Septembek 22, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



383 



to others of less exuberant imagination, cur- 

 rent astronomy might stand better with the 

 intelligent public. 



Of Appendix I. special mention may be 

 made of the following determinations: of the 

 mass of Titan by Professor Eichelberger from 

 observations made by the late Professor Asaph 

 Hall at the old observatory; of the orbits of 

 Deimos and Phobos by Mr. J. C. Hammond, 

 from the observations made by Mr. H. L. 

 Eice, and of the solar parallax by Mr. 0. W. 

 Frederick, from observations of Eros made by 

 Professor See. Then follows a long series of 

 determinations of orbits for members of that 

 swarm of tiny planets known as asteroids, 

 which the astronomical student is inclined to 

 believe were designed by an unkind Provi- 

 dence to furnish exercises in computation, 

 but which may yet again develop some new 

 and important interest. Here it is a pleasure 

 to find that Mr. Matt Frederickson employs 

 his ingenuity to derive a simple, explicit equa- 

 tion for a certain unknown in place of the 

 implicit equation solved by previous com- 

 puters by means of a series of approximations. 



"Volume VII. might be classed under Arche- 

 ology, inasmuch as it is presentation of re- 

 sults of observations made on three old 

 meridian instruments in the period 1846-1852. 

 The work of reduction and preparation for 

 publication has only recently been done, under 

 the leadership of Professors Eichelberger and 

 Littell, and seems to owe its completeness very 

 largely to the faithful and intelligent service 

 by Miss Etta M. Eaton. This is a work, both 

 as to observation and computation, which 

 hardly any but a government observatory 

 would be willing to undertake. The exhilira- 

 tion of spirits arising from such deferred 

 labor is like that due to a campaign of 

 elimination in the garret when a family mov- 

 ing is at hand. Yet unsuspected values may 

 develop amongst its results; and the recent 

 discovery of a large drift in space on the part 

 of a star whose earliest known position is re- 

 corded in the old Gilliss Catalogue of 1850, 

 also worked up at our national observatory, is 

 a cheering incident to the patient laborers in 

 this field. 



A large part of the transit observations 

 entering into Volume VII., from the earlier 

 part of the period, were made by the eye and 

 ear method, which is still in vogue for oc- 

 casional observations. In connection with the 

 summary of measures of accidental errors af- 

 fecting the results in this catalogue, it is in- 

 teresting to note here, what seems almost in- 

 credible to the beginner, that the employment 

 of the electric chronograph reduced the acci- 

 dental error by only slightly over six per cent. 

 As is well known, the liability to accidental 

 error in the case of the experienced observer is 

 sensibly the same in both methods. 



These two volumes are dignified and hand- 

 some products from the Government Printing 

 Ofiice. One important economic problem of 

 the day is the condensed presentation of scien- 

 tific and other data without detracting from 

 a proper appearance and a form intelligible in 

 reference. The present volumes are too ex- 

 pansive in some portions but show in other 

 parts a commendable tendency to compactness. 

 Albert S. Elint 



Polar 'Exploration. By Dr. W. S. Bruce. 



New York, Henry Holt & Co. 1911. Pp. 



256. 



The geographer, the scientist and the intel- 

 ligent, enquiring reader will alike find this 

 volume of the Home University Library most 

 disappointing. The most that can be said in 

 its favor is the pleasant, though often incon- 

 sequential manner in which the author puts 

 forward descriptive phases of polar physics, in 

 which he is personally interested. It is evi- 

 dently written for the English market only. 

 Entitled " Polar Exploration," it makes no 

 mention of the polar work of Kane, Hayes, 

 Eodgers, De Long, Greely, Lockwood or any 

 other American, save to refer to " the boyish 

 pole hunt," and a sea-sounding by Peary. 

 There are desultory chapters on Plant and 

 Animal Life, Meteorology and Magnetism, but 

 no reference to the incomparable scientific 

 observations of the International Polar Sta- 

 tion by thirteen nations, published in forty 

 quarto volumes. 



A. W. Greely 



