598 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 931 



Coloring Matters in Foods by Albert F. Seeker. 

 Inks by Percy H. Walker. Index. 



Volume VI. Organic Bases, Vegetable 

 Alkaloids. Philadelphia, 1912. Price $5.00. 

 This includes Amines and Ammonia Bases by 

 W. A. Davis. Aniline and its Allies by S. S. 

 Sadtler. Naphthylamines, Pyridine, Quino- 

 line and Acridine Bases by W. H. Glover. 

 Vegetable Alkaloids by Thomas A. Henry. 

 Volatile Bases of Vegetable Origin by Frank 

 O. Taylor. Nicotine and Tobacco by E. W. 

 Tonkin. Aconite Alkaloids by Francis H. 

 Carr. Cocaine by Samuel P. Sadtler. Opium 

 Alkaloids by Frank O. Taylor. Strychnos 

 Alkaloids by Charles E. Vanderkleed. Cin- 

 chona Alkaloids by Oliver Chick. Berberine 

 and its Associates by Edward Horton. Caf- 

 feine, Tea and Coffee by J. J. Fox and P. J. 

 Sageman. Cocoa and Chocolate by E. 

 Whymper. 



The extensive scope of the vsrork and the 

 pains taken to secure the assistance of experts 

 in the various fields is well indicated by the 

 list of chapters given. 



W. A. NOYES 



The Flight of Birds. By F. W. Headley, 

 M.B.O.U., with sixteen plates and many 

 test figures. Witherby and Co., 326 High 

 Holborn, London. 1912. 12mo. Pp. xii -{- 

 163. Price 5 shillings. 



In this little book Mr. Headley has endeav- 

 ored to describe briefly and clearly the flight of 

 birds, keeping in view the methods and diffi- 

 culties of those who are striving to rival them. 

 In ten chapters he deals with methods, modes 

 and apparatus of flight, an eleventh chapter 

 being devoted to some accessories, circulation, 

 breathing, etc., that are connected with, or 

 modified by flight. 



The first chapter deals with gliding, the re- 

 sistance of the air, the curve of the wings and 

 the area of supporting surface, matters which 

 lie at the base of all flight. We then pass to 

 stability, including voluntary adjustment, the 

 latter a point wherein the feathered biped has 

 the great advantage over his featherless rival 

 of many thousands of years' experience. What 

 man has to think about, the bird does in- 



stinctively. It is this instinct that enables a 

 bird to fly successfully at the first trial of his 

 wings, although he can not handle them s» 

 dexterously as he will later on and they may 

 not carry him so far nor so fast as they will 

 subsequently. And just here may we say that 

 a bird does not fly stupidly into a telegrapk 

 wire; he simply does not see it until too late 

 to evade it. The Titanic did not run stupidly 

 into an iceberg; by the time it could be seem 

 she was upon it. Also horizontal wires are not 

 within the province of the bird's instincts, and 

 in the grouse districts of Scotland, bits of 

 wood are hung on telegraph and telephone 

 lines to catch the bird's eye. 



In connection with the relation of the shap* 

 of the wings to stability, it may be said that 

 Mr. Huffaker, one of Professor Langley's as- 

 sistants, reached the conclusion that the curved 

 secondaries and more or less flattened pri- 

 maries of the bird's wing were the great fac- 

 tors in stability and that the flattened wing 

 tips also served as horizontal rudders, point* 

 wherein man has advantageously patterned 

 after the bird. 



Then come starting and steering, and tha 

 machinery of flight, muscles and bones. A 

 little more space, perhaps, might have been de- 

 voted to the framework and to some of the 

 rather perplexing problems it suggests — why 

 is it that while sailing birds, the albatross and 

 frigate bird, for example, have very smaH 

 muscles their shoulder girdles are most rigidly 

 constructed, the coracoid, clavicle and breast- 

 bone of the latter being immovably soldered 

 together. In the great pterodactyl, Pteran- 

 dojij most marvelous of all flying creatures, we 

 have in the massive collar bone special pro- 

 vision for bracing the wings. Perhaps in all 

 these cases this strength is necessary, because 

 the muscles themselves can not be relied upon 

 to stand the strain. But in the almost flight- 

 less hoatzin we find the apparent anomaly of 

 a rigid shoulder girdle. We think that, as is 

 usually done, too much value is put upon the 

 clavicle as a brace to the coracoids. Among 

 the birds of prey it is of importance, but in 

 the ducks and pheasants, birds of powerful 

 flight, it is a negligible quantity; so it is i* 



