M 



Notices respecting New Boohs. 463 



To sum up : — Physicists and astronomers have now in their 

 hands an extremely useful method for studying the constitu- 

 tion of the solar spectrum, a method which enables us to dis- 

 tino-uish at a glance between lines of solar and terrestrial origin. 



LY. Notices respecting New Books. 

 The Volcanoes of Japan. By Johist Mii/ne. Transactions of the 

 Seismoloyical Society of Japan, Yol. IX. Part II. 8vo. Yoko- 

 hama, 1886 : pp. 184, with a map and numerous sketches. 



R. JOHN MILNE, P.G.S., occupies the whole of this Part of 

 the Transactions with another of his important papers on the 

 Tolcanic Phenomena of Japan. Rich as Japan is in the possession 

 of Yolcanoes, there does not appear to have been any native author 

 who has endeavoured to describe in full these conspicuous land- 

 marks. Prom the limited bibliography of native works on the 

 subject (avowedly imperfect, and no doubt difficult to collect) given 

 in this Memoir, we can only note one which, from its title, would 

 appear to be a definite treatise, namely no. 26, Kyushu Kivazan Ron, 

 by Aoe Shin, giving an account of the Yolcanoes in Kyushu. Of 

 European writers, JNaumann, Yon Drasche, and D. H. Marshall 

 have contributed to our scanty knowledge ; but it has been left for 

 John Milne, in addition to his many notes on the subject, to 

 supply us with this systematic and exhaustive work on the " more 

 important Yolcanoes of Japan/' 



After the bibliography, which consists of 42 references, and 

 which would have been more valuable had the dates been given, 

 Mr. Milne proceeds at once to take the Yolcanoes individually, on 

 a plan of his own, not easy to follow and apparently with no definite 

 arrangement. A minute account of the date and extent of each, 

 recorded eruption is given, together with many curious and inter- 

 esting particulars as to the religious signification attached thereto, 

 and the folk-lore concerning the mountain and its outbursts. 

 This is followed by a geological description, and accompanied by an 

 outline- sketch of the volcano, generally from a photograph. 



He finishes this part of the Memoir with a table of all the 

 known eruptions, showing a comparison of the activity in summer 

 and winter months. The Japanese measurements, often used 

 here, should have been translated or reduced to their English 

 equivalents, in a table, or throughout, instead of in the rare and 

 scattered instances met with. 



One hundred and sixty-two pages are devoted to these im- 

 portant points ; and Mr. Milne then goes on to give his conclu- 

 sions, from personal observation, that the two islands, Iturup and 

 Kunashiri, are older than any other members of the Japanese 



the figure (3) is modified. The telluric lines remain vertical, while the 

 solar lines are not only dislocated, but become oblique (see fig. 5). We 

 have here a very delicate test which lends itself to photographic obser- 

 vations. 



