320 



SCIENCE. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Four Lectures on Static Electric Induction, 

 hy J. E.H.Gordon, B. A., Assistant Secretary of the 

 British Association — i6mo, price 80 cents. D. Van 

 Nostrand, New York, 1881. 



These lectures, which were delivered before the Royal 

 Institution of Great Britain during the early part of 1879, 

 convey, in simple and clear language, an explanation of 

 the laws of the induction of electricity, pointing out the 

 problems connected with it, which have been solved, and 

 what remains to be done in this direction. 



About forty illustrations take the place of the lecturer's 

 apparatus, and will be found a great aid to the reader in 

 following the text. As a popular guide to a subject of 

 great present interest, this little work, from so reliable a 

 source, should be welcome. As the author admits, our 

 knowledge of elect'icity is very incomplete ; the question, 

 What is electricity? still remains unsolved. Of the phe- 

 nomena consdered in these lectures, a few only can be 

 explained, the experimental facts standing out alone and 

 disjointed. 



Many lines of reasoning and research open out a little 

 way and then are lost in the darkness through which, as 

 yet, human sight cannot pierce. 



The magnitude of the experiments and the exhaustive 

 researches of Edison are making these difficult ways 

 clear and trodden paths, utilizing the disjoin'ed facts and 

 weaving them into one perfect and harmonious whole. 



Naturen. — El illustreret maanedsskrift for popular 

 Naturvidenskab, udgivet af Hans H. Reusch, cand. 

 real. — Assistent ved den geologiske Undersogelse — 

 Kristiania — Trykt hos A. W. Brbgger. Vol. I, No 

 2, 1880. 



The grat'fication which attends success, must, in the 

 ca^e of the Editors of Nature, have been increased by 

 finding that their journal has become the model for scien- 

 tific weekly journals in other countries. 



France, Germany and Italy have each their Nature 

 published in their respective languages, and we have now 

 to congratulate Norway on possessing au excellent scien- 

 tific journal on the some model. 



The cultivation of science in Norway is of recent date, 

 the first efforts in this direction being contemporaneous 

 with the foundation of the present constitutional monarchy 

 in the year 1814, when the separation from Denmark 

 took place. About this time also the first Norwegian 

 University was organized. 



The short time the constitution of Norway has existed 

 appears sufficient to prove that political freedom and in- 

 dependence — if not absolute conditions--are at least 

 rful vehicles for the intellectual development ot an 

 energetic people. 



As might be expected the strong and impulsive enthu- 

 siasm which arose from this political regeneration was 

 not at first concentrated on the solution of scientific sub- 

 jects, but the intellectual life thus cieated found expres- 

 sion in a more aesthetic tendency, and poets who then 

 and later ar< se are remembered and appreciated, while 

 the Norwegians still treasure the names of Welhaven, 

 Wergeland, Bjdrnson and Ibsen. 



Ot those Norwegians who have established a reputation 

 in the field of science may be mentioned Professor Chris- 

 topher Hansteen, known by his researches in Magnetism, 

 and as an eminent mathematician. He died in 1873, and 

 may be said to have been succeeded by Professors O. J. 

 Broch, Sofus Lie and Bjerknaes. 



Professor Michael Sars has done excellent work on the 

 tower fauna of the country, and his son, Professor ('.. O. 

 Sars, has written several important works on the sub- 



In Botany honorable mention may be madeof Professor 

 N. M. Blytt, and in Geology we refer to Professor Sjur 

 Saxe, who is the author of some admirable works on the 

 glaciers and snowfields. Professor Th. Kjerulff is also 

 a high authority on the same subject. 



Among those who have contributed to the literature of 

 Medicine we may name Professor W. Boeck, who died in 

 1873, and Dr. D. C. Danielsen. 



Professor P. A. Munch, who died in 1863, established a 

 high reputation by his historical works, and Profe sor 

 Sofus Bugge's researches in respect to the ancient lan- 

 guages have been recorded in works which are much 

 esteemed. 



The present number of " Naturen" now before us, 

 which was the second issued, is printed on good p. per, 

 and is well printed. The contents are somewha popular 

 in character, the first article being one of a series on 

 the five senses, entitled " Synet " [sight] with ten illu- 

 strations. The second article on " Lunge fiske," [Lung 

 fishes] is also illustrated with drawings of the Lepido- 

 siren paradoxa and allied forms. The number concludes 

 with minor articles of interest. 



We unders'and " Naturen " will be well pa ronized 

 and we wish the promoters of the paper every success. 



NOTES. 



A patent has been granted for an electro-magnetic rock- 

 drill. A drilling tool is directly attached to the core of 

 axial magnets and arranged to impart to said core a recipro- 

 cating motion. The current is shifted alternately to the 

 coils. 



An application for a patent for the pliotophone was filed 

 at Washington on the 28th of August, 1880, by Bell. The 

 Patent Office Gazette of the 7th of December shows that the 

 patent has been granted. 



Physico-Chemical Analyses of Soils. — M. Pellegrini 

 has compared the methods of Schlcesing, Ncebel, and 

 Masure, and obtained such differences as clay, 37 and 87; 

 sand, 1. 5 to 28. He considers Schlcesing's method the most 

 satisfactorv. 



The conclusion arrived at by G. Hauser, in regard to the 

 organ of smell in insects is as follows : The organ of smell, 

 in all the Orthoptera, Pseudoneuroptera, Diptera and 

 Hymenoptera, also in a large pan of the Lepidoptera, 

 Neuroptera and Coleoptera, consists : 1. Of the antennal 

 nerve. 2. Of a terminal perceptive apparatus consisting of 

 rod bearing cells arising from hypodermic cells, with which 

 a nerve-fibre connects. 3. Of an apparatus consisting of a 

 pit or a cone filled with serous fluid which may be consid- 

 ered as simple infolds and projections of the epidermis. 



Considerable encouragement to naturalists living in 

 cities should be afforded by the amount of botanical work ex- 

 ecuted by Mr. L. P. Gratacap, on a few vacant lots, in the City 

 of New York, known as Manhattan Square. A short time 

 since the inequalities of the ground were filled up by earth 

 which was carted in, the result being the introduction of an 

 army of plants which soon covered the ground with a 

 mantle of waving weeds. A careful examination of these 

 plants showed them to be composed of 35 orders, of 99 

 genera, and 117 species. 



M. Levoituricr, an entomologist, of Elbeuf, has com- 

 municated to the Soci6ti6 d'Acclimation the result of an 

 enquiry as to Coleoptera found in wools from different parts 

 of the world. The author's list is quite a long one, and it is 

 stated that by its inspection the origin of a particular sam- 

 ple of wool may be ascertained, which knowledge is im- 

 portant, as the net return from wool, after scouring, varies 

 greatly. The list comprises, foJ Australia, 47 species of 

 insects; (ape of Good Hope, 52; Buenos Ayres, 30; 

 Sapin, 16 ; Russia, 6. 



