September 7, 191 1] 



NATURE 



Mr. Bernard Smith's text-book shows that there is 

 still ground for Mr. Cooley's complaint, for it treats 

 ghysical geography as mainly geology. It describes 

 the physical process at work on the earth's surface, 

 and deals inadequately with the distribution of the 

 results and their influence on human development. 

 The book is admirably illustrated, but a large propor- 

 tion of its 221 figures are geological, and many of 

 the best are from the collection of the Geological 

 Survey. The photograph of the deck of a warship 

 (p. 180) might have been replaced by one of more 

 geographical value. 



The book makes no claim to. originality either in 

 subject or method. It begins with short accounts of 

 the solar system and the atmosphere ; most of the 

 book is devoted to a description of the composition, 

 sculpture, and forms of the land, and it ends with a 

 brief summary of the geological history of the British 

 Isl. s. The author occasionally assumes too much 

 knowledge of other sciences, and gives some explana- 

 tions, as of the electro-magnetic theory of light, which 

 are unnecessary in a geographical text-book. 



On its lines the book is well dene, but the para- 

 graph on p. 12, "The atmosphere is heated chiefly in 

 two ways — by the internal heat of the earth and by 

 the sun's rays," would suggest that the internal heat 

 has a powerful effect. The term caldera is used for 

 a large crater, whereas it is better limited to a 

 crater formed by subsidence. There are inevitably a 

 few mistakes, such as the statement that the 

 Colchester earthquake destroyed from twelve to thir- 

 teen thousand buildings; the title of a view of Stirling 

 calls the river there the Tay, and the Midland Valley 

 of Scotland is described as a lowland plain. 

 Die Elemente des Herzmuskels. By Prof. A. Dietrich. 



Pp- 4°- (J ena : Gustav Fischer, igio.) Price 1.20 



marks. 

 The twelfth of the series of short monographs pub- 

 lished under the editorship of Profs. Gaup and Nagel 

 is a very able and interesting account of the minute 

 structure of cardiac muscle, by Prof. Dietrich, of 

 Eharlottenburg. Perhaps of most value at the moment 

 is his concise and judicious statement of our know- 

 ledge of the structure and distribution of the atrio- 

 ventricular bundle, that complex system of peculiar 

 jfbri s collecting the whole musculature of the heart 

 under its extended grasp, as if for purposes of co- 

 ordination. More original and of great interest is his 

 Escussion as to the meaning of the transverse lines 

 which are still very generally accepted as limits to 

 ■BOse individual cells by the juxtaposition of which 

 the fibres of cardiac muscle are said to be formed. 

 Faith in this view was somewhat shaken when it was 

 found the structural element of major importance, the 

 BJtra-cellular contractile fibrils, swept through these 

 lines without interruption. More recently this view 

 has been still further discredited by proof of their 

 Regularity of occurrence in relation to the nuclei of 

 the tissue. 



Prof. Dietrich does not attempt to arrive at any 

 very definite conclusion in this matter, but his treat- 

 ing in oi the subject includes an excellent and impartial 

 summary of views advanced by other recent investi- 

 gators, and is illuminated by the results of his own 

 experience and observations. It seems clear that 

 these lines are definite incidents of structure of in- 

 variable occurrence and not artifacts due to condi- 

 tions prevailing only at death or in the technique 

 of the histologist. That is to say, Prof. Dietrich 

 makes this clear, and his observations of their differ- 

 ential distribution in various districts of the wall of 

 the heart, and discussion as to the circumstances more 

 characteristically prevalent in each of these districts 

 deserve special attention. 



NO. 2184, VOL. 87] 



Black's Medical Dictionary. Edited by John D. 

 Comrie. Pp. x + 855. Fourth edition.' (London : 

 A. and C. Black, 1910.) Price js. 6d. net. 

 This book, which has now reached its fourth edition, 

 contains an extraordinary amount of information in a 

 comparatively small space. So far as we have been 

 able to test it the details given seem generally to be 

 accurate, and we consider that it well fulfils its 

 avowed function of imparting medical knowledge in 

 comparatively non-technical language, such as is re- 

 quired by the district nurse, health visitor, clergyman 

 and missionary, ship's captain, colonist, traveller, and 

 others. We think that some of the rare conditions 

 mentioned, such as acromegaly, myasthenia, and 

 syringomyelia, might well have been omitted, and 

 the space gained have been devoted to such a subject 

 as the management of labour, which is too briefly 

 treated. Similarly, the pages devoted to the history 

 of anaesthetics are of no real value, and had they been 

 cut down to one-half, and a few practical hints given 

 on the administration of anaesthetics (which occasion- 

 ally has to be done by a missionary, ship's captain, 

 &c), the book would have gained in usefulness. 



What will the Weather be? The Amateur Fore- 

 caster's \'ade Mecum. By H. G. Busk. Pp. 30. 

 (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 191 1.) 

 Price 6d. net. 

 It is less than a year ago that the first edition of this 

 useful booklet appeared. We notice that in the 

 new edition tables for confirming a forecast, and a 

 note on the significance of a barogram, have been 

 added. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can lie undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of. rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other port of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communication*. \ 



The Early History of the Gibraltar Cranium. 



The Gibraltar cranium is generally regarded by anthro- 

 pologists as one of the most important discoveries yet 

 made of the Neanderthal type of man. Unfortunately, its 

 early history is imperfectly known. The two following 

 letters help 'to make good this deficiency. For the first 

 I am indebted to Colonel E. R. Kenyon, Commandant of 

 the Royal Engineers at Gibraltar ; for the second, to the 

 M Busk, daughters of Mr. George Busk, F.R.S., who 



in 1868 presented the cranium to the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, England, of which he was at one time presi- 

 dent. 



Engineer House, 

 Gibraltar, 



April 2, 19 10. 



" In the Minutes of the Gibraltar Scientific Society, 

 under date March 3, 1848, there is this record " : — 



Presented a Human Skull from Forbes Quarry. North 

 Front, by the Secretary. 



" On February 4, 1846, Lieut. Flint, R.A., was elected 

 secretary, and there is no record of any change. The 

 officers of the society were re-elected in February. 1S47, 

 and February, 1848. 



" The last recorded meeting of the society was in May, 



i s S3- 



" The old plans have been examined, and no place 

 named ' Forbes Quarry ' can be found, but I think there 

 can I" no doubt that it is the disused limestone quarry 

 shown on the Ordnance Survey south-east of the ancient 

 ' Forbes Barrier.' The obsolete batteries near there are 

 the ' Forbes Batteries,' and these are the only sites to 

 which the name ' Forbes ' is attached." 



" E. R. Kenyon, 

 " Col., Chief Engineer." 



" P. S.— Lieut. Flint died at Mauritius as a captain on 

 January 12, 1857." 



