June r5, iSSS,] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\VS. 



567 



(3) At one of the hands. If the person is standing on 

 both feet, this may be fatal, since the organs of the 

 abdominal cavity and its nerve centres are in the path of 

 the discharge. If the person is standing on one foot, 

 then if this foot be on the same side of the body as the 

 hand that is touched, the discharge will probably not be 

 fatal, since the discharge does not necessarily pass 

 through the organs of the abdominal cavity. If, how- 

 ever, the foot on which the person is standing be on the 

 other side of the body from the hand that touches the 

 wire— that is, if the person be standing on the right 

 foot and touches the wire with his left hand — the dis- 

 charge, if powerful, is apt to be fatal, since the organs of 

 the abdominal cavity and its nerves are necessarily in the 

 path of the discharge. 



(4) On the back, especially in the upper portion. 

 This is apt to be fatal, since the spinal cord is danger- 

 ously near the path of the discharge. The muscles of 

 the back are also very large, and would thus determine 

 the passage of much of the current in this direction. 



(5) Discharges ensuing on touching the wires with each 

 hand are apt to be fatal, since the heart lies in the path 

 of the current. 



Those exposed to electric discharges would be pro- 

 tected from the eftects of accidental grounding of the 

 conductors by wearing plates or discs of any_ high 

 insulating material on the soles of the shoes or inside 

 the same. 



Death by lightning probably results from the effects of 

 shock, combined with those of electrolysis. In discharges 

 of such enormous difference of potential as exists in 

 lightning, disruptive effects may also be produced. _ 



The almost instantaneous and consequently painless 

 nature of death by the electric shock has led to the sug- 

 gestion that it be employed in public executions in place 

 of hanging or decapitation. Should such suggestion be 

 adopted, the character of the apparatus employed should 

 be such as to cause death by shock, followed, to avoid 

 the possibility of resuscitation, in case of apparent death, 

 by the passage of an electrolysing current. 



fVaits' Dictionary of Chemistry. Revised and entirely 

 re-writttn by H. Foster Morlej^ M.A., D.Sc, and M. 

 M. Pattison Muir, M.A. Vol. I. London : Longmans, 

 Green, and Co., iSSS. 

 The advance of chemistry as a science has during the 

 last few years been so enormous that the first edition of 

 this dictionary, which was begun a quarter of a century 

 ago and finished by the last supplement in iSSi, is quite 

 out of date. Organic chemistry especially has made 

 strides which may rightly be called gigantic, the 

 number of organic compounds now known having doubled 

 since Watts first brought out his record. The work 

 was then called "A Dictionary of Chemistry and the 

 Allied Branches of Other Sciences," but the great de- 

 velopment of both chemistry and chemical technology 

 has rendered necessary, or at least advisable, a restric- 

 tion of the dictionary to the subject of chemistry proper ; 

 while technology is to be treated separately in a com- 

 panion volume by Professor Thorpe. Notwithstanding 

 this subdivision, an ingenious though easily under- 

 stood system of condensation and abbreviation has 

 been found needful in deaUng with organic compounds. 

 Special articles have been contributed by eminent men, 



and among them we note as particularly worthy of the 

 attention of our readers the article on " Blood " by Dr. 

 Halliburton, that on " Bacteria " by Professor Ray 

 Lankester, and Professor Ostwald's article on " Affinity," 

 translated by Miss Ida Freund, of Newnham College. 

 Professor Meyer contributes an interesting and sugges- 

 tive essay on " Allotropy," and Professor Thorpe a 

 valuable one on " Atmosphere." Dr. Stevenson's com- 

 prehensive and accurate account of the state of present 

 knowledge on the subject of poisonous alkaloids is 

 worthy of his high reputation as a toxicologist, and gives 

 a vast amount of information in a small space. In Dr. 

 Halliburton's article the sketch of the growth of discovery 

 and speculation in the matter of coagulation of blood is 

 remarkable for his having condensed into about one 

 column history often spread over many pages, and this 

 without the omission of a single important fact or 

 valuable reflection. He gives us, too, the very latest 

 news on the subject— Wooldridge's highly important 

 observations on the influence of the lecithin contained in 

 the substance known as fibrinogen A. Dr. Halliburton's 

 own researches in reference to the blood of the inverte- 

 brates are so valuable that they lend a special interest 

 to this article on the subject by his own hand. The scope 

 and progress of the new branch of biological science 

 known as " bacteriology " will be appreciated by readers 

 of Professor Lankester's account of the bacteria, with 

 useful bibliography attached. Its influence upon 

 general medicine and surgery, though probably still in 

 its infancy, is attested by the amount of attention now 

 being given to it all over the world by pathologists, and 

 its value in furthering the development of preventive 

 medicine— that great hope of the future— is foreshadowed 

 by the work of Pasteur. The fact that Professor 

 Lankester dismisses the subject of " Abiogenesis" in a 

 few lines is indicative of the thoroughness with which 

 Professor Tyndall pulverised the theory of Dr. Bastian — 

 a theory which is now chiefly of historical interest. 



The article on " Atmosphere " will be liked by nearly 

 all classes of our readers ; the subject facilitates a treat- 

 ment at once full and accurate, technical, and compre- 

 hensible by the ordinary man of intelligence ; and Pro- 

 fessor Thorpe has wisely taken advantage of his oppor- 

 tunity. 



To the advanced student of chemistry the more 

 strictly chemical part of the book will afford a mine of 

 wealth ; we refrain from more than general commenda- 

 tion in this respect, as the subject is so entirely one for 

 the real student, and he would hardly thank us for a 

 particular account, while the general reader would 

 assuredly neglect it altogether. 



We have only one fault to find with the book, and in the 

 face of such general excellence we are almost ashamed to 

 mention it : in spite of the explanation of the editors, we 

 cannot help regretting the absence of details of analytical 

 processes, for we feel sure they will be greatly missed, 

 and will prevent that sense of effectual completeness 

 which would otherwise be given by this fine work. 

 The Geology of England and Wales. With Notes of the 

 Physical Features of the Country. By Horace B. 

 Woodward, F.G.S,,of the Geological Survey of Eng- 

 land and Wales. London: G. Phillips and Son. 



This volume is a second and much enlarged edition of 

 a work published by the author some ten years ago, and 

 as a book of reference is of high value ; differing as it 

 does from the ordinary text-books of geology, in that it 

 enumerates the principal geological facts of the countrj', 



