364 
NATURE 
[August 20, 1885 
classification, but a good and readable “ History of 
British Birds,” and this object has, we think, been 
attained. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Melting and Boiling-Point Data. By T. Carnelley, 
D.Sc., F.C.S. Vol. I. (London: Harrison and Sons, 
1885.) 
THIS is a very large and important work, and one 
which cannot fail to be useful to the scientific chemist. 
It is divided into several parts, and contains, or 
rather consists of, tables of the elements, inorganic and 
organic compounds, their constitutional and empiric 
formulz, melting- and boiling-points, and the authority 
and references to the journals, &c., in which the data are 
given. 
The compilation of a work ot this nature necessitates 
an enormous amount of labour and care, which in this 
case seems to have been expended, for misprints or mis- 
quotations appear to be absent. 
It is the only one of the kind in English, although 
there are several German works of the same class, notably 
one by Richter, but of carbon compounds only. The only 
fault possible to find with a book like this, designed for 
use in the laboratory more than anywhere else, is its large 
size. 
The present volume, the author tells us, contains 
19,009 data, melting- and boiling-points, and with the 
second volume there is to be a total of about 50,000 data 
of this kind. 
American Fournal of Mathematics, Pure and Applied. 
Published under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins 
University. Vol. vii. Parts 2, 3,4. (Baltimore: Isaac 
Friedenwald, January to July, 1885.) 
THE first sixty-seven pages of Part 2 carry on Prof. 
Cayley’s lectures on the abelian and theta functions, 
before the Johns Hopkins University (see NATURE, vol. 
xxxi. p. 189) to “the end of Chapter VII.” Other papers 
in this part are “ Solution of Solvable Irreducible Quintic 
Equations, without the Aid of a Resolvent Sextic,” by G. P. 
Young (the same writer furnishes to Part III. “Solvable 
Irreducible Equations of Prime Degrees »), and “ Notes 
on the Quintic,” by J. C. Glashan. Mr. C. S. Peirce com- 
mences an article “ On the Algebra of Logic,” which runs 
into Part III. ; it is in part concerned with a discussion of 
De Morgan’s logic of relatives. M. Poincaré contributes 
a paper of fifty-six pages, ‘Sur les Equations linéaires 
aux Différentielles Ordinaires et aux Différences Finies.” 
Capt Macmahon adds a short “Second Paper on Per- 
petuants.” The Associate-editor, Dr. Craig, likewise 
briefly writes “ On a Certain Class of Linear Differential 
Equations.” Other short items in this part are: “ Priifung 
grosserer Zahlen auf ihre Eigenschaft als Primzahlen,” by 
P. Seelhoff ; and “Sur les Nombres de Bernoulli” (fol- 
lowing up a paper entitled “ Some Notes on the Numbers 
of Bernoulli and Euler,” by G. S. Ely, in vol. v.), by Prof. 
Teixeira, of Coimbra. 
The first thirty-four pages of Part IV. are taken up with 
a paper by Mr. A. Buchheim entitled “A Memoir on Bi- 
quaternions,” in which the author carries on his investi- 
gations in a field first opened up by Clifford. In it he 
aims at giving “a_tolerably complete development of 
Clifford’s calculus.” Mr. J. Hammond carries on his 
labours on the lines of some recent papers by Cayley and 
Sylvester, by contributing a memoir “On the Syzygies 
of the Binary Sextic and their Relations.” Prof. W. 
Woolsey Johnson writes “Ona Formula of Reduction for 
Alternants of the Third Order,” and “On the Calculation 
of the Operators of Alternants of the Fourth Order.” 
Short notes are communicated by F. Franklin “ On the 
Theorem e* =cosx+/ sin x,’ and a “Proof of a 
Theorem of Tchebycheff’s on Definite Integrals ;” and 
W. E. Story supplies a paper on “ The’Addition Theorem 
for Elliptic Functions.” The remaining article is an addi- 
tional Bibliography of the kind of which the ¥ournal has 
now published some three or four most useful specimens. 
On this occasion Messrs. Nixon and Fields have compiled 
eleven pages of “Bibliography of Linear Differential 
Equations.” All such lists, if fairly complete, are bound 
to be most useful. The authors solicit corrections of and 
addenda to the list for future publication. 
A Guide to the Universal Gallery of the British Museum 
(Natural History). By L. Fletcher. (Printed by order 
of the Trustees.) 
THIS excellent little guidebook is worthy of the highest 
praise. It is a good deal more than a book which tells 
you the primary facts respecting the objects in the cases, 
inasmuch as it contains a simple and elementary intro- 
duction to the study of minerals. For such a purpose the 
principal crystallographic, physical, and chemical charac- 
ters should be explained, and the way in which these 
characters serve as a means of classification should be 
shown. Mr. Fletcher has done this excellently. He 
shows how the science of crystallography grew by the 
discoveries of Steno, Romé de I’Isle, Haiiy, and others to 
its present state, in which it serves as a most, if not the 
most, important element in the discrimination of mine- 
rals, The way in which Brewster’s discoveries in crystal- 
optics confirmed the results of crystallographic investiga- 
tion is pointed out ; and a brief sketch of the progress of 
chemistry from the days of alchemy is also given. 
This all leads up naturally to the ultimate purpose— 
that of classification, which is so essential in the proper 
display of a mineral collection. Finally, in the detailed 
account of the minerals in the Museum attention is 
specially directed to the more unique specimens. 
Die Spaltpilze. Von Dr. W. Zopf. 3rd Edition. (Breslau, 
1885.) 
TuIs, the third edition, differs in no essential respect 
from its predecessors. Zopf still adheres to the original 
proposition of Von Nageli, that the various forms of 
schyzomycetes are not permanent species (Cohn), but 
various stages in the development of the same organism. 
This proposition is derived from observations of the 
morphological characters only, and is not based on 
sufficiently exact methods of pure cultivation. ; 
The sections treating of the physiology and chemistry 
of the bacteria will be found very valuable. A complete 
and alphabetically-arranged bibliography at the end of 
the work is the best as yet published. E. KLEIN 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible Sor opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 
No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 
that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 
The Evolution of Phanerogams 
MucH as I dislike controversy occasions arise when it must 
be faced ; and Mr. Starkie Gardner’s notice of the two new 
volumes by MM. Marion and Saporta (p. 289) calls for a reply. 
Personally I am obliged by Mr. Gardner’s obvious desire to do 
Justice to my views ; but he must excuse me if I say that some of 
the ‘‘main facts” on which he relies are, like similar ones em- 
ployed by the two French writers, charmingly independent of 
anything that I can find existing in nature. 
Through the kindness of my accomplished friend, the Marquis 
of Saporta, I received copies of his two volumes as soon as they 
were published. {On perusing his descriptions of the carboniferous 
