360 
[June, 
Analyses 0} Books. 
In speaking of the devastation of the town of Walmer by the 
whirlwind of October 24th, 1878, Mr. Laughton agrees with Mr. 
Symons in the opinion that much of the damage in such cases 
may be due to a sudden rarefaction of the air. A rarefaction to 
the extent of 0*2 inch of the barometer would give the air in 
buildings over which it passes a lifting power of about 14 lbs. 
per square foot. Hence in the Walmer storm we have record of 
“ the vertical lifting of slated roofs, and the simultaneous out- 
ward explosion of the walls, even towards the wind.” A whirl- 
wind that passed near Vendome, October 3rd, 1871, took off* the 
roof of a barn, and lifted bodily out of it a cart which had been 
left inside. “ The walls of the barn were not injured, but the 
cart was found 150 yards away.” 
We must here remember that the difference between a tempest 
— or even an ordinary wind — and an explosion is merely one of 
degree. Wind is gaseous or aeriform matter in motion. So is 
explosion, the motion being in this case the sudden conversion 
of matter from the solid or liquid to the aeriform state, which of 
course implies vast expansion. Explosion shatters bodies in 
pieces, because the velocity of the gaseous matter is so great 
that solids exposed to it have, in familiar language, no time to 
yield to the pressure. 
The Mason College Magazine. Vol. I., No. 4, April, 1883. 
Birmingham : Cornish Bros. 
This little periodical contains more thought, and more matter 
provocative of thought, than some of its bulkier and more widely- 
circulated contemporaries. 
First in place, as perhaps in importance, is a paper by Miss 
Constance C. W. Naden, discussing the question “ Is the in- 
creasing predominance of Brain over Muscle conducive to 
National Welfare ? ” The problem to be solved is one of ex- 
treme difficulty. As far as our observation goes bodily vigour 
and endurance form a necessary substratum for continued cere- 
bral activity. It must be conceded that brain-work under the 
pressure of anxiety is fearfully enfeebling ; but we cannot see 
that the scientific specialist of the present day is necessarily 
working under more unhealthy conditions than the polyhistor of 
the past. The very contrary is the case ; the geologist or the 
biologist, if of the modern school, is bound to spend much of 
his time in the open air, instead of sitting at a library table 
poring over what other people have thought and said before him. 
Consequently he retains his physical vigour in much higher 
degree than many people who are not .fairly classed among 
