August 6, i8y6 



A\^ TURE 



pounded are recommended for use for skins infested with 

 insects, for it prevents insect pests and mildew "ever 

 appearing afterwards.'' (acat care is always necessary 

 in the use of poisons ; but as there is no greater danger 

 in using arsenical soap containing bichloride of mercury 

 than an alcoholic solution of the salt, we are at loss to 

 understand his strong denunciation of the evidently more 

 efficient medium. The present writer has found no pre- 

 servative ecjual to it, and has used it for thousands of 

 skins, bird and mammal, in various regions of the globe, 

 and cannot recollect to have lost one by moth, mite, order- 

 mcstes-except when the soap was insufficiently applied. 

 Many of them also, after lying for years as dry skins, 

 have been relaxed, and have proved all that could be 

 desired. The alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate 

 applied to a tender skin renders it very brittle, a result 

 entirely obviated when the salt is incorporated in the 

 snap. Several formula', of which Mr. Browne claims the 



to the study of botany, which even the best prepared 

 herbarium can scarcely be said to do. How naturally 

 such plants can be modelled may be seen from the second 

 plate (Fig. 2), which we are kindly permitted to reproduce. 

 The volunie, which is dedicated to the doyen of museum 

 reformers. Sir William Flower, is so beautifully printed, 

 illustrated and bound, that we feel we cannot close our 

 commendation of the author's part without a w-ord of 

 appreciation of the publishers' share in its production. 



PROGRESS IN STEREOCHEMISTRY. 

 'X'O the stronger mmds among men of science, exer- 

 -'■ cised in abstract conception, and independent of 

 such aids to the imagination as are embodied in draw- 

 ings of atomic arrangements, models of molecules and 

 even formula of atomic groupings, there is no doubt 

 something almost repulsive in the representation of the 



, of Sea-Aster and Flowering Ru 



authorship, are given for the preservation of cartilage ; 

 but we miss any reference, either in the book itself or in 

 the bibliography at the end, to Prof. Jeffery Parker's 

 methods. He was one of the first, if not the first, to 

 preserve cartilaginous fishes as "dry" specimens in 

 museums, by very similar, if not essentially the same, 

 processes as Mr. Browne. 



Not the least valuable section of the book is the 

 ninth chapter, describing " casting and modelling from 

 natural foliage, flowers, fruits, alg;e, fungi, &c., and their 

 reproduction in practically indestructible materials,"— the 

 Mintorn .Art Fabric. This is quite a recent branch of 

 the taxidermist's art — if it really belong to it — which is 

 as important, and demands equal care an ability as the 

 mounting of the specimen which it is to enhance. The 

 reproduction in this material of the species of the British 

 llora in our museums would prove a very great incentive 

 NO. 1397, VOL. 54] 



molecule as a machine, a combination of mechanical 

 powers. It is nearly forty years since the screw was 

 suggested (by Pasteur) as a symbol of the atomic arrange- 

 ment in tartaric acid, and now we find the lever intro- 

 duced in such phrases as " the moment of a chain of 

 atoms varying with its length." The wheel-and-axle has 

 not yet been pressed into the service to explain atomic 

 vagaries ; and of the philosopher who shall venture to 

 take this further step, the abstract thinkers of to-day will 

 surely say, as Kolbe said of the chemist who was destined 

 to succeed him in his professorial chair at Leipzig : 

 " Hereby he declares that he has left the ranks of men 

 of science, and has gone over to the camp of those 

 philosophers of ill-omen, who are separated from the 

 spiritualists by only a very thin medium /" 



Yet as surely as Kolbe was succeeded by the stereo- 

 chemist whose doctrines he denounced, so surely will the 



