= 
262 
that true hero that can be accessible to the 
ordinary reader. 
The greatest fault of the book is that the 
length of the text bears no sort of proportion 
to the importance of the men or their possible 
interest to the reader. Lamarck’s life is one 
of the most picturesque of all scientific lives: 
it is more heroic in quality than that of any 
other given in the series. Lamarck gave as 
much or more to natural science than any 
other naturalist whose name appears here; 
yet to this man’s eventful history but fifteen 
pages are given, while Sir Roderick Impey 
Murchison, from whom the world had little 
profit, who will find his place among natural- 
ists of the second or third order, has twice the 
space allotted to him. Singularly enough, the 
one man who should have the first place among 
the modern men is not named at all. Darwin, 
who could have claimed a place in all the three 
divisions of the book as botanist, zodlogist, and 
geologist, is passed by. It may be that the book 
was prepared before the death of this great nat- 
uralist, and thus that the date does not represent 
the time of its printing. This is the only possi- 
ble explanation of this startling omission. 
The book is well printed. It has a sufficient 
table of contents, but no index. 
GORDON’S ELECTRICITY AND MAG- 
NETISM. 
A physical treatise on electricity and magnetism. By 
J. E. H. Gorpon. Second edition, revised, re- 
arranged, and enlarged, in 2 vols. London, 
Sampson Low, 1883. 3438 p., 27 pl., 151 illustr. ; 
332 p., 46 pl., 16lillustr. 8°. 
Tue demand for a new edition of a work of 
this magnitude, within about three years of its 
first publication, is a sufficient indication of 
its real usefulness, especially when we consider 
the fact that the first edition was also repub- 
lished in this country. - 
The general scope of this treatise is to detail 
every thing of importance which is known ex- 
perimentally respecting electricity and mag- 
netism, referring to, and following as closely 
as may be, the original memoirs. 
The mathematical theory of the subject is 
omitted so far as possible; nevertheless, the 
connection between the experimental facts and 
the results of modern theory are constantly 
pointed out by very numerous citations and 
references, especially to Maxwell. Indeed, 
these may, perhaps, be best regarded as com- 
panion volumes to those of Maxwell, from 
which the reader may learn how far theory and 
facts are now known to be in accordance. 
SCIENCE. 
We feel, however, that the author’s reading 
has been too much confined to what has been 
published in England, and that he has not 
gleaned the field with equal diligence else- 
where. For example: we find no notice of the 
remarkable discovery by E. H. Hall of a new 
action of the magnet on electrical currents. 
The principal enlargements of this new edi- 
tion are contained in the three chapters, 33, 
305 and: 36. 
Chapter 33 contains an account of the beau- 
‘ tiful experiments of Mr. Tribe in determining 
the variations of potential along the surface of 
a metallic conductor immersed in a fluid-cell 
by means of the electrolytic deposit upon the 
conductor. 
Chapter 85 gives an account of the hydro- 
dynamical experiments of Professor Bjerkens, 
on the apparent attractions and repulsions be- 
tween bodies which are pulsating or vibrating 
in a fluid, which attractions are due to the 
mutual action of the currents set in motion by 
the pulsations. ‘The importance of these ex- 
periments lies in the fact that they afford a 
possible clew to the nature of the mechanism 
which transmits electric and magnetic forces 
through space. In the course of these ex- 
periments, Bjerkens succeeded in imitating 
mechanically most of the ordinary magnetic 
phenomena, and showed that his field of force 
was similar to the magnetic field. 
Chapter 36 details the subsequent researches 
of Mr. Stroh, respecting the same phenomena. 
Mr. Stroh used air instead of water as the 
medium in which the currents were set in 
motion. In this medium it was possible to 
explore the field of force much more completely 
than in water, and so to arrive at a much more 
exact knowledge of the facts and their expla- 
nation. 
The author reserves what he has to say upon 
the subject of electric lighting for another 
work, which he has nearly completed, and 
which is to be specially devoted to that subject. 
BASSLER’S WEATHER. 
The weather: a practical guide to its changes, show- 
ing signal-service system, and how to foretell local 
weather. By S. 8. Basster. Cincinnati, Rob- 
ert Clarke & Co., 1883. 54 p., illustr. 8°. 
In spite of our ten years’ familiarity with 
the weather predictions of the signal-service as 
published in the newspapers, the general reader 
has as yet a very slight acquaintance with the 
principles and methods of weather study. The 
official circular on the ‘ Practical use of mete- 
1 Amer. journ. math., ii. No. 3. 
he ee, fF | foe ae 
[Vor. IIL, No. 56. 
SS — SS 
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