2 5 6 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



prehensive grasp of the effects of atmospheric 

 disturbances upon the formation of clouds. One 

 could almost estimate the position and probable 

 duration of rough weather with the assistance of 

 the illustration and its attendant description. This 

 carefully-prepared book, which is evidently the 

 result of years of observation, forms an important 

 contribution to the literature of meteorology. [J .T.C.] 



Review of Reviews. Mr. Stead has, with that 

 extraordinary energy which characterizes him, 

 carried this successful review through its fifth year 

 of publication. The summary of Science literature 

 appears monthly, and will be found useful to our 

 readers, though it would be still more valuable if 

 the titles of all the articles were given, rather than 

 an arbitrary selection of a few from each magazine ; 

 the choice seeming to be governed by the " catchi- 

 ness" of the title rather than by the substance of 

 the contents of the article it represents. The 

 monthly list of new books is particularly important. 



By Vocal Woods and Waters: Studies from Nature 

 by Edward Step. 254 pp. 8vo, illustrated. 

 (London : Bliss, Sands and Foster.) Price 5s. 



In a prefatory note Mr. Step describes this book 

 as a " sheaf of gathered leaves," which would have 

 been a better title than that he has chosen. Most 

 of the chapters have already appeared in serial 

 literature, and the author has been well advised to 

 collect and elaborate his " sheaf of gathered leaves," 

 for in this form they will doubtless reach a multi- 

 tude of readers beyond those who have already 

 enjoyed them. The work consists of twenty-two 

 essays, treating of the habits of animals and plants, 

 in which the author now and then shows a quaint 

 humour, and has the charm for the ordinary reader 

 of an absence of technical names. Perhaps the best 

 among the chapters are under the headings " A 

 Wasp's Nest," " Out of Their Element," "Vegetable 

 Vagrants," " My Day with a Dog," and especially 

 "About my Toads." We may quote from this 

 chapter : " To some peculiarly-constituted persons 

 the idea of making a pet of the toad is repulsive, or, 

 at least, eccentric ; but he is greatly to be preferred 

 to some pets. The toad has virtues, but, so far as 

 I have been able to discover, no vices. He does 

 not presume upon the kindness of his master or 

 mistress, and arrogantly assert his claim to the 

 softest cushion or the warmest part of the hearth- 

 rug. He does not make night hideous, nor torture 

 the invalid or light sleeper by his piercing howls at 

 the nocturnal cat. He does not require a licence, 

 nor is there any fear that he will infect his human 

 friends with hydrophobia. He knows his place 

 and keeps it, doing his appointed work with un- 

 remitting assiduity, yet making no fuss about it. 

 According to his ignorant traducers, the toad is 

 slow and deformed, he is dirty and repulsive, he is 

 a standing danger to life and health, all of which is 

 evidence of the ignorance of his detractors." In 

 the same chapter are graphic and amusing descrip- 

 tions of the stalking and capture by one of the 

 author's pet toads of a worm and a stag-beetle. 

 Less successful is Mr. Step when he becomes 

 speculative, and weaves in among ideal crude 

 thoughts of the most primitive men, translations 

 from the highly -cultured Greeks with the misleading 

 remark " as another poet of the period put it " (pp. 

 10 and 11). The book deserves to be widely known, 

 and is sure to be appreciated by those who have 

 the fortune to meet with it. — [F. W.] 



The Vaccination Question. By Arthur Wollaston 

 Hutton, M.A., Librarian of the National Liberal 



Club. 128 pp. 8vo, and frontispiece. (London: 

 Methuen and Co., 1894.) Price is. 6d. 



This work, which, previously to being issued in 

 its present form, was the substance of a letter 

 addressed to the Home Secretary, is controversial 

 rather than scientific, From his own point of view, 

 as an anti-vaccinationist, Mr. Hutton has treated 

 his subject very ably, but we think our readers 

 would generally disagree with him while respecting 

 the earnestness of his intentions. 



A Laboratory Manual of Organic Chemistry. By W. 

 R. Orndorff, A.B., Ph.D. Systematically arranged 

 to accompany Professor Ira Rem sen's " Organic 

 Chemistry." 8vo. (Boston, U.S.A.: Heath and 

 Co. ; London : Isbister and Co., 1894.) Price not 

 given. 



Professor Remsen contributes a short preface in 

 which he states he has examined the eighty 

 experiments set forth in this manual, and finds 

 that they have been carefully prepared and are 

 trustworthy. For students investigating the com- 

 pounds of carbon this book will be of some aid. 



A Handbook of the Primates, Vols. i. and ii. By 

 Henry O. Forbes, LL.D., F.Z.S., &c, Director 

 of Museums, Liverpool. (Allen's Naturalists' 

 Library), 582 pp. 8vo, 29 coloured plates and eight 

 coloured maps. (London: W. H. Allen and Co., 

 Limited, 1894.) Price 6s. per volume. 



In the July number of this magazine we noticed 

 (page no) the re-issue of Sir William Jardine's 

 Naturalists' Library, by Messrs. Allen and Co., 

 under the editorship of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, 

 F.L.S., of which there are now, we believe, five 

 volumes published. In selecting Dr. Forbes to do 

 the two volumes under notice, the editor of Allen's 

 Naturalists' Library was most judicious, for few men 

 know more about, or have had better opportunities 

 of studying, the anthropoid apes, monkeys, and 

 their allies. The result is that these volumes con- 

 tain more accurate information and more recent 

 facts about monkeys than any other book on the 

 subject. The whole of the coloured plates have 

 been redrawn up to the present knowledge of the 

 species they represent, which was most necessary, 

 for, as pointed out in his preface by Dr. Sharpe, the 

 old plates in Jardine's Library were little better 

 than caricatures which were positively libellous. 

 One of the most important features of Dr. Forbes' 

 monograph is that part which deals with the 

 geographical distribution of the species of the 

 order Primates, which is illustrated by the coloured 

 maps. Several new species are brought forward, 

 and all are fully though simply described, as are 

 their habits, both in a state of nature and in cap- 

 tivity. Altogether Dr. Henry O. Forbes has 

 produced the best popular book on monkeys yet 

 written.— [J. T. C] 



A Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera. By W. F. 

 Kirby, F.L.S., F.Ent.S., Department of Zoology, 

 British Museum. Vol. i. part i., Butterflies 

 (Allen's Naturalists' Library), lxxiv. and 261 pp. 

 8vo, also 37 coloured and other plates, and extra 

 figures in the letterpress. (London : W. H. Allen 

 and Co., Limited, 1894.) Price 6s. 



Mr. Kirby, than whom no one is more fitted 

 to have undertaken the volumes on the lepidoptera 

 for this " library," has accomplished the difficult 

 task of striking out a new design in the plan of 

 his work. Hitherto writers on butterflies have 

 generally written on either British or exotic butter- 

 flies separately or as a whole. Mr. Kirby is to be 

 congratulated on the happy thought of guiding his 



