5i8 



NA TURE 



[September 25, 1890 



The author deserves credit for his appendix, in which a 

 series of simple physiological experiments are described, 

 with a view to their repetition by the student. 



Francis Darwin. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Plant Organisation : a Review of the Structure and 

 Morphology of Plants by the written method. By R. 

 Halsted Ward. (Boston, U.S.A. : Ginn and Co., 1890.) 

 This is nothing more than a serifes of blank charts, in- 

 tended for students to fill in with the details of plant 

 descriptions. The charts are prefaced by a few pages of 

 letterpress, wherein are contained some of the author's 

 views on plant morphology, together with general hints 

 and a summary of the terminology to be used. We 

 cannot say that the author's attempt to simplify the 

 technical terms ordinarily made use of in descriptive 

 work is altogether a success. For instance, the words 

 " shingled " and " straddling " for imbricate and equitant, 

 will hardly recommend themselves to teachers on this 

 side of the Atlantic ; nor are plants either epiphytic or 

 parasitic on rocks. As to the blank charts which con- 

 stitute the feature of the book, it can only be said that, 

 as such things go, they are entirely praiseworthy. 

 But are charts of this kind really necessary ? A child 

 just beginning the subject may profitably make use of 

 the very simple schedules devised by the late Prof. 

 Henslow ; but by the time he has advanced so far as to 

 be able to use these complicated and detailed ones, 

 drawn up by Mr. Ward, we think he will do much better 

 without being kept in leading-strings. The advantage 

 gained by writing descriptions will be vastly enhanced if 

 he be now permitted to think a little for himself. 



F. W. O. 



Geometrical Conies. Part I. The Parabola. By Rev. 

 J. J. Milne, M.A., and R. F. Davis, M.A. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., 1890.) 



In this work a departure is made from the general order 

 of the propositions adopted by most geometrical writers 

 "so as to bring the argument into closer agreement with 

 that found in analytical text-books, in order that both 

 methods may be studied side by side." Instead of a series 

 of detached propositions, the authors have made a con- 

 tinuous treatise, and by this means have been able to 

 deal with some of the more important points more fully 

 than they otherwise could have done. 



This part, which treats of problems and theorems 

 relating only to the parabola, is thoroughly well done, 

 and contains many problems fully worked out which are 

 absent from other similar books. 



Those reading the subject for the first time ought to 

 have no difficulty in grasping the various propositions and 

 theorems, and at the end numerous examples on them, 

 with hints and solutions, are added. 



Short Logarithms and other Tables. By W. Cawthorne 

 Unwin, F.R.S. Fourth Edition. (London : E. and 

 F, N. Spon and Co., 1890.) 



The short tables given in this book will be found to serve 

 the purpose for which they were intended, which is to 

 facilitate practical calculations and to solve arithmetical 

 problems in a very complete way. The logarithmetic 

 table is very short, but, if used properly, the error need 

 not exceed one per thousand ; logarithms of three-figure 

 numbers to 999, and of four-figure numbers to 2000, are 

 given. 



Amongst the other tables are : anti-logarithms, natural 

 and logarithmetic trigonometric functions, functions of 

 numbers, product of numbers, table of weights and 

 measures, and conversion tables for English and metric 

 measures. The last-named table is inserted specially for 



NO. 109 1, VOL. 42] 



the use of engineers, as so many treatises on engineering 

 are now being published in France and Germany in which 

 the measures are given according to the metric system, 

 and in consequence of which constants for the quick con- 

 version of these measures are required. W. 



Elementary Algebra. By Charles Smith, M.A. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., 1890.) 



This is a second edition of this well-known book, and 

 difiers from the first in some important particulars. It 

 has been thoroughly revised, and the early chapters have 

 been simplified and remodelled. Chapters on logarithms 

 and scales of notation form a useful and valuable ad- 

 dition, and there is a great increase in the number of 

 the examples. For beginners this work should prove 

 invaluable, and even more advanced students would do 

 well to glance over its pages. W. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



British Association Procedure. 



I SHOULD be sorry if Prof. Lodge or anyone else should sus- 

 pect me of a desire to interfere with the opportunities which are 

 afforded by meetings of the British Association for friendly inter- 

 course between workers, and especially between the younger 

 scientific men and their seniors, for I feel that those opportunities 

 constitute one of the chief advantages of attending the meetings. 

 But with the desire to avoid waste of time in merely journal 

 business I should prefer that each Sectional Committee should 

 be reduced to a small executive body to whom could be entrusted 

 the task of arranging the programme for each day, and in a pre- 

 liminary way other business, such as the selection of committees 

 to carry out suggested new researches. The appointment of such 

 Committees and the other business would be accomplished 

 quickly enough at a meeting of the whole Section, and then op- 

 portunity would be given to all the members for expressing an 

 opinion or offering suggestions. The plan at present adopted is 

 neither one thing nor the other. The Sectional Committees are 

 too large for the despatch of business, and yet may not include 

 every desirable member of the Section, The demand for election 

 to which I referred comes from a certain class of people whose 

 single purpose is served when they get their names printed on 

 the fist. 



I happen to have by me the journals of the Birmingham meet- 

 ing, and the number of names on the Committees of the first three 

 Sections I find as follows : — 



Totals 



62 



65 



104 



When numbers like this are reached why pretend to draw a 

 line at all ? William A. Tilden. 



Birmingham, September 23. 



The Exploration of Central Asia. 



The late notice in Nature of August 14 (p. 378) with refer- 

 ence to the work of exploration now being carried out by the 

 Russians around Kashgar, and that M. Grombchevsky, having 

 received permission and funds to continue his work, was starting 

 for Rudok, is not pleasant reading for Englishmen who know 

 that part of the Himalayas. Rudok is a small place with a fort 

 and Gonpa or monastery, and gives the name to the tract of 

 country lying at the eastern end of the great Pangkong Lake, 

 on the very confines of the territcry of the Kashmir State. In 

 1863 I carried the survey up to that extreme eastern limit, and 

 succeeded by avoiding observation in getting within a very few 



