NA TURE 



I2X 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER lo, 1885 



THE "■ ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA" 

 Encyclopedia Britanidca. Ninth Edition. Vols. XVIII. 

 and XIX. (Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1885.) 



THESE two volumes are almost entirely occupied 

 with letter P, and yet it is not finished. Though 

 there are no articles of the tremendous length of some in 

 the earlier volumes, still there are many of more than the 

 average length and importance. In Vol. XVIII. we have 

 such articles as Ornithology, by Frof Newton ; Parallax, 

 by Mr. David Gill ; Pacific Ocean, by Mr. John Murray ; 

 and Phosphorescence, by Prof Pritchard. In Vol. XIX. 

 again we have a valuable fragment on the Physical 

 Sciences, by the late Clerk Ma.xwell ; Pisciculture, by 

 Mr. Browne Goode ; Planarians, by Prof. L. V. Graaf ; 

 Polar Regions, by Mr. C. R. Markham ; Physiology, by 

 Prof M. Foster, Prof McKendrick, and Mr. S. H. Vines ; 

 and Pianoforte, by Mr. A. J. Hipkins. We have only 

 space to notice at length the articles on Ornithology, 

 Physiology, and Pianoforte. 



Prof Alfred Newton's article "Ornithology" stamps 

 him as the first ornithological critic of the day, and his 

 treatment of this most difficult subject is, as far as it goes, 

 a model of scientific arrangement and elegant diction. 

 He traces the history of ornithology from the very earliest 

 times by a record of successive authors and their work, 

 and then discusses the families of birds with a disserta- 

 tion on the merits of the various systems which have been 

 lately proposed, but it is in the record of recent ornitho- 

 logical work that we find the most conspicuous failure of 

 Prof Newton to do justice to his contemporaries. Whether 

 want of space compelled the author to abridge this part 

 of the subject we know not, but if the article " Orni- 

 thology " is supposed to be a history of the science down 

 to the year 1884, the student of the future will greatly 

 wonder at the omissions, not knowing how to attribute 

 them to a critic whose account of the early history of the 

 subject is so wonderfully complete and minute. It was 

 doubtless a mere oversight on the part of the author to 

 have attributed the completion of Gould's " Supplement 

 to the Humming-birds" to Mr. Salvin instead of to Mr. 

 Sharpe, but we should have expected to find some little 

 account of the publications of the last-named ornithologist, 

 whose name is not mentioned in connection with the 

 " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," with which 

 it is likely to be remembered in the history of orni- 

 thology, more than with the foundation of Dresser's 

 " Birds of Europe," and with the second edition of Layard's 

 " Birds of South Africa," with which Prof Newton asso- 

 ciates it. In the latter case Mr. Sharpe must be held to 

 have done his work badly, as, despite his incorporation of 

 all the excellent work of Mr. J. H. Gurney in his edition 

 of " Layard," the latter ornithologist has a " knowledge of 

 South African ornithology perhaps greater than that of any 

 one else." No classification of birds asyet proposed satisfies 

 Prof Newton, any more than it does any other ornitho- 

 logist ; but Mr. Sharpe's publication of Sundev.u : scheme 

 of classification will not be considered " so much waste 

 of time " by those who recognise that, with all its faults, it 

 contains, like all well-matured schemes, many points of 

 Vol. XX XIII.— No. 841 



excellence and hints on classification in advance of his 

 predecessors. The same must be said of Dr. Sclater's 

 recent scheme, and also of Prof Newton's own critical 

 remarks in the present article. All are contributions 

 towards a final natural arrangement of the class '' Aves;- 

 if such indeed will ever be compassed. The arrangement 

 of the British Museum " Catalogue " is well known to be 

 faulty, but it is only by the complete description of every 

 genus and its component species that a correct idea of 

 their relations can ultimately be entertained, and to 

 entirely ignore the new volumes of the " Catalogue " is at 

 least matter for wonderment, seeing that already 41 16 

 species have been described in its pages with their full 

 synonymy up to date, while 196 species have been 

 figured. Similarly Prof Newton, in his enumeration of 

 recent works on British ornithology, omits to mention 

 Mr. Seebohm's name altogether, though the " History of 

 British Birds " was far advanced towards completion in 

 1884. We might also complain of the scant justice done 

 to Mr. Harting, whose popular work on the "Birds of 

 Middlesex" was the forerunner, if not the exact model, of 

 many of those books on county ornithology, space to 

 mention which is found by Prof Newton. No doubt 

 some future historian will carry on the record of ornitho- 

 logical prowess from the point where it is left by Prof 

 Newton, but one thing is certain, that every subsequent 

 writer will be indebted to the author for his facts concern- 

 ing the early history of ornithology, which we believe to 

 be one of the most complete and exhaustive records ever 

 published. 



The article " Physiology " m the last-issued volume is a 

 threefold one of considerable length. Dr. Vines gives us 

 an extended treatise on vegetable physiology, whilst Prof. 

 McKendrick discusses in detail certain aspects of the 

 physiology of the nervous system. Without detracting 

 from the merit of these two pieces of work, which are full of 

 valuable information, we may say at once that the section 

 of the article written by Prof Michael Foster, which pre- 

 cedes these, is that which will command most attention 

 and indeed should be read by every student of science as 

 well as by the intelligent layman who wishes to know the 

 past, present, and future of the branch of science which 

 is, perhaps more than any other, destined to influence 

 the welfare of humanity. Prof Foster's essay is in fact a 

 very remarkable one ; admirable in style, vigorous and 

 lucid, it gives the reader the impression, which is well 

 founded, that he is being shown the inner history of the 

 growth and development of a great science by one who 

 has the^clear vision and unerring judgment of a master 

 of his subject. Hereafter Prof Foster's article will retain 

 permanent value as the best exposition of the way in 

 which the problems of physiology were regarded, both 

 retrospectively and with a view to future progress, in the 

 latter quarter of the nineteenth century. 



Prof Foster commences by defining physiology as " the 

 study of the actions of living beings on their surroundings 

 and correlatively of the action of the surroundings on the 

 living being," whilst he points out that at an earlier period 

 physiology comprised morphology and corresponded to 

 what is now called biology. 



Then follows a sketch of these " actions of a living 

 being." They are brought under three heads ; — (l) 



