March 11, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



427 



the relation of the more important specimens 

 to the development of the art. Where the 

 history or authenticity of a certain instrument 

 is of importance the evidence bearing on these 

 points is furnished. No expense has been 

 spared in bringing out the volume, for its 

 preparation is stated to have cost over tvsro 

 thousand dollars. 



But unfortunately the work leaves some- 

 thing to be desired. Generally the instru- 

 ments were placed for photographing in posi- 

 tion to show the whole to the best advantage, 

 and especially any ornamental features. This 

 procedure has two disadvantages; the figures 

 being in photographic perspective, they are 

 much distorted and can not be scaled; and 

 while the general appearance of an instrument 

 is well shown, the details that interest the 

 student can rarely be made out. Views taken 

 in different positions diminish somewhat this 

 disadvantage, and the excellent plate SXVIII. 

 of the clavichord action is a notable exception 

 to the general criticism. A useful addition 

 to the descriptions would have been statements 

 of the vibrating lengths of strings, say for all 

 the C's in the principal instruments, and the 

 striking point; also the diameters of the wires 

 where these appear to be the original ones. 

 Almost any details of constniction would be 

 welcome, since they are not easily obtained by 

 the student and yet are of great significance 

 in the technical development of the piano. 

 The few cuts of actions are very unsatisfac- 

 tory; apparently the draftsman was not 

 familiar with mechanism or mechanical draw- 

 ing, so some of the figures are misleading or 

 unintelligible. 



This catalogue, however, in spite of any de- 

 fects, is a very valuable addition to the small 

 collection of books that illustrate the prede- 

 cessors of the modern piano, and nothing else 

 can fill its place. Charles K. Wead. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 In the Botanical Gazette for February Mr. 

 Francis Darwin describes a method of study- 

 ing the movements of stomata, which depends 

 on the fact that when widely open the stomata 

 permit more rapid evaporation than when 

 closed, the leaves becoming correspondingly 



cooler. The differences of temperature are 

 measured by a Callendar recorder, in which 

 the difference between the temperatures of two 

 fine platinum wires is recorded on the revolv- 

 ing drum. He describes the apparatus and the 

 various tests that were- made to discover the 

 errors and limitations of the method. — G. M. 

 Holferty has investigated the development of 

 the archegonium of Mnium and reports that 

 a two-celled apical cell is organized by the 

 archegonium initial, that this later gives place 

 to a three-sided one which is truncate, that 

 this terminal cell gives rise to the first cell 

 of the canal row and also contributes to the 

 growth of the neck, that the terminal cell 

 contributes to the growth of the axial row by 

 the addition of cells cut from its truncate 

 face, and that growth in length of the arche- 

 gonium neck is intercalary as well as apical in 

 both the neck and canal rows. Unusual con- 

 ditions were found in which the canal series 

 is double for a greater or less distance, in 

 which the venter contains two eggs and two 

 ventral canal cells, in which there was a 

 double venter with two eggs, and one in which 

 a mass of sperm, mother cells was developing 

 in the pedicel tissues of the archegonium. 

 Conclusions are drawn that arehegonia and 

 antheridia are homologous structures through- 

 out, and that they probably had a conunon 

 origin from an isogamous gametangium, 

 which in turn was derived from a multilocular 

 sporangium. — Charles E. Lewis, in studies of 

 certain anomalous dicotyledons {Podophyllum, 

 Jeifersonia and Gaulophyllum) , finds small 

 embryos surrounded by an abundant endo- 

 sperm, and a cotyledonar primordium con- 

 sisting of a broad ridge-like structure opening 

 at one side, the ridge later bifurcating to form 

 the two lobes known as the cotyledons. — F. A. 

 Shriner and E. B. Copeland give definite data 

 in reference to the relation between deforesta- 

 tion and creek flow about Monroe, Wisconsin. 

 — Laetitia M. Snow publishes a preliminary 

 notice of results in the investigation of the 

 effects of external agents on the production 

 of root hairs, showing that there is a relation 

 between the production of root hairs and the 

 elongation of the roots. The same causes 

 which control growth determine the formation 



