88 



NA TURE 



[May 28, 190: 



and models taken from the Schaflfer Museum. The late 

 Hermann Schiiffer, whose death was announced in 1900, 

 and who held a chair of mathematics and physics at the 

 University of Jena from 1856 onwards, devoted a large 

 portion of his lifetime to the formation of this collection, 

 which consists of models and instruments constructed for 

 the express purpose of illustrating in the clearest and 

 simplest way the elementary properties of matter, light, 

 heat and electricity. Prof. Bohn describes about 350 

 apparatus out of a collection of many thousands now housed 

 in the Zeiss Institution in Jena. A noteworthy feature of 

 Schaffer's methods was the great use he made of glass 

 in order that his pupils might see the complete working of 

 the experiments. 



We have received a copy of the second number of a new 

 paper called the British Inventor. The new journal con- 

 tains a few brief notes on scientific novelties, but is chiefly 

 concerned with popular and trade aspects of invention. 



We have received a copy of a catalogue of the Romanised 

 geographical names of Korea, compiled by Prof. B. Kot6 

 and Mr. S. Kanazawa, of the Imperial University of Tokyo, 

 Japan. The catalogue is published by the Tokyo Uni- 

 versity, and should prove of great assistance to travellers in 

 the interior of Korea. 



Five more parts of the first annual issue of the " Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature " have just been 

 published. These newly issued volumes include the second 

 part of vol. iv., which deals with works on physics ; vol. x., 

 mathematical and physical geography; vol. xi., mineralogy, 

 including petrology and crystallography; vol. xii., geology; 

 and a volume giving a list of journals with the abbrevi- 

 ations used in the catalogue as references. 



There has been issued from the Government Printing 

 Office, Washington, U.S.A., a reprint of a " Bibliography 

 of Cooperative Cataloguing and the Printing of Catalogue 

 Cards (1850-1902)," by Messrs. Torstein Jahr and Adam J. 

 Strohm, which was included- in the report for 1902 of the 

 Librarian of Congress. In view of the cooperative plans 

 of the Royal Society, the Brussels Institut international de 

 bibliographie, and the Concilium bibliographicum at 

 Zurich for the production of international catalogues of 

 scientific works, the publication of this list of works should 

 interest many European men of science. 



Parts I. and II. of the Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, dealing with the work of the sessions 1900- 

 1902, have now been published by Messrs. R. Grant and 

 Son, of Edinburgh, and Messrs. Williams and Norgate, of 

 London. Among the twenty contributions to the two 

 volumes, the following may be mentioned as of wide scien- 

 tific interest : Dr. Masterman's contribution to the life- 

 histories of the cod and whiting ; the second part of Sir 

 W'illiam Turner's study of the craniology of the people of 

 the Empire of India; Mr. Aitken's notes on the dynamics 

 of cyclones and anticyclones ; Mr. Marker's paper on ice- 

 erosion in the Cuillin Hills, Skye ; and Dr. Scott's investi- 

 gation of the primary structure of certain palaeozoic stems 

 with the Dadoxylon type of wood. The reports published 

 from time to time in our columns of the meetings of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh make any detailed reference to 

 the contents of these volumes unnecessary. 



Second editions have been issued of Mr. M. M. Pattison 

 Muir's translation of Dr. Robert Liipke's " Elements of 

 Electro-chemistry Treated Experimentally " (Messrs. H. 

 Grevel and Co.), and of Mr. George Massee's " Text-book 

 of Plant Diseases caused by Cryptogamic Parasites " 



NO. 1752, VOL. 68] 



(Messrs. Duckworth and Co.). Mr. Pattison Muir has in- 

 corporated the important changes and additions made by 

 the author in the third German edition, and also added 

 about a dozen new illustrations. Mr. Massee has taken 

 the opportunity to deal in the new edition of his book with 

 several destructive diseases which either have appeared for 

 the first time or have developed and extended to an alarm- 

 ing extent since the appearance of the first issue of his 

 work. 



The fifth edition of the " Introduction to the Study of 

 Metallurgy," by the late Sir William Roberts-Austen, pub- 

 lished by Messrs. C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., was fortunately 

 completed by its distinguished author before his death, 

 and has now made its appearance. The book has agair> 

 been enlarged and improved, and in its present form 

 is necessary to every student of metallurgy who desires 

 to obtain a general view of his subject. Besides being 

 one of the most readable of scientific works, it will provide 

 Sir William Roberts-Austen's many friends with an in- 

 teresting memento. The two presidential addresses de- 

 livered by the author before the members of the Iron and 

 Steel Institute in 1899 and 1900 are printed in an appendix, 

 and the whole volume is a token of the interest he took in 

 the welfare of his students. 



'f"H^ latest issue of the memoirs of the Soci6t6 de Physique 

 et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve contains the president's 

 report for the year 1902, together with a monograph by the 

 late M. Marc Micheli on the Leguminosae collected in the 

 Mexican States of Michoacan and of Guerrero during 1898 

 and 1899 by the late M. Eugene Langlass6. The voyage 

 of M. Langlass^ had utilitarian ends in view, and his 

 attention was especially directed to plants of interest to 

 the horticulturist, and likely to prove important from the 

 point of view of agriculture, rather than for their scientific 

 interest. Notwithstanding this fact, the number of new 

 species contained in his collection shows conclusively that 

 many new forms will be forthcoming when the country 

 visited by M. Langlass^ is systematically explored by com- 

 petent botanists. Among the 237 kinds of leguminous 

 plants collected, M. Micheli described twenty-six as new 

 species, and he admits one new genus. The monograph is 

 accompanied by twenty-eight beautifully executed plates, 

 which serve as an admirable accompaniment to what proved 

 to be the last piece of work of the author. 



In accordance with a resolution passed at the Inter- 

 national Geological Congress at Paris in 1900 to establish 

 a paljeontological publication to bring together illustrations 

 and descriptions of type-fossils, an international committee 

 was appointed to prepare a programme of the publication 

 which is to be known as " Palaeontologia Universalis." 

 The commission will publish each type-fossil on a separate 

 plate. It has been arranged to reproduce the original 

 figure of the type-fossil, to give a phototypographic figure 

 of the type itself, the original description without alter- 

 ations or abbreviations, and additional observations by the 

 authors. The two specimen plates which have reached us 

 are excellent, and the series, when complete, should be of 

 great service in making known rare and frequently un- 

 known descriptions and figures of type-fossils. The assist- 

 ance of numerous palaeontologists has been secured, and 

 they will prepare the plates of the type-fossils of the greatest 

 interest in the collections in their care. Dr. von Zittel is 

 president of the committee, and M. D. P. Oihlert is the 

 secretary. The British members are Messrs. F. A. Bather 

 and A. Smith Woodward. The annual subscription is- 

 il. I2S., which should be sent to Messrs. William Weslejr 

 and Son, 28 Essex Street, W.C. 



