APRIL 1, 1897] 
WATLTURE 
By) 
unfossiliferous) rocks. Messrs. Barlow and Adams have carried 
modern methods and ideas into a survey of the classical 
Laurentian territory, but their work deserves more extensive 
notice than can now be given. We havealso received the mineral 
statistics for 1895 from the same Survey. 
BULLETIN 2, vol. it. of the Geographical Club of Phila- 
delphia, contains an account of a trip to Manikaland, by Mr. 
J. E. Farnum. The route followed the course of the Urema, 
which flows from Sungue Lake apd joins the Pungue, about 45 
miles above Fontisvilla, the starting-point of the railway to 
Salisbury. The country here, northwards to the Zambesi, and 
150 miles south to the Bosi River, is perfectly flat, with 
scattered depressions, forming swamps during the greater part 
of the year. The soil is black sandy loam, supporting long 
grass, sometimes fifteen feet high, and a few palm trees; and in 
the drier parts dense tropical forest. Gutta-percha is obtained 
from one of the few creepers, and sold in small lumps to the 
Portuguese traders. The people are evidently degenerate, 
having few or no ceremonies or traditions of any kind. 
WE have received Parts 2 and 3 of vol. xx. of the Zransactions 
and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, which 
give evidence of the continued activity of scientific research in 
the northern capital. Mr. R. S. McDougall has an elaborate 
paper on the poisonous properties of some Leguminous plants, 
especially of Lathyrus sativus. Mr. T. Cuthbert Day contri- 
butes an article on the germination of barley with restricted 
moisture, accompanied by a number of tables. In a valuable 
paper on the pigments of plants, by Miss M. J. Newbigin, the 
authoress attempts a classification of the colouring matter of 
flowers, and offers some suggestions with regard to their purpose 
in the physiology of the plant. But we would venture to sug- 
gest to the compilers of this and of some other journals, that the 
reviewer has scarcely a fair chance of appreciating their value 
when, as in the present instance, there is no kind of index or 
table of contents to each separate part, and even no descriptive 
headline to the pages, 
A SERIES of articles upon the botanic gardens of the world 
is in course of appearance in the Pharmaceutical ¥ ournal. In 
the current number of the journal (March 27) an interesting 
article on the Royal Gardens at Kew is continued. 
THE Comptes rendus of the meetings of the Congrés inter- 
national des Péches Maritimes, held at Sables-d’Olonné in 
September last, have just been published, as a volume of four 
hundred pages, by the Institut international de Bibliographie 
scientifique, Paris. 
Tue following are the arrangements for lectures on ‘Tuesday 
evenings, at 8.30, at the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo-road 
S.E, :—April 6, Rev. George Henslow, on ‘‘ The Movements of 
Plants” ; April 13, Mr. F. W. Rudler, on ‘‘ Modes of Mountain 
Making”; April 20, Prof. B. J. Malden, on ‘Africa up to 
date*; April 27, Dr. W. B. Benham, on ‘‘The Life of an 
Egg.” 
THE first number of the Aeronautical Fournal has made its 
appearance. It is the organ of the Aeronautical Society of 
Great Britain, which is now undergoing resuscitation. Interest 
in flying and flying-machines, and atmospheric exploration, has 
lately received such a decided impetus, that the Society should 
have no difficulty in increasing its membership, or in obtaining 
topics for consideration. 
A NEW quarterly magazine, deyoted to subjects of general 
and permanent interest concerning ‘‘ East Asia,” which is the 
title it will bear, will appear in June. Articles will be contri- 
buted to the magazine on the past history and present condition 
NO. 1431, VOL. 55 | 
] 
of Eastern Asia ; the buildings, institutions, and customs; th 
races of men ; the plants and animals; the religion and litera- 
ture; and on the voyages and adventures of old travellers. 
East Asta will be conducted by Mr. Henry Faulds, Fenton, 
Stoke-on-Trent, and published by Messrs. Marshall, Russell, 
and Co. 
WE notice with satisfaction that Ze Photogram is endeavour- 
ing to make photographers into investigators, by presenting some 
of the results obtained by the use of photography. The appli- 
cations of photography in the technology of explosives, in civil 
engineering, and in entomology, were dealt with in the first 
three numbers of this year, and the April number contains 
several fine illustrations of the effects produced on the surface 
and within the mass of liquid, when a liquid jet strikes the 
surface. 
THe Association for the Harmonious Development of 
Faculties, an object which has the sympathy of all, if not the 
support, has followed up the publication of a sensible little 
pamphlet ““Common-sense Ethics” by another, on 
** Confucius : his life and his doctrine ” (Williams and Norgate}. 
The great Chinese philosopher used to send away his disciples 
who did not show sufficient ardour for study, or such as were not 
sufficiently intelligent to understand him. ‘‘ When,” said he, 
“‘T have shown a pupil one corner of the subject, and he is 
unable to discover the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.” 
Confucius evidently understood the value of self-help. 
on 
Tue Cheltenham College Natural History Society has issued 
a report of the proceedings during the year 1896. We welcome 
this, as we do all similar evidence of interest in science, and of 
observations made in the true spirit of inquiry. The sections of 
archeology, botany, entomology, geology, ornithology, and 
photography have all assisted in increasing the knowledge of 
the facts of nature, and the lectures, two of which, on ‘‘ Argon 
and Helium” and ‘‘ Cheltenham in the Old Days,” appear in 
the report, have given the members of the Society something 
to think about. Too great encouragement cannot be given to 
such natural history societies as that at Cheltenham and other 
schools. 
IF there is any book to which the word indispensable can be 
applied without being a figure of speech, it is the ‘‘ Statesman’s 
Year-Book ” (Macmillan), the thirty-fourth annual publication 
of which we are pleased to announce. Under the editorship of 
Dr. J. Scott Keltie, assisted by Mr. J. P. A. Renwick, the book 
has become a unique statistical and historical annual of the states 
of the world. The present issue is a volume of 1167 pages, 
three hundred of which are devoted to the British Empire, and 
the remainder to foreign countries. To indicate the political 
changes which have taken place during the sixty years of Her 
Majesty's reign, eight pairs of coloured maps have been inserted, 
exhibiting, side by side, the political divisions of the continents 
in 1837 and 1897. It need hardly be said that the two maps of 
Africa, compared in this way, present a very striking difference. 
Other new features have been introduced, and the whole work 
stands out as a trustworthy and never-failing book of reference 
on political and commercial geography. 
THE South London Entomological and Natural History 
Society has for many years cultivated the spirit of scientific 
observation, and added to the number of workers in the extensive 
field of natural history. The proceedings of the Society for the 
year 1896 testify to a condition of well-directed activity and sus- 
tained interest in the ways and works of nature. ‘There are 
many noteworthy papers in the report, and they are made 
valuable by the fact that they record the results of direct observa- 
tion. We note with satisfaction that Mr. Robert Adkin, in the 
