SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 3. 



to them; and I bave called down the wrath of the inhabitants 

 upon my head by discharging ray gun at them. They fly away 

 for miles along the coast, keeping themselves carefully separ.ated 

 from the wilder sea-birds, and invariably return to their domi- 

 cile at a certain hour in the evening," — (TVie J/fra oasis, ). 159,) 



Can any of your readers state to what species of 

 duck reference is here made? and are any similar 

 facts regarding domesticated or semi-doraesticated 

 ducks on record? F. H. Stores. 



POOLE'S NEW INDEX. 



An index to periodical literature. By William Frede 

 rick Poole, LL D^ 3d edition, brought down to 

 January, 18S2, with the assistance, as associate 

 editor, of William I. Fletcher, and the co-opera- 

 tion of the Amei'ioan library association and the 

 Library association of the United Kingdom. 

 Boston: J. R, Osgood & Co., 1882. 1442 p. 

 Large 8vo. 



The appearance of a new edition of Poole's 

 Index to periodical literature is not onlj' an 

 event of Uterar3' importance, but a matter of 

 some moment to science as well. In recent 

 times, literature and science have grown so 

 close together that the student of one cannot 

 well ignore the other ; and a glance at the 

 work before us will show how impossible it is 

 to draw between them way sharp dividing-line. 

 Of course it was not the purpose of the editor 

 to index the periodicals of a purely technical 

 kind ; but popular science seems to have been 

 included in his plan. Accordingly we find such 

 journals as SiUimau's, Nature, the American 

 naturalist, the Popular science monthly-, the 

 Anthropological review, the Journal of the 

 Franklin institute, the Mathematical monthl3r, 

 Van Nostraud's engineering magazine, the 

 Edinburgh philosophical journal, etc., exhaust- 

 ivelj^ treated. Others of equal importance are 

 omitted ; but enough are included to make the 

 volume one of real value to eveiy worker in 

 science, whether he be mathematician, as- 

 tronomer, ph3'sicist, chemist, naturalist, geolo- 

 gist, or engineer. .The sins of omission count 

 for nothing when balanced against the solid 

 merits of the enterprise. The arrangement 

 of the work is entirely by topics ; and its ex- 

 tensivencss ma^' be illustrated bj' the fact, that 

 between the titles ' electric animals ' and 

 'electrotype,' there are over two hundred 

 and fifty distinct headings, and a large number 

 of sub-entries besides. Many of the titles 

 represent work by the most eminent electricians 

 of the century. 



To the student of science the volume, apart 

 from its references to scientific journals, has 

 two points of special interest. First, it con- 

 tains wliat is wholl3' wanting in catalogues of 

 scientific memoirs ; namelj', abundant material 



concerning the personality of scientific men. 

 If one wishes to study the life and influence 

 of Faraday, Humboldt, Agassiz, or Heniy, 

 here he will find references to a multitude of 

 papers ; such as biographical notices, obitua- 

 ries, criticisms, sketches, and so on. In nearly 

 every magazine, whether monthly or quarterly, 

 matter of this kind is to be found ; and Poole's 

 Index gives us a sj'stematic kej- to the entire 

 mass of it. The saving of time to the student 

 can hardly be estimated, and the value of the 

 material thus rendered available is by no means 

 small. Whatever great work a master in. 

 science maj' have done, we can better appre- 

 ciate it if we know something of himself and 

 his environment. AVhenever, in studying a 

 mooted question, we trj' to assign weight to 

 diflfeiing authorities, it is worth while to get at 

 some knowledge as to the personal equation 

 of the men. This is particularly true with 

 regard to the bitterer controversies. 



The second point of interest above referred 

 to is the evidence which the Index offers as to 

 the extraordinary influence which science ex- 

 erts, even upon journals which are ostensibly 

 quite outside of its own domain. Everj' one 

 of the leading magazines is subject to this 

 influence. We find symptoms of it in the 

 scientific references scattered through literaiy, 

 philosophical, and political essays, and in the 

 host of papers in which science is sought to 

 be popularized. Even poetry, which some 

 critics assert is independent of and above 

 science, is getting to be full of scientific allu- 

 sions. Manj'' of . the popular essaj-s upon sci- 

 entific themes have solid and permanent value, 

 and yet the}' are not recorded in such cata- 

 logues as that of the Ro3-al society'. Only in 

 this volume can we get readily on the track of 

 them ; and here we find the names of Her- 

 schel, Tyndall, Huxley, Faraday, Helmholtz, 

 Agassiz, and manj- others, to whom science 

 seemed a matter of human interest, rather 

 than a secret chamber to be entered onlj' hy 

 the initiated. Some of the papers here cited 

 contain the first germs of great ideas ; others 

 represent the earnest efforts of discoverers to 

 bring their work before the wider public ; still 

 others are pleasant summaries of recent scien- 

 tific advance arranged bj' appreciative teachers. 

 Whatever a truly competent investigator has 

 to saj- is likely to be worth hearing ; and even 

 his colleagues may gain a clearer conception 

 of his thought bj' listening to his attempts at 

 popular simplification. Mr. Poole and his 

 associates deserve the hearty thanks of all 

 workers in science for the service he has done 

 their cause. 



