594 



NA TURE 



[October i8, 1894 



manner, some of the more striking phenomena of the 

 earth. The earth as a planet is first referred to, then 

 the materials of which it is composed, which include the 

 composition of the lithosphere, of the atmosphere, and 

 of the hydrosphere. Next are discussed the laws of 

 energy, and the past history of the earth as gathered 

 from its present aspects, while the last chapter is devoted 

 to the evolution of the earth, with sections on spectrum 

 analysis, and theories of planetary origin. To anyone 

 wishing to obtain a general survey of this many-sided 

 subject, physiography, these pages should be of great 

 service. As has been said before, the information in 

 many cases is brief, and in some cases too brief for 

 explanator)' purposes. This is, however, counter- 

 balanced to some extent by a number of useful refer- 

 ences at the end of each chapter. An appendix, which 

 may prove handy to teachers, gives a list of suitable 

 lantern slides for illustrating the subject-matter. 



Songs of the Russian People. Collected in the Govern- 

 ments of Arkhangelsk and Olonetz, by Th. M. Istoniin 

 and G. O. Dutsch. (St. Petersburg, 1S94.) 



The northern provinces of Russia are the parts of the 

 empire where the old popular songs are still kept in the 

 memory of the people in their greatest purity. Elsewhere 

 they are often forgotten, or are altered by the intrusion of 

 modern music, very often of the music-hall type. In 

 1SS6 the Russian Geographical Society sent out a small 

 expedition in order to collect the really old popular songs 

 — religious, epic, wedding, and so on— and 1 19 of them are 

 now published, both words and music, in the above-named 

 collection. The words have been taken down by M. 

 Istomin, and the music by -M. Uiitsch, who have both 

 had a great deal of previous experience in that sort of 

 work. Several songs of the collection are quite new, but 

 the book's chief value is in the melodies of the epic songs 

 (byliny), which now become known for the first time. It 

 h,id always been supposed that the epic songs had no 

 melodies, and were simply delivered in a sort of mono- 

 tonous recitative ; but it now appears that some of them 

 have their special melodies, grave, most beautiful, and 

 bearing the stamp of great antiquity. A map appended 

 to the book shows the places visited by the expedition. 



Visions of lite Interior of the Eirth, ani of Past, 

 Present, and Future Events. By H.R. and M.S.H. 

 the Prince of Mantua and Montferrat. (London : 

 Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 189+.) 



"Shadows to-night have struck more terror to the soul of 

 Richard, 

 Than can the substance's of ten thousand soldiers 

 Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond." 



These lines are brought to mind by Prince Mantua's 

 visions, which are calculated to produce a more or less 

 terrifying effect upon the gentle reider. We cannot 

 review the book seriously, for it is merely a record of 

 what the author heard and saw while in a slate of 

 trance, and such revelations can hardly add to our 

 knowledge of the earth's interior. Mr. JJaxter, and the 

 .Society for Psychical Research, may find the volume 

 interesting. 



The Complete Poetical Works of Constance Nadcn. 

 (London : liickers and Son, 1894 ) 



In one of his essays, Macaulay, with his usual lean- 

 ing to antithesis, holds that "as civilisation advances, 

 poetry almost necessarily declines" His opinion was 

 that science and poetry are antagonistic. The late Poet 

 Laureate, however, showed that scientific facts and 

 phenomena could be clothed in language at once 

 poetical and impressive. Miss Constance Naden, who 



NO. I ^03, '""'. eo] 



died at the end of 1SS9, won for herself a hii^h place 

 among poets of scienie and philosophy, and her admirers 

 include many distinguished votaries of these branches of 

 knowledge. Astronomy, geology, evolutionary ethics, 

 and the rebulnr theory are a few of the subjects which 

 inspired her to write, and that in a manner which com- 

 mands admiration. She was a devoted disciple of Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer, and, indeed, was a witness to the truth 

 of his words: "It is not true that the cultivation of 

 science is necessarily unfriendly to the exercise of 

 imagination and the love of the beautiful. t)n the con- 

 trary, science opens up realms of poetry where, to the 

 unscientific, all is a blank." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not holJ hiimelj responsiblt for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertaki 

 to return, or to correspond 7vith the writers of, reJecliJ 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part i?/ Nature 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



Some New Facts with regard to " Bennettites." 



The remarkable slate of preservation of many Palajozoic 

 plants, and some few Mesozoic forms, has raised palxibotany toa 

 position of considerable importance in certain fields of botanical 

 mvestigation. Endless synonym*, and specific determinations 

 of more than doubtful value, have not unnaturally prejudiced 

 botanists against the study of plant fossils. The scientific tre.it- 

 ment of the mineralised tissues of extinct forms has, however, 

 been |)roductive of exceedingly important data towards the 

 better undeislanding of the lines of plant evolution. Synthetic 

 types and iniermediale forms of plant structure are already 

 fairly abundant, and the various suggestive (acts revealed liy a 

 study of their remains are gradually assuming a more definite 

 shape. 



The genus Bennettites is an example of special interest among 

 ancient plant types. This name was introduced by Mr. 

 Carrutheis in his important monograph of 186S, on the fossil 

 Cycadean stems from tlie Secondary rocks of Uritain.' The 

 excellent preservation of the species />. Gibsotiiiinm enabled 

 this observer to give a detailed account of certain reproductive 

 organs, which were embedded in the armour of the persistent 

 ]>eliole bases enclosing the plant stem. The afliniiies of this 

 species have since been presented in a somewhat different light 

 by Solms-Laubach,-' and he is led to the conclusion that the 

 CycadciT are the nearest known allies of the Bennetlile^c. 

 There are, however, important differences between the two 

 groups which preclude the idea ih.il one has been directly 

 derived from the other. The Marquis of Saporia and various 

 other writers have contributed to the literature of Bennettites, 

 and the speculations propounded as to its true position have 

 been numerous enough. 



We are indebied to the careful researches of Prof. Lignier, 

 of Caen, (or some recent additions to our knowledge of ihi~ 

 genus, and his exhaustive monograph carries us a step furilin 

 towards the solution of the Henneltiles problem." Tli' 

 specimen which forms the subject of Lignier's work was foun'i 

 by Moriirc, in 1865, in the Oxfordian beds of Vaches-Noires 

 two years later the tossil was described by its discoverer as par 

 of a true Cycadean plant. In 1881, Saporia and Marion n 

 fer'cd this Oxfordian fruit to the genus ll'tlliamsonin : and sub- 

 sequent writers have assigned the fossil to various positions in 

 the plant kingdom. 



The specimen of Bennettites Aforierii (Sap. and Mar.) de- 

 scribed by Lignier is ovoid in form, and has a length 0(55 mm.. 

 with a breadth of 35 mm. At the base a fractured surface reveal 

 the existence of a slightly convex receptacle, from which i~ 

 given off a compact cluster of long peduncles, each of whicli 

 hears at its apex an oval seed. The seed-bearini; peduncles 

 aie surrounded by several involucral bracts closely applied to 



' Trans Linn. .Sdc. vol. xxvi., 1870, p. C)63. 



- .Innals liotitny, vol. v., 18^0-91, p. 419 (Iran^lation from /»t»/. /.tit , 



■-' ■' V<;i!<:laux foKsiles dc Normandie. StruclurccI afTinilisdn Bennellttti 

 il/^»/r>v/(Sap. tl Mar.)." With six plato. UCMvc I.ignicr. (H,'m. Soc. 

 Linn S'crniandie, vol. xviii., 1894.) 



