2;,o 



uVA TURE 



[December 24, 1908 



The National Museum of the United States has made 

 a new departure in the formation of series of exliibits to 

 illustrate the main religions of the world, a scheme which 

 nad its origin at the Chicago Exhibition of iSgi. In 

 pursuance of this idea, collections have been made to illus- 

 li-ate the ceremonies of the various Christian Churches, 

 I!rahmanism, and Buddhism. We have now, under the 

 editorship of Messrs. C. Adler and I. M. Casanovich, a 

 catalogue of a collection of Jewish ceremonial objects 

 which is of considerable interest. It seems to be an 

 amplification of a similar catalogue issued in 1901, which 

 was confined to a collection of articles lent for exhibition 

 by Hadji Ephraem Benguiat. It contains accounts, with 

 good illustrations, of many curious and beautiful objects 

 with which few but members of the Jewish community are 

 familiar. Particularly deserving of notice are the veils 

 of the Holy Ark, which are fine examples of embroidery ; 

 the mantles and wrappers of the Torah scrolls ; some 

 graceful hanging lamps ; phylacteries and amulets ; vessels 

 used in the Passover service ; implements employed in 

 ritual, sacrifice, and circumcision. The collection, besides 

 its ritualistic and artistic importance, possesses considera- 

 able interest for anthropologists. 



The publication of a new guide to the anthropological 

 department at -South Kensington, issued by the trustees 

 of the British Museum, and sold at the modest price of 

 4d., throws an unpleasant light upon this series of exhibits. 

 While the admirable new shilling guide to the Egyptian 

 galleries occupies 325 pages, and contains 233 plates and 

 other illustrations, thirty-one pages and si.xteen photo- 

 graphs exhaust the anthropological series. Though not 

 calculated to excite interest among those to whom the 

 subject is unfamiliar, the guide, as might have been ex- 

 pected from the author, Mr. Lydekker, seems to be gener- 

 ally accurate. It is rather confusing, however, to divide 

 the Dravidians of southern India into Telugus, Tamils, 

 Malayalims, and so on, because these are linguistic, not 

 ethnological, terms ; and to speak of the first of these 

 groups as if it were confined to the northern Circars is 

 inaccurate. Possibly it is only from this corner of the 

 tract occupied by the Telugu-speaking people that speci- 

 mens are at present available. The inadequacy of the 

 collections as they stand may be measured by the fact that 

 while the attention of anthropologists has been in recent 

 years attracted to the Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula 

 by the great work of Mr. Skeat, they seem to be repre- 

 sented in the museum by a single photograph of a Sakai. 

 When the Bureau of Ethnology gets to work these short- 

 comings in the national collection will doubtless be 

 remedied ; but in the meanwhile. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe 

 is quite justified in remarking that in recent years the 

 anthropological series has not increased so rapidly as is 

 desirable, and in expressing a hope that the publication 

 of this guide-book may stimulate public interest and 

 induce British colonial officials and travellers to endeavour 

 to supply the deficiencies in this important series. 



The Survey Department, Egypt, has issued its Meteor- 

 ological Report for 1906, consisting, as before, of two 

 parts : — (i) hourly observations and means for Hehvan 

 Observatory, to which the records of a self-registering 

 electrograph are now added ; (2) climatological, rainfall, 

 and river-gauge observations at a large number of 

 stations, with a chronicle of the chief weather conditions 

 of each month. Rainfall at the Egyptian stations was in 

 slight defect, but over the Sudan plains the excess was 

 about 22 per cent. The Nile presented several features 

 of interest during the year : these have been discussed by 

 Captain Lyons in a separate publication. 

 NO. 204,-5, VOL. 79] 



' The Annuario of the Messina Observatory for 1907 has 

 been received. We have previously directed attention to 

 the useful work carried on by Prof. G. B. Rizzo and hi- 

 small staff ; meteorological observations made at several 

 hours daily, with means and extremes, are given for the 

 chief station, together with monthly and annual summaries 

 for temperature, rainfall, &c., for a number of provincial 

 stations. Particulars of earthquake phenomena registered 

 at Messina and other places are also collected and dis- 

 cussed by Prof. Rizzo personally. In the year 1906 the 

 director of the Potsdam magnetic observatory proposed to 

 the Italian Government the establishment of a .magnetic 

 station in the south of Italy, as part of an international 

 programme for the special study of that subject. For 

 this purpose Messina has been selected as a suitable 

 locality, thus making a useful addition to the study of 

 terrestrial physics at the important observatory attached 

 to the University of that city. 



The 'Ncue Dcnkschriften of the Swiss Society of Natural 

 Sciences, vol. xlii., contains a useful discussion of the 

 climate of Davos by Dr. Hugo Bach. Observations were 

 commenced by the society in 1867, but are not quite con- 

 tinuous ; the station is situated in a broad valley, at an 

 altitude of 5118 feet, and owing to its surroundings the 

 climate is of a much more continental type than is usual 

 at ordinary mountain stations. The most important factor 

 is the low pressure, corresponding to the altitude, as it 

 affects to a considerable extent the conditions of radiation 

 and temperature. The difference of absolute humidity 

 between Davos and the lowlands is very great, especially 

 during winter, and under these conditions the readings of 

 the solar radiation thermometer on bright January days 

 often record a temperature considerably above 100°, while 

 the screen thermometer reads below 14° F. ; this fact is 

 naturally of very great importance to invalids. The abso- 

 lute range of shade temperature between 1867 and 1905 is 

 given as 110° F., the extreme readings being 84°-4, in July, 

 1900, and — 25°.6, in January, 1905. The average per- 

 centage of possible sunshine is given as :• — winter, 53'9 ; 

 spring, 50-7 ; summer, 54-2 ; autumn, 56-1. The average 

 annual rainfall amounts to nearly 36 inches ; the wettest 

 months are from June to September. 



An account of the first portion of the work on the gas 

 thermometer which has been in progress in the geo- 

 physical laboratory of the Carnegie Institution at Washing- 

 ton since 1904 under the charge of Messrs. Day and 

 Clement appears in the November number of the American 

 Journal of Science. The constant-volume nitrogen in 

 platinum-iridium thermometer is used, and the range of 

 the instrument has been increased by enclosing the bulb 

 in a gas-tight bomb containing nitrogen at the same 

 pressure as that in the bulb. The expansion of the 

 material of the bulb was determined to within J per 

 cent., and the unheated space between the bulb and mano- 

 meter reduced to about one-third of its least previous 

 value. The authors give the following melting points as 

 accurate to within half a degree :— zinc, 4i8°.5; silver, 

 9S8°-3 ; gold. ioS9°-3 ; copper, io8i°-o C. 



The important series of papers on fluorescence and 

 phosphorescence which have appeared in the Physical 

 Review during the last two years from the pens of Profs. 

 Nicholls and Merritt have shown that the present theories 

 of these and kindred phenomena are quite inadequate, 

 and that Stokes's law that the wave-length of the light 

 sent out by a fluorescent body was greater than that of 

 the exciting radiation, is not correct. These facts have 

 I led Prof, de Kowalski to put forward in the October 



