1884.] 
A nalyses of Books. 433 
one conclusion, which is that sunspottery is not what it is repre- 
sented to be, but is, for the most part, humbug.” 
This inference Mr. Oliver draws from the admittedly con- 
flicfting character of the evidence brought forward. The grand 
difficulty is that periods of heat and cold are not felt simulta- 
neously over the whole earth, but are confined within arbitrary 
limits. The mild winter we have had in Europe, accompanied 
by a correspondingly hot summer in the Southern Hemisphere, 
led many people to believe that the earth was passing through 
a wave of heat, whether connected with the number and mag- 
nitude of sun-spots or not. But lo ! our mild winter was 
accompanied by an exceptionally cold one in North America. 
The other season Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, and 
Western Europe in general, were shivering in a cold, wet 
summer, whilst Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Turkey basked 
in unclouded sunshine. The attempt, however, to trace periodi- 
city in biological phenomena seems to us eminently praiseworthy. 
If such cycles are found, their connexion with cosmic pheno- 
mena is a subsequent task. 
Erratum.— In our June issue, p. 366, line 16 from bottom, 
for “could digest things” read “could not digest things.” 
