, and Mr. Galton's conclusions 

 have not received the consideration due to results based on 

 careful and prolonged observation. 



The Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands has 

 published a new edition of "The Tides on the Dutch Coast," 

 containing, among other useful information, the results of tidal 

 observations made at several stations during recent years. The 

 tables show that on the North Hinder Bank, for instance, the 

 Itemperature of the air from September to February is lower 

 ithan that of the sea surface ; but from March to August it is 

 higher, and that the prevalence of thunderstorms increases with 

 the latitude. Tide rips are most frequent in the month of .\pril 

 ui'l during the first four days of full and new moon. 



I The Meteorological Council have recently issued a second 

 ledition of a Barometer Manual for theuse of seamen, in which 

 jmany alterations and improvements have been m.ade. The 

 work contains carefully drawn charts showing the mean atmo- 

 spheric pressure and prevailing winds for January and July, and 

 also many v.aluable hints on the management of the barometer. 

 The portions dealing with winds and storms, and especially with 

 practical rules for seamen in tropical cyclones, are of especial 

 value, and this small work of forty p.-ige5 contains all the 

 necessary information for the safe navigation of a vessel which 

 may be in the vicinity of these storms. 



We have received the yournal of the Anthropological 

 Institute for August, containing papers read at meetings of the 

 Institute during the first quarter of this year. Among other 

 papers, we notice one on flint implements of a primitive type 

 from old (preglacial) hill-gravels in Berkshire, by .\Ir. P. -V. 

 Shrubsole, and a note on the poisoned arrows of the Akas, by 



NO. 1294, VOL. 50] 



Prof. L. A. Waddell. The Akas are one of the Lohitic tribes 

 of the Asam Valley, occupying independent territory to the 

 north of the Brahmaputra. They poison their arrows for use in 

 warfare, the poison being derived, as has been found in other 

 cases, from the roots of a species of Aconitum. A translation 

 of the second part of " Shamanstoo," being Prof. Mikhailov- 

 skii's important account of Shamanism in Siberia and European 

 Russia, is contributed by Mr. O. Wardrop. 



A THIRD edition, enlarged and partly rewritten, of " Select 

 Methods in Chemical Analysis," by Prof. W. Crookes, F.R.S., 

 has been published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. 

 During the eight years which elapsed between the publication 

 of the second edition and the preparation of this, various new 

 processes have been introduced, and old ones have either been 

 displaced, or become so well known inordinary laboratories that 

 their retention in a "select " work, like that of Prof. Crookes', is 

 unnecessary. For it will be remembered that the work is "not 

 intended to provide the student with a complete text-book of 

 analysis, but rather with a laboratory companion, containing 

 information not usually found in ordinary works on analysis." 

 In the present edition, volumetric operations have been almost 

 entirely omitted, and also processes of technical importance. 

 These omissions have made room for the addition of a series of 

 electrical separations, and other processes from Dr. Classen's 

 "Quantitative Chemical .\nalysis by Electrolysis." As Prof 

 Crookes only includes in the volume such methods as have been 

 proved in his own laboratory, their practicability is assured. 

 A disadvantage of this eclectic method, however, is that good 

 methods of analysis are passed over because they do not happen 

 to have been personally tested by the author. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Black Ape (Cynopithecus niger, i) from 

 the Celebes, presented by Mr. Gambler Bolton ; a Slender 

 hons (Loris gracilis) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. Thos. E. 

 Remington ; a Common Chameleon (Cham^rleon vulgaris) from 

 North .•Vfrica, presented by Captain Philip Langdale ; four 

 Alpine Newts (7nVi)« <z//^i^ru), European, presented by Mr. 

 Malcolm O. Smith ; four Land Crabs from Jamaica, presented 

 by Mr. Percy Walter Jarvis ; a Black-backed Jackal [Cants 

 mesomelis) from .South Africa, deposited ; a Weka Rail {Ocy- 

 droinus mistralis) from New Zealand, purchased ; a Cayenne 

 Lapwing { Vanellus caytnnensis), bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Recent Observations of Mars. — Mars now rises shortly 

 after nine p.m., and is on the meridian between four and five 

 o'clock in the morning. He will be in opposition on October 20. 

 Two important papers,containing the results of recent observations 

 of the planet, are contributed to the .\ugust number of Astronomy 

 and Astro-Physics. Mr. Percival Lowell, whose observatory 

 was described in these columns on June 14, began to 

 observe the planet at the end of May, and the observations 

 recorded in his article were made between then and June 24. 

 The clearness of the atmosphere at Flagstaff', Arizon.i, where 

 the observatory is situ-^ted, is responsible for the early date at 

 which it was possible to scrutinise the face of the earth's ruddy 

 brother. .Vnd the success with which his features were made 

 out may be judged from the fact that Mr. Lowell recognised a 

 dozen of Schiaparelli's canals two and a half months before the 

 summer solstice of the planet's southern hemisphere. .\t the 

 beginning of the period of observation, the southern snow-cap 

 was found to have a diameter of about forty-seven degrees ; 

 that is, it covered nearly the whole frigid zone. On June 19, 

 the cap measured thirty-nine degrees. Through mt all the 

 period, the outer edge appeared to be perfectly elliptical, indi- 

 cating that the boundary line of the cap was really a circle. The 



