Geology and Natural History. 241 



ITpemivik the northernmost of the stations, the maximum falls 

 at the winter solstice more marked and dominant than anywhere 

 else in the world." 



4. Note on a preliminary Comparison between the Dates of 

 Cyclonic Storms in Great Britain and those of Magnetic Dis- 

 turbances at the Heiv Observatory y by Balfour Stewart and 

 Wm. Lant Carpenter. — We took the dates of thirty storms from 

 Mr. Scott's paper entitled " The Equinoctial Gales ; do they occur 

 in the British Isles?" in the "Quarterly Journal of the Meteor- 

 ological Society" for October, 1884, and by the kindness of Mr. 

 Whipple, of the New Observatory, were enabled to make the 

 comparison mentioned above. 



Out of these thirty storms, in twenty-three cases there is a dis- 

 tinct magnetic disturbance, for the most part preceding the storm 

 by somewhat more than a day. We do not, however, imagine 

 that we have thus proved the fact of such a connection, but think 

 the results we have attained sufficient to justify us in pursuing the 

 subject. — Proc. Roy. Soc, No. 236. 



5. Properties of Matter ; by P. G. Tait. 320 pp. crown 8vo. 

 Edinburgh, 1885 (Adam and Charles Black). — The excellent 

 volumes by Professor Tait on the subjects of Heat and Light, 

 already noticed in this Journal, are now followed by a third on 

 the Properties of Matter, and, as we are informed, the series is to 

 be completed- by three others on Dynamics, Sound, and Electric- 

 ity. The value of such works as these to the student of physical 

 science can hardly be overestimated. Instead of the dull mechan- 

 ical style of many of the older text-books, only enlivened by the 

 too elaborate illustrations, these volumes of Professor Tait are 

 fresh, bright and suggestive, and calculated to tempt a student on 

 to do independent thinking for himself! The present work is 

 especially welcome since it is devoted to a series of topics which 

 have not often been discussed connectedly in a single volume. 



6. The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism ; 

 by H. W. Watson and S. H. Burbury. Vol. i, Electrostatics. 

 268 .pp. 8vo. Oxford, 1885 (The Clarendon Press).— This volume 

 is intended, as the authors state, as an introduction to, or com- 

 mentary upon, Maxwell's work on Electricity and Magnetism. 

 The three opening chapters are devoted to a series of introduc- 

 tory mathematical propositions on Green's theorem, spherical 

 harmonics and the potential. The fundamental electrical phenom- 

 ena are then briefly described, much as given by Maxwell, and 

 afterward the usual series of topics in electrostatics discussed 

 mathematically in succession. Students who find difficulty in 

 reading Maxwell's larger treatise will be assisted by this volume, 

 in which his views and methods are more or less closely followed. 



II. Geology and Natueal Histoey. 



1. Report of Progress of the Geological and Natural History 

 Survey of Canada during the years 1882-83-84, Alfred R. C. 

 Selwyn, Director. Montreal, 1884. (Dawson Brothers.) — Among 



