DeEcEMBER 17, 1896] 
NATURE 
149 
book’s field of usefulness. It might easily have been 
avoided, for Prof. Le Neve Foster has shown in his 
mining works that it is quite possible to replace pro- 
vincialisms by words that are generally understood 
among English-speaking nations. 
The authors elucidate their text by 119 woodcuts and 
28 plates, most of which are admirable reproductions of 
photographs taken underground with the aid of the 
magnesium flash-light. These illustrations are excellent. 
The only exception that can possibly be taken to them is 
that several of them are unnecessary. This is most 
noticeable in Plate iv, representing miners’ children at 
school. Asa photograph this is a perfect piece of work ; 
but for any indication to the contrary the girls repre- 
sented might have been pork-butchers’ children, and the 
illustration could, if needed, pass as such. Plate xxi 
.and others, which have little connection with the text, 
appear to have been introduced merely because they are 
underground photographs, of which their authors are 
pardonably proud. BENNETT H. BROUGH. 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
The General Principles of Zoology. By Richard Hertwig. 
Translated by George W. Field. Pp. xii + 226. (New 
York: Holt, 1896.) 
‘THE English version of the general part of Prof. 
Richard Hertwig’s ‘Lehrbuch der Zoologie” will be 
welcome to all teachers of biology in this country. 
The value of a text-book of zoology can nearly 
always be tested by the character of the introductory 
chapters on the general principles of the subject. To 
write clearly, accurately and, withal, briefly on such 
topics as the structure of protoplasm, the character of 
cells, the fertilisation of the ovum, and the general 
principles of embryology, requires the knowledge and 
-experience of one who has both investigated and taught 
for many years. 
Prof. Hertwig is a master of his subject, and his 
“General Principles” is written in a masterly manner. 
Among the many excellent chapters in this volume, 
we may call attention to those on the development of 
morphology and on comparative histology, which should 
be carefully read and considered by all those who are 
engaged in teaching the elementary principles of zoology. 
The illustrations are numerous, well chosen, and 
admirably executed. 
Whilst expressing admiration for the book as a whole, 
it must be noted, with some regret, that Prof. Hertwig 
writes so confidently of the truth of the hypothesis that 
the chromatin only is the bearer and transmitter of the 
hereditary characters. This is a speculation which was 
never founded on facts, which is not supported by recent 
investigations, and one which it is to be hoped will soon 
be lost and forgotten. 
The chapter on the geographical distribution of 
animals is by no means of the same standard of excel- 
lence as the others. The statement, on page 216, that 
the deep-sea fauna is “ distinguished from the coast fauna 
by its archaic character” is not accurate. It is true that 
a few archaic families have survived in deep-sea water, 
but by far the greater number of the members of the 
abysmal fauna are extremely specialised representatives 
of shallow-water groups. 
The translation is good, and we may congratulate Mr. 
Field on his courage in rejecting the common American 
translation of the word “anlage” in favour of the more 
reasonable and intelligible word “ rudiment.” 
Seapse 
NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | 
British Patent Law, and Patentees Wrongs and Rights. 
By Hubert Haes, Pp. xiii + 102. (London: W. B. 
Whittingham and Co., Ltd., 1896.) 
THERE is a feeling among most men engaged in 
industries that a patent is a bad security for an invention, 
and that the best way to reap the fruits of an improved 
chemical process, or of any novel industrial method, is to 
keep the knowledge secret. This indicates a weakness 
in the British patent system; and though the matter 
is a very difficult one to deal with satisfactorily, some 
change is desirable which will better protect the general 
public and deal with patentees more justly. Under the 
system at present in vogue, no examination as to novelty 
is made before granting the patent. Mr. Haes suggests, 
among other reforms, that the Government should under- 
take the most thorough search, in the case of. every 
application for a patent, to ascertain whether the specified 
invention has previously been patented within this realm. 
At present this task is left to the patent agents, the 
Government taking fees but no responsibility. It is 
stated, “to show in what estimation British patents are 
held in Great Britain, it is necessary only to mention 
that, to obtain for an invention a British patent which 
shall have the likelihood of being valid, it is becoming 
the custom to apply for the German patent for it. It is 
found cheaper and quicker to do this than to search the 
English records, because the German government does 
that before granting its patent.” As the commercial 
prosperity of our country depends upon inventions, Mr. 
Haes’ statement of patentees’ wrongs, and proposed 
remedies deserves attention. 
Diagrams of Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and 
Phenomena. By R. A. Gregory, F.R.A.S. (London : 
Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) 
IN a set of twelve diagrams issued under the above title, 
the author has supplied a convenience which has been 
wanted for some time past in the class-teaching of 
elementary science, thus removing a considerable part 
of the difficulty experienced in obtaining, in diagram 
form, results of recent work in any subject. Teachers 
of physiography will be directly benefited, but most of 
the diagrams will be found useful in the illustration of 
geographical and elementary teaching. Many of the 
figures are almost of necessity similar to previous ones ; 
but even in these cases the treatment is original, the 
descriptive text being specially clear and devoid of 
superfluous detail. Evidence of the degree to which 
recent discoveries are brought up to date is specially 
well shown in the diagram of “the sun’s family of 
planets,” in which the planets Jupiter and Saturn are 
reproductions from the drawings of these bodies by Profs. 
Keeler and Barnard respectively, observed by them at 
the Lick Observatory quite recently. A diagram illus- 
trating the various forms of aqueous circulation is also 
specially clear and self-explanatory. (Gn 12e 18). 
The Romance of the Sea. By Fred Whymper. Pp. xii + 
468. (London: Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge, 1896.) 
“ FIcTIONS, facts and folk-lore” of the sea make up the 
pages of this book, but the first and last of these are 
much more prominent than the facts. Interesting stories, 
compiled mostly from the writings of others, have been 
roughly grouped by the author, and the tissue of words 
here and there makes a slight connection between them. 
Phenomena of the sea and skies are given some atten- 
tion, but from the purely descriptive point of view; and 
the same remark applies to the accounts of sea-monsters, 
coral, and volcanic islands. Boys with a love of the sea 
and adventure will be charmed with Mr. Whymper’s 
collected narratives, and they will probably rejoice at 
| the small attempt made to retail scientific facts at the 
same time. 
