180 



KNOWLEDGE 



[August 1, 1898. 



nerve, electrical fishes, and the electro-motive action in 

 the eye. While the book is full of interesting experiments, 

 such examples as that with the uninjured leaf of DioniEa, 

 or, as it is more familiarly called, " Venus's fly trap " — 

 where, electrodes being applied to the opposite ends of 

 such a leaf, and a galvanometer included in the circuit, 

 a regular current flows from that end of the leaf nearest 

 to the stalk to the other — will perhaps appeal most to the 

 ordinary reader. The wonderful physiological properties 

 of certain fishes have been known and dreaded from the 

 earliest times. Francesco Redi showed in 1066 that this 

 mysterious power was, at all events in the electric ray, 

 associated with special organs, situated symmetrically on 

 both sides of the head. In the present volume we are 

 given an exhaustive account, profusely illustrated and 

 extending to upwards of a hundred pages, of the present 

 state of our knowledge of all these animals. For the 

 results of these and many other equally fascinating studies 

 we must refer to the iiook itself, which in the style of its 

 production is quite up to the high standard of excellence 

 one always associates with the names of its publishers. 



Willkirn ^foon, LL.D., and his Work for the Blind. 

 By John Rutherford, m.a., n.n. (London : Hodder iV 

 Stoughton.) 58. Of the many systems of embossed 

 characters by means of which the blind are enabled to 

 read, that invented by Dr. Moon is undoubtedly the 

 simplest and most easily acquired. Not only is it suitable 

 for educating children who are blind, but it is also admir- 

 ably adapted for older people who have lost their sight. 

 In fact, it is in this respect that the system elaborated by 

 Dr. Moon stands pre-eminent. More than half of the 

 total number of persons who are unable to see are over 

 fifty years of age, and in a large number of these cases the 

 fingers have become hardened by manual labour, and the 

 sense of touch has lost much of its acuteness. These facts 

 make it impossible for such persons to master the more 

 elaborate systems which were previously in vogue ; and 

 when it is remembered that often the loss of sight is 

 attended by a more or less complete nervous collapse, it 

 will be seen that embossed alphabets based upon systems 

 of phonography are altogether unsuitable because of the 

 degree of concentration required to master them. Dr. 

 Moon's alphabet consists of only nine characters placed in 

 various positions. Thus, the character A stands for 

 A. K. V, X. in the varied positions of A < V > ■ Dr- 

 Moon himself became totally blind at the age of twenty- 

 one, and from that time devoted his life to the work of 

 lightening the darkness of his fellow-sufferers. His 

 perfected alphabet was the crowning point of a series of 

 less successful experiments, and was soon applied to the 

 production of books for the blind in a variety of foreign 

 languages, including even Chinese. But the education of 

 the blind was, in the hands of Dr. Moon, carried much 

 further than mere reading, for by means of an embossed 

 atlas of geographical maps and drawings in relief showing 

 the constellations, the solar system, phases of the moon, 

 eclipses, tides, etc., he gave evidence alike of his perse- 

 verance and ingenuity, and provided the blind with sources 

 of instruction and enjoyment. After so useful a career 

 we can partly understand the spirit which prompted Dr. 

 Moon when he said : " God gave me bhndness as a talent 

 to be used for His glory. Without blindness I should 

 never have been able to see the needs of the blind." 



Ethnological Studies nmonijthe Xorth-West Cfutral Qmens- 

 land Aborigines. By Walter E. Roth, b.a., etc. (Brisbane : 

 E. Gregory.' London : Queensland Agent-General's Office. 

 1897.) It is satisfactory to be given this further evidence 

 of systematic inquiry into the language, customs, and 



habits of Australian aboriginals. The spread of civilization 

 in these new countries inevitably results in the elimination 

 of the native races, and it becomes a positive duty of the 

 invaders to gather and record accurate information con- 

 cerning the superstitions, beliefs, and ceremonial rights of 

 the races they displace. This duty is fully recognized in 

 the United States, where the Bureau of Ethnology is 

 continuously employed in collecting and publishing similar 

 facts about the North American Indians. We are, there- 

 fore, glad to see this officially published contribution to 

 the ethnology of the natives of (^tueensland. Of course, 

 the first essential in conducting such an inquiry is the 

 confidence and trust of the aborigines in the expert 

 observer. In this respect Mr. Roth had unrivalled oppor- 

 tunities, and he seems to have made the most of them. 

 The book is filled with details of interest to anthropologists, 

 but a particular value is to be attached to the chapter on 

 the expression of ideas by manual signs. These are not 

 only fully described in the text, but are also illustrated by 

 a profusion of figures on several plates. 



Text-Bool.- of Pliijxieiil I lientistry. By Clarence L. Speyers. 

 (New York : D. van Nostrand Company. London : E. & 

 F. N. Spon.) 7s. Od. Physical chemistry, though a 

 subject of distinctly modern growth, has become a very 

 important branch of science, scarcely a day passing without 

 some new development of it. But though it is a com- 

 paratively new subject, there are certain fundamental ideas 

 in physical chemistry which will not suffer change, and 

 these Mr. Speyers has put into his book, thou|,'h some 

 theories have been included which will almost certainly 

 have to be modified. The book is intenderl for senior 

 students, and should prove useful in those advanced 

 chemistry courses where it can be fairly assumed that an 

 efficient mathematical knowledge is part of the student's 

 intellectual stock-in-trade. The non-existence of working 

 hypotheses connecting light energy and so-called chemical 

 energy, has decided the author to omit any reference 

 to Ught relations and crystallography. The historical 

 development of the subject has, we think wisely, been 

 disregarded whenever the clear presentment of the subject 

 has been thereby aided. The excellent series of problems 

 scattered throughout the volume will, if conscientiously 

 worked, prove of particular value to the student. 



SHORT NOTICES. 



The Arrangement of Atom's in Space. By J. H. Tan't Hoff. Second 

 Edition. (Ijongiuans.) 6s. 6d. Organic compounds of similar 

 formulae do not always possess the same properties. For example, 

 tartaric acid exists in different forms, yet the formula of each modi- 

 fication contains exactly the same number of atoms. To explain this 

 and similar cases, a new branch of organic chemistry has arisen, 

 called " sterco-isomerism." The author says, in the introduction to 

 the book before us, tliat " the facts compel us to explain the differ- 

 ence between isomeric molecules possessing the same structural 

 formula; by the different arrangement of their atoms in space " — a 

 conception of atoms which is essentially a continuation of Kekule's 

 law of tetravalent carbon. A preface is added by Prof. Wislicenus, 

 who, by the way, states that the opposition to the theory is directed 

 against special applications of the principle to explain particular facts, 

 and not against the general principle itself. A new section has been 

 added by Alfred Werner on nitrogen compounds, and the whole is 

 admirably presented in English by the translator — Arnold Eiloart. 



Tlie Year-Book of British Columbia. By R. E. Gosnell. (British 

 Columbia Government Agency.) We have in this handy volume a 

 multitude of facts respecting the material resouives, and the historical, 

 political, and sociological character of British Columbia, the whole 

 forming a vade mecnm of information concerning the province, so 

 compiled as to anticipate all references of a practical nature. At 

 the present time many peo})le are anxious to obtain exact knowledge 

 respecting mining in the great Xorth-West, and it will, perhaps, be 

 welcome news to those who contemplate enteqirises of this kind when 

 we say that here are to be found mining statistics up to date, luining 

 laws — including the Yukon mining regulations— agi'iculture, trade 



