November 16, 1905] 



NA TURE 



53 



note the well known names of Dixon, Glaisher, 

 Hilton, Hobson, Jackson, Lamb, Love, MacMahon, 

 Morley, Volterra, Rayleigh, Young, and many other 

 mathematician-,. An attempt to classify the papers 

 by subject-matter would be difficult, but a general 

 survey of the ground covered suggests that a not in- 

 considerable proportion, possibly as much as a half, of 

 the work done comes under the heading of 

 " analysis." 



But while the reputation of English mathematical 

 research is thus being maintained, it does seem a 

 pity that there is no society which has undertaken 

 the task of popularising the higher study of mathe- 

 matics in our country in the way that has been un- 

 doubtedly done on the other side of the water by the 

 American Mathematical Society, with its Bulletin 

 containing full reports of meetings of mathematical 

 societies, educational appointments, and courses of 

 university lectures. The Mathematical Association 

 has done much to render elementary mathematics 

 more practical and interesting. The duty of impress- 

 ing- on the proper authorities the need of providing 

 more fully for instruction in advanced mathematics in 

 our technical colleges has not as yet been undertaken 

 by any body of mathematicians, yet the matter is an 

 urgent one as affecting national progress in the face 

 of foreign competition. In connection with most of 

 the papers before us, an enormous amount of work 

 is generally done in refereeing previous to publication. 

 Is it not possible that the energy thus expended might 

 with advantage be diverted into some such directions 

 as those above indicated? 



Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the 

 British Museum (Natural History). Vol. iv., 

 Carinatae (Passeriformes, continued). By E. W. 

 Oates, assisted by Captain S. G. Reid. Pp. xviii + 

 350; 14 plates. (London, 1005.) 

 In this volume the authors record the eggs of seven- 

 teen families of passerine birds contained in the 

 national collection, thus carrying down the work to 

 the family Certhiidae (creepers), so that another 

 volume ought, apparently, to bring their task to a 

 conclusion. The total number of species catalogued 

 in the volume before us is 620, which are represented 

 by no less than 14,917 eggs — figures which give some 

 idea of the heavy work the authors had to undertake. 

 Fortunately, the Radcliffe Saunders and the C. B. 

 Rickett collections were received in time to allow their 

 quota to be added to the MS. 



We had hoped that as the work progressed the 

 authors would have seen their way to modify the 

 style of the paragraphs recording; the distinctive 

 features of the various species catalogued. We regret 

 to see that this is not so, and with the same dreary 

 and wearisome iteration we find entry after entry 

 commencing with the statement that the eggs of 

 such-and-such a bird are of such-and-such form and 

 colour. As a matter of fact, if the English names of 

 the various species had been printed in the same lines 

 as their scientific titles there would have been no 

 occasion to mention the word " eggs " at all in the 

 descriptive paragraphs, which should commence 

 merely with a reference to their form and colouring. 

 By this means not only would much valuable space 

 have been saved (as might also be done in the mode 

 of making the entries themselves), but the reader 

 would have been spared that everlasting and utterly 

 superfluous repetition which is so irritating to anv 

 person of literary tastes. We may also direct attention 

 to the crude and schoolboy-like style of composition 

 characterising almost the whole of the paragraphs in 

 question. Reference may likewise be made to some 



no. 1 88 1, vol. 73] 



imperfection in the method of recording localities. 

 If, for instance, it is necessary to tell us on p. 16 

 that certain places are in the Nilgiri Hills, it was 

 surely incumbent on the authors to give the same 

 piece of information on p. S, while to wait until 

 p. 264 before stating that the Nilgiri Hills themselves 

 are in southern India is a very remarkable proceed- 

 ing. We are also surprised to learn (p. 102) that 

 Dharmsala is in Kashmir. 



The great feature of the volume is the beauty of 

 the fourteen coloured plates of eggs, each containing 

 a large number of figures, all of which have been 

 drawn and coloured by Mr. H. Gronvold. These 

 serve to illustrate very graphically the degree of 

 constancy or variation which obtains in the egg- 

 characters of the different family groups, and in 

 addition to this show some very remarkable examples 

 of individual variation or " sports." 



Leather for Libraries. By E. Wyndham Hulme, 

 J. Gordon Parker, A. Seymour-Jones, Cyril Daven- 

 port, and F. J. Williamson. Pp. 57. (London : 

 Published for the Sound Leather Committee of the 

 Library Association by the Library Supply Co., 

 1905.) Price i^. 6d. 

 This interesting book, which may have a consider- 

 able influence on the improvement of book-binding, 

 consists of five chapters, one by each of the authors 

 whose names are on the title-page, three of whom 

 are members of the Sound Leather Committee of the 

 Library Association, and may therefore be considered 

 as authorities on the subjects of which they write. 



When light leather is tanned by bark and many 

 other vegetable tanning substances the skin becomes 

 coloured, and this colour cannot be removed without 

 deterioration of the leather. In 1565 sumach tanning 

 was introduced into England ; this process leaves the 

 skin white and in a suitable condition to receive the 

 necessary dye. Experiments conducted by the Society 

 of Arts Committee have shown that sumach tanning 

 is the most suitable for binding leathers. Un- 

 fortunately this process is a slow one, and other 

 tanning materials which act more rapidly have been 

 employed ; some of these, however, have a deleterious 

 action on the leather, causing it to decay rapidly. 

 Another cause of the short life of some modern 

 leathers is the use of sulphuric acid at one stage of 

 the process. This acid combines with the fibre and 

 cannot be removed ; it has a corrosive action on the 

 organic matter, which action has often been attributed 

 to the presence of sulphur in the coal gas used for 

 lighting. In some libraries, however, which are not 

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It is impossible to do justice to this book in a short 

 notice, but the attention that has recently been directed 

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 in the advertisements of leather-sellers and book- 

 binders at the end of the book there are such notices 

 as " dressed according to the recommendations of the 

 Society of Arts Report " and " guaranteed free from 

 mineral acids." H. M. 



