January 26, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



89 



form. Carelessness in the proof-reading is 

 noticeable. Frequently letters are dropped 

 out of words, their unceremonious departure 

 being accentuated by the blank spaces left be- 

 hind. The description of ISTewton's fluxional 

 notation on page 9 is rendered unintelligible 

 to one not already familiar with it by the 

 omission in several instances of the necessary 

 dots. The spelling on page 35 of Olairaut as 

 " Clairault " is unusual, to say the least. The 

 statement, page 120, that it was in 1872 that a 

 deputy professor was appointed at Oxford to 

 carry on the work relinquished by Sylvester 

 is evidently wrong, since Sylvester was ap- 

 pointed to the Oxford position in 1883. It is 

 too bad that the editors of this book allowed 

 the repetition of the erroneous statement that 

 the name of Sylvester's father was Abraham 

 Joseph Sylvester. As recently stated by sev- 

 eral writers, the name " Sylvester " did not be- 

 long to the father, but was assumed by an 

 elder brother of the mathematician who had 

 come to the United States, and later by the 

 mathematician himself. The father's name 

 was Abraham Joseph. The editors might also 

 have corrected a mistake thus far almost uni- 

 versal, to the effect that Peaucellier was the 

 first to devise an instrument for drawing a 

 perfect straight line. It is a matter of great 

 historical interest that a Frenchman by the 

 name of Sarrut achieved this several years be- 

 fore Peaucellier, and in a manner quite diiier- 

 ent. An account of it will be found in the 

 Comptes Bendus, Vol. 36, 1853, page 1036. 

 Attention to Sarrut was called in 1905 by G. T. 

 Bennett of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 

 an article published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, 6th S., Vol. 9, page 803. Ben- 

 nett gives interesting historical details, and 

 also noteworthy developments of his own. 



Floeian Cajori 

 Colorado College, 

 Colorado Springs, Colo. 



The Whalebone Whales of New England. By 

 Glover M. Allen. Memoirs of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, Vol. 8, No. 2, 

 pp. 107-322, pis. 8-15, text-figs. 1-12. 

 September, 1916. 



Dr. Glover M. Allen's "The Whalebone 

 Whales of New England " treats of the three 

 genera and six species of baleen whales " in- 

 habiting the waters off the New England 

 coast," with special reference to their habits, 

 manner of occurrence, economic importance 

 and technical history. Two " keys " are given 

 for their identification, one for stranded speci- 

 mens that can be approached and examined, 

 the other for identification in life, based on 

 their characteristic actions, the presence or 

 absence of a fin on the back, and the size and 

 form of the spout. 



Following a few introductory pages of com- 

 ment on the classification of whales in general 

 and of the New England species in particular, 

 the author deals at length with each of the 

 living species, with a brief account of the 

 single fossil species, long known from a few 

 vertebrse and other fragmentary remains 

 found at Gay Head, Marthas Vineyard. The 

 North Atlantic right whale (Euhalcena 

 glacialis) is of special interest historically on 

 account of its having been the basis of the 

 early New England whale fishery. This phase 

 of the subject is presented in considerable de- 

 tail (pp. 131-172), with many quaint extracts 

 from early colonial records. 



The species treated are : (1) North Atlantic 

 right whale (Eubalcena glacialis), (2) common 

 finback {Balwnoptera physalus), (3) pollack 

 whale (B. horealis), (4) blue whale (5. mus- 

 culus), (5) little piked whale (5. acuto-ros- 

 tratus), (6) Atlantic humpback (Megaptera 

 nodosa). A methodical and concise account 

 of each is given under appropriate subhead- 

 ings, beginning with " history and nomencla- 

 ture," followed by descriptions of their exter- 

 nal and osteological characters, habits and 

 food, seasons of occurrence, pursuit and eco- 

 nomic products, enemies and parasites. Five 

 of the species are illustrated by full-page plates 

 of the external form, drawn to scale from 

 careful measurements. Outline drawings of 

 skulls are given in another plate, several 

 photographic views of whales in another, and 

 vertebrae and other fossil remains from the 

 Miocene deposits of Gay Head in another. 

 The monograph thus forms a valuable addi- 



