64 



SCIENTIFIC NEV^^S. 



[Jan. 20, iS 



My Hundred Swiss Floioers, with a Short Account of Swiss 

 Ferns. By Mary A. Pratten. London : W. H. Allen 

 and Co. 



This volume is certain to charm our lady-readers, as, 

 indeed, all lovers of nature. The author describes and 

 figures a hundred of the most characteristic and beautiful 

 flowers to be met with by the tourist in Switzerland. Of 

 four species well deserving the honour, we find coloured 

 plates. Foremost among these, ranks Rhododendron 

 ferntgincwn the western representative of that noble 

 family which has its chief seat in the Himalaya. Then 

 comes the "Edelweiss," which, by the way, occurs also in 

 the mountains of New Zealand, though, as far as we are 

 aware, not in any intermediate locality. The plant seems 

 to have had greatness thrust upon it ; its whiteness is of 

 a decidedly dirty cast, and in its form there is no remark- 

 able grace. Beyond all comparison, more lovely are the 

 Gentians, of which one species, Gentiana bavarica,\% here 

 figured in its true colours. Androsace Heerii, with its 

 glowing masses of red flowers, completes this select list. 



A remarkable fact here noted is that our common 

 foxglove does not occur in Switzerland, except where it 

 has escaped from gardens. It is also remarked : 

 " Nor have the Swiss any of our cross-leaved or common 

 heath. They have Erica cirnea and plenty of ling, but 

 none of the heather which gives such a beautiful tinge of 

 purple to the Scotch mountains, and the lower hills in 

 many parts of England. We suspect here som.e confusion 

 among the familiar names of the heaths. We have 

 always heard the name " ling " (Calltma vulgaris) applied 

 to the heather, the commonest heath both in Scotland 

 and England. Erica tetralix and E. cinerea, which are much 

 more beautiful, are less plentiful. 



On perusing this book we are struck with a very 

 singular fact : we see that the flora of elevated regions 

 even closely bordering on perpetual snow is remarkable 

 for its brightness and purity of colour. On the other 

 hand, the animals — especially the reptiles and insects — 

 haunting the higher mountains, are for the most part of 

 dull and sombre hues. This contrast is, in our opinion, 

 fatal to two plausible theories of the origin of colour in 

 animals. One of these ascribes their brilliant hues 

 to the action of intense light and pure air. The other, 

 that of Mr. Grant Allen, asserts that animals are beautiful 

 in colour in proportion as, in feeding, they come more in 

 contact with flowers and fruits of rich and varied hues. 



Another reflection is of a sadly practical nature. Mrs. 

 Pratten laments w»ith good cause that, like certain 

 localities nearer home, they also are being gradually 

 denuded of their choicest plants. Dealers and "exchange 

 societies" — the latter a nuisance of modern origin — work 

 by wholesale where the travelling botanist is content with 

 a couple of specimens. We wish all success to the 

 Association for the Protection of Swiss Plants, which 

 has its head-quarters at S, Rue du Mont- Blanc, Geneva. 



This book deserves our most cordial recommendation. 



Unfmishcd Worlds. A Study in Astronomy. By S. H. 



Parkes, F.R.A.S., F.L.S. London : Hodder and 



Stoughton. 

 "Unfinished Worlds" is a good title for an elementary 

 account of nebula:, stars, planets, and satellites. The 

 author is himself an observer, and writes with more 

 enthusiasm than a mere compiler ; but the good descrip- 

 tions and arrangement of the strictly astronomical 

 portion, which contains a considerable amount of informa- 

 tion in a small compass, are marred by such expressions 



as " that inconceivably grand and terrific momentum, 

 termed parabolic or hyperbolic force," and " every star 

 is a great magnet," meaning merely a centre of attraction. 

 The worst disfigurement of what would otherwise be a 

 useful book to place in the hands of those for whom it is 

 written, viz., " general readers, especially those in early 

 life," is the execution of the illustrations. The process 

 by which they are produced seems capable of doing 

 justice to more carefully finished and better-drawn origi- 

 nals. Towards the end of the book, astronomy is 

 dropped, and biology and evolution, on which the author 

 is less conversant, are the theme. He does not actually 

 deny the theory of evolution, but seems to regard it with 

 apprehension, and is suspicious of Darwin and all his 

 works. The twenty million years which "Sir W. 

 Thompson " gives as the greatest age of the sun is hailed 

 with some satisfaction as " so much the worse for evolu- 

 tion." If it had been rather nearer 4004 years, he 

 would doubtless have been better pleased. Such opinions 

 do not carry much weight when they are those of a writer 

 who does not even know how to spell the name of one 

 of the leading men of science of our time. 



Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society. New Series. 

 Vol. v.. Part II., 1886-7. 



The volume before us shows that the Bristol Natura- 

 lists' Society is laudably active. We find here papers 

 by Professor C. Lloyd Morgan, on the "Bristol Building 

 Stones," on the " Origin of Mountain Ranges," on the 

 " Severn Tunnel Section," and on the " Senses and 

 Sense Organs of Insects," a fairly wide range of subjects. 

 Like ourselves, the author considers it very probable 

 that the sense organisation of insects is very different 

 from that of man. He suggests that, for instance, they 

 may have a special sense for heat-rays, which may thus 

 convey to them impressions more definite than the mere 

 sensation of a higher or a lower temperature. He re- 

 minds us that, as it appears from the researches of Sir 

 John Lubbock, ants are sensitive to the ultra-violet rays, 

 which to our ej'es are perfect darkness. Our organisa- 

 tion has no means of responding to undulations _of the 

 ether below 30 million millions per second, between that 

 figure and about 400 million millions, and again above 

 800 million millions. Here, surely, there is at least the 

 possibility of senses other than those which we possess. 



Mr. W. P. Mendham communicates a paper on the 

 " Deposition of Smoke and Dust by means of Electricity." 



The author discusses the various means by which 

 dust suspended in the atmosphere can either be con- 

 densed or prevented from settling. It was discovered 

 by Lord Raylcigh that a stream of air, free from dust, 

 descends from a cold body. Hot bodies, on the contrary, 

 are surrounded by a film of air absolutely free from 

 dust, and produces an ascending stream of dustless air. 



Some thirty years ago M. Guitard observed the effect 

 produced by an electrical discharge taking place in a 

 volume of smoke confined within a bell-jar. He des- 

 crioes the rapid condensation of the smoke as perfectlj' 

 magical. The principle, improved in its details, has 

 been ^applied to effect the condensation of the fumes 

 from lead-works, and has met with some success. 



The author suggests that the same method might prove 

 available for condensing the fine dust in flour mills, 

 which is now well known as a source of danger, being 

 under certain conditions inflammable and explosive. 

 The dust of flax-mills, which is a nuisance not merely to 

 persons employed in the building, but to all who pass 



