388 



SCIENCE 



[N. ISJ. Vol. XLVI. No. 1190 



nation and rose with a quivering flame-like 

 motion almost to tlie zenith where they disap- 

 peared, to be succeeded by others in turn. 

 These waves appeared to be about 10° to 30° 

 in a horizontal direction and perhaps 2° in the 

 vertical direction. The display was observed 

 by us until about ten and we were told by 

 a fisherman who was out all night that it lasted 

 until nearly three in the morning. 



On August 25, at Clinton, Conn. (Lat. 

 41° 17'), we observed a still more brilliant dis- 

 play at 8.40. There was an arch of greenish- 

 white light whose center bore nearly north, 

 true, the portion of sky enclosed by the lumi- 

 nous arch being entirely dark. Streamers of 

 considerable intensity were observed and the 

 light from the arch was sufficient to illuminate 

 the whole bay, rendering objects 300 yards 

 away distinctly visible. At times above the 

 greenish-white light, light varying from pale 

 pink to deep red was observed, but chiefly on 

 the eastern side of the meridian and high up, 

 at least 75°. Suspecting that the latter phe- 

 nomenon might be an illusion due to a com- 

 plementary after-image of the brighter display 

 lower down, we examined it carefully with the 

 light from the rest of the display cut off for a 

 considerable time but could not see that this 

 made any difference. The display was ob- 

 served until 9.40, when it had not ceased. 



Are not these phenomena, i. e., the dark seg- 

 ment below the bright arch and the pink color, 

 unusual in such low latitudes? 



Ch.\eles a. Mead 

 Cakteeet Academy, 

 Orange, N. J. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Experimental Pharmacology. By Dennis E. 



Jackson, Ph.D., M.D., Associate Professor 



of Pharmacology, Washington University 



Medical School, St. Louis. St. Louis, C. V. 



Mosby Company. 1917. Pp. 536, with 390 



illustrations. Cloth. Price $4. 



Scientific text-books may be conveniently 



grouped into two classes: the majority have 



for their object the adequate, concise and 



clear presentation of the principal facts and 



data concerning the subject they deal with, in 



logical order and with a due regard to their 

 relative importance. Such works are generally 

 impersonal in character and introduce the au- 

 thor's views only incidentally in connection 

 with the sections dealing with the particular 

 lines of work in which they have been inter- 

 ested. Another class of text-books, however, 

 may be characterized as distinctly "individ- 

 ualistic " in style and seem to have for their 

 purpose primarily the exposition of the au- 

 thor's methods and views, relegating all other 

 matter to a secondary place. Such a presenta- 

 tion of the subject is perhaps a natural one 

 for the pioneer in a new domain of science and 

 may be exemplified in case of pharmacology 

 by Schmiedeberg's well-known little book, but 

 when a science has once reached a high de- 

 velopment, as is true of the pharmacology of 

 the present day, this form of treatment in any 

 hands but those of a great master is apt to be- 

 come somewhat one-sided and provincial. 



Within the last few months we have seen the 

 publication in this country of two text-books 

 on pharmacology which well exemplify the 

 two classes just mentioned. Sollmann's 

 " Manual of Pharmacology and Laboratory 

 Guide" — the recent new edition of his older 

 work, greatly amplified, revised and rear- 

 ranged — ^is an excellent example of scientific 

 exposition belonging to the first or " imper- 

 sonal " class. 



Jackson's " Experimental Pharmacology," on 

 the other hand, is certainly " individualistic " 

 in character, and must be put in the second 

 class described above. It is not an ordinary 

 " text -book " of pharmacology but is preemi- 

 nently Jackson's text-book of pharmacology. 

 The personality of the author is patent on al- 

 most every page of it; and therein are ex- 

 pressed both the merits and the demerits of 

 the work. On the one hand, even a superficial 

 examination of the treatise reveals, as is well 

 known, that the author is a master of tech- 

 nique and the descriptions of various devices 

 and experiments originated or improved by 

 him are, in so far as they are new, illumina- 

 ting and useful. On the other hand, the au- 

 thor unfortunately, in exactly the same man- 

 ner as he treats new and original manipula- 



