Oct. 14, 1886] 
NATURE 
569 
city), has a general death-rate aéove the standard death- 
rate of the city, an infantile death-rate adove the standard 
infantile death-rate of the city, and especially that the 
fatality of those diseases which are directly related to 
overcrowding or deficiency of breathing-space—viz. 
diseases of the lungs and infectious diseases—is in excess 
in those districts.” 
Dr. Russell also discusses such subjects as the per- 
centage of uncertified deaths, and the insurance of lives 
in friendly societies, the relations of legitimacy and 
illegitimacy to certification and insurance, and their 
bearings on the social conditions of poor populations— 
subjects of great interest to philanthropists and sanitary 
reformers, as indicating the instincts and habits of so 
large a mass of our poor populations. The rest of Dr. 
Russell’s Report is of more purely local interest ; but 
enough has been said to show that Glasgow, if it has 
been in want of sanitary reform, has not been behind- 
hand in what may be described as one of the greatest 
works of the age, and that philanthropy in this case has 
met with its due reward in the vast improvements effected 
in the social condition of the people. 
THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE 
The Fresh-Water Fishes of Europe. A History of their 
Genera, Species, Structure, Habits, and Distribution. 
By H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., &c. With 214 Illustrations. 
8vo. Pp. vi. and 444. (London, Paris, New York, and 
Melbourne: Cassell and Co., 1886.) 
A WORK containing an original, exhaustive, and 
critical account of the fresh-water fishes of Europe, 
such as might bear the title heading thisnotice, would bean 
undertaking which would require on the part of the author 
a thorough acquaintance with ichthyology, considerable 
experience with the method of ichthyological research, an 
autoptical examination of many of the types preserved in 
the various European museums, and, finally, the forma- 
tion of a collection more complete than the combined 
series of European fresh-water fishes in the museums of 
London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg; in 
fact,an undertaking that would occupy the greater portion 
of a life-time, and stand as a monument of which any 
naturalist might be proud. 
We have too high an opinion of Prof. Seeley’s abilities 
to doubt fora moment that he might have produced a 
standard work of this nature, if he had chosen to devote 
the requisite time and labour to it. But what he has 
really accomplished is merely a compilation from the 
standard works mentioned in his preface, without the 
addition of any new facts or observations, and without 
any attempt at such a critical treatment of the subject 
as might be expected from an author acquainted with the 
objects described. His book, in fact, might have been 
compiled in the author’s own library or in that of the 
British Museum without his looking at a single fish. The 
illustrations are no less wanting in originality ; with the 
exception of half-a-dozen anatomical figures familiar to 
every ichthyologist, the remaining 208 are simply borrowed 
from Heckel and Kner, “ Siisswasserfische der 6streich- 
ischen Monarchie” ; and consequently no fish peculiar to 
any other part of Europe or absent from the Austrian 
fauna is represented in the book. It should be remem- 
bered, however, that at the date of their publication 
(1858) the two Austrian ichthyologists above named were 
enabled to include in their fish-fauna a number of the 
species of Northern Italy. We think that the source 
whence the illustrations were taken should have been 
stated in the preface. 
As regards the usefulness of the book, there cannot be 
any doubt that a handy book on the fresh-water fishes of 
Europe was a great desideratum. A glance at the natural- 
history columns of the Feld, Land and Water, and other 
weekly papers shows the great number of travellers on 
the Continent who seek for information about fresh-water 
fishes which are strange to them, and to whom the 
original works wherein they could find it are either un- 
known or unintelligible. For this large class of the non- 
scientific public Prof. Seeley has supplied a real want and 
a useful book of reference, the utility of which would 
have been much greater could he have induced his 
publishers to go to the expense of figuring other fishes 
besides those found in Austria ; and we cordially join him 
in the hope “that the fabric of the work will give a new 
interest to the fishes of our own country, and may influ- 
ence British peoples to a thrifty cultivation of the roving 
wealth which swims, little heeded, in our forms of fresh- 
water fish life.” 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Papers in Inorganic Chemistry. Part I. Non-Metals. 
Part II. Non-Metals and Metals. By George E. R. 
Ellis, F.C.S. (London: Rivingtons, 1886.) 
THIS is a collection of examination questions arranged 
progressively, and is intended for the use of science 
teachers and students. The idea is a good one, and we 
have no hesitation in saying that the book will be 
appreciated by those for whose benefit it has been com- 
piled. Although we are far from approving of the present 
mania for examinations, we agree with the author that 
the conscientious answering of well-selected questions is 
of great advantage to the student. It not only tests his 
knowledge gained from text-books and from lectures, but 
it renders it more accurate and permanent. 
The solution of chemical problems is generally a weak 
point with beginners, and we are glad to see a fair pro- 
portion of such problems in Mr. Ellis’s book. There are, 
however, a few arithmetical questions which appear a 
little out of place in papers in inorganic chemistry. On 
p. 6, for instance, there is one on the tonnage of the s.s. 
Oregon, and others may be found on pp. 10, 12, 30, &c. 
EERE SS DOL LL, PDE LOR 
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 
pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to 
return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- 
scripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 
that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 
of communications containing interesting and novel Sacts.) 
Our Guns 
Your article on the above (p. 517) induces me to repeat an 
appeal which I made ten years ago in a paper on ‘‘ Explosive 
Compounds,” contributed to Stanford’s “‘ British Manufacturing 
Industries.” I there pointed out the enormous discrepancy 
between the results obtained in the testing of the pressure 
exerted by the explosion of gunpowder by the Government 
Committee on Explosives and those of Count Rumford 
made in 1793, and described in his essay on “The Force of 
