May 19, 1904] 



NATURE 



61 



The Geological Society of Belgium has issued a special 

 memoir on the flow of underground waters in limestone 

 regions. This is edited by M. E. Van den Broeck (Brussels, 

 April). Having regard to the importance of determining 

 the source of water used for drinking purposes, the under- 

 ground course pursued by it, until it issues again in the 

 form of springs, must if possible be ascertained. Observ- 

 ations on this subject are now brought forward and dis- 

 cussed. The use of colouring matters is generally regarded 

 as the best means of determining the question, and especially 

 with regard to the time occupied by the water in its transit 

 through the strata. Fluorescein, which gives a green 

 tint, has been held by a number of hydrologists to afford 

 the most .satisfactory results, while others have expressed 

 the opinion that it serves to retard the flow of water, and 

 that different matters in solution or in suspension have 

 travelled more rapidly. It is, however, maintained that 

 neither floating objects nor matters in suspension can give 

 so true a notion of the flow as substances in solution, but 

 the substance in solution must not augment the density. It 

 is admitted that light, carbonic acid and peaty soil tend 

 to decolorise the fluorescein. The influence of light is most 

 important, and must be obviated. The decolorisation pro- 

 duced by carbonic acid can be counteracted by ammonia. 

 It is generally concluded that fluorescein will prove the 

 existence of communication between two points, and will 

 give the best approximate idea of the time taken in transit. 

 The fluorescope is necessary to detect its presence. 



\ PHOTOGRAPHIC portrait of Francis Galton, admirable 

 both in execution and as a likeness, is given in Biometrika 

 (vol. ii. part iv.). The accompanying sketch of the same 

 subject is also good and characteristic. The most im- 

 portant memoir in the part is Prof. Karl Pearson and Dr. 

 .■Mice Lee's paper on the inheritance of physical characters. 

 This embodies the fruit of many years' arduous labour, and 

 establishes several results of high importance. -Among 

 these are the existence of statistical evidence of sexual 

 selection, and the near approach to uniformity of the re- 

 gression value of both physical and psychical characters 

 as shown in fraternal inheritance. The former point 

 receives indirect confirmation from a paper on assortative 

 mating. Variation in Ophiocoma nigra is dealt with by 

 Mr. D. C. Mcintosh, and Mr. W. P. Ellerton contributes 

 tables of powers and sums of powers of natural numbers 

 up to 100. In the miscellanea. Prof. Pearson takes 

 occasion to offer a vigorous defence of the position that 

 " biometry is essentially a science of exact quantitative 

 definition, and if it is to be of service in rendering anthro- 

 pology an exact branch of science, it must replace vague 

 ideas by numerically definite conceptions." 



The results of the important experiments on the crossing 

 of Japanese waltzing and albino mice, reports of which have 

 already appeared, are collected and fully discussed by Mr. 

 Darbishire in Biometrika, vol. iii. part i. While certain of 

 the crossings gave results in accordance with Mendel's law, 

 Darbishire shows reason for the view that ancestral in- 

 fluence cannot be excluded, and that Mendel's theory of the 

 purity of gametes receives no support from the present series 

 of experiments. Referring to the variability of " hetero- 

 zygotes " and their divergence in character from the 

 parental standard, the author observes: — " It seems to me 

 that we have not got any further in this direction than 

 Darwin had when he called phenomena of this kind re- 

 versions to ancestral condition." Incidentally, he shows 

 that the results of his crossings afford no instance of 

 telegony. .Among the other memoirs in this part is the 

 record of a striking and valuable experiment by Mr. A. P. 

 NO. 1803, VOL. 70] 



di Cesnola on the protection from enemies secured by the 

 coloration of Mantis religiosa. So far as the experiment 

 went, the proof of protection enjoyed by the mantis in 

 appropriate surroundings appeared to be complete, while it 

 was also made clear that both green and brown forms are 

 eaten by birds or ants when recognised. New ground is 

 broken by Mr. Greenwood in a paper on the variability and 

 correlation of the human viscera, and Prof. Weldon shows 

 that Mendelian segregation does not. as has been suggested, 

 obtain among human albinos in Sicily. 



In the Independent Review for May, Dr. A. R. Wallace 

 completes his survey of the chain of evidence connecting 

 the " Islands of Wdk-Wdk " of the " Arabian Nights " 

 with the Aru Islands, the home of the great bird-of-paradise. 

 Hasan's journey through the " land of wild horses " is 

 shown to refer to Tibet, whence the traveller crossed China 

 to the sea, and eventually reached the Malay Peninsula. 

 The apparently supernatural marvels encountered on the 

 voyage from Malacca to the Aru Islands are all ingeniously 

 demonstrated by Mr. Wallace to rest on a substratum of 

 actual fact. Not that Hasan himself ever reached those 

 islands, of which he was told by those who had accomplished 

 the journey. Two separate legends appear to have been 

 combined in the story of Hasan as we now know it. " The 

 one is founded upon the magnificent plumage of the 

 bird. . . . On the other hand, the cry ' wdk-wdk,' as dis- 

 tinctly stated by the General, gave the name to a moun- 

 tain, and also to the islands themselves, and was said to 

 be made, not by any bird, but by human heads which grew 

 upon trees, and at daybreak gave forth this cry. . . . There 

 is not a word in the whole story to show that there was 

 thought to be any connection between the mysterious voices 

 and the magical plumes." 



We have received from the publishers (Messrs. Cassell 

 and Co., Ltd.) a copy of a new popular edition of that 

 useful little work, " The Field Naturalist's Handbook," 

 originally compiled by the late Rev. J. G. Wood, and re- 

 vised by the Rev. T. Wood. As the new edition is pub- 

 lished at the price of one shilling, it is within the reach of 

 all, and everyone interested in field natural history should 

 buy a copy. Perhaps it may be well to remind our readers 

 that the work is restricted to three groups specially favoured 

 by collectors, namely, butterflies and moths, wild plants, and 

 birds' eggs, and the proper seasons to look for the various 

 kinds of each group are fully recorded in the tables. The 

 scientific nomenclature, so far at least as Lepidoptera and 

 birds are concerned, is of an old-fashioned type, but perhaps 

 in the main it is none the worse for this, although some 

 restriction of the scope of generic names would certainly 

 have been advisable in the case of the ducks. In works of 

 this nature it would perhaps be nowadays advisable to 

 speak of " a scientific name " rather than " the scientific 

 name " of a species. This little volume, which is an 

 excellent example of careful editing, deserves a wide 

 circulation. 



A THIRD edition, which has been revised and enlarged, of 

 Mr. W. Perren Maycock's " First Book of Electricity and 

 Magnetism " has been published by Messrs. Whittaker 

 and Co. 



"The Psychological Index, No. 10," a bibliography of 

 the literature of psychology and cognate subjects for 1903, 

 has been published in connection with the Psychological 

 Review. The index has been compiled by Prof. Howard 

 C. Warren, of Princeton University, with the cooperation 

 of M. G. Revault D'.Allonnes, of Paris; Mr. F. G. Bruner, 



