1 44 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



SCIENCE IN SOME MAGAZINES. 



Notices by John T. Carrington. 



THE "Gentleman's Magazine" (London: 

 ■*■ September, 1807, is.). This number of the 

 " Gentleman's Magazine " has passed the remark- 

 able figure of 2,000 monthly issues, being 2,001, 

 volume 283. From its very commencement the 

 honourable line of editors under the nom-de-plumc 

 of " Sylvanus Urban, Gentleman," has ever en- 

 couraged an interest in science, keeping watch 

 on the passing events and discoveries of the 

 period. In the number for September, Mr. A. 

 Macivor popularly treats on the use of " Balloons 

 and Kites in Meteorology." He has compiled a 

 number of curious and very interesting facts, 

 which are told in such pleasant style that the least 

 informed reader becomes interested in active 

 human observations from balloons at such enor- 

 mous altitudes as 31,500 feet, or nearly six miles, 

 and the passive records of automatic instruments 

 carried by kites to a third of that distance in 

 altitude. The most important results in meteoro- 

 logical research obtained by kites were, and we 

 may add are, as recently mentioned in Science- 

 Gossip, at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observa- 

 tory, Milton, Mass., U.S.A., which stands at an 

 altitude above the sea of 635 feet. The self- 

 recording meteorograph attached to the kites 

 weighs only three pounds, and records with great 

 accuracy temperatures, humidity and atmospheric 

 pressure. The general weather conditions at a 

 mile above the observatory have now been watched 

 for some time. It is found at that height the 

 temperature is from 15 to 25 Fahr. colder than 

 at the surface, with a virtual absence of daily 

 range, the nights being as warm as the days, and 

 the only changes are the results of passing warm 

 or cold waves. The days at that elevation in fine 

 weather are damp ; but the nights are extremely 

 dry. The sun is frequently shining brightly up 

 there when for lengthened periods rain is falling 

 below. The velocity of the wind is four times 

 greater than that on the ground, often blowing at 

 the rate of 100 miles an hour. The importance of 

 these researches upon the future of weather fore- 

 casting is manifest on reading Mr. Macivor's 

 article. 



Pall Mall Magazine (London : September, 

 1897, is.). "Elephant Catching in India," with 

 thirteen pictures from photographs taken on the 

 spot, appeals to the field naturalists. It is by 

 Surgeon- General Sir B. Simpson, K.C.I.E., and 

 Colonel Cuthbert Larking. There are touches of 

 natural history in this article, as well as the 

 description of scenes dear to the naturalist 

 sportsman. 



Cornhill Magazine (London: September, 1S97, 

 is.). Mr. Frank T. Bullen writes upon "Antarctic 

 Exploration, "in which he reviews the work already 

 done on the fringe of the southern ice cap. His 

 contribution points out that not only may science 

 be enriched by a continuance of the researches 

 in those frigid seas, but commerce also, by the 

 rehabilitation of the sperm whale fishery between 

 the parallels of 50 and Co° south, where those 

 gigantic mammals abound in vast numbers, and 

 are of immense size. 



Appleton's Popular Science Monthly (New 

 York : September, 1897. 50 cents). This is a 

 bright number, and contains among its fourteen 



articles several which appeal to lovers of natural 

 science. Mr. Wm. E. Cram has an illustrated 

 description of "The Hawks of New England." 

 The eight drawings are picturesque. Botanists 

 will find Professor James W. Tourney's article on 

 "The Giant Cactus" of the foothills, by the Salt 

 Rivfir Valley and downwards into Mexico. There 

 the plants grow by "hundreds on a single acre, 

 many extending their huge green columns to the 

 height of fifty feet." The two illustrations depict 

 these weird-looking vegetable monsters. For the 

 same class of readers Dr. George J. Peirce writes 

 on "The Scope of Botany." He reviews the many 

 fields for botanical work in its varying branches, 

 whether microscopic or otherwise. He takes for his 

 text the familiar quotation, "Botany is that science 

 which seeks to answer every reasonable question 

 regarding plants." There is an illustrated biography 

 of the Rev. Samuel Lockwood, Ph.D., a well- 

 known naturalist and shrewd observer, born at 

 Mansfield, in England, who died at his home in 

 New Jersey, on January gth, 1894, aged seventy- 

 five years. He went with his father to New York 

 while quite a little boy. Singularly unassuming, 

 he left behind not only his mark as an investigator 

 but his influence as an encourager of others to take 

 up the study of natural history. 



The American Journal o¥ Science (New 

 Haven, Con., September, 1897) contains several 

 articles on North American geology and one 

 relating to a new tertiary horizon in Southern 

 Patagonia. 



The Edinburgh Review (London: July, 1897). 

 This number contains an article on the two late 

 English mathematical astronomers, whom the 

 review calls " the greatest we have had in England 

 since the days of Newton." The notes are (1) " On 

 the Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy, 

 K.C.B.," and (2) "The Scientific Papers of John 

 Couch Adams, F.R.S." Mr. C. Lloyd Morgan,* 

 F.G.S., on " Habit and Instinct," is considered. 

 The review is a careful comparison "of the defini- 

 tions given to these two words by various 

 authorites. Several examples of what is usually 

 called instinct are given. Professor Lloyd 

 Morgan himself considers that the term "instinc- 

 tive" should be confined to those "activities" 

 which are in a greater or less degree congenitally 

 definite, and in this sense uses the words through- 

 out his work. In the same review is noticed the 

 late Dr. J. E. Taylor, Ph.D., F.L.S., on "The 

 Sagacity and Morality of Plants." 



Strand Magazine (London: September, 1S97, 

 6d.) contains another of the series of articles 

 by' Mr. Grant Allen, entitled "Glimpses of 

 Nature." The subject this month is Spiders, and 

 the article is headed " Beasts of Prey." There 

 are nine illustrations drawn by Mr. Fred Enock, 

 showing "cocoon of young spiders hatching " ; the 

 same casting their first threads to catch the 

 wind ; the baby spider in its first snare ; and the 

 common garden spiders, with various portions of 

 their anatomy much enlarged. The article is 

 treated in Mr. Grant Allen's usual charming style 

 for popular natural history. " For sheer ferocity 

 and lust of blood," he says, " perhaps no creature 

 on earth can equal that uncanny brute the 

 common garden spider. She does not point a 

 moral with the ant." There are careful descrip- 

 tions of the manner in which the spider catches 

 and eats the unwary flies, and also an interesting 

 account of her method of changing her covering. 



