Oct. 8, 1885 | 
NATURE 
547 
nearness, and I propose to take as the law of repulsive 
force, the cube of the nearness. 1 think I am justified 
in taking this as the true law of repulsion of atoms of 
matter, because I find from the researches of eminent 
chemists that all free gases do so expand as to double 
their bulk by an increase of the distance of the particles, 
in the ratio of the cube of their nearness, or as 111 cube 
to 367.” Then the theory of heat that is put forward ap- 
pears to be a kind of material theory : “ We may therefore 
define heat as ¢he effort of ether to resist crowding. . 
Ether existing all around us in a normal state may be 
called free ether. Ether enclosed by force in limited 
space surrounded by material atoms is imprisoned or stored 
ether; its greater or less degree of crowding or storing 
means degrees of heat, and the quantity of crowding 
among the atoms indicates the specific heat of these 
atoms, and sometimes the specific heat of that kind of 
matter.” 
One more extract and we have done :—“ Even Sir 
Isaac Newton’s calculations of the speed of sound fell. roo 
feet short of the truth, and therefore corresponded to an 
error of a miie in the height of the atmosphere, and he 
could invent nothing better to account for the error than 
this sudden inflammation of the atmosphere. To this the 
reply is that the existence of the solitary wave of transla- 
tion was not known to Newton, that the nature of its 
genesis and propagation could not therefore be calcu- 
lated ; but that present knowledge of the nature and laws 
of this wave completely explain and accurately measure 
its phenomena without the introduction of any hypo- 
thesis contradicted by fact.” 
We have said enough to show the character of this 
treatise, and we will conclude by repeating that we are 
sorry to see a posthumous work by so eminent a man as 
the late Mr. Scott Russell, containing nothing more to 
justify its publication than a reprint of his well-known, 
and imperfect, views in 1843, upon wave motion, and a 
fanciful interpretation of great physical laws. It is a pity 
that greater skill and discretion were not brought to bear 
upon the production of this volume. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Publication of the Norwegian Commission of the Measure- 
ment of Degrees tn Europe. (1) Geodetical Operations, 
Part IV. (2) Tidal Observations, Part III. 
THE first of these publications contains an account of the 
northern portion of the trigonometrical work undertaken 
to connect the side Stokvola-Haarskallen with the side 
Spaatind-Neeverfjeld. The former side is directly con- 
nected to the base measured in 1864 near Levanger, as 
described in Parts I. and III. of the “ Geodetical Opera- 
tions.” 
A trigonometrical survey of this part of the country 
had already been made in 1835-6 by Gen. Broch, and it 
was at first hoped that this survey could be utilised, but 
on closer investigation it was found that the observations 
were not of sufficient precision to meet the requirements 
of the Commission for the Measurement of degrees in 
Europe, for which this work was to a great extent under- 
taken. The old stations were, however, utilised in the 
northern part of the triangulation ; there the signals were 
well-built masonry cylinders. In the southern portion, 
however, the stations had in many cases entirely dis- 
appeared and had to be reconstructed. A careful descrip- 
tion of each station is given, and in every case, with one 
or two exceptions, the signal could not be placed at the 
centre of the station ; the usual measurements for reduc- 
tion were therefore made, and apparently with more than 
usual care. The observations were taken with a 1o-inch 
universal instrument made by Olsen and with a 12-inch 
theodolite made by Reichenbach. It would appear that 
the graduation of these instruments is not of a very high 
order ; at any rate, the differences in the readings are 
rather large, frequently exceeding 10”: but in extenuation 
it must be said that the instruments were too small for 
the work and that the observations were made under con- 
siderable difficulties, owing to sea-fog and snow. There 
is nothing special to remark in the method adopted to 
adjust the observations, it being the usual method founded 
on the principle of least squares. It is shown that the 
mean error of the finally-adjusted angles is 
0”'547 + 0-029. 
A diagram of the triangulation is given, from which 
it is seen that most of the triangles are well-condi- 
tioned ; a few, however, are more elongated than they 
should be for good work, the triangle Munken, Stokvola, 
Haarskallen, especially so; for instance, the angle at 
Munken is 5° 12’ 57”°416. It should also be observed 
that several of the stations are determined by only two 
intersections. The longest side measures about sixty 
miles. 
The second publication is the third report of the Nor- 
wegian tidal observations, and contains the results of the 
work done at Oscarsborg in 1880-1 and at Stavanger, 
Bergen, Kabelvaag, and Vard6 in 1883. This report is 
simply a continuation of Reports I. and II., already 
noticed in NATURE ; it contains nothing but tables, and 
there is nothing in it that calls for special notice. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents, Neither can he undertake to return, 
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications, 
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great 
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. | 
On the Influence of Wave-Currents on the Fauna of 
Shallow Seas 
For many years past I have endeavoured, without much suc- 
cess, to call attention to the widely-spread influence of waves on 
the bottoms of shallow seas. To the geologist this action signi- 
fies denudation, and accounts, among other things, for the 
wholesale destruction of marine fauna so often exemplified in 
the rocks. To the zoologist it signifies a factor in evolution of 
immeasurable magnitude. 
On seeing the abstract of Prof. Moseley’s lecture on the 
fauna of the sea-shore in NATURE, I troubled you with my 
letter of July 6 ; now that the full report has appeared, equally 
reticent as to the significance of wave-currents, I ask leave to 
add somewhat to my former letter. 
The difficulty in arousing interest in this subject arises from 
the fact that, though the phenomena of wave-disturbance are 
well known to mathematicians, natural history text-books com- 
monly agree in asserting either the non-existence, or unimport- 
ance, of such disturbance. Thus the question has remained 
unheeded. 
My own experience in the matter is as follows :—Holding the 
orthodox view of the peaceful repose existing on the sea-bottom, 
I commenced cruising, some twenty years ago, on that excellent 
natural experimental tank, Torbay. I soon found, to my.sur- 
prise, that the local fishermen and dredgers were as confident 
that the waves greatly disturbed the bottom as naturalists were 
of the reverse. Having kept my eyes open in this direction, I 
submitted a paper to the Devonshire Association in 1878, de- 
scriptive of the levelling action of the waves on the six-fathom 
area of Torbay (Zrans. Dev. Assoc., vol. x. p. 182). 
With the kind assistance of Lord Rayleigh I was enabled to 
show that theory and observation were in complete accords a 
