64 

editor ; and another, by M. Laudrin, on the Influence of 
Pressure on Chemical Phenomena, being a review of the 
works of MM. Berthelot and Cailletet ; and these, with a 
biographical sketch of Professor Graham, complete the 
section on this science. Similarly, the only information 
that he gives us on Botany is included in an article by 
M. Vignes on the Geographical Distribution of Vegetable 
Species, based on the works of Sir Dalton Hooker (szc), and 
an article by himself on the Maturation of the Cereals. 
Amongst the subjects most fully considered by MM. 
Figuier and De Paryille are the Suez Canal ; the cause of 
the explosion in the Place de Sorbonne, and the recent 
NATURE 

history of picrates and other explosive compounds ; the | 
discussion regarding the modification of the metre; the 
Newton-Pascal forgeries ; chloral and its action ; and the 
deleterious effects of absinthe. The question whether 
Coralline (one of the coal-tar colours) is or is not dele- 
terious as a dye is fully discussed in the volumes of MM. 
Figuier and Dehérain, 
Although it is less extensive in its range of subjects, we 
are inclined to prefer Hirzel andGretschel’s “ Year-book of 
Inventions” to any of the preceding volumes. The depart- 
ments of science which it includes are Astronomy, Physics 
and Meteorology, Mechanics and Mechanical Technology, | 
and Chemistry and Chemical Technology. With the view 
of briefly explaining the arrangement adopted by the 
editors, we may state that under “ Physics and Meteo- 
rology” are included molecular physics, acoustics, optics, 
the theory of heat, and electricity and magnetism. Under 
the heading “Mechanics and Mechanical Technology,” 
only five subjects are considered, but they are all treated 
in considerable detail. They are—dynanometers, mecha- 
nism applied to locomotion (including the mountain 
railway system of Marsh and Fell, the road engines of 
Larmanjat and Thompson, velocipedes,and Kettendampff- | 
schifffahrt or chain-steam-navigation), sewing and knitting 
machines, to which more than thirty pages are devoted, 
and new pumps constructed on various principles. This 
work is executed in a higher scientific spirit than any 
of the preceding volumes, excepting, perhaps, that of 
M. Dehérain. 
It would carry us far beyond the proposed bounds of the 
present article if we were to notice, however briefly, the | 
various German Year-Books that are devoted to special 
subjects, and some of which—as for example the great 
Year-Book of Chemistry founded by Liebig and Kopp— 
are complete histories of the science of which they treat. | 
There are, however, two French Year-Books of this class, 
of comparatively small size, that are deserving of notice, 
‘and which we can strongly recommend to the notice of 
our readers, namely, M. Micé’s “ Rapport sur le Progrés 
de la Chimie Organique,” of which only one volume has 
yet appeared, and M. Vivien de St. Martin’s “L’Année | ut 
| as the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior, and the Mauvaises 
Geographique,” of which the eighth volume, for 1869, is 
now lying before us. Both of these works are models of 
amount of labour on the part of their respective editors. 
We should be very glad to see something like “L’Année 
Geographique” attempted in this country, where we 
have no summary of the annual progress of geographical 
progress, excepting the necessarily imperfect summary 
contained in the anniversary address delivered by the 
President of the Geographical Society. GED. 

[Wov. 24, 1870 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
An Elementary Course of Botany; Structural, Physiolo- 
gical, and Systematical, By Prof. Arthur Henfrey. II- 
lustrated by upwards of 50c Woodcuts. Second 
Edition, revised, and in part re-written, by Maxwell T, 
Masters, M.D. (Van Voorst: 1870.) 
We heartily welcome a new edition of this standard work, 
brought fairly down to the present state of knowledge by 
one of our most active and conscientious botanists. We 
have not yet had time to collate the present edition with 
the original. Cutting the pages (what an unnecessary 
nuisance this isin lesson-books !), no criticism worth noting 
occurs to us, unless it be by way of protest against the 
double index—one of plant-names, the other general and 
glossarial. This is certainly worse than letting the book 
into the market uncut! Had the work been new and 
| original, other comments would not have been wanting ; as 
| it stands, we can only congratulate the editor on the very 
satisfactory way in which he has accomplished his work. 
By the way, with regard to starch, about which Prof. 
Henfrey was rather strong, we can imagine the sort of 
| haze a student who had been grinding from this edition 
(pp. 495-496) would manifest in his paper, were he asked to 
state something of the origin of that substance. Notthat 
there is any inaccuracy in the book, but rather because 
possession of a greater amount of preliminary knowledge 
than it is reasonable to look for seems to be taken for 
granted. Some hint might have been given as to the 
head-quarters of Aleurone. Lastly, we should have pre- 
ferred seeing Amphisarca, Tryma, Diplotegia, and their 
kin quietly dropped out of the edition. We doubt if there 
be a professor of botany in the island worth his salt who 
could define them. po es 
Sketches of Creation. A Popular View of some of the 
Grand Conclusions of the Sciences in reference to the 
History of Matter and of Life. By Alexander Winchell, 
LL.D. (London: S. Low, Son, and Marston, 1870.) 
THE main portion of this volume is occupied by a 
sketch of the geological history of the earth; and had 
Prof. Winchell confined himself within strictly scien- 
tific limits, the book would have been one in every respect 
commendable. ‘The titles of some of the chapters are 
sensational and repellent, e.g. “The Ordeal by Fire,” 
“The Solar System in a Blaze,” “Onward through the 
Ages;” and we could have wished that the author had 
kept aloof from speculations which are, to say the least, 
not profitable to the class to whom the book is addressed 
—on the former gaseous condition of the world and the 
solar system ; and on the possible evolution of an. animal 
superior to man. These parts being eliminated, the book 
may be safely relied on as the work of a practical geolo- 
gist, who has a thorough acquaintance with his subject ; 
and being laudably free from the excessive use of tech- 
nical terms, occupies a placenot precisely filled by any 
English treatise. The illustrations are numerous, and 
very various in quality.. The drawing of Fingal’s Caye 
| at Staffa is a grotesque caricature ; with others we are 
familiar in well nigh every geological handbook ; especially 
interesting to English readers are those illustrative of the 
gigantic scale of geological action in the United States, 
Terres of Dacotah. Two chapters “On the Vitality of 
3 buried Vegetable Germs,” and “ On Prairies and their tree- 
what such volumes ought to be, and show an immense | : , 
lessness,” have special reference to Prof. Winchell’s well- 
known theory that the present vegetation of the prairies 
of America is lineally descended from that of the pre- 
glacial epoch, the seeds having retained their vitality in 
the ground during the whole of the intermediate time. We 
cannot admit that the instances quoted by the author of 
vegetable tissue retaining its s¢rwcture during an enor- 
mous lapse of time, when not exposed to the oxidising 
influence of the air, have any bearing on the question 
s 
