April 15, 1866] 



NA TURE 



557 



tence was penned. The following description of the horn 

 of the rhinoceros is however quite beyond our compre- 

 hension : — "The head weapons are solid horny projec- 

 tions of the nasal bone, which rise into a flat hump 

 within equalities of the bone substance. From this 

 characteristic feature it can in most cases be determined 

 whether the fossil animals of the rhinoceros species 

 possessed horns" (p. 194). 



There is so much solid and useful information in the 

 work, brought down to the most recently-published re- 

 searches, as, for instance, those of Nehring, Branco, and 

 Pidtrement on extinct horses, that, if it had been subjected 

 to careful revision by any one conversant both with the 

 subject and the English language, it would have made a 

 popular and readable manual of great educational value. 



W. H. F. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Chemistry of the Non-Metallics. By E. B. Aveling, D.Sc. 



(London: Joseph Hughes, 1886.) 

 Dr. Aveling tells us in the preface that " few people 

 have as hearty a dislil.e for the whole system of examina- 

 tions as himself Theoretically, the object of the acqui- 

 sition of knowledge is the bettering of human conditions. 

 Practically, to-day the end and sole object is the passing 

 of some examination " ; after which the subject is shelved 

 indefinitely in perhaps most cases. This seems to be 

 the author's opinion, and it is doubtless correct in the 

 main. But people who have even learned enough " to 

 pass" one of the examinations the author names — the 

 Matriculation (London) or the Elementary Stage (South 

 Kensington) — must surely be in a better condition than 

 before, spite of the inane questions the author speaks of 

 as being set. 



The extent of the book is to the so-called non-metallic 

 elements only, their preparation, reactions, &c., and 

 questions, including arithmetical problems, follow each 

 element treated of. 



The plan is very complete, perhaps too complete, for 

 very young students such as we have nowaday. For 

 instance, under the heading of each element is given — 

 (A) Symbol, (B) weight number (atomic weight), (C) 

 preparation, with several methods in exte?iso, (D) proper- 

 ties, with further numerated subsections I to 6, &c. Even 

 Greek letters are used for " planning out" a property, of 

 a substance, &c. 



Although the author starts by telling us how he dislikes 

 examinations, his little book is eminently meant to cram 

 students up for them. It is evidently intended to be 

 used as a class-book, so that the beginner will have the 

 assistance of a teacher to make a beginning. 



There are a few misprints, and the descriptions are 

 obscure in places. 



Why do people who write little books always begin 

 with hydrogen ? In this book we begin with hydrogen, 

 valency, ice, water, steam, latent heat, ammonia, and 

 then come to oxygen, which has been spoken of as if we 

 knew all about it. We certainly think, with most Ger- 

 man teachers, that it is most logical to commence with 

 oxygen and nitrogen and the atmosphere. There is much 

 less knowledge of other substances to be assumed. 



Hand-book of Mosses, with an Account of their Structure, 

 Classification, Geographical Distribution, and Habitats. 

 By James E. Bagnall, A.L.S. (Swan Sonnenschein and 

 Co., 1886.) 



This little book is a popular, but on the whole accurate, 

 account of the best-known British mosses. The chapter 

 on development, usually the weakest part of hand-books 

 of this kind, is better than usual. We must however call 



attention to the confusion between " cuticle " and " epi- 

 dermis " on p. 1 9, and to the unnecessarily bewildering 

 description of the development of the spores on the 

 following page. 



The longest and also the best chapter is that on moss 

 habitats, containing a very clear general description of 

 the most important species, arranged according to the 

 localities in which they are to be found. The following 

 chapter, that on classification, is certainly not up to date, 

 but perhaps the arrangement adopted is not intended for 

 a natural one. The remaining sections, on distribution, 

 cultivation, uses, and the preparation of specimens, are 

 slight, but good as far as they go. 



The book ought to be useful as an introduction to the 

 systematic study of mosses. D. H. S. 



The Tourist's Guide to the Flora of the Alps. By Prof 



K. W. V. Dalla-Torre. Translated and Edited by 



Alfred W. Bennett, M.A.. B.Sc, F.L.S. (Swan 



Sonnenschein and Co., 1886.) 



Mr. Bennett has introduced to English tourists a 



most convenient and useful Alpine flora. It is issued in 



a handy pocket-book form, and ought to be very popular 



with all travellers who take any interest in plants. The 



author had originally excluded the " commonest and 



most ubiquitous plants," but some even of these have 



been added by the translator, and all those nati\es of the 



Alpine districts which are not described in the flora 



proper will be found enumerated in an appendix. 



Only two suggestions occur to us. Might not the 

 often difficult work of identification be facilitated by the 

 introduction of one or two analytical tables, such as those 

 in Wiinsche's " Schul-Flora von Deutschland .''" They 

 need not much increase the bulk of the book. And 

 secondly, might it not be better, in a work intended for 

 English tourists, and not for scientific men, to substitute 

 English measures for those of the metric system ? The 

 latter ought by this time to be equally familiar with our 

 own to educated people, but as a matter of fact we fear 

 they are not so. D. H. S. 



Nemtoti : His Friend: and His Niece. By the late 

 Augustus De Morgan. Edited by his Wife and by his 

 Pupil, Arthur Cowper Ranyard. (London : Elliot 

 Stock, 1885.) 

 The nucleus of the volume entitled as above was formed 

 by an article written in 1858 for the Companion to the 

 British Almanac. Its rejection brought to a close the 

 remarkable series of Prof De Morgan's contributions to 

 that publication. The undivulged article, however, as 

 years went on, grew by gradual accretions to the propor- 

 tions of a book, now at last posthumously given to the 

 world. Its primary object is to clear the character of 

 Newton from the odious imputation of having counten- 

 anced immorality for the sake of personal advancement. 

 This, in our opinion, has been satisfactorily attained. 

 The researches here embodied afford strong grounds for 

 the persuasion that there was no immorality to counten- 

 ance. The sneer enshrined in No. 21 of Voltaire's 

 "Lettres Philosophiques" (1765) thus at last loses its 

 sting. 



Catherine Barton, the " famous witty Miss Barton," as 

 she was called in the Gentleman's Magazine, was the 

 daughter of the Rev. Mr. Barton, by Hannah Smith, 

 Newton's half-sister, and was born in 1680. Educated at 

 the charge of her uncle, she came to keep house for him 

 in London a year or two before 1700. Her beauty 

 and brilliancy were the talk of the town, and 

 won her the homage of men eminent for position 

 and parts. She was amongst those whom Swift 

 "loved best"; "j'ai conservd," Remond de Mont- 

 mort wrote in 1716, "I'idee du monde la plus magnifique 

 de son esprit et de sa beautd ; " Charles Montague, Earl 

 of Halifax, formed for her a devoted and life-long attach- 



