i88 3 .J 
43 
Analyses of Books . 
unacquainted with the classical languages, are studying Biology, 
it seems strange indeed to make its technical language more and 
more unintelligible to all who are not classical scholars. It must 
further be remembered that no scientific terminology can become 
cosmopolitan. The German savants,' following the lead of our 
old master Oken, are more and more discarding Graeco-Latinisms. 
The French so modify their classical terminology that it becomes 
difficult of recogni'tion. With the names of animal or vegetable 
species the case is different. As a rule they are to the man of 
Science mere labels by which to identify any particular species. 
As definitions or descriptions they are worthless. What, for in- 
stance, do we learn concerning the extindt Moa by giving it the 
name Dinorms ? Neither its locality, its habits, nor its place 
among birds. The generic name Moa , being shorter, more 
euphonious, and not being the property of any civilised nation, is 
in every way peferable. From the names of the parts of animals 
we expect merely that they should be correct guides to identifi- 
cation. If this cannot be done for English speaking nations by 
means of English words, then, and not till then, it will be time 
to look elsewhere. But what gain in clearness, precision, con- 
venience, there can be in saying arthra instead of joints, dextral 
and sinistral instead of right and left, &c., we must confess our- 
selves unable to see. 
Longman's Magazine. No. 2, December, 1882. London : Long- 
mans and Co. 
As in the case of its predecessor a very considerable portion of 
this number falls outside our cognizance. “John Harrison, the 
Chronometer-Maker,” tells us the old sad story of a meritorious 
and successful inventor whom the Government of the day strove 
in every possible manner to defraud of the reward he had fairly 
won. 
“ The Earth in Meteoric Shadow,” by R. A. Prodlor, is an 
exceedingly probable explanation of the spells of cold weather 
which occur with almost absolute regularity at certain times of 
the year. The most striking of these is the time from the gth or 
10th to the 14th of May. These days seem to have the especial 
mission of destroying our fruit-crops. These bad spells are 
traced both in the eastern and the western continents, and in the 
southern as well as in the northern hemisphere, — a circumstance 
which in itself is almost conclusive that the cause is of a cosmic 
order. Mr. Prodtor’s hypothesis is that at these times a consi- 
derable portion of the solar radiations is intercepted by a belt of 
meteors passing between the earth and the sun, though not, as 
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