;4S 



NA TURE 



[February 8, 1894 



ning under the Green Park, and constructed some 120 years ago, 

 and presumably having had ample opportunity for getting 

 thoroughly contaminated. The percentage of carbonic acid gas 

 present was estimated, and especial attention was given to the 

 microbial contents of sewer air. For the detection of the latter 

 Prof. Percy Frankland's method {Phil. Trans. 1887) was em- 

 ployed, and it is to be regretted that as this process enables 

 large volumes of air to be sifted for micro-organisms in a short 

 time, Mr. Laws did not examine more than ten litres. The 

 results recorded confirm those obtained by previous observers, 

 i.e. that sewer air contains generally very few organisms, and, 

 as a rale, less than the air outside. Dr. Petri's observations 

 on sewer air are not mentioned, but they are worth quoting, for 

 he examined 100 litres of air in a Berlin sewer, and found on one 

 occasion no organisms at all ; and in another experiment only 

 one bacterium and three moulds. It would appear, therefore, 

 that drain air as regards freedom from microbes is very fre- I 

 quently superior to that which we inhale in our houses, and | 

 compares especially favourably in this respect with the air in ; 

 crowded reception-rooms. Mr. Laws, however, concludes his 

 report by remarking that although the organisms in sewer air 

 do not probably constitute any source of danger, the latter may | 

 contain some highly poisonous chemical substance which may } 

 produce a profound effect upon the general vitality. But every- 1 

 one agrees that sewer air is not a desirable addition to the 

 atmosphere either of our streets or houses. 



The Midland Naturalist has ceased publication, owing to 

 lack of support, after sixteen years' existence. 



Among the papers in the Actes de la Sociele Scientifiqtie dii j 

 Chili, vol. iii. 1893, is one on the Coleoptera of Chili, by M. P. 

 Germain, and another containing a description of a new method 

 of determining the orbits of planets and comets, by M. A. 

 Obrecht. 



The University Correspondence College Calendar (1893-4) j 

 has just been published. It contains answers to the questions 

 set at the Matriculation Examination of last month, and 

 articles on the special subjects for June, 1894, and January and 

 June, 1895. 



Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R. S., has prepared an abridgment of 

 his " Elementary Meteorology," in the form of a little book 

 containing five hundred questions and answers on meteorology. 

 The book, which is published by Messrs. Williams and Strahan, 

 will be found useful to teachers and others. 



Another of the Alembic Club Reprints (No. 5) has been 

 published by Mr. W. F, Clay, Edinburgh. The volume con- 

 tains extracts from the Micrographia of Hooke (1665), and a 

 specially interesting paper in which his views on combustion are 

 explained. 



Messrs. Nalder Bros, and Co., Red Lion-street, Clerken- 

 well, have issued a price list of electrical testing, mathematical, 

 optical, and other scientific instruments manufactured by them. 

 The catalogue is very well illustrated, and each article named in 

 it is given a telegraphic code word, so that in ordering any piece 

 of apparatus it is simply necessary to transmit to the makers 

 the code word allotted to it. 



Three representatives of the Lancashire County Counci 

 Technical Instruction Committee visited, last year, some of the 

 chief continental schools which give technical instruction in 

 horology, the silk industry, and mining. As a result of the 

 inquiry a report has just been issued, in which the deputation 

 recommends the establishment of schools in which all these 

 subjects are thoroughly taught. 



The Quarterly /oiirnal of the Geological Society (No. 197) 

 contains, in addition to eight papers, eight plates illustrating 

 NO. 1267, VOL. 49] 



the work of Mr. Rutley on the " Sequence of Perlitic and 

 Spherulitic Structure," of Mr. E. A. Walford on "Inferior 

 Oolite Bryozoa from Shtpton Gorge, Dorset," and " Cheilos- 

 tomatous Bryozoa from the Middle Lias," and of Dr. J. W. 

 Evans on the " Geology of Matto Grosso, Brazil." 



An entirely new edition (the seventeenth) of "Johnston's 

 Elements of Agricultural Chemistry " has been published by 

 Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons. Prof. C. M. Aikman has 

 revised the whole of this well-known text-book, rewritten large 

 portions of it, and added new matter, so as to bring the work 

 up to the present position of agricultural chemistry. The fact 

 that the book has survived unto the seventeenth edition is suffi- 

 cient evidence of its usefulness. 



A series of coloured botanical diagrams, suited for class 

 teaching, has been published by the Society for Promoting 

 Christian Knowledge. The plants selected are chiefly in- 

 digenous, and the leaf, blossom, parts of the blossom, husk, 

 and seed of each are very clearly shown in a greatly enlarged 

 form. The diagrams thus exhibit to students the characteristic 

 parts of plants, and will doubtless facilitate the study of some 

 common specimens. 



"A Text-Book of Solid or Descriptive Geometry," by Mr. 

 A. B. Dobbie (Blackie and Son), is a little book possessing 

 many good points, and one upon which great pains have 

 evidently been spent. There are about 350 diagrams in the 

 book, all of which have been carefully designed by the author. 

 The diagrams and explanatory text are both extremely clear, 

 and the problems well arranged. Elementary courses in plane 

 geometry and graphic arithmetic are included, and add to the 

 value of a book which we confidently recommend to the notice 

 of teachers. 



The first part of the volume of the Proceedings of the 

 Congres International de Zoologie, held at Moscow during 

 August, 1892, was reviewed in Nature of January 5, 1893. 

 The second part has just been published, and is of equal excel- 

 lence with the one that preceded it. The volume contains 

 thirty memoirs, occupying 287 pages altogether, and a supple- 

 [ ment of 83 pages is devoted to the second report of Prof. 

 Blanchard on the nomenclature of organisms. Prof. Blanchard 

 presented his first report upon this subject to the International 

 Zoological Congress that met at Paris in 1889. 



The first edition of "Electricity in the Service of Man" 

 (Cassell and Co.) was published in 1888. Two years later a 

 second edition appeared, and the third is now before us. The 

 work has been revised and enlarged by Dr. R. M. Walmsley, 

 and it has certainly benefited by his changes. Some 120 pages 

 of the second edition have been excised, and new matter cover- 

 ing more than 200 pages has been inserted. It would be 

 tedious to enumerate the numerous additions that have been 

 made, both in the theoretical and technical sections of the 

 subject. Suffice it to say that Dr. Walmsley has brought the 

 book well up to date, and has largely increased its value by a 

 thorough revision. 



The Irish Naturalist for February contains a list of all the 

 known additions to the flora of the north-east of Ireland (except 

 Musci and Hepatic*) since the publication in 1888 of Stewart 

 and Corry's work upon that subject. The list also embodies 

 ; additional localities for many of the rarer species. Dr. Scharft 

 \ concludes a paper on the Irish wood-lice, in which he gives 

 descriptions of all the British species. Miss S. M. Thompson 

 sets up a plea for Irish glaciology, and the Rev. Hilderis Friend 

 describes a new Irish earthworm. 



An admirable review of the rapid progress which has been 



made during the last few years in the new domain of stereo- 



1 chemistry, which deals with the spacial arrangement of the 



