March 8, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



387 



An extended discussion follows, showing 

 how the second law of thermodynamics may 

 be referred back to the principles of mechanics. 



As is readily seen from the above brief sur- 

 vey, the various chapters of the book are not 

 very intimately related; but at the same time 

 the author in his arrangement of the subject 

 matter has brought it into a form which ap- 

 proaches as near to continuity as the diverse 

 nature of the topics treated will admit. 



A. P. Wills 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The American Naturalist for February is 

 an unusually good number. It opens with a 

 description of ' An automatic Aerating device 

 for Aquaria,' by Louis Murbach, which seems 

 to be easily made and to work well. C. D. 

 Durnford makes another interesting and (to 

 most) convincing contribution to ' The Fly- 

 ing-fish Problem.' As he says, an extra- 

 ordinary thing about the discussion is the un- 

 explained power therein of the negative to 

 quench the positive. It may also be noted that 

 while the ordinary fish kicks about when laid 

 on a vessel's deck that the flying-fish flaps its 

 ' wings ' with great rapidity, ' e pur si miwve.' 

 L. B. Walton presents the first of a series of 

 ' Contributions to Museum Technique. Cata- 

 loguing Museum Specimens.' It is greatly to 

 be doubted if the detailed method advocated 

 by Mr. Walton could be carried out in the 

 average museum; it will be found practicable 

 only where the staff is large, or the collec- 

 tions small. Also in a modified form (less 

 sub-division and cross referencing) it has long 

 been in use in various departments of the 

 U. S. National Museum. James Murray 

 describes ' Some South American Eotifers ' 

 including a few new species and varieties. J. 

 S. Kingsley discusses ' Meristic Homologies 

 in Vertebrates,' pointing out various diffi- 

 culties in the way. To add another query to 

 those propounded we would ask why there 

 should not be an actual shifting of the pelvic 

 girdle in long-bodied amphibians ? We know 

 that on one side the pelvis may be attached, 

 say, to the twentieth vertebra and on the other 

 to the twenty-first, and if half may shift why 

 not the whole? 



R. W. Shufeldt contributes an article on 

 ' The Osteology of the Tubinares ' with a 

 scheme of classification. Oddly enough the 

 first taxonomic character assigned, the poses- 

 sion of a large supraorbital, glandular fossa, 

 is purely physiological and found in most sea 

 fowl that dive. The gannets and cormorants 

 which lack the supraorbital glands also lack 

 nostrils and so have no need for them. 



The American Museum Journal for Feb- 

 ruary notices the unveiling of the busts of 

 American men of science recently placed in 

 the foyer ; the ' Exhibition of the Progress of 

 Science,' and the ' Expedition to the Desert 

 of Fayoum, Egypt.' This region has yielded 

 so much that American paleontologists will 

 await with great interest the results of Pro- 

 fessor Osborn's expedition. The number con- 

 tains the table of contents for the Bulletin of 

 the American Museum for 1906 and the lec- 

 ture announcements for February and March. 



The Museums Gazette of Great Britain for 

 January has an article by Dr. A. B. Meyer on 

 ' The Structure, Position and Illumination of 

 Museum Cases.' As Dr. Meyer is the apostle 

 of the iron case he naturally expresses him- 

 self in favor of that material. The last word 

 on the subject is, however, yet to be said, and 

 only in a few instances has any attention been 

 paid to making cases and their contents 

 harmonize. When the millenium conies and 

 the wicked architect ceases from troubling 

 and the weary curator has something to say 

 about the construction of museums the halls 

 will be left plain and finished when it is 

 decided what is to go in them; then case, hall 

 and specimens will be in accord. The bal- 

 ance of the number contains many notes and 

 much information concerning museums in 

 various parts of the world. 



Under the title ' From Stone to Steel ' the 

 Horniman Museum, London, has issued a 

 little handbook to the collections ilkistrating 

 the ages of stone, bronze and iron. This, by 

 H. S. Harrison, is a clear and concise state- 

 ment of our knowledge of stone and bronze 

 implements, vrill be most useful to curators 

 and should be in demand by the public. It 

 discusses the form and distribution of stone 



