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NA TURE 



[April 19, 1900 



fully noticed in these columns. As the readers of 

 Nature are probably aware, as a result of this report, 

 an Oyster Bill has been laid before Parliament. 



So far as the present memoir is concerned, it may be 

 divided into two parts. The first part deals with the 

 "greenness" of oysters. This appears to be due in 

 different kinds of oysters to different causes. In certain 

 oysters it seems undoubtedly connected with the presence 

 of an excess of copper ; and so far as the Falmouth 

 oyster is concerned, the authors confirm the earlier work 

 of Prof. Thorpe in this connection. From the general 

 histological standpoint, it is interesting to note that the 

 authors found Macallum's hjematoxylin method to be a 

 very delicate test for copper as well as iron^ But the 

 presence of " greenness," even when connected with 

 copper, does not necessitate the oyster in question being 

 unfit for food. Some " greenness " has no relation with 

 the presence of copper, as, for instance, in the case of 

 Marennes oysters. 



With regard to the bacteriology of oysters from the 

 standpoint of disease, the monograph does not contain 

 any very important additions to our knowledge. So far 

 as concerns the subject of deepest interest to the public, 

 namely, the relation between oysters and typhoid fever, the 

 general reader will be relieved by Conclusion 12, p. 54 : — 



" Although we did not find the Bacillus typhosus in 

 any oyster obtained from the sea or from the markets, 

 yet in our experimental oysters, inoculated with typhoid, 

 we were able to recover the organism from the body of 

 the oyster up to the tenth day. We show that the 

 typhoid bacillus does not increase in the body or in the 

 tissues of the oyster, and our figures indicate that the 

 bacilli perish in the intestine." 



Scientific Papers. By John William Strutt, Baron 

 Rayleigh, D.Sc, F.R.S. Vol. i. 1869-1881. Pp. xvi + 

 562. (Cambridge : At the University Press, 1899.) 

 The publication of collections of scientific papers serves 

 a three-fold purpose. It renders easy of access scattered 

 papers for which search would otherwise have to be 

 made through a considerable mass of proceedings, 

 transactions and journals ; it furnishes a history of the 

 part played by the author of the papers in the onward 

 progress of scientific knowledge, and it affords an insight 

 into the thoughts which the author has put into writing 

 at various stages of his lifetime. To adequately serve 

 the last object the collection must be comprehensive, and 

 no paper should be deemed too short or of too passing 

 interest to be included in the series. We cannot do 

 better than quote Lord Rayleigh's remarks on this point 

 in the preface : — 



" Some short papers of a rather slender character have 

 been included : these may serve to mitigate the general 

 severity. In consulting similar collections I have usually 

 felt even more grateful for the reproduction of short and 

 often rather inaccessible notes than for the larger and 

 better-known memoirs." 



Even the questions set by Lord Rayleigh in the 

 Mathematical Tripos for 1876 are here reprinted, and 

 the pages containing these will, we are certain, be well 

 fingered in the copy which finds its way into the 

 Cambridge University Library. 



An analysis of the seventy-eight papers in the present 

 volume, and which represent Lord Rayleigh's work in the 

 period 1869-1881, gives the following results : — Acous- 

 tics and vibrations, 24 papers ; optics, 23 ; hydrodynamics, 

 9 ; electricity, 6 ; dynamics, 5 ; pure mathematics, chiefly 

 harmonic analysis, 6 ; various, 5. 



It will be seen that the main portion of Lord Rayleigh's 

 work in this period deals with sound and light. Many 

 of the papers on the former subject have been included in 

 his well-known " Theory of Sound," and are not re- 

 produced ; but readers of the latter book will learn from 

 the references here given how much of the theory is due 



NO. 1590, VOL. 61] 



to Lord Rayleigh himself. We need only refer to the 

 theory of resonance, the general theory of vibrations and 

 its particular case of " approximately simple systems," 

 the pitch of organ pipes. Of optical papers, the best 

 known are Lord Rayleigh's investigations on the scattering 

 of light by small particles, and on the colour and polar- 

 isation of the sky. We have also in the present volume 

 papers on the construction of diffraction gratings and 

 their reproduction by photography, experiments on 

 colour, and optical investigations relating to the spectro- 

 scope. Lord Rayleigh's hydrodynamical papers on the 

 stability and instability of jets are well known. The 

 last paper in the volume is that on the infinitesimal bend- 

 ing of surfaces of revolution, which subsequently formed 

 the subject of discussion at the hands of Prof. Love. The 

 volume will be a welcome addition to our libraries, as 

 will be those to follow containing Lord Rayleigh's later 

 papers. G. H. B. 



Ueber das System der Nagethiere j eine phylogenetische 

 Studie. Von Tycho TuUberg. Pp. v + 514; 56 plates. 

 (Upsala : Berling, 1899.) 

 This separately published memoir, with its own pagin- 

 ation, is an excerpt from the Nova Acta of the Royal 

 Society of Upsala. It is not too lengthy for the due 

 treatment of the subject, and it is very copiously illus- 

 trated. Dr. Tullberg has performed a useful piece of 

 work in bringing together the- bulk of what is known 

 about the rodents into one comprehensive monograph ; 

 his proceeding might be well imitated for other orders, 

 in view of enormous and increasing literature. The 

 present memoir, however, is not a compilation in any 

 sense of that word. The first part, which is rather more 

 than one-half, consists of a series of descriptions of a 

 large number of species of rodents examined by the 

 author. These descriptions are quite full, and deal with 

 external, as well as internal, characters. In some of the 

 facts there detailed, we observe that the author is at 

 variance with the statements of others. For example, 

 he does not distinguish the two genera of Lemmings, 

 which are a little apt to be confused, by the occurrence 

 or non-occurrence of fur upon the soles of the feet. At 

 this moment we are unable to confirm or to dispute his 

 correction of current statements. The list of literature 

 is an abundant one ; but the author seems to have over- 

 looked Mr. Beddard's paper upon the rodent brain, and 

 Mr. Parson's account of the anatomy of the little known 

 Cape Jumping Hare, Pedetes. Perhaps the MS. of the 

 work was in type before the appearance of the last of 

 these papers. The scheme of classification adopted by 

 the author will not commend itself to all. The Sciuro- 

 morpha and Myomorpha of many are associated into a 

 tribe, Sciurognathi, which is contrasted with the only 

 other tribe of " simplicidentate" rodents, viz. Hystricog- 

 nathi. The genus Pedetes, to which we have referred, 

 is placed in the former, a view which we do not share. 

 We would also follow Mr. Thomas and regard the genus 

 Bathyergus as belonging to the Myomorpha, and not to 

 the " porcupiny " rodents, where Dr. Tullberg places it. 

 The criticisms, however, do not affect the general merits 

 of this important contribution to our knowledge of the 

 mammalia. F. E. B. 



A Surgical Operating Table for the Horse. By J. A. W. 

 Dollar, M.R.C.V.S. Pp. vi + 42. (Edinburgh : David 

 Douglas, 1900.) 

 Veterin.\ry surgeons are well aware of the difficulty of 

 controlling horses during operations. Mr. Dollar de- 

 scribes the methods in general use, and various operating 

 tables used in France, Germany, Spain and elsewhere. 

 A table devised by him, and described in detail, is a 

 machine by means of which a horse can be supported in 

 any position and operated upon. Numerous illustrations 

 show the table in different positions during the actual 

 progress of veterinary operations. 



