Dee. 16, 1869] 
NATURE 187 
and the pargasite (aluminous) varieties, (c) arfvedsonite ; 
Thirdly, wollastonite. 
Of course only a few leading varieties are here noticed. 
As regards other names introduced by Professor Dana, we 
are fain to accept even so uncomfortable a name as pro- 
chlorite in place of chlorite, a term to the chemist’s ears so 
ambiguous in its sound. To most of Professor Dana’s 
other changes, also, we with more or less of readiness 
subscribe ; though against the barbarous conversion, not 
newly introduced into this edition of Dana, of one of 
the most ancient terms in mineralogy, pyrites, into pyrite, 
in flagrant defiance of all etymological principle, we must 
continually protest. 
We have noticed the more important novel features in 
this fifth edition. There is still much to be said regarding 
the degree of fulness with which different parts of the 
descriptions of the minerals are given, such as the pyro- 
gnostic characters, and the treatment of the chemical 
analyses. But when we consider the vast amount of 
matter collected into some 800 closely-printed pages, the 
scrupulous care with which so enormous a number of 
references has been made to the labours of mineralogists, 
extending over the whole area of the scientific literary 
works of a century past—ay, and often into the two or 
three centuries before that ; when we remember that the 
progress of the science up to 1868 is thus fully, concien- 
tiously, and elaborately recorded, we can only thank Pro- 
fessor Dana, in the name of European mineralogists, for 
the very valuable volume by which he has so much 
lightened their labours : and with his name we must asso- 
ciate that of the accomplished mineralogist who has shared 
his labours, Prof. Brush. If in fulness their joint work does 
not come up to the now, alas! almost obsolete work of 
Hausmann, itis three times more portable. W. H. Miller’s in- 
valuable book, modestly called by him an edition of Phillips, 
is again a mineralogical crystallography. The only book 
that at present professes to cover the ground occupied by 
Professor Dana’s work is the admirable JZanuel of Des 
Cloizeaux, of which, however, only one volume has yet 
appeared, but which unites to the sort of originality in 
crystallographic and physical research which gives Miller’s 
work its value, something of the universality of treatment 
which Dana gives to his mineral species. We wish, 
indeed, that M. Des Cloizeaux could have given up the 
microscopic fractions that characterise the French system 
of crystallographic notation, and torment the crystallo- 
grapher’s hardly-used eyes, for the more elegant notation 
of Miller, as he has in fact adopted the stereographic 
projection. But we look keenly forward to the publication 
of the second volume at the hands of the new member of 
the Institute ; and, while we do so, we feel confident that 
as in matter it will be as masterly as the first, and as in- 
dispensable to the scientific mineralogist, so it will satisfy 
scientific needs that differ in kind from those felt by a 
large proportion of the practical men in whose hands 
Professor Dana’s book will still be a standard treatise. 
We have said enough to point out the extreme value of 
Professor Dana’s book, which, taken as an indication of 
the present state of science in America, is of the 
best possible augury ; and we may add that mineralogy 
is not the only science represented in high-class American 
text-books. Chauvenet’s “Astronomy” is another instance 
which at once suggests itself. 
N. STORY MASKELYNE 
BIBLIOTHEQUE DES MERVEILLES 
L’Acoustique, ou les Phénoménes du Son. Par R. Radau. 
Ouvrage illustré de 114 vignettes—L’Optigue. Par 
F. Marion. Ouvrage illustré de 70 vignettes sur bois, 
et dune planche tirée en couleur—L’ El@tricité. Par 
J. Baille. 71 vignettes.—Les Forces Physigues. Par 
Achille Cazin. 58 vignettes. (Hachette; Paris and 
London.) 
Thunder and Lightning. By W.de Fonvielle. Translated 
from the French and edited by T. L. Phipson, Ph.D., 
F.C.S.—The Phenomena and Laws of Heat. By 
Achille Cazin. Translated and edited by Elihu 
Rich. (London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston.) 
aij ese works form part of a series having the general 
title, “Bibliothéque des Merveilles,” which will be 
extended to about a hundred volumes, and will form a 
Cyclopeedia of the more prominent wonders of the universe 
—of all that is “most admirable in Nature, in the sciences, 
in industry, in history, in man.” It is published under the 
direction of M. Edouard Charton, and the main object to 
be attained by it is “seconder Pheureux mouvement qui 
porte aujourd’hui toutes les classes de la société vers lin- 
struction.” The majority of the volumes which have 
already appeared relate to applied science,and here we may 
remark that MM. Hachette have done much to disseminate 
a taste for science among all classes by the publication of 
works suited to the most varied capabilities and the 
most varied means. Commencing at one end of his 
series, we have twenty and thirty franc “editions de 
luxe” of the Ze Crel and Phénoménes de la Physique 
class ; and, passing through various gradations, we arrive 
at length at the two-franc volumes of the “Bibliothéque 
des Merveilles.” The last volumes have much to recom- 
mend them; they are, for the most part, popular in 
style; they are well illustrated, well printed, and unde- 
niably cheap, and they are written by men, among 
whom are many who are engaged in giving instruction 
in one or other of the multifarious educational estab- 
lishments of France. We have no series of books in this 
country to compare for excellence and cheapness with 
these, and this mainly arises from the fact that science 
does not form an essential part of our educational system, 
as it does of that of France. The volumes of the “Biblio- 
théque des Merveilles” can be sold in France at less 
than one-half the price which would be demanded in this 
country, because the publisher can feel certain when he 
issues his work that a large number will find their way 
into the various schools and colleges of the Empire. 
M. Radau’s “Acoustics” is quite a type of a French 
popular scientific work ; with every desire to convey as 
much information as possible, the author will not give up 
a certain amount of light amusing matter, and a popular 
style. How surprised we should be in this country to see 
a woodcut of a dancing bacchante (somewhat like Salvioni) 
in a chapter entitled “Le Timbre,” and not far from a 
representation of the “ Progression d’une vibration longi- 
tudinale.” A vague unscientific reader might be led to 
find an analogy between Cagniard de la Tour's syren and 
Radau’s bacchante ; the bacchante occupies a full page, 
while the syren has a little strip of space in the text, 
and we ultimately discover that the former has been 
introduced solely for the purpose of showing the 
crotalon. Among the many good features of this book, 
