426 Reviews — Catalogue of Scientific Pa])ers. 



the value of the optic axial angle in cases where the optic axes are 

 inaccessible, pp. 444-86. Birefringence of uniaxial minerals, 

 pp. 487-514. 



The atlas contains eight plates, and includes a copy of the well- 

 known stereographic net, as well as several ingenious graphical 

 methods of reducing the observations. 



The book contains much original matter which has never hitherto 

 been published in a West European language, and attention may be 

 especially called to the new Mkitin method of determining refractive 

 indices by means of total reflection (pp. 214-37). 



With regard to the exposition of the subject-matter, it may be 

 stated that the book shows unmistakable evidence that the author 

 has had great teaching experience and fully realizes which portions 

 are likely to require more detailed treatment. The result is a work 

 which can be confidently recommended to all who desire to avail 

 themselves of the most modern methods of optical study, whether 

 they be petrologists, mineralogists, or chemical crystallographers. 

 Concerning the translation and editing, it need only be said that the 

 high standard for which French writers are justly celebrated is 

 fully maintained. 



II. — Catalogue of Scientific Papers, Fourth Series (1884-1900). 

 Compiled by the Royal Society of London. Vol. XIII, A— B. 

 pp. xcviii, 951. Cambridge: University Press, 1914 (July). 

 Price £2 10s. 



WE lose no time in announcing the publication of this volume, 

 which concludes for A and B the one hundred years Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers undertaken by the Koyal Society, the first volume 

 of which appeared in 1867. As a great part of the literature included 

 in this series has never before been accessible in any catalogue, we 

 have waited somewhat impatiently for its appearance. So far as one 

 can judge by a hasty glance through the volume, and an intimate 

 knowledge of the method of compilation, this series shows a marked 

 improvement on those preceding, especially in the attempt to secure 

 a moi'e complete inclusion of serials and their contents, and intelligent 

 specification of authors' names. Of the multitude of papers written 

 it is enough to say that 63,271 titles are included, and the preface 

 admits that " brief notes . . . have not been catalogued owing to 

 inevitable limitations of space ". The value of such can only be 

 determined by the worker, to whom in many cases a few lines may 

 be more important than a monograph. We much regret that the 

 University Press have felt obliged to print in so small a type and in 

 so close a form, and think that the insertion of a rule between each 

 entry would have been a great advantage to the reader and to those 

 institutions which have cut up and carded the previous volumes. 

 The spacing suggested would, it is true, have extended to perhaps 

 150 extra pages, but the advantages would have outweighed the 

 disadvantages considerably; and one would quite as soon pay £3 as 

 £2 10s. for the volume, so the matter of price cannot have been the 

 reason, any more than considerations of space, which would not have 

 been more than 6 inches of shelving extra for the series. We are 



