15° 



NA TURE 



[June i6, 1904 



•essential features of an American foxhound, while 

 among pointers (which are special favourites in 

 America) and setters a greater proportion of energy 

 to weight is the feature at which the breeder aims. 

 The admirable reproductions from photographs with 

 which the excellent little volume is illustrated fully 

 tear out the author's statement as to the marked 

 phvsical differences of the dogs he describes from their 

 European prototypes. R. L. 



Histoire de I'Habillement et de Parure. Bibliotheque 



scientifique Internationale. By Louis Bourdeau. 



Pp. 302. (Paris : F^lix Alcan, 1904.) Price 6 



francs. 

 The history of clothing and of ornaments is an im- 

 portant aspect of the history of culture, and it well 

 ■ deserves independent treatment. M. Bourdeau deals 

 with the primitive articles of clothing, skins, natural 

 vegetable products and the like, the method of work- 

 ing these, and the fabrication of textiles and the 

 methods of colouring them. The making and wearing 

 Lof clothes are briefly noted with the history of costumes, 

 in which are included dressing the hair, head, hand and 

 foot gear, umbrellas and jewellery. The scheme is good 

 •enough, but, as the work is confined to 299 pages, the 

 treatment is necessarily slight, for the author begins 

 with Genesis, quotes Greek and Roman authors, and, 

 -glancing at intermediate periods, finishes with modern 

 industrialism, making allusions by the way to non- 

 European peoples of varied culture. 



The book can be recommended to those who require 

 a light, popular sketch of the history of clothing — the 

 serious student will, however, be disappointed. The 

 author's knowledge of ethnology appears to be 

 extremely limited, judging from the imperfect state- 

 ments in, and the omissions from the book ; for ex- 

 ample, the paper mulberry tree is not mentioned ; he 

 is unaware of the practice of the Roman Catholic 

 ■women of Bosnia and Herzegovina to tattoo them- 

 selves so as to be further discriminated from the 

 followers of Islam; like most other writers, he does 

 ■•not distinguish between the Maori moko and ordinary 

 tattooing. No mention is made of the production of 

 patterns in cotton fabrics by tightly tying several 

 •strands of a warp in different places and then dyeing 

 the whole, which technique is carried to a high degree 

 ■of excellence by many Malayan peoples ; nor is the 

 analogous method of waxing fabrics and dyeing the 

 unwaxed portions referred to. Melanesians are con- 

 founded with Polynesians (p. 229), an error as great 

 as speaking of Negroes as Europeans. But it is in the 

 section on ornaments that the author is weakest. It 

 is now well recognised that what are generally spoken 

 of as " ornaments " are worn by nature-folk and by 

 barbarians for magical purposes as prophylactics to 

 ward off evil, to ensure good luck generally, or to 

 produce some definite result. This aspect is entirely 

 ignored by M. Bourdeau. Many " ornaments " have 

 the value of currency, but probably very few are worn 

 solely for purposes of adornment. There are no illus- 

 trations, and, as is usual with this class of book, there 

 is no index. 



The Ether : Some Notes on its Place in Nature. By 

 John Rhind. Pp. viii + 87. (Wick: W. Roe, 1904.) 

 Like the mythical Dog Diamond, Mr. Rhind little 

 knows what mischief he is doing. If his amendments 

 of accepted beliefs were adopted, the well built doctrine 

 of science would become no better than 



" a tale told by an idiot, 

 " Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 



Mr. Rhind's knowledge of principles goes no deeper, 

 apparently, than the most popular utterances of popular 



NO. 1807, VOL 70] 



lecturers and writers, and these are subject to amend- 

 ment ad libitum to square with " common sense." 

 With this slender equipment he does not falter to lay 

 violent hands upon the theory of gravitation, the con- 

 servation of matter, and the nebular hypothesis. 



A single example (p. 45) of the method will suffice : — 

 " We would suggest that the earth may have the power 

 of converting, or in other words of condensing, the 

 ether into oxygen, which is the principal agent in 

 sustaining life. The sun's atmosphere being so much 

 more powerful, will be able to condense this element 

 into an electric fluid which, being sent to his planets, 

 gives them light and heat, and in combination with 

 the o.xygen of our earth and its atmosphere completes 

 the power, if not of introducing life, of maintaining 

 the life that already exists on our globe." It seems 

 that (p. 48) " ether, oxygen and the electric fluid are 

 only different manifestations of the same substance." 

 The moral of the book appears to be that if science 

 were adequately taught us at school, a gentleman with 

 an active and spontaneous interest in natural pheno- 

 mena need not in after life go so pitifully astray. 



A Safe Course in Experimental Chemistry. By W. T. 



Boone. University Tutorial Series. Pp. vi+i8o. 



(London : W. B. Clive, 1904.) Price 2s. 

 This little volume is quite up to the standard of the 

 best of modern elementary books on practical 

 chemistry. It clearly embodies the experience of a 

 thoughtful teacher who has made his students work 

 and think accurately, and is not without originality of 

 treatment in the arrangement and character of the 

 exercises. 



It has the fault of all experimental books which 

 ignore the presence of the teacher, inasmuch as it is 

 forced to supply wordy and involved descriptions of 

 such simple operations as, for example, removing a 

 stopper when using a stoppered bottle, which a 

 demonstration would make clear in a moment. 



One of the " rules for a chemical laboratory " laid 

 down at the beginning of the book — " do not use more 

 of a reagent than is necessary " — raises an obvious 

 question which might be difficult to answer at this 

 early stage, and is rather like telling a child not to 

 eat too much. 



The use of the word " safe " in the title conveys a 

 flavour of quackery, which is a little unfortunate in a 

 book of much solid merit. The illustrations serve their 

 purpose, no doubt, but the handiwork of the amateur 

 is a little too evident. 



Apart from these few criticisms, the book, as already 

 stated, deserves a good reception. J. B. C. 



Catalogue of British Coleoptera. Bv T. Hudson 

 Beare, B.Sc, and H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe, F.Z.S. 

 Pp. 51. (London : Janson, 1904.) 

 This is one of the lists which are imperatively required 

 by students of British entomology to keep them in- 

 formed from time to time as to what species are 

 actually considered by good authorities to be found in 

 these islands, genuine additions being allowed for, and 

 doubtful records eliminated. The print is clear and 

 good, and another edition on stout paper, and printed 

 on one side only, to be used for labels or notes, has 

 been issued. The authors' names are a sufficient 

 guarantee for the care and accuracy with which they 

 have apparently done their work. The list contains 

 3274 species admitted as indigenous, and there are 

 supplementary lists of introduced or doubtful species. 

 The introduced list is headed by two very conspicuous 

 species, which, though not unfrequently taken in 

 England, can hardly be considered indigenous. 

 These are Carahus auratus (often introduced with 

 vegetables, &c.) and Calosoma sycophanta. 



