194 
NATURE. 
-[ DECEMBER 31, 1896 
in their original shape, cannot be determined.  Brahma- 
gupta’s edition of the above was called “ The Brahma 
Sphuta Siddhanta,” “Sphuta” meaning “amended” or 
“corrected” (perhaps “ restored ” would be better). Cole- 
brooke translated two chapters of this from the Sanskrit. 
They are chiefly mathematical, giving methods for per- 
forming trigonometrical, geometrical, and algebraical 
questions. It should be mentioned that the four principal 
Siddhantas are reputed by the Hindus to have been in- 
spired ; the Brahma Siddhanta having been, they say, 
revealed by Brahma, the Surya Siddhanta by the sun, 
the Soma Siddhanta by the moon, and the Brihaspati 
Siddhanta by Jupiter. Mr. Brennand gives a very par- 
ticular description of the Surya (or sun) Siddhanta, but 
we can mention only a few points to which he calls 
attention. The ancient cycle of sixty years, common to 
the Chaldzeans, the Chinese, and the Hindus, consisted, 
in fact, of five periods of the planet Jupiter round the 
sun. As regards the planetary motions, they were all 
supposed to be of uniform velocity in themselves, though 
some appeared to move more slowly than others, on 
account of their greater distances. The Brahmins ap- 
proximated very closely to the true length of a year, 
Mr. Brennand devotes a very considerable space to a 
description of their methods of astronomical calculation, 
which are worthy of careful study ; but we must now 
conclude this short sketch of his interesting work by 
reiterating his own hope that his book may lead to 
further investigations on the subject, 
W. T. LYNN. 
AMBER IN SCIENCE AND THE ARTS. 
The Tears of the Heliades; or, Amber as a Gem. 
W. Arnold Buffam. 
(London: Sampson 
1896.) 
HAT the classical account of the origin of amber 
has not been sufficiently practical to satisfy modern 
inquirers, is proved by the interest that has always been 
attached to the subject, and more especially in recent 
years. The wide geographical range.over which this 
fossil resin is now found, and the different conditions of 
the several deposits, has increased the interest and 
speculation with regard to the number and character of 
the trees or plants from which the resin exuded in long 
past ages; but speculation has of late been largely con- 
verted into fact by the systematic study of a mass of 
material that has been carefully examined by Dr. H. R. 
Goeppert and A. Menge, and more recently by Dr. H. 
Conwentz, 
Goeppert and Menge’s “Die Flora des Bernsteins,” 
published at Dantzig in 1883, is, moreover, illustrated by 
a number of splendidly executed coloured plates, show- 
ing not only lumps of amber of different formation, but 
also sufficient material of wood structure to prove certain 
botanical affinities,.and of floral and leaf-forms found in 
masses of the fossil resin. 
In Dr. H. Conwentz’s contribution to this subject, 
published at Dantzig in 1886, the plants referred to are 
arranged in their natural orders, commencing with the 
monocotyledons. This is also illustrated by a fine series 
of plates: Dr. Conwentz further published—at Dantzig 
NO. 1418, VoL. 55] 
By 
Pp. 98, 8vo ; with illustrations. 
Low, Marston, and Co., Ltd., 
in 1890—a “Monographie der Baltischen Bernstem- 
baume,” and at the Ipswich meeting of the British 
Association in 1895 gave a very valuable address “ On 
English amber and amber generally,” and as this paper 
was printed in Watural Science (vol. ix. Nos. 54 and 55, 
for August and September last), it may certainly be 
regarded as the best contribution in: the English 
language to this interesting subject. i 
Though Mr. Buffam in his “ Tears of the Heliades” 
devotes one chapter of twenty-four pages to the con- 
sideration of the plants furnishing amber, and their 
geographical distribution, he does not seem to have been 
acquainted with Dr. Conwentz’s researches. The two 
authors, however, have been working on different lines. 
Dr. Conwentz in his paper has paid special attention to 
_ English amber and to the sources of amber particularly, 
while Mr. Buffam has treated his subject, as one of his 
titles indicates, from an artistic point of view, and in this 
we must say he has succeeded in making a most charm- 
ing book. His description of the Sicilian amber shows 
at once that his admiration of the gem amounts to 
enthusiasm, and in this the reader is almost carried 
away with the same enthusiasm with such paragraphs 
as the following description of a gold and amber neck- 
lace which he saw on the neck of an Italian girl. 
“Whilst she spoke,” he says, “the gems in her neck- 
lace flashed in the sunlight, showing colour shades 
ranging from faint blue to deepest azure, and from pale 
rose to intense pigeon-blood, ruby red. The varied and 
lustrous hues here blended in lavish beauty drew from 
me involuntary expressions of admiration.” 
The beauty of these gems is further impressed on the 
reader’s admiration by an excellent reproduction in 
colours and gold, forming the frontispiece to the book ; 
gems such as these, however, it is stated are rare even 
in Sicily. Sicilian amber, we are told— 
“is only found on or near the surface of the ground in 
an accidental manner, scattered over a wide extent of 
country, having been transported by down-pouring rains 
and by brooks and rivers far from its primary bed, which 
is believed to be in the neighbourhood of the Central 
Mountains, where Gemmellaro and Maravigna, in fact, 
affirmed its existence.” 
It is not necessary to dilate here on the general uses 
of amber, such as for mouthpieces of pipes, beads, 
brooches, &c., as this has been exhaustively treated of 
by nearly all writers on the subject ; but the bulk of the 
amber of commerce is the yellow kind obtained in such~ 
large quantities from the Baltic. It may, however, be 
as well to refer to its early use in medicine, and on this 
head Mr. Buffam says :— Be 
“The ancients employed amber as a medicine, and it 
is still prescribed by physicians in France, Germany and 
Italy, and several chemists in Paris keep it constantly in 
stock. It has been worn by ladies and children from 
time immemorial as an amulet, sometimes carved into 
amphore, and has been pronounced of service either 
taken internally or worn round the neck.” 
It is remarkable that the resin should still be used on 
the continent as a medicine, as stated by Mr. Buffam, 
for though it formerly had a reputation asa stimulant 
and antispasmodic in England, it has been discarded 
by us for at least forty or fifty years as possessing no 
medicinal properties. ; 
