460 



NA TURE 



[March 16, 1899 



materials, it may be that we have attained the limits of 

 variation in this direction, and that to get something 

 new and better we must break new ground by hybridis- 

 ation or cross-breeding. 



Illustrations are given in the volume before us of 

 numerous insects and fungi which make themselves 

 obnoxious to the fruit-grower. Some of these are the 

 same that are too well known to us ; but whether or no, 

 the general principles of prevention or destruction are 

 the same. We know of no work containing anything 

 like so complete an account of these " bush fruit," and 

 although it is mainly serviceable to American cultivators, 



it will also prove a veritable encyclopiedia to British [ Present 



•^ I foundations of 



growers. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Lindustrie dtt Goudron de Houille. By George F. 



Jaubert. Pp. 172. (Paris : Gauthier-Villars et Fils, 



1899.) 

 In this book, which belongs to the " Encyclopedie 

 scientifique des Aide-Mcmoire," is given a brief account 

 of the numerous chemical substances directly derived 

 from coal-tar. The introduction contains a short his- 

 torical account of the rise of the coal-tar industry, and 

 this is followed by a very brief description of the methods 

 of separation adopted for light and heavy oils, phenols, 

 and ammonia liquor ; a section being specially devoted 

 to the nature and yield of tar formed in the preparation 

 of coke in Carvt^s ovens for metallurgical operations. 

 The actual processes used for the separations of hydro- 

 carbons and ammonia are very briefly sketched, no 

 diagrams whatever being given. The remaining three- 

 fourths of the book consists of a methodical description 

 of the properties of each of the various chemical sub- 

 stances the presence of which has been recognised in 

 coal-tar or coal-gas ; this description, as a rule, being 

 unaccompanied by any account of the methods by which 

 the particular constituent under examination has been 

 isolated from the tar. It is, in fact, a miniature 

 chemical dictionary with a systematic instead of an 

 alphabetic classification. The short bibliography at 

 the end of the book will doubtless be of some use to 

 students. 



Grundriss einer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaftcn. 

 By Dr. Friedrich Uannemann. Vol. II. Die Entwick- 

 lung der Naiunuissenschaften. Pp. 435. (Leipzig : 

 W. Engelmann. London : Williams and Norgate, 

 1898.) 



The first volume of this work was noticed in N.^TURE 

 in 1896 (vol. liv. p. 316). It consisted of extracts and 

 translations from the writings of great philosophers and 

 investigators, and presented an attractive panorama of 

 scientific history. The second volume has not been con- 

 structed upon the same plan, but consists of a descriptive 

 statement of researches and discoveries which have 

 contributed to the progress of science. Many original 

 illustrations have been reproduced, and numerous refer- 

 ences are given to papers which have hcli)ed to make 

 scientific history. The volume is an interesting " entwick- 

 lungsgeschichte," and it presents the early stages in 

 sufficient detail ; but it cannot be regarded as a satis- 

 factory statement of the modern developments of 

 science. 



Dr. Dannemann divides the history into four periods, 

 each of which is dealt with in a separate section of the 

 book. The first part contains a survey of the views and 

 works of the early (jreek ])hilosophers, up to the de- 



NO. 1533, VOL. 59] 



struction of the Alexandrian library in 642 .\.1>. ; tlv 

 second part is concerned with the period from 642 A.i 

 to about the end of the fifteenth century; the third perim 

 considered extends from the time of Copernicus to tlv 

 end of the eighteenth century, and includes the epoch 

 of the foundation of modern chemistry and the discover} 

 of the galvanic battery ; and, finally, the period — "Die 

 neueste Zeit " — continues the history to the present 

 epoch. 



It would, of course, be impossible to give anything; 

 approaching a complete account of scientific work from 

 the early Clreek philosophers to the present time in a 

 volume of the dimensions of the one before us, and Dr. 

 Dannemann has not attempted to do so. His \olume 

 ew of the investigations which laid the 

 modern science, but it does not go 

 further. 



The work is an interesting contribution to the litera- 

 ture dealing with the development of the study of nature 

 in many aspects, and as such is an inspiring volume for 

 students of science. Perhaps the author will produce 

 third volume in which the advances made during this 

 century will be described. 



Pnictical Work in Physics. Part \\. Magnetism and 

 Electricity. By W. G. Woollcombe, M.A. (Oxon), 

 BSc. (Lond). Pp. xi -t- 112. (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 



1899.) 



Tm.s little volume completes Mr. Woollcombe's course 

 of practical physics for use in schools and colleges. It 

 is a little difficult to understand why no experiments in 

 statical electricity are included, for some of these are 

 valuable in accentuating principles of great importance 

 to a student of this branch of physics. The pupil into 

 whose hands the instructions here set down are put, 

 must already have some theoretical knowledge of the 

 subjects dealt with, or little benefit is likely to accrue 

 from the performance of the experiments. It is hardly 

 a beginner's book, for, in addition to the necessity for a 

 modicum of preliminary acquaintance with principles, 

 familiarity with trigonometrical ratios is taken for 

 granted. At the same time, for the higher classes of 

 schools of the order in which the author himself teaches, 

 the experiments described are very suitable. 



Ostwalifs Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften, Nos. 

 97-102. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann. London : 

 Williams and Norgate, 1898.) 



The following additions to Prof. Ostwald's compre- 

 hensive series of annotated reprints and translations of 

 scientific classics have lately been published. 



No. 97 (pp. 156) contains a translation, with facsimile 

 illustrations, of Newton's second and third books on 

 optics, dealing with the reflection, refraction, and colour 

 of light, and the theory of the rainbow. The papers have 

 been translated and edited by W. Abendroth. 



No. 98 (pp. 39) is a paper " Ueber das Uenrin und die 

 X'erbindungcn desselben," by Eilhard Mitscherlich (1839), 

 edited by J. Wislicenus. 



Clausius's paper " Ueber die bewegende Kraft der 

 Warme" (1850), forms No. 99 (pp. 55), and will be of 

 interest to all students of thermodynamics. It is edited 

 by Dr. Max I'lanck. Dr. Planck also edits Kirchhofl^s 

 papers on emission and absorption of light and heat 

 (1859-1862), printed in No. 100 (pp. 41, and the papers 

 read in 1858 on the mechanical theory of heat, printed in 

 No. 101 (pp. 48). The former reprint contains a portrait 

 of Kirchhort" as a frontispiece. 



A translation of Clerk Maxwell's papers on lines of 

 force (1861-2) appears in No. 102 ; and to the eighty-four 

 pages, which they occupy, Prof. Boltzmann adds sixty- 

 two pages of notes. 



