ee P 
NATURE 
find it easy reading. Chapter IV., on the exploration of 
the electric field is perhaps the most interesting in the 
book; its contents will be familiar to those who heard 
the lectures of its author, but much of it is new to the 
scientific public. Chapter V. contains the theory of 
Faraday’s lines of electric induction, and here for the | 
first time the reader begins to feel that the matter must 
have been left in a state more or less unfit for publica- 
tion. The text reads more like a series of disjointed notes 
than a coherent treatise, and the admirable simplicity 
and symmetry of treatment which characterises the 
earlier part of the work is lost. Still, what we have is of 
great interest, and will be invaluable to a good teacher in 
giving him hints how to arrange an elementary exposition 
of Faraday’s theory. Chapters VI., VII., and VIII. are 
more complete, and will be very useful in giving to begin- 
ners in electricity some idea of the applications of the 
mathematical theory ; Chapter VIII., on capacity, is one 
likely tv be particularly useful, as it deals with one of the 
fundamental ideas in electrical measurement. We re- 
commend it all the more, as we have seen the term capa- 
city both ill defined and loosely applied in recent treatises. 
Chapters IX. and X., fragmentary as they are, are full of 
interest to those who have studied the larger work; for 
they throw much light upon many points concerning 
which the author had formerly but briefly indicated his 
opinion. We may mention more particularly his remarks 
on the vexed question of contact electromotive force ; 
also, as new, and specially interesting, the experiments on 
the insulating’power of air and other gases, Art. 138, e¢ 
seg. 
The rest of the book is a series of extracts from the 
larger work, concerning the utility of which, in their 
present form and arrangement, there will be difference of 
pinion. 
In the interest of the author’s reputation it might 
have been better to have published simply what he had 
left in MSS. in a more confessedly fragmentary form. 
if, however, the additions that have been made will 
secure the use of the treatise by elementary teachers, we 
shall rejoice; for some of the manuals which they use 
are not remarkable either for scientific method or for the 
extent and accuracy of their information; in fact the 
study of many of them, far from introducing the learner to 
the science of electricity, is simply a waste of his time. 
G, CHRYSTAL 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Zoological Record for 1880; being vol. xvii. of the 
Record of Zoological Literature. Edited by E. C. Rye, 
F.Z.S. (London: John Van Voorst, 1881.) 
WE heartily congratulate the editor on his praiseworthy 
success in publishing this important Record of Zoological 
Literature for 1880 before the termination of 1881, It is 
the first time, as the editor himself reminds us, that this 
event has taken place since 1870, and now we trust it will 
be once more the usual plan. So far.as we have been 
able, by Jooking here and there throughout the volume, 
to ascertain, this expedition has not been at the expense 
of accuracy ; and as to incompleteness, any omissions are 
very easily supplied in the next volume. The Recorders 
are nearly the same as for 1879, Mr. G. A. Boulenger | 
taking the place of the late Mr. O’ Shaughnessy, and re- 
porting on the reptiles, batrachians, and fishes. Mr. W. 
A. Forbes gives us an admirable report on the mammals. 
This and Mr. Howard Saunders’ report on the birds leave 
little to be desired in either the arrangement of the — 
| matter or in the terseness and yet clearness of the notices. 
The latter Recorder adopts P. L. Sclater’s systematic 
arrangement as laid down in the important paper by Dr. 
Sclater “ On the Present State of the Systema Avium.” 
The mollusca and molluscoida are reported on by Prof. 
Ed. von Martens, who also gives the record of the 
crustacea. These we venture to regard as the model 
reports of the volume. After a pretty full list of the 
publications relating to the group recorded, we find a list 
of the special journals and manuals relating to the class. 
Then under the heading of Anatomy and Physiology, we 
find most interesting summaries of the additions made to 
a knowledge of the general morphology, muscular system 
and movement, shell formation, digestion, excretion and 
secretion, nervous system, organs of sense, of generation, 
embryology, abnormities, and even on the action of 
poisons. After this some details of the geographical 
distribution, and of the recently-described forms. The 
amount of labour spent over this most useful grouping 
of details on the part of the recorder is great, but the 
reader reaps from it an immense benefit. The literature 
of the arachnida is recorded by Rev. O. P. Cambridge, 
with the assistance of Mr. F. M. Campbell. To Mr. 
Kirby falls the larger share of the Record of the insecta ; 
indeed all the orders save the neuroptera and orthoptera, 
which fall to Mr. McLachlan’s share are reviewed by him. 
The vermes and echinoderms are recorded by Prof. Bell ; 
the hydrozoa and ccelenterata by Mr. A. G. Bourne ; the 
anthozoa by Mr. S. J. Hickson; while the literature of 
sponges and protozoa is recorded by Mr. Stuart O. 
Ridley. From a summary appended by the editor we 
find that this volume contains a record of no less than 
1008 new genera and sub-genera, described as follows :— 
Mammalia 
34 | Myriopoda eee 
Aves ... 16 | Insecta -- 438 
Reptilia 21 j Viermes: <<... 1-0 oeeeeae 
Pisces wie tne! tee eae” SY ] deehinodenmata 24 
Mollusca and Molluscoida 79 Coelenterata ... <.. .« 9@ 
Crustacea ... So | Spongiida....... =. Saas St 
Arachnida 78 Protozoa ... a 56 
a goodly number, going even beyond the average of most 
years. 
Land und Leute in der brasilianischen Provinz Bahia. 
Streifzuge von Julius Naeher. (Leipsig : Gustav Weigel, 
1882.) 
THE author essays, in a small volume of not quite 300 
pages, to write a Guide to the Province of Bahia. Starting 
from Hamburg he steamed, vé@ Lisbon, the Canary and 
Cape de Verd Islands, to Brazil, and he asserts that hefound 
the steamers on this route excellent. The details of all the 
other routes from Europe are, however, also given. As 
the work is the result of the author’s own observation, it 
only describes a small part of the Brazils. It affords a 
graphic insight into the tropical vegetation of the country, 
and gives many details as to the sugar plantations. The 
social life he did not find to differ much from that de- 
scribed in the older books of travel; only the Indians 
and the wild beasts were less numerous and troublesome. 
In Bahia about one-fifth of the population belonged to 
the white race, while about one-half were pure negroes, 
and the rest were half-castes. While the author does not 
‘profess to give a scientific description of the products of 
this province, he still has evidently paid a good deal of 
attention to the fruits and other produce of the colony, 
and in many cases gives statistics as to the present 
value of these. The gradual abolition of slavery is 
beginning to hamper the cultivation of sugar, and the 
great question of the day will no doubt soon be, How is 
the agriculture of the country, to which so much of the 
wealth of the country is at present due, to be kept up 
when slave labour comes to an end? 
i i Ree 
