Feb. lo, 1^587] 



NATURE 



339 



Time has not yet shown whether the new generation of 

 breeders raised from selected ova of the largest trout, in 

 their turn produce still finer ova and fry, but there can be 

 little doubt that this will be the case. 



The history of the gradual improvement of the pisci- 

 cultural apparatus given in Chapters VHI. to XVII. is 

 extremely interesting. A detailed account is contained 

 in the^e chapters of the increasing amount of stock, and 

 of the hatching operations in succeeding seasons. But 

 enough has been said to show the character and value 

 of the first part of the work. The second part will contain 

 descriptions of the experiments which have been made 

 at Howietoun since the establishment reached its present 

 complete and efficient condition. J. T. C. 



HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT 

 Elements of Harmony and Counterpoint. By F. Daven- 

 port, Professor of Harmony, &c., Royal Academy of 

 Music. .(London: Longmans, 1887.) 

 VT'EARS ago, when the laws of musical sounds, like the 

 laws of Nature before Newton, lay hid in night, it 

 was not unusual for clever and ingenious writers on music 

 to invent what they called " systems of harmony.' They 

 found certain combinations and progressions in use by 

 by the best composers, and they conceived it to be their 

 duty to explain, or account for, or justify these by some 

 kind of imaginary natural principles, more or less fanciful, 

 which they conjured up out of their inner consciousness, 

 to tit the case. But, unfortunately, these writers widely 

 disagreed among theinselves as to the principles on which 

 their theories should be based, and the result was such a 

 mass of contradiction and confusion that the very name 

 of theoretical harmony became a by-word and a scandal, 

 until the Newton of musical acoustics, Helmholtz, arose, 

 and, by explaining the real nature of musical sensations, 

 swept away these fanciful inventions into deserved 

 oblivion. 



Among these systems, however, was one, published in 

 1845, by a Dr. Alfred Day, which had the great good luck 

 to be admired and patronised by no less a personage than 

 Sir George Macfarren, the Principal of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of Music. So far as we know, this admiration has 

 not been widely shared by musicians in general ; but it 

 would be idle to ignore the great weight that such an 

 opinion must carry, and it is this, no doubt, that has pre- 

 served for Dr. Day's work an existence which might 

 otherwise have terminated long ago. 



It is natural that Prof. Macfarren should wish this 

 system followed at the famed institution over which he 

 presides, and the little book before us appears to be in- 

 tended as a cheap manual for the purpose. No one 

 need object to this, for, when it comes to the practical 

 teaching of harmony, it matters little whose system 

 is followed so that the orthodox forms of writing 

 are taught and recommended. That system is the best 

 which renders this knowledge easiest to acquire. It is a 

 feature of Dr. Day's book, that he lays down strict laws, 

 pretty copiously and peremptorily, as to what ought or 

 ought not to be done, and Mr. Davenport his conscien- 

 tiously carried out this plan. His work bristles through- 

 out with such rules, and we may safely say that if any 



student can succeed, either with or without the professor's 

 help, in mastering them, he ought to be competent to 

 write very good harmony. If he is of an inquiring mind, 

 and wants to know why he is strictly enjoined to do so 

 and so, or strictly forbidden to do so and so, he should 

 postpone his curiosity till he has finished his academical 

 course, and in the meantime be content with the Dicta of 

 Doctor Day. 



We must do Mr. Davenport the justice to remark that 

 he has added to the work an original feature of his own 

 which is worthy of all praise, namely, the combination of 

 counterpoint with harmony-teaching. It is the general 

 custom to give the harmony examples in the form of 

 pianoforte chords, and this produces the anomaly that 

 when rules have to be stated affecting the motion of certain 

 notes, an idea of part- writing must enter which is somewhat 

 foreign to the general system. Our author has taken the 

 bull by the horns, by requiring the student ab initio to 

 write his harmony in separate parts, putting each part on 

 a separate line with its proper clefs. This is an excellent 

 idea. Counterpoint is the highest and most perfect style 

 of musical writing, but it has been much neglected in late 

 days, and iVIr. Davenport has hit upon a happy mode of 

 encouraging its cultivation, which cannot fail to benefit 

 his pupils. 



PEARLS AND PEARLING LIFE 

 Pearls and Pearlini^ Life. By Edwin W. Streeter, 



F.R.G.S. (London : George Bell and Sons, 1SS6.) 

 'IP HE book before us, according to the preface, and as 

 far as we are aware, is the only work in the English 

 language which is entirely devoted to the history of 

 pearls. The introductory chapter is immediately fol- 

 lowed by one which gives a brief historical account of 

 pearls in connection with India, China, Persia, Palestine, 

 Egypt, Ancient Greece and Italy, and Europe in the 

 Middle Ages. This is succeeded by a resume of the 

 ancient ideas respecting the origin and supposed medicinal 

 qualities of pearls, and by a few words on "breeding" 

 pearls. The next chapter treats of the different kinds of 

 pearl-forming mollusks, both marine and fluviatile. The 

 writer then gives an account of the true mother-of-pearl 

 shell, describing its geographical distribution, the differ- 

 ent varieties, its structure, the parasites found within the 

 shells, and their external enemies, their method of getting 

 rid of extraneous substances (stones, small shells, &c.) 

 accidentally introduced within the valves of the shell, and 

 the uses to which the mother-of-pearl is put. The sixth 

 chapter, although headed "The Origin and Formation of 

 Pearls," also refers to the different kinds, such as boiiton 

 pearls, baroque pearls, and coq de perk, the mode of 

 life of the oyster, the positions in which pearls are found, 

 &c. It also treats of the qualities which regulate the 

 value of pearls. The next chapter gives a short account 

 of the Sooloo Archipelago, the natives as pearl-divers, 

 and their method of dredging. Then follows a good 

 description of the fisheries of North-West Australia and 

 Torres Strait, and this is succeeded by an interesting 

 chapter entitled " Pearling Life at the Present Day," wliich 

 is practically descriptive of pearling expeditions made by 

 Mr. Streeter's vessel, the Sree Pas Hair, from Singapore 



