Supplement to "Nature," May 5, 1904 



The method and the interest of the facts brought to 

 light by it will be clearer from two short examples. 



Amount of precipitate obtained by adding anti- 

 human serum to the serum of man and apes (expressed 

 as percentages) ; — 



Man 100 



Ourang So 



Cynocephalus mormon ... ... ... ... 50 



Cercopithecus petaurista ... ... ... ... 50 



.Itcles vcllerosiis ^5 



.\mount of precipitate obtained in a similar way by 

 adding anti-hors<; serum to the serum of horse, 

 donkey, zebra : — 



Equtis cabalUis 

 Equus asinus 

 Equtts grevyi 



100 

 84 

 5« 



Tested in this way the indications of blood relation- 

 ship between man and the ourang are comparable to 

 those between the horse and the donkey. The serum 

 of other mammalia gave but traces of precipitate with 

 the above anti-sera, and that of other vertebrates none 

 at all. 



In these precipitin-phenomena we have perhaps a 

 really physiological test of blood relationship, and 

 that, as the author suggests, " a common property has 

 persisted throughout the ages which have elapsed dur- 

 ing the evolution of animals from a common ancestor 

 in spite of differences of food and habits of life." 

 Anomalies do undoubtedly occur when working with 

 any particular anti-serum, so that all conclusions must 

 be controlled by experiments with anti-sera prepared 

 from different individuals. Section viii. contains the 

 results of 2500 similar tests, undertaken by Graham 

 Smith, in the application of the method to the lower 

 vertebrates and invertebrates. These will be of no 

 less interest to zoologists, but space prevents our enter- 

 ing upon further particulars. 



The ninth and last section deals with the practical 

 application of precipitin reactions to legal medicine. 

 As the precipitable substance in sera is a relatively 

 stable body, is very resistant to the action of putre- 

 factive organisms, and is not destroyed by drying, the 

 detection of human blood by this means is not con- 

 fined to stains of recent origin. Indeed, Graham 

 Smith and Sangar have examined a large number of 

 articles from the collection of the Criminal Investiga- 

 tion Department, Scotland Yard, and have succeeded 

 in identifying human blood stains which were thirty 

 years old. 



The fact that anti-human serum forms precipitates 

 to some extent when added to the serum of monkeys 

 does not seriously diminish the forensic value of the 

 precipitin test for human blood, for the plea that sus- 

 pected bloodstains were of simian origin would 

 seldom be raised and hardly ever substantiated. 



The volume concludes with an excellent bibliography 

 on precipitins and allied subjects which occupies six- 

 teen pages ! 



In addition to containing the methods and experi- 

 mental results whereby the author and his associates, 

 Drs. Graham Smith and Sangar, have tested and 

 developed the precipitin reaction as an indication of 

 NO. 1801, VOL. 70] 



blood relationship, the book contains practically alt 

 that is known on the subject of precipitins up to the 

 present time, and will therefore be indispensable to 

 anyone desiring to become acquainted with or to 

 work upon this subject. 



Charles J. Martin. 



THE MOON. 

 The Moon. .1 .Summary of the Existing Knowledge 

 of our Satellite, with a Complete Photographic .Atlas. 

 By Wm. H. Pickering. Pp. xii+102; 100 illustra- 

 tions. (New York: Doubleday, Page and Co., 

 1903.) Price 10 dollars net. 



IT has so long been taught that the moon is a world 

 on which nothing ever happens that it may come 

 as a surprise to many to learn that the probability of 

 frequent changes in the lunar surface is now seriously 

 advocated. The author of this book, who is a well 

 known American astronomer, is convinced that there 

 are dailv alterations over small areas which cannot be 

 explained either by shifting shadows or varying libra- 

 tions, and therefore infers that there are real changes 

 in the surface detail. The observations on which this 

 conclusion is based are collected in the present volume, 

 which also includes a more general account of our 

 satellite, and contains the first complete photographic 

 atlas which has yet been published.' 



To make a thorough study of the moon, Prof. 

 Pickering some years ago suggested the use of a tele- 

 scope of great focal length, and, as so frequently 

 happens in .America in such circumstances, the 

 generosity of two anonymous donors enabled him to 

 trv the experiment. The instrument actually employed 

 was a 12-inch objective of 135 feet focal length, giving 

 a direct image of the moon nearly 16 inches in 

 diameter, and to obtain the advantage of such 

 " steady " atmospheres as can only be found in low 

 latitudes it was taken out to Jamaica and set up at 

 Mandeville, 2080 feet above sea-level. The long tele- 

 scope tube was erected on the side of a convenient hill 

 with its axis in the direction of the pole, and light was 

 reflected into it at the lower end by a clock-driven 

 mirror. The instrument was so far successful that all 

 the negatives for the atlas were obtained within seven 

 months. 



The atlas shows the lunar surface in sixteen sections, 

 each of which is exhibited under five different con- 

 ditions of illumination, and there is in addition a good 

 picture of the full moon, with the necessary key maps, 

 besides other illustrations of interest. .Although the 

 photographs are not all of the finest definition, the 

 completeness of the series gives them a special value, 

 and the atlas will doubtless prove extremely useful to 

 all who are engaged in lunar studies. 



.\part from the photographs, the chief interest of 

 the book lies in the observations and arguments which 

 are put forward in favour of lunar activities. The 

 moon is so near that no improbably great area need 

 be affected to make a change visible to an observer on 

 the earth, but any real variations are liable to be 



1 The alias is also published in the Annals of the Harvard Observatory, 

 vol. II. , 1903. 



