Jtine 



i. i; 



fa] 



NATURE 



103 



twenty-five years." His official correspondence with the 

 Admiralty commenced in October, 186S ; the early pro- 

 ceedings were reported to the House of Commons in 

 July, 1869, and after much public discussion a statement 

 on the general plan was made to the House in March, 

 1873. The collection of an efficient body of observers 

 was then proceeded with, Colonel (then Captain) Tupman, 

 R.M.A., who was one of the first to offer his services, 

 taking an active part, on the recommendation of Sir 

 George Airy, in the arrangements for the expeditions 

 made under the authority of the Admiralty, and it may be 

 stated here that since his return all the observers were 

 placed under his superintendence at the Royal Observa- 

 tory, for completing their special share in the reductions. 

 He examined every step in the observers' computations, 

 especially all that related to the adjustments of the instru- 

 ments. "Never perhaps," says Sir George, "was such 

 an enormous mass of calculations so severely criticised, 

 and where necessary, repeated." In the latter part of 

 1880, the calculations with portions of introduction for 

 each station, were handed over to Sir George Airy, by 

 Captain Tupman, who was about to leave the country, 

 and the remainder of the work was performed under the 

 immediate guidance of the Astronomer-Royal, who states 

 that it had occupied all the hours, not engaged on routine 

 business, on which he could usually have reckoned for 

 other matters of science. 



The volume is divided into five parts, referring to as 

 many expeditions for the observation of the transit, with 

 an appendix. Part I. treats of the expedition to the 

 Sandwich Islands, and the observations at Honolulu, 

 Kailua, and Waimea ; II. the expedition to Egypt 

 (Mokattam Hills, near Cairo and Suez) ; III. that to 

 Rodriguez, and the observations at Point Venus, Point 

 Coton, and Hermitage Islet ; IV. that to Kerguelen 

 Island, and observations at Observatory Bay, Supply 

 Bay, and Thumb Peak ; and Part V. details operations 

 in New Zealand. The observations and reductions in 

 the expedition to the Sandwich Islands are printed at 

 much length, but particulars relating to the other expedi- 

 tions were presented on the scale which Sir George Airy 

 had proposed in an address to the Royal Astronomical 

 Society in March, 1875. It * s hardly necessary to say 

 that the actual observations of the transit are given in 

 extenso, with full descriptions of the determinations of 

 longitude, whether by telegraph, runs with chronometers, 

 or lunar observations with the transit or alt-azimuth, to 

 which last method Sir George Airy had called early 

 attention, as one which it might be essential to apply in 

 certain cases. The reduction of the observations is 

 carried to the formation of the equations of condition, 

 from which the parallax, &c., have to be determined. 

 Sir G. Airy says he has "endeavoured to give the equa- 

 tions in the shape that will admit of combination in the 

 easiest way for the computer's further operations — 

 (whether he may desire to use the Calculus of Probabili- 

 ties for the whole, or to make any special selection of 

 combinations) — when he shall have decided on the re- 

 corded phase of contact of limbs which he thinks best to 

 adopt." 



The Appendix contains some tabular details and an 

 account of photographic observations of the transit. The 

 photographs are preserved at the Royal Observatory, and 



Sir G. Airy considers it possible that some astronomer 

 may deem them worthy of rediscussion, though he does 

 not anticipate that any great improvement can be made 

 in measuring them. 



This important volume, which extends to over 500 

 pages, is printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Worked Examination Questions in Plane Geontetrical 



Draining. By F. E. Hulme, F.L.S., F.S.A. (London: 



Longmans.) 

 The Art Master at Marlborough College has gathered 

 together in this book 300 problems, chiefly from papers 

 set at the examinations for entrance to the military col- 

 leges. He gives fully worked out solutions to two-thirds 

 of the questions, leaving the student to exercise himself 

 unaided with the remainder. The figures embodying the 

 solutions seem to have been very carefully prepared, and 

 are clearly printed, and each plate is furnished with a 

 blank fly-leaf, making reference easy. 



A fair knowledge of geometry is assumed, but to certain 

 of the questions notes are appended on special points as 

 they arise, such as might not have been dealt with in the 

 text-book or course that the student has worked through. 

 These notes are very good, and not too long ; the author's 

 experience enabling him to anticipate difficulties and to 

 give warning against pitfalls. Especially is the attention 

 of the student drawn to constructions which, though they 

 do not involve much head knowledge, yet require great 

 care to ensure accuracy, and are thus severe tests of neat- 

 ness and power in the use of instruments. In view of 

 the growing importance of graphical methods of obtain- 

 ing numerical results, the acquisition of this sort of hand- 

 skill is becoming every day more desirable. 



This book will be a welcome addition to the appliances 

 of all teachers of the subject, for it will help to fill a 

 wide gap ; still the author might have made it more 

 generally useful by a more judicious arrangement of his 

 materials. The current text-books resemble treatises on 

 arithmetic with very few examples : this volume furnishes 

 an admirable collection of miscellaneous examples, but 

 they are neither graduated nor classified ; and they are 

 too numerous for use by ordinary students after going 

 through a systematic course of instruction in the subject. 

 Teachers will know how to use the materials here pro- 

 vided whilst developing the subject, but their labour 

 would be lightened, and the book made more serviceable 

 for private students, by a classified table of contents or 

 index to the problems. A. R. W. 



Contributions to the History of the Development of the 

 Human Race. By Lazarus Geiger. Translated from 

 the second German edition by Daniel Asher, Ph.D. 

 (Trubner and Co.) 

 The firm of Trubner and Co. has done well in admitting 

 this translation as a member of its Philosophical Scries. 

 The work is a thoughtful contribution by an able linguist 

 to the science of anthropology as elucidated by the study 

 of language. It is full of interesting facts and suggestive 

 ideas concerning each of the following subjects, which 

 form the headings of the six chapters of which the work 

 consists : — The importance of language in the develop- 

 ment of the race, the earliest history of the race as eluci- 

 dated by language, the colour-sense of primitive times, the 

 origin of writing, the discovery of fire, and the primitive 

 home of the Indo-Europeans. 



The Btain and its Functions. By J. Luys. Inter- 

 national Scientific Series, vol. xxxvii. (London : Kegan 

 Paul and Co., 1881.) 

 We consider this a disappointing book, whether we regard 

 it from a physiological or a psychological point of view. 



