Angust 4, 1881] 



NA TV RE 



307 



cumspect and prudish." All this is quite right, but is it 

 a description worthy of the great capital of the Continent? 

 The same might be said of all the other countries touched 

 by Mr. R. Brown in this volume. All that he says is 

 quite correct, and we do not find such blunders as are too 

 often found in geographical works. But the necessity of 

 giving the reader a generalisation for the purpose of ren- 

 dering the book more interesting often leads the author 

 to make such generalisations as give to the reader a most 

 untrue conception of the subject. We must regret that 

 Mr. Brown has been compelled to condense his work in 

 this way, and thus seriously diminish the value of what 

 promised to be a useful and trustworthy compilation. 



Phonelik. Zur vergleichenden Physiologie der Stimme 



und Sprache. By Dr. F. Techmer. (Leipzig : Engel- 



mann, 1880.) 

 The excellent work on the Physiology of Language pub- 

 lished by Dr. Techmer under the above title forms the 

 first volume of an Introduction to the Science of Language, 

 the rest of which is hereafter to appear. We have little 

 hesitation in saying that it is the best resume that exists 

 at present of what is known about the nature and forma- 

 tion of the sounds we utter. 



Dr. Techmer has been well prepared for the task he 

 has undertaken. In the first instance a student of natural 

 science, he next devoted himself to the acquisition of 

 modern European languages, then of languages so remote 

 from ours as Chinese and Sanskrit, and finally to the 

 study of comparative philology. Naturally, however, his 

 earlier studies had inclined him rather to the investigation 

 of the material of speech than to the antiquarian re- 

 searches of the Indo-Gemianists or the psychological 

 inquiries of the school of Steinthal. He brought to the 

 investigation a well-trained mind, an intimate acquaintance 

 with physics, acoustics, and physiology, a wide range of 

 reading, and keen observation. What he has to say, 

 therefore, is well worthy of attention. 



The ground he covers is so extensive that in order to 

 bring his work within manageable compass he can do 

 little more than indicate the chief facts, methods of in- 

 vestigation and results which have been arrived at by 

 previous phoneticians, along with copious references and 

 notes. These will enable the reader to follow each par- 

 ticular point into special detail, if he so wish. At the 

 same time Dr. Techmer has not been content with being 

 merely a passive reproducer of the opinions of others. 

 He has carefully tested them wherever it has been pos- 

 sible, and made independent experiments of his own, the 

 results of which he la)s before us. Hence his judgments 

 and criticisms are always of value, while the numerous 

 and carefully-drawn illustrations and diagrams which 

 accompany his work leave little to be desired. 



He has done well in not forgetting the comparative 

 method in his treatment of phonetics. Properly to under- 

 stand the physiology of human speech it is necessary to 

 compare our vocal organs with those of reptiles, mammals, 

 and more especially birds. Jiiger has already been struck 

 by the curious relationship that seems to exist between 

 the power of speech and walking on two feet, and has 

 endeavoured to explain it, though not very successfully. 



Perhaps the fact that is most brought home to our 

 minds by a study of Dr. Techmer's book is the uncer- 

 tainty and obscurity that still hang over a large part of 

 phonetics. Experts still diiTer radically on some of the 

 most fundamental details of the science. This is more 

 especially the case with that side of the science which has 

 to do with acoustics ; on the physiological side it lends 

 itself more readily to observation and experiment, and the 

 physiological conditions requisite for the production of 

 particular sounds are consequently much better known. 

 Hence it is that the nature of the consonants is far more 

 accurately determined than that of the vowels, and that it 

 will be long before all the difficulties connected with the 



formation of the latter are satisfactorily removed. The 

 best means of overcoming them will be a succession of 

 works like this of Dr. Techmer's, at once clear, precise, 

 and thorough. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\The Editor docs not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his iorrcspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected mattusiripts. 

 No notice is taken of anotiymous communications. 



[The Editor urge^itly requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and nczel facts.} 



Medusae 



In Mr. H. N. Mcseley's " Notes by a Naturalist," on the 

 Challenger, p. 404, a curious habit of Medu.-ie in the Island of 

 Santa Cruz Major, is mentioned, viz. their lying on the tops of 

 their umbrellas, its tentacles directed upwards. I think your 

 readers may be interested to learn that I have frequently noticed 

 Medusae in a similar position in the West Indies. A few years 

 ago I vas quartered for some time at Port Royal, Jamaica, and 

 in the channels between the mangroves I cbserved what I at first 

 thought were Actinece of large size on the muddy bottom, in 

 about eight feet of water. They were very numerous. I stiired 

 one up with the boat-hook, and v\as surprised to find it was a 

 Medusa turned upside down. On being disturbed, it lazily con- 

 tracted its umbrella in the usual manner and settled down again 

 in the nud as before. The species was about a foot in diameter of 

 umbrella, and dirty white in colour. I never saw them swinming 

 in the mangrove creeks, though I was frequently out in a boat, 

 and they were at all times con mon on the bottom, lying as 

 described. Some time afterwards I saw what seemtd to he the 

 same species at St. George's Bay, a small island about ten miles 

 from Belize, Honduras. It was lying in the same positit n on 

 the mud amongst the margroves, in about four feet of water, 

 I poked several up with a stick, and they slowly swam for a 

 short distance, and again settled down on their umbrellas. I 

 believe it to be really the habit of the species to lie on its back, 

 as it were, and it is interesting to find another kind in the east 

 acting similarly. Mangrove swamps are extensive in the vicinity 

 of Singapore, but I have not noticed any Medusa: here in that 

 position, possibly because there is a considerable tide which 

 leaves the mud bare at low water. 



I think I have seen the habit noticed in some book, but cannot 

 recollect where. H. Archer 



Fort Canning, Singapore, June 28 



Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in 



the same Flower 

 The following extract from a letter lately received from my 

 brother Fritz Midler (of Blumenau, Prov. St. Catharina, Brazil) 

 contains so new and curious an observation that it will probably 

 interest the botanical readers of this journal. 



" A species of Heeria(Melastcmaceae), which is not indigenous 

 here, begins in my garden now to open its beautiful red flowers, 



Flower of Heeria spec, longitudinally dissected. ^. sepals : y, petals; a*, 

 one of the conspicuous yellow anthers which attract the insects ; a^ one 

 of the inconspicuous red anthers, which powder the insects with pollen ; 

 f, connective of this anther ;/. fork of this connective ; st, stigma. 



remarkable for having two kinds of differently coloured anthers. 

 The four petals spread in a perpendicular plane ; the yellow anthers 

 (a') of the four shorter filaments, clo ely pressed together, pro- 

 ject from the middle of the flower ; their bright yelK.w strikingly 

 contrasts with the violet-shining light red of the corolla; the 

 longer anthers (a'-) are red, like the filaments, and the very long 

 connective (<:), which is lengthened beyond the point of insertion 



