February 22, 1906J 



NA TURE 



587 



regarded by many people as something quite chic and 

 up to date ! 



In conclusion, Mr. Cunynghame may claim to have 

 presented us with a very clear and well expounded 

 introduction to the important subject of which his 

 book treats. G. H. B. 



TWO EGG-BOOKS. 



(1) Ootheca Wolleyana: an Illustrated Catalogue of 

 the Collection of Birds' Eggs formed by the late 

 John Wolley. Edited by Alfred Newton. Part iii., 

 Columbae to Alcse. (London : R. H. Porter, 1905.) 

 Price 2I. 2S. 



(2) Eggs of the Native Birds of Britain and List of 

 British Birds, Past and Present. By W. J. Gordon. 

 Pp- D 4; 39 8 illustrations. (London: Simpkin, 

 Marshall and Co., Ltd., 1905.) Price 3s. 6d. 



T X the first of these two books Prof. Newton makes 

 -L good progress with the catalogue of the un- 

 rivalled collection of eggs to which it is devoted, 

 dealing in this instance with the pigeons, game-birds, 

 rails, cranes, bustards, waders, gulls, and auks. 

 Needless to say, it is written in the same style as its 

 two predecessors, consisting almost entirely of Mr. 

 Wolley's original notes, with such comments as the 

 editor considered it advisable to intercalate here and 

 there. To review the fasciculus is impossible within 

 the limits of our space, and we can only refer to a 

 few points of special interest. One of these relates to 

 the eggs of the knot, of which a presumed specimen, 

 laid in confinement, was given to the author by 

 Lord Lilford; the correctness of this identification has 

 been recently confirmed by the discovery of " wild " 

 specimens. Equally interesting is the record of the 

 first known egg of the stint, obtained by Middendorf 

 in Siberia in 1843. The culminating interest of this 

 fasciculus is, however, concentrated on the superb 

 series of eggs of the great auk possessed by Mr. 

 Wolley, which included no less than seven actual 

 specimens, together with several casts. The first of 

 the originals the author bought in 1S46 for 

 twenty-eight shillings; it may. perhaps, be now worth 

 ten times as many pounds ! Coloured figures (two of 

 each) of the seven auks' eggs and of one of the casts 

 form the illustrations to this fasciculus; and in thi 

 execution of these plates Mr. H. Gronvold has sur- 

 passed himself, having succeeded not only in showing 

 the colouring and markings to perfection, but also in 

 imitating to a nicety the very grain and texture of 

 ili'- shell. The ei.s^ht specimens show very clearly the 

 range of variation to which the colour and markings 

 of the eggs of the species were subject. 



Mi. Gordon's little book, which is, of course, a 

 woriv of quite a different class from the last, is a well- 

 intended attempt to place before the public, at a very 

 low price, a satisfactory means of identifying the 

 eggs of those birds which nest in the British Isles, 

 or did so until within a comparatively recent period.' 

 That the author has taken great pains in groupin"- 

 and photographing these eggs is perfectly evident, and 

 if the colouring of the figures is in some instances not 

 quite so true to nature as might be desired, this can 

 NO. 1895, VOL. 73] 



scarcely be considered his fault, while, if the low price 

 at which the book is published be taken into consider- 

 ation, it would be almost unfair to lay the blame on 

 the lithographer. We cannot have perfection com- 

 bined with cheapness in matters of this sort, and, 

 considering its price, the book is a very credit .1 1 .1. 

 production. 



In including extinct species of British birds in the 

 list at the end of his work, Mr. Gordon has, we think, 

 been ill-advised, as the majority of these are \ < r\ 

 imperfectly known, and they are not likely to interest 

 the class of readers to whom this volume will appeal. 

 Still, the inclusion is evidence of broad views on the 

 part of the author. Both Prof. Newton and Mr. 

 Gordon, we are glad to find, remain staunch con- 

 servatives in the matter of nomenclature, both as 

 regards the use of generic terms in a wider and more 

 comprehensive sense than is now, unfortunately, the 

 fashion, and above all in eschewing the detestable 

 " Pica pica " system. In both these respects, we 

 venture to think, Mr. Gordon's work (the other does 

 not, of course, appeal to the same class) will be far 

 more acceptable to the general public than would 

 have been the case had the author been induced to 

 yield to the prevalent (and we trust fleeting) fashion 



R. L. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Engineering Chemistry: a Manual of Quantitative 

 Chemical Analysis for the Use of Students, 

 Chemists, and Engineers. By Thomas B. Still- 

 man. Third edition. Pp. xxii + 597. (Easton, 

 Pa. : The Chemical Publishing Co.) Price 4 :o 

 dollars. 

 At the present day chemical knowledge is so im- 

 portant a factor in the successful conduct of nearly 

 all technical work that such books as Stillman's 

 " I--iigineering Chemistry " appeal to a very large 

 audience, and so well has the professor of analytical 

 chemistry in the Stevens Institute done his work- 

 that the third edition will be as warmly welcomed as 

 Us predecessors. In it much of the work has been 

 revised, the most modern standard methods intro- 

 duced, and a considerable amount of new matter 

 added, those portions on lubricating oils and the 

 technology of the blast furnace being especially 

 noticeable. 



In so excellent a work criticism always seems un- 

 gracious, but there are a few points the author would 

 do well to correct in the next edition. For instance, 

 on p. 169 the author gives as a typical analysis of 

 London coal gas 



nydrogen 2? . 70 



Methane 50 . 00 



1 arbon monoxide 6.g 



Ethylene I3 . 00 



Nitrogen . 40 



Oxygen . 00 



< arbon dioxide... ... ... ... ... . 10 



Aqueous vapour... ... ... ... ... 2 . 00 



IOO'OO 



and calculates that it would have a heating- value of 

 870.15 B.T.U.'s gross. 



Such an analysis is so absurdly wrong that it can 

 only have been inserted by error, the main con- 

 stituents more nearly approximating to hydrogen 

 50 per cent., methane 36 per cent., and ethvlene 4 per 

 cent. 



