October 30, 1890] 



NATURE 



^n 



to graphic arithmetic, in which there are both questions 

 and examples on multiplication, division, addition, sub- 

 traction, fractions, involution, &c. 



Throughout the book the figures are placed on the 

 right-hand pages, and the text opposite them on the left 

 — a very good arrangement. The diagrams and figures 

 are neat and clear, especially the complicated figures 

 required in the drawing of sections of some solids. The 

 exercises have been selected from the papers of the 

 Science and Art Department, College of Preceptors, 

 Oxford and Cambridge Locals, and various Military 

 Colleges. They are carefully graduated, and, when 

 necessary, hints have been added to facilitate their 

 solution. 



Vadagascar; or, Robert Drurfs Journal. Edited by 



Captain P. Oliver. (London: Fisher Unwin, 1890.) 

 This book may be divided into three parts : Captain 

 Oliver's introduction and notes, Robert Drury's journal, 

 and a description of the island by the Abbe Rochon. In 

 the first part Captain Oliver tries to prove that the 

 journal is more or less fictitious. At the beginning of the 

 introduction he gives the names of — as he himself says — 

 the best authorities in France, all of whom believe the 

 journal to be true ; also a letter which leads him to say 

 that the book was credited in the middle of the eighteenth 

 century. After having quoted these authorities in favour 

 of the truthfulness of the journal, Captain Oliver pro- 

 ceeds to give his own ideas on the subject, which are that 

 the book was written by Defoe from Drury's story, and a 

 great deal of the matter taken out of French laooks— 

 namely, Francois Cauche, 1658, and Hacourt, 1661. He 

 then goes on to say that the original journal had a 

 French map, and he regards that also as evidence against 

 Drury. Drury acknowledges himself to have almost for- 

 gotten the language and manners of his own country, and, 

 as he was but fourteen years of age when he left, we may 

 take it for granted that he did not know how to draw a map. 

 What then could be more natural, when he had his journal 

 edited, than to take the best map then published, which 

 happened to be a French one, and give it with his 

 journal? 



After reading the introduction, one almost thinks that 

 the book is fictitious ; but when half-way through the 

 journal, in which every little action is described so 

 minutely, one comes to the conclusion that it is true — at 

 least, that it has not been proved untrue. The journal 

 itself is interesting, but very monotonous. 



The description of the island by the Abb^ Rochon is 

 very interesting, as it tells all about the first attempts of 

 the French to colonize Madagascar. H. C. L. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



\ The Editor does not hold himself responsible /or 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.^ 



Large Meteors, 



The "ball of fire" seen by Mr. C. Randolph at Milverton, 

 Somerset, on October 16, at I2h. 5m., and the "brilliant 

 meteor" observed at Edinburgh, on October 17, at about I5h. 

 <see Nature of October 23, pp. 615 and 620), were probably 

 members of the October meteor shower, which has a maximum 

 on about October 18-20, and a radiant point 9t 92° + 16° in 

 the extreme north-eastern limits of Orion. 



There was also a fine meteor on October 19 at midnight. I 

 was engaged in telescopic observation at the time, and was 

 intently watching a new nebula I had just discovered about 

 2" N. of the star a Camelopardi, when I became aware of 

 several brilliant flashes which lit up both sky and landscape 

 in a startling manner. Quickly withdrawing my eye from the 



NO. 1096, VOL. 42] 



telescope, I turned towards the direction from whence the flashes 

 proceeded, and saw the end point of a magnificent fire-ball 

 which had fallen in the vapours on the western horizon. It left 

 a bright streak just east of )8 Aquarii, or from 326" -8" to 319" 

 - 10°, but this soon died away. 



This meteor must have been a grand object to observers in the 

 Bristol Channel and in the western counties of England. The 

 city clocks were striking the hour of twelve when it appeared, 

 and from the direction of its flight it evidently belonged to the 

 well-known Orionid meteor shower. 



The new nebula I have referred to is situated at 71° + 68°, 

 and is a fairly conspicuous object in my lO-inch reflector with a 

 power of 60. I watched it for more than an hour for traces of 

 motion, but detected none, so I assume it was not a comet. 

 Since October 19 we have had clouded skies, and I have had 

 no opportunity to re-observe the object. 



Bristol, October 24. W, F. Denning. 



Extraordinary Flight of Leaves. 



The pastoral farm of Dalgonar is .situated near the source of 

 the Skarr Water, in the parish of Penpont, Dumfriesshire. The 

 ridge of hills on the farm as per Ordnance Survey is 1580 feet 

 above sea-level. There are only five trees on the farm— two 

 ash and three larch. An extraordinary occurrence presented 

 itself to the eyes of Mr. Wright, my informant, at the end of 

 October 1889, on this farm, which has been narrated to me in a 

 letter received from him, as follows : — 



"I was struck by a strange appearance in the atmosphere, 

 which I at first mistook for a flock of birds, but as I saw them 

 falling to the earth my curiosity was quickened. Fixing my 

 eyes on one of the larger of them, and running about 100 yards 

 up the hill until directly underneath, I awaited its arrival, when 

 I found it to be an oak leaf. Looking upwards the air was thick 

 with them, and as they descended in an almost vertical direction, 

 oscillating, and glittering in the sunshine, the spectacle was as 

 beautiful as rare. The wind was from the north, blowing a 

 very gentle breeze, and there were occasional showers of rain. 



"On examination of the hills after the leaves had fallen, it 

 was found that they covered a tract of about a mile wide and 

 two miles long. The leaves were wholly those of the oak. No 

 oak trees grow in clumps together nearer than eight miles. The 

 aged shepherd, who has been on the farm since 1826, never 

 witnessed a similar occurrence." jAMES Shaw. 



Tynron School, Dumfriesshire, October 21. 



On the Soaring of Birds. 



In answer to my criticism (Nature, September 4, p. 457), 

 Mr. Blix refers (October 16, p. 593) to an article in the Skand. 

 Arch. f. Physiologic, in which he has given " an account of the 

 weighty reasons" leading him " to suppose that soaring birds are 

 able to undertake successive alterations of direction with very 

 little loss of vis viva." To bring forward reasons, however, tend- 

 ing to show that birds can do certain things is no answer to an 

 objection with regard to hoiv they do them. 



Mr. Blix has thought it superfluous to point out "that the 

 manoeuvre of the bird is the same, and the loss of energy 

 thereby equally the same, whether the bird turns in a calm or 

 in a uniform wind," from which it is to be inferred that he had 

 thoroughly grasped the truth of this himself. Why did he, then, 

 propound a theory founded upon what is directly contrary to his 

 own conviction ? 



It is not easy to see what has led Mr. Blix to suppose that I 

 hold any other opinion, since my letter was written with the 

 intention of pointing out this fact to him. 



19 Well Walk, Hampstead, C. O. Bartrum. 



October 23. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TORRES 

 STRAITS ISLANDERS.^ 



T T is not my intention this evening to attempt a special 

 -*- study of any particular institution or series of customs, 

 nor even to discuss the ethnological affinities of the natives 

 inhabiting the islands of Torres Straits. 



» Friday Evening Lecture delivered at the Royai Institution, by Prof. Alfred 

 C. Haddon, on May 23, 1890. 



