3 2 ° 
SCIENCE. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Four Lectures on Static Electric Induction, 
by J. E. H. Gordon, B. A., Assistant Secretary of the 
British Association — i6mo, price 80 cents. D. Van 
Nostrand, New York, 1 88 1 . 
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 electricity is very incomplete ; the question, 
What is electricity? still remains unsolved. Of the phe- 
nomena cons dered in these lectures, a few only can be 
explained, ihe 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 disjoined facts and 
weaving them into one perfect and harmonious whole. 
Naturen. — Et illustreret maanedsskrift for popular 
Naturvidenskab, udgivet af Hans H. Reusch, cand. 
real. — Assistent ved den geologiske Undersogelse — 
Kristiania — Trykt hos A. W. Brogger. Vol. I, No 
2, 1880. 
The gratification which attends success, must, in the 
case 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 Natuie 
published in their respective languages, and we have now 
to congratulate Norway on possessing an 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 
powerful vehicles for the intellectual development of 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 arose are remembered and appreciated, while 
the Norwegians still treasure the names of Welhaven, 
Wergeland, Bjornson 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 
lower fauna of the country, and his son, Professor G. O. 
Sars, has written several important works on the sub- 
ject. 
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- 
stren 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 photophone 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 Schloesing, Noebel, and 
Masure, and obtained such differences as clay, 37 and 87 ; 
sand, 1.5 to 28. He considers Schloesing’s method the most 
satisfactory. 
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, Diplera and 
Hymenoptera, also in a large part 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. Levoiturier, an entomologist, of Elbeuf, has com- 
municated to the Societie 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, for Australia, 47 species of 
insects; Cape of Good Hope, 52; Buenos Ayres, 30; 
Sapin, 16 ; Russia, 6. 
