April 20, 1871] 
and the legislation which had taken place in relation to 
the trade. It is impossible to avoid feeling, however, that 
the interest of such a complete statement is much reduced 
by the events which have occurred since the year to which 
it relates. All industrial improvement in France must be 
greatly retarded, if not converted into retrogression, for 
some time to come. The remarks on the subject of strikes 
form perhaps the most interesting part of the volume. 
England is the birth-place of trades’ unions, and our 
capitalists feel their influence severely; but it is among 
an unstable and disaffected population, like that of the 
French manufacturing and mining districts, that they pro- 
duce really evil effects. M. Burat gives emphatic testi- 
mony to the high character of British workmen, wholly 
uneducated as they oftenare. He says (p. 135), “ Once 
again, in traversing the coal fields of England, we have 
been struck with their superiority, due not only to the 
special conditions of the coal basins, but to the aptitudes 
and the discipline of their working population.” 
W.S. J. 
Fahresbericht uber die Fortschritte der Chemie, und 
verwandter Theile anderer Wissenschaften. Heraus- 
gegeben von Adolph Strecker, fiir 1868. (Giessen, 
1870. London: Williams and Norgate.) 
THE Jahresbericht is too well known as a trustworthy 
book of reference, both for chemists and physicists, 
to need commendation ; and the care and judgment with 
which it is compiled have made it almost indispensable 
to those interested in science. In these days, when the 
amount of work done—both useful and useless—is so 
great, it is no slight convenience to have the year’s labour 
carefully sifted and preserved for reference in a single 
volume. The present volume, under the editorship of 
Herr Adolph Strecker, is arranged with all the care 
which has characterised previous numbers, and contains 
numerous papers of unusual importance. Among the 
most important of these may be noted Becquerel’s re- 
searches on electro-chemical action, Graham’s experiments 
on the occlusion of hydrogen by palladium, and the 
existence of the metal hydrogenium. Rammelsberg’s re- 
searches on the periodates are given at considerable 
length, and also Bunsen’s process for separating the 
platinum metals found in the residues of the Russian 
mint. In the organic section of the book very important 
papers are given on the constitution and derivation of 
benzol, toluol, and napthalin, and Grabe and Liebermann’s 
valuable researches on the preparation of alizarin from 
anthracene are fully described. Perhaps the success of 
the Jahresbericht has caused the Chemical Society to 
make the changes in their journal which, we understand, 
are in contemplation. We believe that it is intended to 
reproduce in the pages of the new journal all important 
researches made in this country and abroad, so that it 
will become to us what the Jahresbericht already is to 
Germany. If the same care is bestowed on its produc- 
tion that has always characterised its German con- 
temporary, we anticipate for it a similar and deserved 
success, Les 
Notes or Fottings about Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Relating to 
Matters Historical, Antiquarian, Ornithological, and 
_ Entomological. By Nicholas Fenwick Hele, Surgeon. 
8vo, pp. 198. (London, 1870.) 
IT is no disparagement to Mr. Hele to say that he is 
not a Gilbert White, and the reviewers who have compared 
this book with the “ Natural History and Antiquities of 
Selborne” have certainly done its author a wrong, while 
they have shown their own want of discrimination. Gil- 
bert White was in the front rank of the naturalists and 
antiquarians of his day ; as an outdoor observer he had 
no equal, and perhaps never will have one. Add to this 
the charming and delicate simplicity of his ideas, rendered 
all the more striking by the slight shade of pedantry which 
NATURE 

485 
not ungracefully tinges his style; for the old pupil of 
Warton never forgot his scholarly breeding, and what 
wonder is there that “ Selborne” is an English classic? If 
ever there was a naturalist in whom the poetic faculty was 
developed, if ever there was one who wittingly or unwit- 
tingly possessed the scientific use of the imagination, 
Gilbert White was the man. Now, there is nothing to 
show that Mr. Hele isacloser observer than (happily) 
many of his fellows, and what he has to say he says in 
very plain, straightforward language. It is clear that he 
keeps his eyes open whene’er he takes his walks abroad, 
but he favours us with few inferences from his own experi- 
ence, Still we must particularly praise the absence of any 
attempt at fine writing, and the consequence is a little 
volume of a kind of which we should be glad to see many 
more. The “matters historical and antiquarian” of which 
he treats are, of course, beside the path of Nature, though 
the old boat found in company with flint-flakes deserves 
the attention of the Anthropological Institute ; but the 
topographical, ornithological, and entomological notes 
include much that is of interest, exception being taken 
perhaps toa few of the statements. However, Mr. Hele’s 
opening assertion that “Aldeburgh, as a place of resort 
for the naturalist, may be fairly classed as one of the most 
attractive localities in the east of England,” is undoubtedly 
true, and his sketch of the neighbourhood shows that he 
appreciates its advantages. We have derived great 
pleasure from this unpretending little volume, and are 
sure most of our readers will do the same. 
Mineralogie der Vulcane. Von G. Landgrebe. (Cassel 
and Leipzig, 1870. London: Williams and Norgate.) 
THIS is not a very satisfactory book. It consists of an 
alphabetical arrangement of minerals with a_ brief 
description of each species, the species selected being 
those which the author regards as volcanic minerals, In 
spite of his title of “ member of several learned societies,” 
we take leave to doubt whether he has any clear idea of 
what a volcanic mineral is. A great part of his book is 
devoted to minerals which, like the zeolites, are not 
original volcanic products, but the result of subsequent 
changes. Any mineral which he can discover to have 
been ever found in an eruptive rock, he sets down in his 
pages as one of the “minerals of volcanoes.” There is 
no critical faculty shown in discriminating between 
the primary and secondary ingredients in volcanic rocks. 
A good work on volcanic minerals properly so called, 
with a minute and exhaustive examination of their micro- 
scopic structure, and a philosophic induction therefrom 
as to some of the conditions under which volcanic action 
must take place, would be a great boon to science. But 
itis not to Dr. Landgrebe that we must look for such a 
treatise. He tells us that perhaps he might have delayed 
thé: publication of his volume until he could take ad- 
vantage of the results which the new development of 
mineralogy through the application of the microscope 
promises to furnish ; but as he found the delay might 
prove a tedious one, he decided not to wait any longer, 
but to present his labour of “ Lust und Liebe” to the 
indulgent criticism of the public. Even so; such is the 
history of too many books in the scientific as well as in 
other branches of literature. A. G. 
eee 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his Correspondents. No notice is taken of anon LyYMOUS 
communications. | 

The Science College at Newcastle 
PERMIT me to rectify a misapprehension which appears, not 
through any fault or oversight on your part, in your appreciative 
article upon the College of Physical Science, which the Uni- 
versity of Durham, with the co-operation of the scientific men 
