1882.' 
Analyses of Books* 
!\ 5 
well-known fadt that skimmed milk is heavier than new milk. 
Hence the lactometer is useless as a milk-test. A rogue may 
skim the milk and add a certain quantity of water, and yet the 
mixture thus obtained may give, with the lactometer, the same 
results as pure milk. It would be a good moral lesson if children 
were taught to regard the adulterating tradesman as standing 
precisely on the same level as the thief. A public opinion might 
thus be created which would demand much more efficient punish- 
ments for sophistication. Mr. Harrison might, we think, with 
advantage have briefly called attention to the evils resulting from 
the use of patent or proprietary “foods” as nutriment for 
children. These mixtures are grossly deficient in the blood- 
forming elements of food, and the amyloid matter they contain 
is a cheap starch, which young children are unable to digest and 
assimilate. Medical friends of large experience inform us that 
when they meet with an ill-nourished, feeble child, they generally 
find that it has been fed on some advertised “food ” or “flour.” 
All persons who are wise enough to see the importance of so- 
called little things will agree with us that if such lessons were 
generally instilled into the young, within a dozen years the 
nation would be re-modelled, and not a few grievous evils would 
find their end approaching. 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. Vol, XV., Part 3, 
1882. 
This issue is mainly devoted to reports on various Indian coal 
deposits. We have notes on the coal of Mach in the Bolan 
Pass, and of Sharag, or Sharigh, between Sibi and Quetta, by 
W. T. Blanford, F.R.S,, whose opinion concerning both localities 
is unfavourable. 
Mr. F. R. Mallet, F.G.S., describes splendid specimens of 
zeolites discovered in the trappean rocks of the Bhor and Thul 
Ghats, the species chiefly represented being stilbite, apophyllite, 
heulandite, and scolecite. 
Col. C. A. McMahon, F.G.S., reports on the traps of Darang 
and Mandi, in the North-western Himalayas ; whilst Mr. A. B. 
Wynne communicates a note on the connexion between the 
Hagara and the Kashmir series. 
Messrs. T. W. H. Hughes, T. D. La Touche, and R. Romanis 
report respectively on the coal-fields of Umaria, Darangirri, and 
Myanoung. The Umaria coal is of fair quality, easily accessible, 
and the bed being of the average thickness of 14 feet the quan- 
tity available, at the depth of 300 feet from the surface over the 
VOL. IV. (third series). 3 c 
