602 



NA TURE 



[April 25, 1895 



explanations of vicissitudes in climate in past geological 

 times, which are based on astronomical considerations. 



In the third article, Prof. Prestwich discusses "the 

 primitive characters of the flint implements of the chalk 

 plateau of Kent, with reference to the question of age 

 and make." The author of this essay, thirty-six years 

 ago, took a leading part in making known the evidence 

 in the Somme Valley and elsewhere, which is now uni- 

 versally accepted as establishing the antiquity of man. 

 In the essay before us, he insists that, before the times 

 when men fashioned the beautifully chipped imple- 

 ments of our river valleys and caves, a still more primi- 

 tive people employed rough flints as scrapers, just as d id 

 the recently extinct race of Tasmanians. The beautiful 

 series of plates accompanying this article will, we think, 

 carry conviction to the minds of most arch;eoIogists and 

 geologists, that the existence of such primitive races has 

 been established by the author. Prof. Prestwich, how- 

 ever, argues that the antiquity of the men of the river 

 valleys and caves, and of still more primitive people who 

 used the flints of the Plateau period, though very great, 

 was probably less than some theorists have imagined. 



The three last articles, " On the Agency of Water in 

 Volcanic Eruptions," "On the Thickness and Mobility 

 of the Earth's Crust,' and " On Underground Tempera- 

 tures,' are well known to all geologists ; but for the 

 present volume these memoirs have been revised, and 

 some very important and valuable additions have been 

 made to them. They will be much more convenient for 

 purpose of reference than in the journals in which they 

 originally appeared. 



There is one aspect of the work before us to which we 

 cannot avoid alluding before concluding this notice. All 

 the articles are controversial, as indicated by the title ; 

 but the work might fairly be cited as an example of the 

 spirit in which scientific discussions ought to be carried 

 on. No geologist, who takes up this work, but will find 

 cherished ideas reasoned against, or pet notions boldly 

 assailed. But from beginning to end of the volume, he 

 will find that no word has been written which is calcu- 

 lated to give pain to the most sensitive opponent. This 

 is high praise ; but it is not higher than might have been 

 anticipated as the due of one who has in a long career 

 inspired such universal admiration, esteem, and affection 

 as the successor to the chair of Buckland and Phillips in 

 the University of Oxford. JOHN W. JUDD. 



POPULAR WEATHER FORECASTS. 



My IVeather-wise Companion. Presented by B. T. 

 (Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood and 

 Sons, 1895.) 



DOES " B. T. "stand for Barometer and Thermometer, 

 the instruments which some people arc foolish 

 enough to think necessary for forecasting the weather, or 

 in this simple guise docs modesty shelter itself from too 

 great' publicity and the evils that popularity brings.' 

 The connection is curious, but probably accidental, for 

 the book is free from all scientific technicalities, and the 

 author would like us to forget that such things existed, 

 and adopt processes that can be practised by all, with- 

 out any outlay on cosily apparatus, without elcgraphic 

 NO. 1330. VOL. 51] 



information, and the weariness of preparing synoptic 

 charts. Herein " B. T." is wise, for he is assured of a mu:h 

 larger audience, since the instruments with which he 

 works are in the hands of every one, and no previous 

 knowledge is required for their use. The sky, the clouds, 

 the moon, animals, plants, &c., these are the tools ou r 

 author uses; but even these may at times be a little 

 inconvenient and diflicult in their application. For 

 instance, some of us might very well have wished to 

 know that the winter through which we have just passed 

 was likely to prove more than ordinarily severe, in order 

 to take necessary precautions about water-pipes and such- 

 like necessary evils. Here is the method of test : " If the 

 mole dig his hole two feet and a half deep [this sounds 

 like a sum in simple proportion, but such a conclusion 

 would be premature], expect a very severe winter ; if 

 two feet deep, not so severe : if one foot deep, a mild 

 winter." No one would probably care to contradict this; 

 it may be perfectly true, but then as a rule people do not 

 go about the country with pickaxe and shovel, looking 

 for mole-holes, and laboriously and exactly determining 

 their depth. Such severe exercise would be undertaken 

 only by a very ardent meteorologist, arid even he might 

 be discouraged, for the author does not say that the 

 winter will be severe or otherwise, but only that it may 

 be expected. 



In another respect our author shows much worldly 

 wisdom. It may be assumed that what the public look 

 for from the maintenance of Weather Bureaus and 

 Meteorological Offices, is to know whether it is going to 

 rain. A forecast that says that the wind will be from 

 the south-east, possesses little general interest ; what a 

 man wants to know is whether it be possible to dispense 

 with an umbrella, or whether one must submit to the 

 extra care and anxiety the carriage of one entails. It' 

 may be to some a matter of the keenest excitement to 

 know whether a depression exists on the coast of Ireland; 

 while some, again, will even speak disrespectfully of an 

 anticyclone in Central Europe ; but the " man in the 

 street •"' will be perfectly satisfied if he can be assured that 

 the next hour or two will remain fine. Hence the author 

 wisely concerns himself principally with the signs that 

 make for rain. This kind of information, as the author 

 is careful to point out, is welcome alike " to the prince 

 and peasant, to the anxious hostess who trembles for the 

 success of her garden-party, to the tinker who seeks the 

 friendly shelter of a wayside hedge, down to the dandy 

 in Pall Mall, who hates to carry an umbrella." And on 

 the subject of this umbrella we think we have some righ t 

 to complain. He, it would seem, has carried one and 

 the same umbrella through a period of fifteen years, 

 carried it, nay used it, amidst aristocratic surroundings, 

 and occasionally under circumstances likely to test the 

 constitution of the most carefully constructed ; and yet 

 w gather that it is still a presentable article, and one 

 that could be unfurled in Piccadilly with confidence by 

 the most fastidious. Why could he not have given us 

 the recipe that preserves to an umbrella such a long life 

 of usefulness ? This contribution to economics would 

 have been a valuable testimony to the accuracy of his 

 conclusions and the keenness of his observation, since it 

 might be fairly inferred that this protection was not 

 carried when it was not wanted. But, alas, we have to 



