Miscellaneous Intelligence. 77 



throughout to describe the necessary manipulation with the 

 minuteness and care needed in practical work. About half the 

 volume is given to the discussion of the different methods of ex- 

 amination and the reactions of different substances and their com- 

 pounds ; the remainder is devoted to determinative mineralogical 

 tables based first upon physical characters and then upon blow- 

 pipe and chemical tests. The use of these tables is facilitated by 

 a number of examples fully explained in advance, but the student 

 using them will regret the absence of an index to the names ol 

 species. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Geminid Meteors of Dec. 11, 1892. — Dr. Elkin saw on 

 the evening of Dec. 11th, a goodly number of shooting stars. 

 Between 10 h 50 m and ll h 10 m and again between ll h 30 m and 12 h 

 (in all 50 minutes) he saw about 25 flights, that had a radiant 

 close to iota Geminorum. This radiant was determined by five 

 flights. They were very swift and of all degrees of brilliancy, 

 though most of them were equal to stars of the third and fourth 

 magnitude. Three were as bright as Jupiter. At 2 b a. m. of the 

 12th in two minutes he saw none. 



Dr. Chase counted 39 between 10 h 40 m and 12 h . Several 

 exceeded first magnitude stars in brightness. The flights were 

 rapid and often long, 20° or upwards. The radiant was near iota 

 Geminorum, perhaps 2° beyond iota from the middle point of 

 line joining Castor and Pollux. Three shooting stars seen by 

 him about eight o'clock probably belonged to the same group, 

 but at that time failed to attract much attention. h. a. n. 



2. La Planete Mars et ses Conditions d? Habitabilite, par 

 Camille Flammaeion. 608 pp. Paris, 1892 (Gauthier-Villars et 

 Fils). — Flammarion's volume deserves no less praise than to say 

 that it should stand beside the work of Lockyer on the sun and 

 that of Naysmith and Carpenter on the moon. Greater praise no 

 author should expect. 



The author has happily chosen the historical in preference to 

 the topical or technical method of presentation. This was 

 indeed almost inevitable since one topic, the physical geography 

 of Mars, so dwarfs all others ; but it adds greatly to the 

 interest and profit of the reading to be shown how we know, as 

 well as what we know. The time of publication is opportune. 

 Ten years ago the material for the most interesting chapters had 

 not been created and ten years hence it is not likely to be greatly 

 enlarged. 



The history of the planet is divided into three periods. The first, 

 beginning with a drawing by Fontana in 1636, extends to 1830 and 

 established the main surface markings, the polar caps and their 

 changes with the seasons and also the existence of a cloud bearing 

 atmosphere. The second period, inaugurated by Beer, Maedler 

 and Sir John Herschel, extends to 1877. The third, to the present 



