662 



SCmNGE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 121, 



No. 9. A Discourse MathematicaU on the Varia- 

 tion of the Magneticall Needle. Hbnry Gelli- 

 BRAND. London, 1635. 4to. Pp. 7, 24. 

 Fascimiledrueke, mit Einleitungen. Berlin. 

 A. Asher&Co., 1897. 



Three new numbers in Dr. Hellmann's no- 

 table series of Neudrucke are before us, each 

 number being of great interest and value. Dr. 

 Hellmann certainly deserves, and we do not 

 doubt will receive, the thanks of all men of 

 science for the pains he is taking in preparing 

 this set of publications. No. 7 contains re- 

 prints of the letters which passed between Tor- 

 ricelli and Ricci concerning the measurement 

 of atmospheric pressure, and of the description 

 of the thermometer and hygrometer, prepared 

 and published by the Accademia del Cimento. 

 The letters of Torricelli are of very great scien- 

 tific interest, for they concern the famous ex- 

 periment, which was carried out by Viviani in 

 Florence in 1643, at the suggestion of Torricelli. 

 The latter left no written statements regarding 

 the barometer, but he sent word of his discov- 

 ery to his friend Ricci, in Rome, and his two 

 letters, most fortunately preserved, are re- 

 printed in the present volume. They bear 

 dates June 11 and 28, 1644, and show clearly 

 that Torricelli knew that the mercury in the 

 tube changed its height according to the condi- 

 tions of the surrounding atmosphere, rising or 

 falling as the air became heavier or lighter, and 

 that he made the experiment in order that he 

 might have an instrument for observing atmos- 

 pheric changes. The report of the Accademia 

 del Cimento concerns the early history of tem- 

 perature and humidity observations. This re- 

 print, which is a facsimile, gives two chapters of 

 a celebrated work by Lorenzo Magalotti, Secre- 

 tary of the Academy, entitled ' Saggi di naturali 

 esperienze fatte nelV Accademia del Cimento'' 

 (1667), in which the most important results of 

 the experiments made by the Academy were 

 set forth. These chapters deal with thermome- 

 ters and hygrometers, and facsimiles of the 

 original drawings of some of these instruments 

 are given. 



No. 8 of the Neudrucke gives reproductions 

 of six meteorological charts, the original publi- 

 cation of which was in each case epoch-making. 

 The first is the wind chart of Halley (1686), the 



oldest of all meteorological charts ; the second, 

 Humboldt's isothermal chart, 1817, the first one 

 on which isotherms were given ; the third is a 

 reproduction of one of the 13 synoptic weather 

 maps published by Loomis in 1846, the fourth 

 and fifth charts are facsimiles of those issued 

 by Le Verrier in September, 1863. These were 

 the first daily weather maps with isobars, 

 based on data sent by telegraph. The sixth 

 chart is a reproduction of one by Renou in 

 1864, which was the first to give the mean iso- 

 bars for any country. This gives the mean iso- 

 bars of France. 



No. 9 is a facsimile reprint of a very rare 

 paper by Gellibrand (1635), which contains the- 

 first account of the discovery of the secular 

 variation of magnetic declination. 



All these reprints, like those which have pre- 

 ceded, contain copious notes by Dr. Hellmann, 

 in addition to the introduction. The series i» 

 one which should be in every scientific library. 

 R. Dec. Ward. 



Harvard University. 



Biologia Centrali-Americana. Archseology. The 

 Archaic Maya Inscriptions. By J. T. Good- 

 man. London, R. H. Porter. 1897. 4to. 

 Illustrated. Price, $13.50. 

 One of the early Spanish missionaries warns 

 his readers against studying the native Mexi- 

 can calendar system, since it is an invention 

 of the devil and liable to disturb the faith and 

 cloud the reason of those who seek to under- 

 stand it. 



It is a pity that this warning has not been 

 heeded in the present generation by a certain 

 class of writers, as we should then have been 

 spared a rather extensive series of works char- 

 acterized by a plentiful lack of sound knowl- 

 edge and an abundance of wild speculation ; 

 among them the bulky quarto (which the 

 author fancifully calls ' a little book ' !), the 

 title of which is given above. 



It is the result, he tells us, of twelve years' 

 labor ; but when it was tendered to the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences that learned body 

 ' could not see its way ' to printing the book 

 (prudent Academy !). Mr. Maudslay, however, 

 whose explorations have been so valuable, but 

 who does not pretend to interpret the inscrip- 



