April 3, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



191 



branch of scapula somewhat longer than inner branch (endo- 

 scapula), but not so long as in T. major ; digits not so much webbed 

 as in T. major; number of phalanges of fore-limb, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2; 

 shell not so elongated . 



Terrapene ornata L. — Qiiadrato-jugal absent; cervicals very 

 short; upper branch of scapula of the same length as inner branch 

 (endo-scapula) ; digits without distinct web; number of phalanges 

 of fore-limb, 2, 2. 2, 3. 2; shell rounded. 



I have had no opportunity yet to examine fully Terrapene 

 cinosternoides Gray (triunguis Lf:..) and Teri'apenemexicana Giay. 

 T. cinosternoides is near T. ornata. It may perhaps show a rudi- 

 mentary quadrato-jugal and a slight reduction in the nuiuber of 

 tlie phalanges. I have only seen the two stuffed types of Terrapene 

 mexicana Gray in the British Museum. Tbey also resembled T. 

 ornata. It would be very interesting to study the osteology of 

 these forms. Besides, it is important to examine specimens from 

 the intermediate localities, like Florida and South Carolina, to see 

 how these forms agree with T. major and T. Carolina. 



I should be very much obliged to anybody who would send me 

 specimens from different States of the country. 



Teii'apene is one of the plastic genera, and the examination 

 of a gi-eat number of specimens from different localities doubtless 

 will show some interesting results. G. Bade. 



Cla k ITnlversty, Worcester, Ma3S., Maroh 27. 



BOOK-EEVIEWS. 



The Theory of Light. By Thomas Preston. London and New 

 York, Macraillan. 8°. $8.25. 



Every one who has attempted to look jip the literature of any 

 scientiBc subject knows how laborious is the search through end- 

 less volumes of the Transactions and Proceedings of learned soci- 

 eties and of scientific periodicals. With some branches of science 

 it may be impossible to make a book occasionally that shall give 

 the existing state of the science; but with physical science this is 

 from time to time attempted, and it was the object which Professor 

 Preston had in view in producing his " Theory of Light " 



It was his hope, and we think it has been realized, to furnish an 

 accurate and connected account of the most important optical re- 

 searches, from the earliest times up to the most recent date. Com- 

 plicated mathematical theories have been avoided; yet the mathe- 

 matical theory, which is so essential, has, in an elementary form, 

 as well as the experiments on which it is founded, been given in 

 sufficient detail to enable the student who has the necessary 

 knowledge of the higher mathematics to take up with profit the 

 original papers recently elaborated by various English and foreign 

 writers. 



All physicists are acquainted with the important researches, 

 carried out in the last few years by Professor Hertz, which have 

 proved experimentally the long- suspected close connection between 

 light and electricity, and many will be glad to find in this volume 

 a concise account of the results of these researches. 



Outlines of General Chemistry. By Wilhelm Ostwald. Tr. by 

 James Walker, Ph.D. London and New York, Macmillan. 



8". S3..10. 



Professor Ostwald is professor of chemistry in the University 

 of Leipzig ; and the translator of this work, Dr, Walker, is assistant 

 in the chemical department of the university of Edinburgh. The 

 author undertook to write a book which would meet the require- 

 ments of the student who, while not intending to devote himself 

 to the detailed study of general chemistry, still wishes to follow 

 intelligently the progress recently made in this important branch 

 of science. The progress to which the author refers might be said 

 to be that in the physics of chemistry. 



The book is divided into two parts, — the first, on the chemical 

 laws of mass; and the second, on the chemical laws of energy. In 

 the first part we are told of what we know about ma.*s, of the 

 properties of gases, of the properties of liquids, of solutions, of 

 the properties of solids, and of the theory of chemical compounds. 

 It will be seen that nearly all these are subjects which are on the 

 border-line between physics and chemistry; for instance, in the 



chapter on the properties of liquids, the author treats of their 

 general properties, of the relations between the gaseous and liquid 

 states, of boiling-points, of volume relations of liquids, of refrac- 

 tion in liquids, of rotation of the plane of polarization, of surface 

 teasion, of internal friction, and of the specific heat of liquids. 

 In the second part, under the general heading of " The Chemical 

 Laws of Energy," the subjects treated are, thermo-chemistry, 

 photo-chemistry, electro-chemistry, chemical dynamics, and chemi- 

 cal affinity. 



The amount of progress that has been made of late years in 

 these physico-chemical researches is considerable, and we ate for- 

 tunate in having the results brought together and summarized in 

 so good a book. The author is to be commended for having 

 avoided one error which many a writer is induced to make. Few 

 chemists have had much mathematical training, so that they 

 would find it difficult or impossible to follow the mathematical 

 discussion of physical problems. In such cases Professor Ostwald 

 has not sought to introduce a laborious proof based on elementary 

 mathematics, but has chosen to give simply the result. 



Die Kosmologie der Bahylonier. By P. Jensen. Straasburg, 



1890. 

 Die Fluthsagen. By Richard Andree. Braunschweig, 1891. 



The study of comparative mythology is constantly teaching us 

 how wide spread over the earth's surface are the same infantile 

 explanations of natural phenomena. As soon as a tribe reaches a 

 certain stage of intellectual culture, — and that by no means a 

 high one, — it is sure to frame some theory, under the guise of 

 a narrative or story, to account for the existence of the world 

 about it. 



One of the most ancient, and for that reason most interesting, 

 of these stories of creation, is that of the Babylonians, of which 

 we have a new and very accurate rendering by Jensen. It is a 

 part of his general work on the cosmology of the Babylonians, the 

 whole of which is characterized by great learning and acuteness. 

 He refutes satisfactorily the opinion of those who have maintained 

 that the creation legend of Babylon was derived from the "Su- 

 merian " column of the inscriptions, though their opinion would 

 have amounted to little if Halevy's suggestion is correct, that the 

 Sumerian script is merely an esoteric alphabet of the general 

 Semitic language of the country. 



Jensen's comparison of the Babylonian creation myth with that 

 contained in the first part of the Book of Genesis illustrates with 

 additional force how closely the biblical text follows the older and 

 more detailed Euphrates myth. " In both narratives (Babylonian 

 and biblical) the sequence of events is absolutely the same. A 

 greater similarity would deserve the name of a translation. The 

 Bible has taken up the Babylonian creation legends, suppressing 

 what was specifically Babylonian, and transforming what was 

 mythologic and polytheistic into a monotheistic form " (p. 306). 



In the Babylonian legend the Creator appears as Mardiik, who 

 is probably a personification of the morning sun (the light-bringer), 

 who rises over the boundless ocean (tiamat), conquers the chaos 

 of night, and separates the heavens above from the earth be- 

 neath. 



Jensen also supplies a more accurate translation of the Baby- 

 lonian flood-myth, correcting a number of errors in Professor 

 Haupt's rendering, and adding valuable suggestions concerning 

 the original text. Thus, the hero of the myth, referred to by 

 Haupt and others as Samas-napistim (the "Sun of Life"), is 

 transliterated by Jensen Sit-napistim (' ' he whose life was saved "), 

 a much more appropriate appellation. The biblical story of Noah 

 and the Flood is, as is well known, merely a version of the Baby- 

 lonian myth. 



The origin, distribution, and affiliation of the flood myths all 

 over the world are the topics discussed by the well-known eth- 

 nologist. Dr. Richard Andree, in bis ■' Fluthsagen." It is an in- 

 interesting collection of material, but scarcely up to what we 

 might expect from so widely read an authority. The portions on 

 America are particularly weak. He depends for the Algonquin 

 flood myth on Squier's inaccurate reproduction of the " Walum- 

 Oluni,'" evidently not knowing Brinton's elaborate reproduction 

 and translation of that unique record. Nor does he refer to the 



