356 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Elementary Chemistry: By T. A. Cheetham, 

 F.C.S. 128 pp. 8vo, with 24 illustrations. (Lon- 

 don : Blackie and Son, Limited, 1898.) is. 6d. 



As a first year's course of practical and theoreti- 

 cal chemistry, this little work sets forth a useful 

 plan of study and experiments. The arrangement 

 of the laboratory work and side references to para- 

 graphs throughout the book is good ; the latter, being 

 in conspicuous type, readily enables the scholar to 

 find what is required with the aid of the contents 

 table at the commencement. There is also a com- 

 parative diagram of French and English measures. 



British Game Birds and Wild Fowl. By Beverley 

 R. Morris, M.D., revised by W. B. Tegetmeir, 

 F.Z.S. Parts xi. and xii., super royal 8vo, with 

 coloured plates. (London: John C. Nimmo, 

 1897-8.) 2s. 6d. per part. 



Part 12 completes this ornamental book. It is 

 a pity the opportunity afforded by the issue of a 

 new edition has not been secured to thoroughly 

 bring the work up to the condition of present 

 common knowledge. The revision in this edition is 

 sadly incomplete, and leaves the work little changed. 



British Orthoptera. By Malcolm Burr, F.Z.S. , 

 F.E.S. 70 pp. 8vo, with 6 plates. (Huddersfield : 

 Economic Museum, 1897.) 3s. 6d. 



As a handbook to an order of insects hitherto 

 but little studied in Britain, the work before us will 

 prove most useful. As it becomes better known, 

 this manual cannot fail to induce many entomolo- 

 gists to take up the study of our native earwigs, 

 cockroaches, grasshoppers and crickets. Unfortun- 

 ately there are some errors which should have been 

 corrected by the printer in the proof slips, before 

 going to press. Mr. Burr has, however, issued a 

 note correcting them, which those who possess the 

 work would do well to obtain. Otherwise, with 

 regard to the letterpress, the author is to be con- 

 gratulated upon his efforts. We wish we could 

 say as much for the plates, which are unsatis- 

 factory in drawing in many instances ; and 

 the colouring is among the worst we have seen. 

 In the copy before us on some of the plates little 

 or no attempt has been made to keep the "register," 

 leaving part of the subjects uncoloured while the 

 pigment is smeared away from the drawing in a 

 most unpleasant manner. Neither is there any 

 serious attempt to follow the living colours of the 

 more delicate species. In fact, we cannot forbear 

 sympathising with theauthorin what mustbe agreat 

 disappointment. We hope the increasing interest 

 which has arisen in the British Orthoptera will soon 

 exhaust this edition and enable Mr. Burr to issue 

 another, where these defects will be remedied. 

 Even with them this is a most useful work, especi- 

 ally as there is not any other recent one available. 



The Story of Photography . By Alfred T. Story. 

 1S1 pp. small Svo, with 3S illustrations. (London : 

 George Newnes, Limited, 189S.) is. 



This is another of the "Library of Useful Stories," 

 which are popularizing the subjects treated, and at 

 the same time educating the readers in many for- 

 gotten points of history well worthy of remembrance. 

 The author of this little work has treated his subject 

 historically, commencing with the earliest uncertain 

 steps that have led to its present excellence as an art. 

 Few thinking people will imagine that the height of 

 this success has been attained, for hardly a week 

 passes without the record of some improvement. 

 Mr. Story has used considerable judgment in the 

 arrangement of his literary material, and, with 

 the aid of the diagrams and other illustrations, 

 presents his story in a very readable manner. 



GEOLOGY 



CONDUCTED BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S. 



To whom all Notes. Articles and material relating to Geology, 

 and intended for Science-Gossip, are, in the first instance, to 

 be addressed at 69, Bensham Manor Road. Thornton Heath. 



Pebbly and Other Gravels in Southern 

 England. — An important paper was read by Mr. 

 A. E. Salter, B.Sc, F.G.S. , at the meeting of the 

 Geologists' Association, on March 3rd, at Uni- 

 versity College, in which, after a general account 

 of gravels, and the valley excavation they indicate, 

 the author described in detail those of the Thames 

 Basin. These he arranged in three main divisions : 

 (1) High Level or Early Drift, indicating, on the 

 south side, streams from the Wealden area, flowing 

 north in the Darent area and north-west in the 

 Bagshot district ; (2) Lower Plateau or Glacial 

 Gravels, having a much closer relation to the 

 present valleys than the preceding ; (3) River 

 Gravels, containing Palaeolithic tools and Pleisto- 

 cene mammalia in their upper terraces. The 

 application of the knowledge gained in the Thames 

 area to the gravels of Hants, Dorset, Devon and 

 Cornwall then followed. The author went on to 

 show that in the old Frome Valley, the lower part 

 of which is now destroyed by the sea, a similar 

 series at corresponding levels is found, and that 

 further west High Level Drift occurs on the 

 Blackdown Hills, near Weymouth, and also on the 

 Haldon Hills, in Devon, while Lower Plateau Drift 

 covers the hills near Axminster and Sidmouth, and 

 is also found in the Teign Valley, at Woolborough 

 Hill, etc. The River Drifts are likewise repre- 

 sented. West Devon and Cornwall tell a similar 

 story. The author thinks that Dartmoor was the 

 source of the rivers depositing the High Level 

 Gravels of Dorset and Devon in Pliocene times, 

 and that probably a stream flowed across Central 

 England in a north-east direction and deposited 

 the so-called Westleton shingle, the constituents 

 of which are in many cases derived from the West 

 of England. The paper was illustrated by nume- 

 rous specimens and diagrams. 



Opal Pseudomorph. — A magnificent specimen 

 of opal was exhibited at the meeting of the 

 Geological Society on April 6th, by Professor 

 H. G. Seeley, which took the form of a humerus of 

 a plesiosaurian. This pseudomorph was almost 

 entirely opalised, and was translucent, with the 

 exception of one end which was composed of 

 phosphate of lime. The specimen came from New 

 South Wales, and it is hoped that, success awaiting 

 the negotiations with the Opal Company, the 

 present owners, it may find a resting-place in the 

 national collection. It is said to be a unique 

 specimen. 



" Eolithic " Implements. — At the same meeting 

 a paper was read by Mr. W. Cunnington, F.G.S., 

 on " Some Palaeolithic Implements from the 

 Plateau Gravels, and the Evidence concerning 

 ' Eolithic ' Man." Although at first inclined to 

 believe that the chipping on the "eoliths " of the 

 plateau gravels of Kent was the work of man, 



