SCIENCE GOSSIP. 



2 39 



dung-beetle of laying its eggs in a small pellet of 

 dirt and rolling it with its antennae till it assumes 

 the shape of a ball, then burying it in a warm bank 

 of sand, suggested resurrection of the human soul, 

 when the newly-hatched beetle left its puparium 

 in the earth. Maybe, the ancients thought the 

 beetles had perpetual life, and so came to worship, 

 in a way, these insects. There are immense 

 numbers of scarabs in existence. They seemed to 

 have come into fashion at least 6,000 years before 

 the birth of Christ, and to have ceased to be used 

 during the Persian period in Egypt, about 500 years 

 B.C. The upper part of a scarab is carved more or 

 less exactly like dor-beetles or cockchafers, with a 

 flat under surface, engraved with hieroglyphics 

 of some signification in history or personality. 

 They were generally carved in a soft stone such as 

 steatite, and every one was unique, there being no 

 attempt at multiplication. Mr. Ward's book con- 



are proficient in the science. It is essentially a 

 book about the regions beyond the solar system, 

 and contains the latest discoveries down to the 

 middle of 1901. The frontispiece is a magnificent 

 reproduction of the photograph of the TriM 

 Nebula in Sagittarius, taken at the Lick Obser- 

 vatory with the Crossley Reflector. The illustra- 

 tions generally are good, as also is the type, but 

 the printers' reader should have been a little more 

 careful, as, for instance, on p, 23, line 14, or in the 

 last line of p. 135. The book should find its way 

 into every public library. — F. C. T). 



Pleasures of the Telescope. By Garrett P. 

 Serviss. viii + 200 pp., 9 in. x 6 in. Illustrated 

 with 30 charts and 18 diagrams. (London : 

 Hirschfeld Brothers.) 6s. net. 



This is a very practical introduction to a study 

 of the beauties of the heavens, especially of the 



Colossal Scarab in the British Museum. 

 (From Ward's "Sacred Beetle.") 



tains some 500 examples, having translations of 

 the inscriptions by Mr. F. Llewellyn Griffith, M.A. 

 What strikes the entomologist about these scarabs 

 is that the beetles from which they were modelled 

 some 8,000 years ago, appear to have been identical 

 with some of the species now inhabiting the Nile 

 Valley. This shows that the climate and general 

 environment can have changed but little in that 

 vast period of time, and how slowly Nature works 

 out her ends. 



The Stars : a Study of the Universe. By Simon 

 Newcomb. xii + 333 pp., 8£ in. x 6 in., with frontis- 

 piece and 27 illus. (London : John Murray.) 6s. 

 ■ This volume is one of " The Progressive Science 

 Series " now being issued under the joint editor- 

 ship of Professor J. McKeen Cattell, M.A., Ph.D., 

 and Mr. F. E. Beddard, M.A., F.R.S. The book is 

 well written by a veteran worker, and whilst being 

 as accurate and concise as possible, is arranged for 

 the use of people who are not astronomers, being at 

 the same time a reference volume for those who 



stellar worlds. It combines a description of the 

 objects to be examined, with maps which enable 

 them to be identified. Of course this volume in no 

 way takes the place, for the more advanced 

 student, of Webb's " Celestial Objects " and 

 Proctor's " New Star Atlas." The book was 

 published in America, and to some extent ignores 

 work done this side of the Atlantic. No mention 

 is made of the simultaneous discovery of Capella's 

 binary character at Oxford with that at Lick ; nor 

 is there any allusion to its visual elongation at 

 Greenwich. The dark companion theory of Algol's 

 variability was confirmed by Professor E. C. 

 Pickering, but the demonstration was left for 

 Vogel at Potsdam in 1888-91. The description of 

 the lunar crater Posidonius is erroneous ir 

 describing the floor as "about 2,000 feet below the 

 outer surface," as in point of fact it is raised 

 above it. The book is a useful companion to the 

 telescope, notwithstanding that our experience of 

 reflectors does not endorse the author's deprecia- 

 tion of that form of instrument. — i 1 . C. D. 



