1885.] 
Analyses 0} Books. 
163 
Magnetism and Electricity. By F. Guthrie. With Supple- 
mentaiy Chapter by C. Vernon Boys, A.R.I.M. London 
and Glasgow: W. Collins, Sons, and Co., Limited. 
This^ work commends itself to us as containing no reference to 
any syllabus, and as being not disfigured with a tail in the 
shape of questions set at any examinations. It is, as the author 
'nffZT US ’ lnte ? ded , for the S en eral student. He also draws an 
often-forgotten line between Science and Art,— one of the defi- 
mte boundaries, now possible,— and “where the Science becomes 
^nndilln cf 6 ?° eS r n0t g ° int ° detaiIs exce P t the Art supplies a 
to ood illustration of some scientific principle. 
ie Supplementary Chapter,” on the contrary, is devoted to 
inventions rather than discoveries. It describes, therefore, the 
e ep ione, the microphone, various forms of dynamo-machines, 
the principles of eledtric lighting, and accumulators, and explains 
the urn 3 now so much employed by electrical engineers. 
1 he brief but ably written chapter on Electricity in Relation 
to -Life is valuable as cutting away the ground from under a 
certain school of charlatans, and showing how little definite 
foundation there is for the vulgar notion that electricity is iden- 
tical with, or at least very near of kin to, life. 
his woik is one we can in good faith recommend to the 
geneial reader who wishes for a rational exposition of the pro- 
perties and the possibilities of electricity. 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. Vol. XVI., Part 4. 
Among the most interesting papers in this issue is a notice by 
Mr. F. R. Mallet, on Native Lead from Maulmain and Chromite 
fiom the Andaman Islands. The lead ore in question, obtained 
by Mr. G. H. Law, is a carbonate of lead tinged bright red by 
minium. It contains small cavities lined with tir.y white 
crystals of cerussite, and some of them are also partly filled 
with metallic lead. 
Chromite, apparently in quantity, has been found near Port 
Blair, in the Andaman Islands. 
The fiery eruption from one of the mud volcanoes of Cheduba 
Island, Arakan, noticed on May 2nd, 18S3, was evidently due 
to the ignition of petroleum or of a gaseous hydrocarbon gas. 
The flame is said to have risen at first to the surprisin' 5- height 
of 900 feet. 0 
