JUNE 15, 1899] 
NATURE 
149 
On Buds and Stipules. By the Right Hon. Sir John 
Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S.,D.C.L., LL.D. With 
four coloured plates, and 340 figures in the text. 
Pp. xix + 239. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 
Triibner, and Co., Ltd., 1899.) 
THE new volume of the “International Scientific Series” 
forms a welcome addition to those already published, 
and it will be read with interest by all who are drawn 
to a study of the natural history of plants. For although 
accounts of bud-protection, &c., are to be found scattered 
through various journals, there existed no connected 
story of the numberless artifices by which plants shield 
their winter buds before the appearance of Sir John 
Lubbock’s book. Naturally much of its contents in- 
cludes matter of common knowledge to those botanists 
who care for the study of the living plant, but even for 
them there is much which will be probably found to 
be novel, and at any rate well worth reading ; whilst 
the freshness and first-hand character of the recorded 
observations affords a pleasure which those who are 
acquainted with the author’s previous essays in natural 
history will naturally expect to enjoy from a perusal of 
the work. It is refreshing to observe that Sir John has 
not allowed himself to be trammelled too much by 
orthodoxy—to find that, for example, he declares for the 
stipular nature of the outgrowths on the petioles of the 
early leaves of the flowering currant. In the account 
of the stipules in the genus /7opfaeo/um, however, there 
seems to be no mention of the interesting fact that the 
first two leaves (following on the cotyledons) in the 
common “nasturtium” are stipulate, whereas these 
structures are absent from the later developed leaves. 
Indeed, the whole genus seems worth a more extended 
treatment from the point of view of stipulation, afford- 
ing, as it does, almost all transitions from complete 
development to a complete arrest of stipular formation, 
and these facts are of especial interest in view of the 
stipulate character of allied forms. 
The tendrils of sarsaparilla and also the ligule of 
grass leaves are considered, and probably with justice 
(at least as regards the former), as of supular nature. 
The beautiful arrangements by which buds are pro- 
tected by means of developments of the axillant leaf, 
as in the plane, maple, AAws, Kalmia, &c., are de- 
scribed and well figured ; indeed, the excellence of the 
numerous drawings forms by no means the least welcome 
feature of the book. Space forbids us to do nore than 
thus briefly indicate a few of the points contained in the 
volume, which is a most ‘valuable contribution to the 
literature of a fascinating subject. Vo, 18 38 
The Philippines and Round About. By Major G. J. 
Younghusband. Pp. xiv + 230. (London: Mac- 
millan and Co., Ltd., 1899.) 
IN this amusing and well-written book the author gives 
a very good description of the towns of Iloilo and 
Manila. The volume is the result of a short visit made 
soon after the Spanish-American war, of which we get an 
excellent account. The life and customs of the inhab- 
itants of the Philippines are well described, and the reader 
cannot fail to be surprised at the slow progress civilis- 
ation has made in those parts. This fault is due, with- 
out doubt, to the bad condition of the Government. 
The only outcome of centuries of authority is an absolute 
want of national discipline. The Filipinos, far from 
being down-trodden by all the oppression and cruelty 
they have endured, are lazy and insolent ; but, perhaps, 
this is not altogether surprising seeing that no wholesome 
authority has been used. 
The author has been more interested in incidents of 
travel than in the natural history of his surroundings. 
There seems to be little domestic comfort in hotels | 
or houses, and we, who realise so well the value of 
scientific appliances, cannot fail to be forcibly struck with 
NO. 1546, VOL. 60] 
the descriptions of the primitive state of the sanitary 
arrangements of the towns. 
pihe book is a valuable addition to works of travel, and 
will be found a useful guide when visiting the Philippines 
and their neighbourhood, for good descriptions of life in 
Java and in the town of Saigon are also given. 
The Slide Valve Simply Explained. By W. J. Tennant, 
A.M.1I.M.E. (London : Dawbarn and Ward, Ltd.) 
THIS little pamphlet of sixty-five pages, forming volume 
No. 2 of the “ Model Engineer Series,” was originally 
intended to help the author’s railway students towards 
the attainment of clear general notions upon the subject 
of the slide valve. The author conceived the idea of 
using on a base-board a rotary disc to represent a crank- 
shaft, together with the idea of obtaining concentric 
circular diagrams of results, by using a crank-arm 
marked on the disc as an index-finger, and recording on 
the base-board the beginnings and ends of the arcs swept 
out by the crank in the various distribution-periods. 
For students with little or no geometrical knowledge 
the book should be most useful. We think, however, 
that a student’s time would be better employed in acquir- 
ing a sufficient amount of geometry to understand the 
Zeuner diagram, by aid of which the action of the slide 
valve can be represented more simply, quickly, and con- 
veniently than by the author's disc diagrams. ADS: 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 
pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 
to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 
manuscrepts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 
No notice is taken of anonymous communications. | 
Expansion cf Solids by Heat. 
THE following simple apparatus for showing the expansion of 
metals by heat may interest your readers. A cork rests on the 
table and is kept steady 
by two horizontal knit- 
ting-needles fixed into it. 
A third  knitting-needle 
fixed in the cork stands () ) 
in an upright position, and } 
carries a second cork at 
itstop. Another knitting- 
needle passes through this 
cork and projects vertically 
downwards into a glass of 
water, and carries a third 
cork at its lowerend. This 
last cork carries a sewing- 
needle with its point pro- 
jecting upwards just above 
the surface of the water. 
If one of the vertical knit 
ting-needles is heated with 
a match, the point of the 
sewing-needle will disap- 
pear below the surface of 
the water; if the other is 
then heated, the point will 
appearagain. These small 
movements can be easily 
seen by watching the re- 
flection of a bright object 
in the surface of the water. 
Horace DaRWIN. 
The Orchard, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, June 3. 
Bessel Functions, 
So Mr. A. B. Basset (p. 101) interdicts all such expressions 
as Armstrong guns, Whitworth lathes, Martini rifles, Boxer 
cartridges, Whitehead torpedoes, Corliss engines, Stemens steel, 
Thomson galvanometers, Peltier effect, Rontgen rays, hundreds 
of which are in common use among engineers, physicists, and 
