390 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 118. 



modern methods of illustration. Its purpose is 

 to give a general popular knowledge of these 

 processes, rather than to give those explicit 

 directions which would enable one to carry 

 them out in practice. In one or two places the 

 description is not quite clear, as in the account 

 of Mr. Eckstein's process, on p. 45. Again: 

 under ' Instantaneous photography,' the state- 

 ment of some of the optical phenomena is 

 incorrect. But, with these trifling exceptions, 

 the book is an admirable one, and well adapted, 

 in connection with a course of lectures, to 

 serve as a text-book in our colleges and high 

 schools. 



In the preface to Clevenger's ' Comparative 

 physiology,' the author states that " Farada}', 

 Huxley, and T3'ndall, in chemistry, biology, 

 and physics, with the host of workers in nerve 

 phenomena, have afforded the materials for the 

 author's work. Darwin and Spencer have 

 taught him how to make use of them." The 

 book shows that the writer reads widely, and 

 thinks about what he reads. But to publish 

 the quotations which have impressed one, with 

 the ideas they have awakened, even if those 

 ideas are apt and original, is hardly wise. The 

 work contains some careful observations which 

 have a bearing upon the doctrine of evolution ; 

 but these are presented in such a fragmentary 

 way, and in such an anxiously defensive tone, 

 that it is difficult to appreciate their force. The 

 defect in the book ife owing to a lack of power 

 of analysis and synthesis. It has no method 

 of arrangement, and it has no easy grouping of 

 analogous fact. Some pages read like a series 

 of proverbs, each one complete, but out of rela- 

 tion to all the rest (pp. 125-129) : hence it is 

 difficult to become interested, as the attention 

 is not held. If one has worked out a system 

 of philosophy which reconciles all the facts of 

 physiology and psychology, it should be care- 

 fully digested and arranged before being placed 

 before the world, and then its acceptance will 

 largely depend upon a style which attracts, and 

 a confident power of persuasion which con- 

 vinces. 



The plan laid down b} T the Holders in the 

 preface to their c Elements of zoology ' is excel- 

 lent. Each branch, class, and order is to be 

 plainly defined, and its difference from preced- 

 ing ones shown. Available examples are to 

 be chosen, and the student encouraged to per- 

 sonal investigation. The specimens described 

 are, as far as possible, available. But the first 

 promise is almost entirely disregarded. In- 

 deed, the author seems to have such a fear of 

 classification, that the book is a mass of facts, 

 without any apparent S3*stem of arrangement. 



The descriptions of the lower invertebrate 

 classes are so meagre and unsatisfactory, that 

 it is sometimes impossible to tell exactly what 

 group is intended without reference to the 

 heading of the section, or to the cuts, which 

 are generally excellent. Much less could the 

 average student take any given normal speci- 

 men, and, by reference to the text, locate it in 

 its proper class, and find there a clear descrip- 

 tion of its anatomical structure. Why do 

 nearly all our elementary text-books devote 

 from a third to a fourth of their space to 

 mammals and birds, to the neglect of more 

 available, but rather less familiar groups (e.g., 

 insects) , which would furnish an inexhaustible 

 mine of material easily accessible to the stu- 

 dent's investigation? The notes on the eco- 

 nomic importance of different groups form a 

 new and interesting feature ; and the bibliog- 

 raphy is excellent, in referring almost alto- 

 gether to works which should be within reach 

 of every teacher and student. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



It is announced that a serious revolt against the 

 Turkish power has arisen in Morocco. Six provinces, 

 or confederated bodies of population, are implicated. 

 The situation is grave, though such matters are 

 not rapidly disposed of in that country. Practically, 

 all that part between the 6th and 7th degrees of 

 west longitude from Paris is to-day independent of 

 the sultan; and the Beraber, indomitable and fero- 

 cious, have, both in the north and south, revolted 

 against an authority to which, by the way, they were 

 never entirely submissive. Part of this tribe are 

 mountaineers, like the Kabyles ; the rest, equally fierce 

 nomads. Together they can muster twenty or thirty 

 thousand rifles in war-time. Morocco for a long time 

 has contained three large regions which maintained 

 their independence. In the quietest times, only about 

 one-half the area denominated Morocco on the best 

 maps has acknowledged the temporal authority of the 

 sultan. The Beraber, moreover, are the clients and 

 religious adherents of the princely family of Sheik 

 Walad Sidi of Algeria, whose head, long resident in 

 Paris, is now the declared enemy of France, and one 

 of the foremost soldiers of the Senousian confrater- 

 nity. From these facts, it is evident that serious con- 

 sequences might flow from the present disturbances. 



— Serpa-Pinto writes from the Mozambique coast, 

 at Port Bocage, that he is about to lead an important 

 scientific expedition into equatorial Africa for Portu- 

 gal. He will not visit the Kongo, as has been errone- 

 ously reported. He will be assisted in astronomical 

 matters by Lieut. Cardozo and Paul Mapp (photog- 

 rapher), a hundred Zulus armed with modern rifles 

 of the best kind, and four hundred porters. His 

 mission is to study the country between the upper 



