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May 5, 1870] 
NATURE 5 
permutations, and probabilities. The earlier chapters are 
quite within the comprehension of a schoolboy witha 
moderate knowledge of arithmetic ; the appendices, which 
treat of distributions, derangements, the disadvantage of 
gambling, and a proof of the Binomial Theorem, founded 
purely on the doctrine of combinations, require some 
knowledge of algebra in the reader. So great is the clear- 
ness with which Mr. Whitworth states and explains the 
problems throughout, that it is almost impossible to mis- 
understand him. The appendix in which the disadvan- 
tage of gambling is demonstrated is very interesting, and 
often novel ; and his explanation of the Petersburg problem 
is the most satisfactory which we have met. 
Our only regret concerning the work is that Mr. Whit- 
worth has not attempted more. Though the doctrines of 
combinations and probabilities lie at the basis of all 
mathematical and physical science, their value is chiefly 
theoretical, and it is hardly likely that time can be spared 
for their study in a school education. Had Mr. Whit- 
worth enlarged his work so as to make it a pretty com- 
plete handbook of the theory of probabilities, he would 
have performed a great service to science. It is strange 
how little attention has been paid at Cambridge to the 
theory of probabilities. If we except Mr. Todhunter’s 
valuable history, and Mr. Airy’s special work upon its ap- 
plication to observations, we cannot call to mind any 
recent separate work devoted to rendering the subject of 
probabilities accessible to students. Mr. De Morgan’s 
article in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, his excellent 
work in the Cabinet Cyclopzedia, the Useful Knowledge 
Society’s essay, Galloway’s treatise, and the translations of 
Quetelet’s work, are what we have to depend upon as 
introductions to the subject ; but they are all twenty or 
thirty years old at least, and difficult to meet with, Mr. 
Venn’s logic of chance, being purely metaphysical, is not 
to be counted. We wish that Mr. Whitworth, or some 
mathematician at once as able, and possessed of as clear 
a style of exposition, would fill this gap in mathematical 
literature by producing a student’s handbook of proba- 
bilities, including the theory of errors, the method of least 
squares, &c., with some of the applications to practice. 
W. S. JEVONS 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
F. Hoppe-Seyler. Handbuch der physiologischen wu. patho- 
logischen Analyse. Third edition. (Berlin, 1870.) 
WHILST modern chemical literature is abundantly sup- 
plied with publications on the analysis of mineral sub- 
stances, works on the methods of chemical investigation 
of the products of animal life are comparatively few. 
Physiological chemistry is still in its infancy. By far the 
greatest number of the substances occurring in the animal 
body have as yet to be discovered, and even those already 
known exhibit but in few instances such characteristic re- 
actions as serve for their detection and quantitative esti- 
mation equal in reliability to those we find in mineral 
chemistry. But however incomplete the analytical methods 
of the physiological chemist may be, they are highly 
valuable, not merely from a scientific, but also from a 
practical point of view, inasmuch as they aid the physi- 
cian in the detection of those important changes in the 
chemical composition of animal fluids and excreta, which 
almost invariably accompany certain forms of disease. 
The scientific man as well as the medical practitioner will, 
therefore, take an equal interest in the re-publication in an 
enlarged form of a work on the application of chemical 
analysis to physiology and pathology, which has proved 
very valuable in its former editions. 
The “Handbook” of Mr. Hoppe-Seyler’s is adapted 
to the use of the advanced medical student as well as of 
the physician. That part of the book treating on the 
analysis, properly speaking, of animal fluids, tissues, &c., 
is preceded by some very useful chapters on the employ- 
ment of chemical and physical apparatus ; on re-agents 
and the mode of ascertaining the purity of the same ; 
and on the composition, the properties, and detection of 
inorganic and organic chemical compounds occurring in 
the animal body. The great attention paid to the optical 
properties, of the various substances occurring in the 
body to the methods of their examination by means of 
the polariscope and spectroscope, forms a very remark- 
able and important feature of the book. Physiological 
chemistry claims a large share of the results which natural 
science owes to the application of these instruments, and 
a more extensive use of optical methods of research will 
certainly lead to further important discoveries. The author 
does not include the analysis of gaseous products, nor 
does he give an account of the methods used for the de- 
tection of poisons. The detection of blood-spots on wood, 
cloth, &c., is treated in an appendix. A chromolithograph, 
representing the spectra of the alkali metals, the absorp- 
tion bands of hamoglobine, and various tables and engra- 
vings, contribute to the usefulness of the work. 
B. FINKELSTEIN 
Search for Winter Sunbeams in the Raviera, Corsica, 
Algiers, and Spain. With numerous illustrations. 
By Samuel S. Cox. (London: Sampson Low, Son, and 
Marston. NewYork: D. Appleton and Co.) 
THISs interesting book will be welcome to those who are 
seeking to find a home ina sunnier clime than our own 
The author points out the beauties and the medicinal 
qualities of the south. In his preliminary chapter he ex- 
plains the title, “ Sunbeams,” giving the functions of light, 
music of light, analogy between light and sound, speaking 
especially of the life-giving power of the golden sunbeam. 
Quoting Prof. Maury’s thoughts on light, he says, “that 
the organs of the human ear are so ordered that they 
cannot comprehend colour any more than the eyes can 
see sounds ; yet, that we may hear over again the song of 
the morning stars, for light has its gamut of music ! 
The high notes vibrate with the violet of the spectrum, 
and the red extremity sounds the bass ; and though the 
ear may not catch the song that the rose, lily, and violet 
sing, it may, for aught we know, be to the humming-bird 
the butterfly, and the bee, more enchanting than that 
which ‘Prospero’s Ariel’ sung to the shipwrecked 
mariner.” 
The author rapidly describes the well-known winter 
resorts, Nice, Mentone (of which, with its lovely flowers 
and fruits, he draws a most inviting picture), Monaco, 
with its roulette table, myths, and beautiful scenery; then 
comes Corsica, its chief town, Ajaccio, being renowned as 
the birthplace of Napoleon. Many interesting facts are 
here given of his mother, Madame Letitia, with incidents 
of his boyhood. The author then proceeds to Africa, 
passing through Algiers, visits the Kabyle people and 
Arabs, giving a description of the Blidah orange orchards, 
Algerine desert, the magnificent cedars and oaks on 
Mount Atlas, the Arab and Moorish women, different 
interesting old tombs, mosaics, and inscriptions, Our 
author travels on to Spain and compares it with Algiers. 
Arrived at Murcia he witnesses a bull-fight, then he 
visits the Alhambra with its graceful architecture ; ez 
route for Madrid he passes many curious towns and 
castles. The following is a description of one :—“A 
mist obscured the mountains above. That old Moorish 
castle near the hill of the Pharos is called the Alcazaba. 
Its Puerta de la Cava is renowned, if not in history, in 
legend, as the scene of the suicide of Count Julian’s daugh- 
ter, whose woes brought on the Moorish invasion, and 
whose Iliad has been sung in prose by Irving. This 
castle is hid under a veil, even as Irving dropped over its 
rigid outlines the drapery of his genius, The 
mist lifts a little. We see a streak of sunlight on a 
bleak, bright mountain ahead of us. We pass by gar- 
dens of immense fig-trees. The mountains begin to shine 
