Jan. 14, 18J 



NA TURE 



243 



In conclusion, we would take exception to the references 

 (pp. 28 and 74) to the suppressed aortic arches of the 

 embryo and to the mode of development of the nervous 

 axis, unless their introduction bears upon the lecture 

 scheme adopted at the Victoria University. If so, well 

 and good, but if not, we are of opinion that such supple- 

 mental statements should be inserted, in a book of this 

 kind, as footnotes or their equivalents. It is sufficient 

 that the beginner should realise that three pairs of aortic 

 arches exist in the adult, alone under consideration. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Methods of h'eseorch in Microscopical Anatomy and 



Embryology. By C. O. Whitman, M.A., Ph.D. 



(Boston : S. E. Cassino and Co. ; London : Triibner 



and Co. 1SS5.) 

 Within the last few years a number of new methods 

 have been suggested for use in microscopical, and more 

 particularly embryological, research, and a glance at 

 almost any one of the recent memoirs on these subjects 

 will serve to show how much is due to the employment of 

 new methods. It is, however, extremely important not 

 to lose sight of the fact that complicated methods are 

 exceedingly likely to produce false or misleading appear- 

 ances. To carry on successfully any microscopical 

 research it will probably be necessary to invent new 

 methods or at any rate modify old ones to suit the exi- 

 gencies of the case. To do this an acquaintance with the 

 methods which have been used by previous observers is 

 necessary, and in addition a clear idea of such general 

 principles as it is possible to formulate with regard to the 

 action of various classes of reagents upon various tissues. 



A great number of the new methods have been de- 

 scribed, and this often in a few words only, in special 

 memoirs, so that they are often overlooked. 



" Hitherto," says the author of the work before us, 

 "most of our standard books of reference on methods 

 have been rather complex in character, dealing with the 

 microscope and technical methods as subordinate and 

 introductory to the main subject of histology." 



With regard to certain special methods there appears 

 unfortunately to be a reluctance on the part of their 

 inventors to reveal what they thus make a sort of trade 

 secret, " withholding it on the ground that others are not 

 entitled to the advantages of your experience." Dr. 

 Whitman in his present work has sifted the numerous 

 methods which have been suggested, and has given histo- 

 logists the benefit of his great practical experience in 

 rejecting some while recommending others ; he has also 

 endeavoured to formulate as many general principles as 

 possible, though of course there is more to be done in 

 this respect, our knowledge being at present insufficient 

 to generalise to any great extent. 



We notice with regret a slight tendency in the work 

 before us as well as certain histological schools to neglect 

 almost entirely the older and simpler methods of cutting 

 sections. Serial section-cutting is now such an important 

 item in all morphological work that it is apt to be used to 

 the exclusion of older methods, which give in many cases 

 undoubtedly better histological results. 



Dr. Whitman has also collected a large number of 

 most important observations with regard to the best 

 method, time, and place of obtaining material ; these are 

 of course very incomplete, but it is to be hoped that he 

 will see his way towards continuing them, and that others 

 will follow his excellent example. 



Alternating Currents of Electricity. By Thomas H. 



Blakesley, M.A. " Electrician Series." (London • 



Published at the Office of the Electrician, 18S5.) 



This is a very unsatisfactory little book ; indeed it is 



difficult to find anything favourable to say of it, except that 



it is concerned with a subject which is of considerable im- 

 portance, and which might be treated in an interesting and 

 instructive manner. It is a reprint of papers, originally 

 published in the Electrician, on .Alternating Currents of 

 Electricity, and professes to deal with various problems 

 connected Avith them by geometrical methods. But the 

 methods are long and intricate, and the work is not well 

 done ; — carelessly written and printed in the beginning, 

 the style remains unchanged. The errors in form are 

 numerous, the figures are not good, and geometry and 

 algebra are mixed up in formulas in the most puzzling and 

 irritating way. We find commas between the factors of 

 products (all through pp. 11, 12, 13), and diagrams in which 

 the letters-are illegible in several places. In one investi- 

 gation covering three or four pages, we have the letter C 

 used for capacity of a condenser, for electric current, for 

 the sum of a series of cosines, and for designating points 

 in the diagrams. In fact the whole book is full of con- 

 fusion, and is a model of what mathematical writing 

 ought not to be ; while we cannot imagine that it will 

 prove useful or even intelligible to the telegraph engi- 

 neers for whose benefit we may suppose it was put 

 together. J. T. B. 



Third Annual Report of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, for the Year 1 884. (.Albany, N. Y. : 

 Weed, Parsons, and Co.) 

 This Experiment Station was established by an .Act of 

 Legislature passed in iSSo, and amended in 1S81. The 

 management is intrusted to a Board of Trustees, who 

 appoint a director, horticulturist, botanist, chemist, 

 stenographer, farmer, and assistants. Such an organisa- 

 tion must be considered as a step in advance beyond 

 anything yet done in this country, being a direct action 

 on the part of the Government to promote the exact 

 knowledge of agriculture. This is the main point we 

 desire to bring before the readers of NATURE. Among 

 the many voices raised on beh;Uf of technical instruction 

 of artisans and others eirgaged in industrial pursuits, or 

 of musicians and artists, few are to be heard in favour 

 of the promotion of exact agricultural knowledge. The 

 Americans are wiser, and are establishing what they call 

 ' experiment stations " in various parts of their wide 

 territory. A few of the objects of investigation at pre- 

 sent occupying the attention of the staff" of the New York 

 Station may be enumerated as follows : — (i) Fertiliser 

 analysis ; (2) sample orchards containing single trees of 

 each known variety ; (3) soil temperatures at various 

 depths ; (4) digestibility of various foods ; (5) germina- 

 tion of commercial seed ; (6) a study of maize ; (7) root- 

 distribution by root-washings ; (8) milk ; (9) diseases of 

 plants. These sections furnish material for 41S pages, 

 abounding in tables of results of great practical value. 

 The pams taken in thoroughly working out the conditions 

 of milk-production in the case of two cows, '' Meg" and 

 " Gem," are evidence of great activity and zeal. The 

 weight of the cows was taken daily from September 17 

 to November 12. The weight of food consumed, the 

 accurate analysis of the food, the daily weight of solid 

 and liquid excrements, the daily yield of milk, the daily 

 analysis of the milk, — all this carefully and punctually 

 recorded, and fixed in tables, is a work of great import- 

 ance, not only as bearing directly upon dairying, but 

 having likewise a physiological value. Such constant 

 daily observations are not only essential, if the experi- 

 ment is to be of any practical value, but must be beyond 

 the efforts of practical farmers, who really ought not to 

 undertake such investigations. But the value to the 

 community at large when such experiments are conducted 

 quietly and regularly by persons specially set apart and 

 paid to carry them out cannot be overrated. They must 

 not be attempted by ordinary dairymen in ordinary stalls, 

 and with ordinary business appliances, but can only be 

 carried out by trained hands, in specially constructed 

 stalls and with special arrangements, all of which must 



