Aucust 31, 1899] 
NATURE 
AI! 
which a true impressionism can alone be based, have 
found and do find the study of anatomy a help in their 
work. 
That such knowledge may be abused is not sur- 
prising; the example of the unfortunate Haydon might 
serve as a warning. Yet there are plenty of instances in 
modern work in which this knowledge is duly restrained. 
Leighton had a keen appreciation of anatomical detail, 
and his bronze of an Athlete struggling with a python is 
likely to outlive most, if not all, his pictorial efforts as a 
work of art. 
Books on so-called artistic anatomy, written usually by 
surgeons and anatomists having little or no knowledge of 
the requirements of artists, have, as a rule, been pre- 
pared by “boiling down” the technical treatises supplied 
to medical students. It is to Dr. Paul Richer that we 
are indebted for having dealt with the subject in an 
appreciative spirit; he approaches it, not merely from 
the standpoint of the anatomist, but from that of the 
artist as well. His method is to represent the figure in 
action in different poses, and submit a chart explanatory 
of the various structures on which the surface contours 
depend, having first, of course, supplied his readers with 
such information regarding the bones and muscles as is 
necessary to enable them to understand and appreciate 
the diagrams. It would be difficult to over-estimate the 
value of his book; its cost, however, places it beyond 
the reach of most students. 
When an art-master produces an atlas of anatomical 
diagrams, we naturally expect to have fresh light thrown 
on the subject, together with a keener appreciation of the 
requirements of art students. We are not inclined to be 
too exacting with regard to the anatomical details if 
only we can get some further insight into their appli- 
cation to the study of the human figure. 
In an interesting introduction to the present volume, 
Prof. Cleland, whose artistic sympathies are well known, 
makes use of the statement that the work occupies 
“‘oround which has not hitherto been taken up.” With 
this opinion we cannot agree ; for, as a matter of fact, 
the bulk of the illustrations in this atlas are reproduc- 
tions, somewhat diagrammatically treated, of tracings or 
combined tracings of Richer’s drawings. To these the 
author has had no hesitation in affixing his name with- 
out, so far as we can ascertain, once mentioning the 
source from which his figures are derived. The only 
features in the book which display any originality are 
the plates in which those parts of the skeleton having a 
direct relation to the surface contours are blocked in in 
distinctive colours. The absence of explanatory text, as 
well as the lack of reference to the contours of the 
figure in action, seem to us to minimise its value as a text- 
book to be placed in the hands of students. As dia- 
grammatic reproductions of Richer’s figures, the plates 
in this atlas may not be without value. We confess, 
however, to a preference for the originals. 
By R. L. Taylor. 
(Manchester: Thomas Wyatt, 1899.) 
THIS little book, like many others which have appeared 
during the past few years, should assist the progress of 
rational methods of teaching elementary chemistry. It 
consists of a series of nearly a hundred simple experi- 
ments to be performed by or for pupils commencing the 
study of chemistry. The subjects illustrated by the ex- 
periments are elements and compounds, chemistry of the 
air, water, acids and alkalis, carbon and carbon dioxide. 
Pupils who perform the experiments will obtain a sound 
knowledge of the nature of chemical changes, and of the 
properties of some common substances. 
Fig. 3, illustrating the preparation and collection of 
oxygen from potassium chlorate and manganese dioxide, 
shows a liquid in the flask instead of the oxygen 
mixture. 
NO. 1557, VOL. 60] 
Chemistry for Continuation Schools. 
Pp. 52. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
(The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 
pressed by his correspondents. Netther can he undertake 
to return, or to correspond with the wrtters of, rejected 
manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 
No notice zs taken of anonymous communications.) 
Blue Ray! of Sunrise over Mont Blanc. 
LOOKING out at 5 o'clock this morning from a balcony of 
this hotel, 1545 metres above sea-level, and about 68 kilo- 
metres W. 18° S. from Mont Blanc, I had a magnificent view 
of Alpine ranges of Switzerland, Savoy, and Dauphine ; 
perfectly clear and sharp on the morning twilight sky. This 
promised me an opportunity for which I had been waiting five 
or six years; to see the earliest instantaneous light through 
very clear air, and find whether it was perceptibly blue. I there- 
fore resolved to watch an hour till sunrise, and was amply 
rewarded by all the splendours I saw. MHaving only vague 
knowledge of the orientation of the hotel, I could not at first 
judge whereabouts the sun would rise; but in the course of 
half an hour rosy tints on each side of the place of strongest 
twilight showed me that it would be visible from the 
balcony; and I was helped to this conclusion by 
Haidinger’s brushes when the illumination of the air 
at greater altitudes by a brilliant half-moon nearly over- 
head, was overpowered by sunlight streaming upwards from 
beyond the mountains. A little later, beams of sunlight and 
shadows of distant mountains converged clearly to a point deep 
under the very summit of Mont Blanc. In the course of five or 
ten minutes I was able to watch the point of convergence travel- 
ling obliquely upwards till in an instant I saw a blue light 
against the sky on the southern profile of Mont Blanc ; which, 
in less than the one-twentieth of a second became dazzlingly 
white, like a brilliant electric arc-light. I had no dark glass at 
hand, so I could not any longer watch the rising sun. 
KELVIN. 
Hotel du Mont-Revard, above Aix-les-Bains, 
August 27. 
A Fold-Making Apparatus for Lecture Purposes. 
I HAVE found the piece of apparatus which I am about to 
describe so effective for ‘lecture experiments, that I venture 
to think that others engaged in geological teaching may be glad 
to possess details as to its construction and mode of operation. 
The machine (Fig. 1) consists of two parallel wooden rollers, 
about 3 feet apart. Each is about 12 inches long and 4 inches 
Fic. 1. 
in diameter. A shaft at right angles to their length turns the 
two rollers in opposite directions by means of toothed bevel 
wheels, the shaft itself being driven by a worm wheel and worm, 
the latter being actuated directly by the handle. One turn of 
the handle only causes ~ turn of the shaft and rollers, so that a 
very slow motion can be imparted to the latter. A sheet of 
1 The ‘Rayon Vert” of Jules Verne is the corresponding phenomenon 
at sunset ; which I first saw about six years ago. 
