Feb. 3, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\A^S. 



3etfSJielxi0. 



Lectures on Electricity. By George Forbes, F.R.S. London: 

 Longmans, Green and Co., 1888. 

 We have here six lectures, of which five were in 

 substance given before the Society of Arts ; the sixth, on 

 Dynamo-electric Machinery, was delivered at the Electrical 

 Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1884 at the request of the 

 Franklin Institute. They are intended to convey to 

 people of ordinary education a knowledge of the funda- 

 mental facts and principles of electricity, and to enable 

 them to appreciate intelligently its many applications. 

 Very admirably do they fulfil this intention, and by 

 bringing the science of electricity in its main features 

 within the grasp of those who are not professedly 

 " scientific," they form valuable aids to general culture. 

 Mr. John Morley says that " the number of sorts of 

 knowledge in which a man feels at home, and is intelli- 

 gently cognisant of their scope and issues, even if he be 

 wholly incompetent to assist in the progress of discovery, 

 increases that intellectual confidence and self-respect of 

 understanding which so fortifies and stimulates him in 

 his own special order of work ;" and Mr. Forbes has, in 

 the course of lectures before us discussed the subjects of 

 potential and electro-motive force, electric current and 

 resistance, magnetism and electro-magnetism, in such a 

 way as to render possible their inclusion within the list 

 of " sorts of knowledge in which a man feels at home " 

 if he will but take the little trouble involved in reading 

 them and thinking about them. 



Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science, and the 

 Journal of the Postal Microscopical Society. Edited 

 by Alfred Allen. London : Bailliere, Tindall and 

 Cox. 



In this valuable journal especial attention is due to the 

 inaugural address of the newly elected President, the 

 Hon. J. G. P. Vereker. In it especial attention is being 

 drawn to the especially dense glass manuiactured by 

 Messrs. Schott and Co., and to the lenses known as 

 apochromatic objectives made from it by Zeiss and Co., 

 of Jena. The speaker considered that this glass is a new 

 weapon by which we can force nature to surrender more of 

 her secrets. We can only object to the expression " The 

 Scienceof Microscopy." Microscopyis a method of research 

 of great and unexhausted value in biology, geology, mine- 

 ralogy, chemistry, even to some extent in physics. But 

 we cannot call it a " science," unless we cease classi- 

 fying the various disciplines according to the orders of 

 phenomena concerned. 



Mr. J. W. Gifibrd communicates a short but useful 

 paper on " Apochromatic Objectives." 



A paper on the " Hessian Flj'," by a writer using the 

 nom de plume " Entomologist," has been borrowed from 

 the Journal of Horticulture. The writer considers that 

 the original home of this pest is in America, but that it 

 has been introduced into England from the European 

 Continent in straw. 



Mrs. Alice Bodington communicates a most instructive 

 paper on " Micro-organisms as Parasites." Her account 

 of the conflict taking place in the blood between the 

 leucocytes (colourless blood-cells) and the invading 

 disease-germs is graphic without being over-drawn. 



The " Development and Life-History of the Tadpole," 

 from the pen of Mr. J. W. Gatehouse, is a highly inter- 

 esting study. 



" The Microscope and How to Use it," by J. A. Laltham, 

 F.R.M.S., contains a collection of useful recipes for 

 cements and other compositions used in mounting 

 preparations. 



" Half ail Hour at the Microscope," by Tuffen West, 

 F.L.S., is a collection of instructive notes. 



Elementary Text-Book of Physiography. By W. Mawer, 

 F.G.S. London : John Marshall and Co. Hull : 

 Elsom and Co. 



The term " physiography " is only of recent introduc- 

 tion, and is not always used in exactly the same sense. 

 Sometimes it is used as a synonym for the discarded 

 expression " physical geography," and sometimes, as in 

 the present case, it stands for what might be considered 

 as an abridgment of Humboldt's " Cosmos," differing, 

 in fact, but little in meaning from the old term " cosmo- 

 graphy." 



The work before us gives a very fair summary of the 

 present state of human knowledge concerning the world,, 

 its features, and the various forms of energy which we 

 find in operation. In a few cases the author pronounces 

 perhaps somewhat too positively, on questions which 

 have not yet been thoroughly decided. Thus he accepts 

 the view that the great oceans and the continents occupy 

 respectively, at least to a very great extent, the same 

 regions which they have always done. We detect only 

 one decided error : on page 86 the author states the snow- 

 line on the southern slopes of the Himalayas is higher 

 than on the northern side. The very contrary is the 

 case, as Mr. Mawer, curiously enough, subjoins to his 

 statement the very reasons why the snow-line on the 

 northern slopes should be higher, despite of latitude and 

 exposure to the sun. Hence we suspect that we have 

 here to do merely with a clerical error. 



We are much pleased to find that the work is distinctly 

 evolutionist in its teachings. He recognises that the 

 distinctions once admitted between the vegetable and 

 the animal world are disappearing, and furthermore that 

 man in his highest faculties differs from som.e of the lower 

 animals not in kind, but only in degree. 



We are surprised, however, to find the bacteria classed 

 among animals. 



Within the narrow compass allotted (250 pages) the 

 author has not only compressed a vast amount of valuable 

 information, but he has arranged it clearly, displaying 

 the great phenomena of the world in their natural 

 relations. 



The Naturalist's Diary : a Day-Book of Meteorology, 

 Phenology, and Rural Biology. Arranged and 

 Edited by Charles Roberts, F.R.C.S.. L.R.C.P., etc., 

 London : Swan Sonnenchein, Le Bas and Lowrey. 

 This is a book which, in our opinion, will prove ex- 

 ceedingly useful. It will show naturalists — and especially 

 young naturalists — how their desultory observations 

 may be correlated and co-ordinated so as to become of 

 value. We are much gratified to find the formal recogni- 

 tion of a truth with which we have been impressed 

 almost from our boyhood, that is, the superiority of the 

 biological over the physical methods of distinguishing 

 climates. The physician, the sanitarian, the farmer, the 

 gardener, and indeed all that are interested in that 

 wonderful complex which we call " chmate," will learn 

 more from the leafing, blossoming, and fruiting of plants, 

 from the migrations of birds and the appearance of in- 

 sects than they can possibly do from even the skilful use 



