July 23, 1874] 



NATURE 



221 



to science as attend the Association meetings, rather than 

 to the general public. Subscription lists were opened 

 and money came in, not in overflowing abundance indeed, 

 but yet in quantity sufficient to enable the operations to 

 be begun. Further donations have been given, and the 

 work has now been carried down to a depth of more than 

 1,000 ft. 



It would be a great misfortune to science if this under- 

 taking, after having been successfully carried so far, were 

 now to be brought to an abrupt close for want of funds. 

 Already the boring has put us in possession of some new 

 and important facts in the geology of the south-east of 

 England. It has shown that the well-known Kimmeridge 

 clay stretches underneath the later Secondary rocks as 

 a deep massive formation, some 700 ft. in thickness, and 

 that it lies upon and appears to pass down into the 

 Oxfoi'd clay without the intervention of the sandy and 

 calcareous beds which usually separate the two deposits. 

 The geological position of these clays is settled by means 

 of the fossils, of which literally thousands have been taken 

 out of the 2-in. core of rock Ijrought up by the diamond- 

 boring machine. It is intended, we believe, to sort the 

 specimens and distribute them among different public 

 museums. How much further the bore must be sunk 

 before the remainder of the Secondary strata is pierced, to 

 what horizons these strata will be assignable, and what 

 will be their basement rocks, are the parts of the problem 

 still to be solved. 



Though undertaken chiefly in the interest of pure 

 science, the project has likewise its economic aspects. It 

 is eminently desirable to know whether any minerals of 

 value lie among the Secondary rocks of the south of 

 England, such as iron-stone, rock-salt, or gypsum ; 

 whether among the Palaeozoic rocks underneath there is 

 any possibility of obtaining workable coal or any of the 

 other minerals which have made the Carboniferous forma- 

 tions so valuable a source of our wealth. It is likewise 

 greatly to be wished that as full and accurate information 

 as possible should be obtained regarding the nature of 

 the rocks underneath with reference to the question of 

 water-supply — a question which, important enough now, 

 is certain before many years to become one of the most 

 pressing social problems of the day. 



On every ground, therefore, this most heroic attempt 

 to provide data for settling some of these questions 

 deserves hearty encouragement. On no account must it 

 be allowed to come to an end till its express object is 

 accomplished. If every well-wisher to science in this 

 country would but send his contribution, not only would 

 the present boring be conducted to a successful issue, 

 but a great series of similar borings might be made all 

 over the south of England. We understand that the 

 Government, impressed with the interest and importance 

 of the subject, has promised to contribute a sum of 1,000/. 

 conditionally upon coal being found or on the boring 

 being continued for another 1,000 ft. This aid will be 

 valuable, but it evidently in the meantime does not 

 supersede private efforts ; it rather makes them more 

 needful than ever. The undertaking is in excellent 

 hands. Mr. Topley, of the Geological Survey, looks 

 after its geological aspects. To Mr. Henry Willett, 

 of Arnold House, Brighton, the zealous and inde- 

 fatigable honorary secretary, the enterprise is mainly 



indebted for its financial progress so far. He has 

 now appealed earnestly for further help, and to him we 

 would urge all who take interest in these matters, and who 

 have not already contributed, to send their donations, 

 which, whether small or large, will at the present moment 

 be of the most essential service. A. G. 



THE SCIENCE OF PAINTING 

 Die Farbenlehre im Hinblick aiif Kunst mid Knnsfgc- 



iverbe. Von Prof. Wilhelm von Bezold. 

 '"{"'HERE are two ways of popularising science. We 

 -B- may take up one of its great branches and treat it 

 so simply and clearly that even the unscientific reader 

 may with proper attention gain some insight into the 

 principles to which the recent great advances in 

 science have been chiefly due ; or we may take up a 

 smaller field and treat it fully and with all its applications 

 in everyday life. He who studies a subject by the latter 

 method will have it constantly brought under his notice, 

 and will thus be led to observe and perhaps to experi- 

 ment, and to acquire for himself that method of looking at 

 the phenomena of nature and reasoning about them which 

 is necessary to the understanding of every great principle 

 in science, but which is foreign to nearly all who have not 

 had a scientific training. 



The latter method, which no doubt will prove the most 

 successful, has been chosen by Prof von Bezold in his 

 work on the theory of colours. No subject is better fitted 

 to be treated in this way, because it is in everybody's 

 power to make observations, and perhaps even to find 

 out some new fact. It is, however, not the only, and not 

 even the chief, object of the author to create merely an 

 interest in his subject outside the scientific world. He 

 wishes his book to be of real value to the artist and to 

 help him by theoretical speculations to such combinations 

 of colour as shall prove most effectual. It is very doubt- 

 ful whether the book will be successful in this respect. 

 No doubt it would be a great achievement if every artist 

 could be induced to think about the cause of the various 

 and curious effects which are brought about by contrast 

 and combination of colours ; we therefore recommend 

 the careful perusal of Prof, von Bezold's book to every 

 painter. In the present state of the theory of colours, 

 however, the attention bestowed upon it by artists will be 

 of greater value to the subject than to themselves. It 

 would no doubt be injurious to art if the painter were guided 

 in his work by a theory so long as that theory is incom- 

 plete. 



Painters are, however, themselves best able to bring 

 the theory of colours into a better state ; a state in which 

 it will be beneficial to themselves and repay them for their 

 trouble. 



Two things have chiefly struck us in Prof, von Bezold's 

 book as adding to its value and interest. The first is the 

 care which he has taken to give his experiments in such 

 a way that anyone without the use of large and expensive 

 apparatus can repeat them and test for himself the truth 

 of the author's statements. The second is thegreat ingenuity 

 with which the author explains by his theory so many of 

 the phenomena which most of us daily observe. We 

 note one particular instance. All who have worked much 

 at absorption spectra must have been struck by the 



