212 SCIENCE-GOS STP. 
leading contemporary geologists. Portraits are 
given of a number of these, and extracts from their 
private letters, containing many pleasant passages, 
amusing to read. Jn fact, throughout the book Lady 
Prestwich exhibited a lightness of touch and a 
tendency to humour, which leavens what might other- 
wise have been easily rendered in a dry and heavy 
manner. This work is one which certainly should be 
possessed by every geologist worthy of the name. It 
will be found good reading for most people, as they 
will better understand from its perusal, the difficulties 
encountered by the ‘‘ Fathers of Science” in the 
early part of this century, when bringing their re- 
spective subjects to the prominent notice that has 
enforced the present public recognition of the value 
of Natural Science studies. 
North American Slime-Moulds. By THoMas H. 
Macsripp, A.M., Ph.D. xvii. + 229 pp., 9sin. x 
63in., with frontispiece and 18 other plates (New 
York and London : Macmillan and Co., 1899) Ios. 
This handsomely produced work forms a descriptive 
list of all species of myxomycetes hitherto described, 
from North America, including Central America. 
The author is Professor of Botany in the State Uni- 
versity of Ohio, and an authority upon slime fungi. 
It is curious it is only comparatively recently that 
these odd plant forms, which are on the borderland 
between plant and animal life, should have received 
serious attention, and we find by a comprehensive 
bibliography in the book before us how scant is the 
literature of the subject, especially in the English 
language. This work, therefore, forms a fine addition 
to the list. One of the most useful features of Dr. 
Macbride’s book is the carefully dated synonymy 
preceding his description of each species. The plates 
are clearly drawn, evidently by a professional hand, 
and cannot fail to be most useful to the student. 
Although this work deals only with American species, 
we imagine that the English student of slime fungi can 
hardly afford to be without it. 
The Story of Ice. By WILLIAM A. BREND, B.A., 
B.Sc., F.G.S. 228 pp., 6;in. x 4in., with 37 illus- 
trations. (London: George Newnes, 1899.) Is. 
This is one of the most interesting of Messrs. 
Newnes’ ‘‘ Library of Useful Stories.” The subject 
in itself is sufficiently fascinating, and the illustrations 
tend to render lucid the pleasant letterpress of the 
author. 
The Wanderings of Atoms. By M. M. PATTISON 
Muir, M.A. 192 pp., 64in. x gin. (London : George 
Newnes, 1899.) Is. 
In writing the story of the wanderings of atoms 
the author has had a stiff task before him to make an 
apparently dry subject intelligible reading. He has, 
however, fully succeeded. He deals especially with 
the carbon atoms and their association with others 
under varied conditions, from the bloom on ripening 
fruit, through many organisms, in diverse directions. 
The book is popularly written, as it is also one of 
the Library of useful stories above mentioned. Itisa 
work requiring some knowledge of Chemistry, to be 
fully appreciated. 
Views on Some of the Phenomena of Nature. By 
JAMES WALKER. Pt. 2. vi. + 187 pp., 7#in. x 5in., 
illustrated. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 
1829.) 2s. 6d. 
Although we have been tempted to search the 
pages of this work in the hope of finding them useful 
to our readers, we have unfortunately not succeeded. 
The author has views of his own on many subjects, 
which will hardly find favour with those well com- 
petent to judge. 
Flistory of Wireless Telegraphy, 1838-1899. By 
J. J. FAHIE. xvil. + 325 pp., 731m. x 5in., with 
frontispiece and 60 illustrations. (Edinburgh and 
London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899.) 6s. 
In the book before us, Mr. Fahie has collected in a 
careful manner a complete history of the work done 
in telegraphing through space without conducting 
wires. To one at all interested in the subject, and 
few are not at the present moment, the book makes 
over 300 pages of valuable reading. The author has 
gone to a great amount of trouble in obtaining details 
of the work of earlier experimenters, and of the 
correspondence between them. Indeed, in reading 
about this earlier work, one asks why the development 
of the subject remained latent so long. Professor 
Schuster in 1874, Professor Hughes in 1879, both got 
hold of one of the most important points in connection 
with wireless telegraphy, viz. :—the loose contact 
action, or what is now known as the coherer 
principle. These and other important points are 
brought out in the appendices at the end of the book. 
The author divides the history into three periods. 
(1) The ‘‘ Possible,” where we are given the work of 
Steinheil (1838), of the hard-working Lindsay, of 
Dundee (1843), of Dr. Loomis (1872), and others. 
(2) The ‘‘ Practicable,” which includes the more 
solid work of such authorities as Trowbridge (1880), 
Graham Bell (1882), Dolbear (1883), Edison (1885), 
and others. (3).The ‘‘ Practical” period, which 
brings us down to the systems being worked out at 
the present day. Foremost among these come the 
extensive series of experiments upon electro-magnetic 
induction, which were commenced as far back as 1882, 
by Sir Wm. Preece, in telegraphing from Southampton 
to the Isle of Wight, without connecting wires. 
These were followed by further work in Durham, in 
the Bristol Channel, in South Wales, and elsewhere. 
Since March, 1898, Preece’s method has been 
officially established for signalling between Lavernock 
Point and the Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel. A 
full description is next given of Mr. Willoughby 
Smith’s conduction method, and then the familiar 
name of Marconi is introduced. Working upon the 
experimental results of Hertz, Marconi has, during 
the last few years, so utilised and brought under 
control the Hertzian waves, that his system of 
signalling through space is, at the present time, being 
very successfully worked at a great number of stations. 
Pages 177-245, on Marconi’s method, are particularly 
interesting, and bring the subject quite up todate. We 
are given a reprint of Marconi’s patent. His arrange- 
ments detailed in that specification (1897) are in the 
main the same as he is employing at the present day. 
=. 
Among other books received for notice are The London 
University Guide, 1899-1900 (London: Univ. Corr, Coll, 
Press) ; The Vorkshire Raniblers’ Club Journal (London; T. 
Fisher Unwin), 2s.; Synouymic Catalogue of the North 
American Rhopalocera, by Henry Skinner, M.D. (Phila- 
delphia : American Entomological Society, Box 248), $1.00; 
Insects Injurious to Garden and Orchard Crops, by F. H. 
Chittenden (Washington: Department of Agriculture. Bull 
No. 19, N.S.); Zyansactions British Mycclogical Society 
(Worcester: Baylis and Son), 3s. 6d.; Transactions South 
Eastern Union of Scientific Societies for 1899 (London: 
Taylor and Francis), 3s.; Canadian Experimental Farms. 
Reports for 1898 (Ottawa: S. E. Dawson); Calendar Birk- 
beck Literary and Scientific Institution, 1899-1900 (London: 
Witherby and Co.), 6d.; The Larwie Collector's Guide and 
Calendar for British Lepidoptera (Dartford: J. and W. 
Davis), 1s.; Report of the Department of Public Works for 
New South Wales to June, 1898 (Sydney: W. A. Gullick) ; 
Limurite in Tasmania, by W.H. Twelvetrees and W. F. 
Petterd, C.M.Z.S. (Reprint trom Proceedings of Royal 
Society of Tasmania, 1899); 7vansactions Leicester Literary 
and Philosophical Society, Vol. V., Pts. Ill. and IV. 
(Leicester: Gibbons and Co., 1899), 6d. each; Yransactions 
Guernsey Society of Natural Science, 1898 (Guernsey : 
Richard). 
