May 3, 1877] 



NA TURE 



rinthodont but not Pycnodont. We have Protoplasma 

 but neither Protoplasm nor Protoplasmic. Photosphere 

 we find, but not Chromosphere, nor Corona in its 

 solar application, and neither Hehostat nor Side- 

 rostat. The dictionary contains various terms in elec- 

 tricity and magnetism, but not Magneto- Electric, Electro- 

 Biology, Ouantivalence, Anode, nor Cathode. Darwinian 

 and Darwinism, long since used as current common 

 terms, find no place here ; and no one would guess from 

 the definitions of Evolution and Development the im- 

 mense significance which these terms have assumed in 

 recent times. 



We could give many instances of similar caprice in the 

 admission of scientific terms, but our space does not 

 admit of it. But it is not alone in this class of terms 

 that the vocabulary appears to us to be defective ; many 

 words are wanting which, we venture to think, any man 

 of common sense would look for in a modern English 

 dictionary of the pretensions of that edited by Dr. 

 Latham. Under Mule a reference is made to the spin- 

 ning-jenny, but under neither Spinning nor Jenny is the 

 use of the term explained. Readers of Arctic narratives 

 will look in vain for an explanation of Ice-foot and Ice- 

 master, and the reader will not be surprised at the omis- 

 sion of Snider, Whitworth, and Mitrailleuse. Can any 

 sound reason be given for omitting such a word as 

 Croquet ? And where are we to look for an explanation 

 of such national terms as Over and Bye, if not in the 

 most recent of English dictionaries, which registers the 

 '"cricketal" signification of Stump? The work is evi- 

 dently not meant for circulation in America, if we may 

 judge from the absence of all Americanisms, even those 

 which have become current coin in the English tongue, 

 such as Bunkum, Caucus, Mocassin. Might not such 

 words as Ecchymosis and Deoppilation have been spared 

 (who is likely to look for them ?) in favour of some or all 

 of the terms referred to. Many words found in Tennyson, 

 Morris, and Swinburne are marked as " obsolete," 

 showing the danger of using the epithet at all. 



The etymology seems to us unsatisfactory. To words 

 whose origin is simple and obvious two or three lines are 

 sometimes devoted ; while of others whose etymology is 

 certain enough, but which it would have taken some time 

 and trouble to trace, no satisfactory information is given. 

 What satisfaction is it to be told simply that Abandon 

 comes from French, abandoitncr, especially when the 

 history of the word can be so beautifully traced ? 

 There is a like want of proportion in the definitions, 

 which are in most cases extremely meagre, but in some 

 cases capriciously and unnecessarily diffuse. In the ar- 

 rangement of the various definitions under each word, 

 moreover, we fail to discover, as a rule, any logical or 

 historical method. In this as in some other respects 

 Dr. Latham has stuck too closely to the old lines of 

 dictionary construction, and missed the opportunity of 

 compiling a work which might have cast all other similar 

 works into the shade. We cannot say that it has de- 

 throned either Webster or Worcester, unsatisfactory in 

 many respects as these are ; and there are two or three 

 smaller and cheaper dictionaries, which we venture to 

 think would be more useful to the general reader. 

 The field is still unoccupied, for Dr. Latham's work can 

 never, in our opinion, serve as the standard dictionary of 



our language. The work is handsome and well printed, 

 and the " Historical Sketch of the Enghsh Language" 

 is thoroughly satisfactory. 



GUILLEMIN'S ''WORLD OF COMETS" 

 The World of Comets. By Amddife Guillemin. Trans- 

 lated and Edited by James Glaisher, F.R.S. (London : 

 Sampson Low and Co., 1877.) 



MR. GLAISHER mentions that he was anxious that 

 M. Guillemin's interesting work upon comets should 

 appear in our language, from the fact of there not being 

 so far any volume that occupied the ground covered by it, 

 while, it may be added, that the recent important advances 

 in this branch of the science renders a pretty complete 

 summary of progress in late years a most desirable help 

 and guide to the student, scattered as the reports of such 

 progress almost necessarily are in the publications of 

 scientific societies and in periodical scientific works at 

 home and abroad. 



The greater portion of the volume before us relates to 

 those particular departments of the subject which may be 

 expected to interest the general reader. The historical 

 portion, especially in the earlier ages, when comets were 

 regarded as omens, good or bad, to the time when Newton 

 developed the laws by which their motions are governed, 

 naturally commences the work; then follow chapters 

 upon their orbits, the periodical comets from the short 

 revolution of Encke's comet, to the revolutions of several 

 thousands of years which have been assigned with a 

 greater or less degree of probability to other of these 

 bodies; mere particular descriptions of several great 

 comets in recent times, as the comets of 1744, 181 1, 1843, 

 1S58, 1861, and the great comet of Coggia in 1874, which 

 made its appearance just prior to the publication of M. 

 Guillemin's treatise. It is, however, in what we must 

 term cometary physics that the volume is most com- 

 plete, and in which its interest and probable usefulness 

 will mainly consist. The theories of Olbers, Bessel, Faye, 

 Roche, Tyndall, Tait, and others are noticed in a popular 

 and readable style, and are fairly considered collectively, 

 though differences of opinion must still prevail with regard 

 to any inferences to be drawn from them. The researches 

 of Dr. Huggins, Prof. Secchi, MM. Wolf and Rayet, in 

 the spectral analysis of the Hght of comets, and particu- 

 larly of Coggia's Comet of 1874, are described, and to 

 these results, as collected by M. Guillemin, Mr. Glaisher 

 has added an important article by Mr. Lockyer, which 

 appeared while the great comet of 1874 was still visible, 

 and in which are detailed the results of spectroscopic 

 examination of the light of the comet with the aid of Mr. 

 Newall's great refractor. The editor has also made some 

 very desirable additions to M. Guillemin's chapter on 

 "The Common Origin of Shooting Stars and Comets." 



The work concludes with a list of elliptic comets and 

 their elements and with a general catalogue of cometary 

 orbits to 1876. 



We have said that probably the chief interest and value 

 of M. Guillemin's "World of Comets" will be found to 

 consist in the extensive portion of his volume devoted to 

 cometary physics, to the theories which have been ad- 

 vanced to explain their varied aspect, and the formation 

 of the enormous trains by which some comets are accom- 



