44 
NATURE 
[May 15, 1873 
the egg to the apple,’ the Latins being accustomed to 
begin their dinners with hard-boiled eggs, and to end 
them with apples (a custom which is still preserved 
among numerous Italian families).” 
It is clear that a theorist who can thus turn the practi- 
cal sense of his own dinner-table into mythological non- 
sense about sky-hens and sun-eggs, is no fit guide to 
students of Comparative Mythology. But his book will 
be useful to those who can profit by his learning and 
ingenuity, without being misled by his fantastic ex- 
travagance, 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art: exhibit- 
ing the most important discoveries and improvements 
of the past year in mechanics and the useful arts, &c. 
By John Timbs. (London: Lockwood and Co., 1873.) 
WE are glad to notice in Mr. Timbs’s annual volume an 
improvement in some of the points in which last year we 
called attention to very serious deficiencies. There is a 
more copious reference to the original authorities, though 
this is still too frequently withheld, and the statements 
thus deprived of all scientific value ; and the references 
are in general to more trustworthy sources. There is also 
a sensible diminution in the number of glaring errors of 
the press, which have been so conspicuous a feature in 
earlier volumes. The compilation shows, as does every- 
thing from the hand of the same editor, unwearied in- 
dustry ; but with all that a lack of the power of dis- 
tinguishing the worthless from the really valuable. Many 
of the paragraphs belong unquestionably to the former 
category, and it is difficult to see what purpose they serve 
except that of ‘‘padding.” On the other hand some 
really important discoveries or applications of the year 
are altogether unnoticed. Considerable further improve- 
ment will be necessary before ‘‘ Timbs’s Year-book” be- 
comes either an adequate or a trustworthy record of 
the scientific events of the year. The portrait of Dr. 
Carpenter given by way of frontispiece is exceedingly 
good, 
Das Leben der Erde. Bilicke in ihre Geschichte, nebst 
Darstellung der wichtigsten und interessantesten 
Frazen ihres Natur-und Kulturlebens. Ein Volksbuch 
von A. Hummel. (Leipzig: Verlag von Friedrich 
Fleischer, 1872). ‘ 
Physikalische und chemische Unterhaltungen. Ein Volks- 
buch von Dr, Otto Ule und A. Hummel. (Leipzig: 
Verlag von Friedrich Fleischer, 1873.) 
TILL the publication of Hummel’s “Leben der Erde” 
there were scarcely any popular scientific works pub- 
lished in Germany, which may seem strange, seeing 
that that country has claimed, probably with justice, the 
intellectual leadership of the world for many years past. 
It is possible there is less need for popularising the results 
of science in Germany than in England and France, 
seeing that the German system of education is so thorough 
and comprehensive. Germans also have a greater ten- 
dency to go about everything in a systematic way ; and 
this is shown with great force and clearness by Mr. 
Matthew Arnold to be especially the case in their edu- 
cational organisation, which discourages the acquirement 
of knowledge in an irregular and haphazard way. In 
this country again, as well asin France, “the people” 
generally make their first acquaintance with subjects in 
which the German people are grounded when at school, 
long after they have left school from popular scientific 
treatises. These two works are constructed on some- 
what the same plan as the well-known French works 
of Flammarion, Guillemin, and Reclus, and appear 
to us to be well and often eloquently written, and so 
far as we have been able to test them, are accurate and 
wonderfully full. In the second the authors aim at 
giving every-day illustrations of physical and chemical 
laws, and at showing their practical and economical 
bearings. They divideit into four sections :—1. General 
phenomena of motion as applied to solid, liquid, and zri- 
form bodies. 2. Sound, light, and heat. 3. Magnetic 
and electric phenomena. 4. Chemical phenomena. 
Hummel’s Lebex der Erde, we should think, would be the 
more popular of the two, both from the subjects treated 
of, the greater picturesqueness of language, and the 
greater abundance and attractiveness of the illustrations, 
some of which are very fine, though on the whole, not so 
well executed as such illustrations generally are in corre- 
sponding English and French works. He endeavours to 
show the relation of the earth to other heavenly bodies, 
gives its geological history, describes its physical geo- 
graphy, including the phenomena of land, water, and air, 
and concludes with a very eloquent account of the organic 
life of the earth. On the whole, both works seem to us 
very creditable to their authors. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressid 
by his correspondents, No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications. | 
Agassiz and Forbes 
THE letter from Mr. Alexander Agassiz, published in last 
week’s NATURE, revives an attack which was made by Agassiz 
and Desor more than thirty years ago. It was then promptly 
met. (See Forbes’s ‘‘ Historical Remarks on the first Discovery 
of the real Structure of Glacial Ice,” Edin. New Phil. Journal, 
1843.) I possess correspondence which abundantly shows that 
the scientific world (English and Foreign) was thoroughly satis- 
fied with the answer given by Forbes. Much of this correspon 
dence can, if necessary, be published. But the reply given at 
the time, and which I am confident will satisfy any unprejudicea 
person, may be found zx extenso in Appendix B to the ‘‘ Lifeand 
Letters of James David Forbes” (Macmillan and Co., 1873), 
No answer was ever attempted by Mr. Agassiz to the paper in 
question, and the facts it contains could not have been allowed 
to pass by him unchallenged, had they not been accurately given, 
Mr. Alexander Agassiz may never have read the original paper, 
The date of his letter shows that he cannot have seen the reprint 
in the Life of Forbes. 
This impeachment of Forbes’s character by Mr. Agassiz 
(made, I willingly grant, with the best motives, and in ignorance 
of the details of the case) demands an explanation. I am aware 
that few would give credence to imputations of dishonesty in 
Forbes’s character ; but the matter is also of historical interest, 
and deserves an historical examination. I will therefore, with 
your permission, lay before the readers of NATURE next week 
the facts from which they shall judge whether the assertions in 
Mr. Agassiz’s letter are supported by the evidence, or not. 
Blackheath, May 10 GEORGE FORBES 
Venomous Caterpillars 
In Mr. A. Murray’s paper on venomous caterpillars in 
NATURE of May 1, I observe that in discussing the distinction 
between the terms poison and venom, he says in reference to the 
action of snake poison :—‘‘It is said that you may swallow the 
venom of the rattlesnake with impunity, and I imagine you 
may, if it does not get absorbed through the mucous membrane ; 
but Dr. Fayrer’s experience, lately published, of the effects of 
the semi-swallowing, which occurs in extracting the venom from 
a poisoned wound would rather seem to show that such ex- 
tremely virulent venom would penetrate the mucous membrane 
and act as if actually introduced bya wound, his throat having 
become dangerously ulcerated from sucking the poison from the 
wound of a man bitten by a cobra,” 
If Mr. Murray will refer to my investigations on this subject, 
he will find that snake poison produces the same effect when 
applied to a mucous membrane, and introduced into the stomach, 
the eye, the intestine, or applied to the exposed surface of a 
muscle or peritoneum, though not so rapidly as when injected 
directly into the vascular system. The idea that it may be 
swallowed with impunity being quite incorrect. But I must 
