A1TGUST23, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



239 



oped by these early geniiises,who should still 

 be honored. As a manual the work should 

 be in the hands of every student of super- 

 ficial geology, and must form one of his 

 most valuable works of reference. In a great 

 manner the conclusion of the avithor will be 

 most acceptable. On other points, differ- 

 ences of opinion will prevail here as in the 

 works of all other philosophic wiiters. The 

 title of the book is its sensational feature, 

 and might awaken more opposition than its 

 generaljudicial character would give rise to. 

 J. W. Spencer. 



The Etiology of Osseous Deformities of the 

 Head, Face, Jaws and Teeth. By Eugene 

 S. Talbot, M. D., D. D. S. Third Edi- 

 tion. Eevised and enlarged, with 461 

 illustrations. Chicago, The W. T. 

 Keener Company. Pp. 487. 

 Dr. Talbot's work is a most ambitious 

 one, and this is perhaps its chief fault. It 

 contains an enormous amount of facts and 

 figures gathered from every source and 

 touching upon every question from anthro- 

 pology and crime to the useful art of taking 

 cai'e of the teeth. If the doctor could have 

 condensed his book and given it a little 

 more proportion and coherence it would ap- 

 peal much more to the general and scien- 

 tific reader. As it is, we find in it much 

 original observation and a multitude of 

 anatomical and anthropological facts which 

 are interesting and should prove useful. 



An excellent example of the author's 

 work is shown in his chapter on develop- 

 mental resources. Here he starts with the 

 simple problem of the palatal arch in idiots 

 and ends in a discussion of the general 

 problem of osseous deformities as related to 

 the different forms of degeneration. Dr. 

 Talbot is manifestly a follower of Morel 

 and Lombroso and adds many fticts in sup- 

 port of the view that characteiistic stigmata 

 accompany the degenerative state. We 

 must add again, however, that he fails to 



take what we would consider a properly 

 conservative view of the question, and, 

 while he gives many valuable data regard- 

 ing criminals, he does not, we think, con- 

 sider sufficiently tlie anatomy of the normal 

 man of the low social stratum from which 

 most of his criminals come. Lombroso 

 has himself abandoned anthropometrical 

 measurements as affording much help in 

 establishing a criminal type. 



We must add, in conclusion, and in justice 

 to Dr. Talbot, that we know of no American 

 who has made so many personal observa- 

 tions and measurements on the defective 

 classes, and he is entitled to great credit 

 for his work. Charles L. Dana. 



DOUBLE EEFRACTION IN WOOD. 



Doppelbrechung , electrischer Strahlen. K. 



Mack. Wied. Ann. 54, 1895, p. 342. 

 Bemerhimg ilber die Ahhandlung von Herrn 



Mach. W. VON Bezold. Ibid. 54, 1895, 



p. 752. 

 Doppelbrechung electrischer Strahlen. A. 



EiGHi. Ibid. 55, 1895, p. 389. 



Mr. Mack's article describes an interest- 

 ing series of experiments to demonstrate 

 that plates of wood exhibit a double re- 

 fraction of electric waves. The sender and 

 receiver were so arranged, with spark gap 

 and reflectors, that the waves were 50-60 

 cm. in length. The test for double refrac- 

 tion in light is the lightening up of the 

 field when the substance is introduced be- 

 tween crossed Nicols ; similarly, Mr. Mack 

 tested for doiible refraction of electric waves 

 by introducing plates of wood between 

 crossed sender and receiveri The first 

 plates were of fir-tree 0,5-1,0 sq. M. area 

 and 2,3 cm. thick, and gave negative re- 

 sults. An octagonal plate of fir about 60 

 cm. in diameter and 20 cm. thick was 

 afterward used, and showed a decided 

 double refraction when its fibres were 45° 

 to the sender and receiver, and also be- 

 tween parallel sender and receiver showed 



