defective. That on medicine and medical statistics, by Dr. Aitken; that on seismology, by Mr. Robert Mallet, F.R.S.; that on botany, by Dr. J. D. Hooker, F.R.S.; that on terrestrial magnetism, by Sir Edward Sabine, F.R.S.; that on astronomy, by G. B. Airy, P.R.S.; and that on hydrography, by Admiral G. H. Richards, F.R.S., are all excellent of their kind. But those on zoology, geography, ethnology, and some of the others, are not at all as advanced as we should like. In our opinion, the work is too small, and we cannot but believe that a larger and more important work on the same general plan would be of great advantage to the young medical man, whether in the army or navy. As the book is, it is a very capital one, and deserves great praise. In conclusion, we may mention that it is published by authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

SHORT NOTICES.

The Amateur's Flower-Garden, by Shirley Hibberd. London: Groombridge, 1871. Although we do not very much approve of the plans of arranging a garden which Mr. S. Hibberd suggests, we admit that we are in the minority, for the great mass of people adopt the plans, or something like them, which he recommends. This fact, and the circumstance that he gives abundant information about the garden and its plants, must contribute to make the present work a very popular one. It is essentially addressed to the amateur, and its numerous woodcuts and very excellent coloured lifesize illustrations will, we doubt not, make it a very popular book. It is elegantly turned out by the publishers.

The Mysteries of the Vital Element. by Robert H. Collyer, M.D. 2nd edition. London: Renshaw, 1871. It is a pity that Dr. Collyer has written so much on the subject he has taken up. He writes to show us that he was really the discoverer of chloroform, but he has thoroughly mystified his case by the alarming amount of matter he has brought to bear upon it. Supposing we admit him to have been the discoverer, what then? If he had not been in existence, it would still have been discovered, and that, too, about the same time. Why did he not follow up his original discovery, instead of travelling about every part of the world. We give him the credit of discoverer; but we would ask him to go a little further, and deserve something better. We should not like to put down the multitude of deaths that have arisen from the use of chloroform. Dr. Collyer thinks he will do something with nitrous oxide. We hope he may, but we have not very much hope. It is useful for short operations, but we fear it can never be made safe for long and serious ones.

Notes on Comparative Anatomy, by William Miller Ord, M.B., Assistant Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital. London: Churchill, 1871. Dr. Ord proposes to divide this book into three parts, and to give one in each of three successive years. The plan is a good one, and likely to be attended with successful results. The work is essentially a syllabus of lectures, and for this reason is more a work for the lecturer than for his students. At all

We have gone

events, it is quite unfitted for a junior student to read. through it carefully, and we are thoroughly satisfied with the manner in which the author has discharged his task. No more space is given to one group than to another, and in all there is every reason to be satisfied with the method of classification. Dr. Ord has given very fairly, it seems to us, the anatomy and physiology of the different groups. It will greatly facilitate good lectures for students, and will greatly expedite the labours of those who are reading for honours. If the author had appended to each chapter the titles of the books and journals where the principal points were to be found he would have done well. The Protozoa and Cælenterata are especially good, and they are generally atrociously badly given in most similar works.

The Discovery of a New World of Being, by George Thomson. London: Longmans, 1871. We have failed to discover the new world which Mr. Thomson has found out for us, but we suppose it is all right, nevertheless, and that Mr. G. Thomson is fully acquainted with it. It has struck us through our reading the book which Mr. Thomson has written, that it is singularly like the arguments we have heard urged in grave seriousness by men who were about the last we should have considered as authorities on the subject in question. Listen to his views of Mr. Darwin. "We shall not enter upon a discussion of his development theory; it would occupy too much time. We may say by the way, however, that there is a great deal of truth in his observations of facts, but nothing new; his inferences, on the other hand, are outrageous. There are such things as a struggle for life, a natural selection, and a development. These, however, have been observed and repeated in a thousand forms before Mr. Darwin was born. Development, however, is always one-sided;" and so on to quite another subject. We merely give the quotation as a sample of the author's general knowledge of scientific subjects. As to the general tone of the book, we should be afraid to give a candid opinion.

A Manual of Anthropology, based on Modern Research, by Charles Bray. London: Longmans, 1871. Mr. Bray gives a most absurd title to his book. No one could possibly imagine from it the character of the 350 pages which constitute it. It is not at all anthropological. It is a most absurd defence of phrenology by a man who has no claim to be considered either an anatomist or physiologist. Of phrenology may well be said what one of our ablest modern thinkers has said, viz. "that those who have carefully investigated the structure and functions of the nervous system should have long ago turned their backs on phrenologists is not to be wondered at." Mr. Bray's phrenology is not based on modern research, nor on ancient investigation; it is merely on the author's reasoning from facts which he is insufficiently acquainted with.

A New View of Causation, by T. S. Barrett. London: Provost & Co., 1871. This is a small but clever book by one who very fairly appreciates the views of Mill, Bain, and Lewes. Whether he succeeds in his argument for a new view of causation we shall not say. The book can easily be read in the course of a single evening, and we heartily commend it to our subscribers. It is a well-written and ably thought-out work.

Profitable and Ornamental Poultry, by Hugh Piper. London: Groombridge, 1871. This is a very good book, and those who care for poultry will find it full of valuable information on the subject of the different breeds, and upon the rearing, fattening, laying, feeding, and general mode of keeping all kinds of fowl, from bantams to guinea-fowl, turkeys, ducks, and geese. There are several coloured plates, which are most creditable to the artist.

Spiritualism and Animal Magnetism, by G. G. Zerffi, Ph.Dr. London: Hardwicke, 1871. While we heartily agree with the author in believing that spiritualism is a humbug which ought to be put down, we cannot accept his doctrine of electric action. It is all very well as an hypothesis, but there is not the shadow of a physiological or anatomical proof in its favour. His diagram in the commencement is not creditable. It is based upon a poor assumption.

Description of an Electric Telegraph, by Sir Francis Ronalds, F.R.S. 2nd edition. Williams and Norgate, 1871. The author shows that so early as 1816 he had anticipated many of the discoveries since made. It is very creditable to him that he should have been so early in the field, but it is a pity he did not carry on his researches more fully.

And, in fact, his

The Discovery of the Nature of the Spleen-by Dr. H. R. Silvester. London Churchill, 1870-we think we have noticed before. The author tries to prove that the spleen is the left remnant of the liver. diagram, which completes the intestine by making it come from both sides of the stomach, and one of the tubes end in the vermiform appendix, is very ingenious. We fear, however, that comparative anatomy is against the doctrine, which nevertheless deserves consideration.

Darwinism-by Chauncey Wright. London: Murray, 1871-is a very clever but short essay, attacking Mr. Mivart's "Genesis of Species." We shall notice it more fully in a future number.

Flint's Fancies and Facts-by Dr. Robinson. London: Longmans, 1871 —is a pamphlet on a subject which the author sadly wants education in.

Genesis and Geology-by the Rev. G. Henslow, M.A., F.L.S.-is, though short, a very masterly and readable sermon by a thoughtful student of development.

Natural Disease. London: Longmans, 1871. This is a most thoughtful pamphlet on the subject of epidemic disease, and especially of small-pox. It will well repay perusal, and though it is anonymously, it is nevertheless ably written.

A Review of Mr. Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Man-by James B. Hunter, M.D. New York: Appleton, 1871-is a clever and thoughtful

essay.

Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Durham. Vol. IV. Part I. Williams and Norgate, 1871. A most valuable work. As good as any preceding number. Full of valuable papers on zoology and palæontology, and illustrated by a series of most admirable plates.

79

SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY.

ASTRONOMY.

THE Total Eclipse of December 12, 1871.-We have most promising news from the eclipse expeditions to India and Ceylon. Mr. Pogson, the Government astronomer at Madras, stationed during the eclipse at Arenashy, telegraphs to the Astronomer Royal that the weather was fine, and the telescopic and camera photographs successful, that good sketches were taken and good polariscopic work achieved. His telegram adds that "many bright lines were seen in the spectrum," but whether the spectrum of the prominences, sierra, or true solar atmosphere, the telegraphist sayeth not. If the corona is referred to, the news is of extreme importance, provided always that an analysing and not an integrating spectroscope were employed. Colonel Tennant had not quite such favourable weather, for he speaks of a thin mist (the same sort of weather as he had in the eclipse of 1868); yet six good photographs were taken. He was stationed on Dodabetta, near Ootacamund, the favourite sanitarium of the Madras Presidency. The peak of Dodabetta is 8,640 feet above the sea-level, and it is probable that the actual station of Colonel Tennant's party was higher than any spot at which the phenomena of a total solar eclipse have hitherto been observed. The haze cannot have been very thick when good photographs could be taken at the rate of six within two minutes. As respects the comparison of the photographs taken by Pogson's and Tennant's parties, it is fortunate that a sufficient distance separates Avenashy and Dodabetta to prevent any suggestion that the same atmospheric peculiarities would be observable from the two stations. The stations are about forty miles apart. The circumstances of elevation also are so different as to preclude all possibility of deception from this cause; and it appears from the telegrams that the condition of the atmosphere was unlike at the two stations. So that since several photographs were taken at both places, it is reasonable to expect that the question of the corona will now at least be disposed of. If photographs have been taken in South Australia, another kind of evidence, bearing closely on the question of the corona's constitution, will probably have been secured. From Mr. Lockyer's party in the north of Ceylon we have the announcement that splendid weather prevailed, and that most satisfactory and interesting observations were made. But Mr. Lockyer does not vouchsafe any information as to their nature. We hear, however, from Mr. Davis, the photographer sent out with this party at Lord Lindsay's expense, that five

photographs were taken, showing an extensive corona, with persistent rifts. M. Janssen telegraphs that the spectrum of the corona demonstrates the existence of matter outside the solar atmosphere.

The spectroscopic observations will probably prove to be scarcely less important than the photographic work. Colonel Tennant, in particular, announces the complete confirmation of Professor Young's observation, that hundreds of the Fraunhofer lines-if not all-are reversed at the moment of totality. It may now be accepted as certain that the true solar atmosphere lies above the photosphere, and not below, as Mr. Lockyer supposed. This, indeed, was accepted as demonstrated, by nearly all who read Professor Young's account of his observation. But it seems to be becoming a rule that all facts relating to the solar surroundings should be demonstrated two or three times before being definitely accepted.

Records of former Total Eclipses.-A most important addition has been made to our knowledge respecting the phenomena of eclipses by the collection of all narratives and pictures relating to the eclipse of December 1870, and to the "Himalaya" eclipse of 1860. This work has been mainly carried out by Mr. A. C. Ranyard, one of the honorary secretaries of the Organising Committee for the former eclipse. We understand that great light has been thrown on the question of the corona (so lately a vexata quæstio), by the comparison of a vast array of pictures.

But then the Treasury unfortunately declines to sanction any expenditure of the public money for publishing these valuable records, embodying not only the results obtained by the two expeditions which the Government was good enough to assist, but also the fruits of many months of patient labour. Surely the capacity of our Government for "declining to sanction" is worthy of attention-not, perhaps, altogether admiring.

Amazing Solar Outburst.-On September 7, 1871, Professor Young, the eminent American spectroscopist, whose discoveries during the American and Mediterranean eclipses have been honoured by such careful European confirmation, observed the most remarkable solar eruption yet witnessed by astronomers. The circumstances are detailed elsewhere in these pages. It is probable that they will receive confirmation ere long; but in the mean time they may be received without a particle of hesitation by all who are not working in the same field.

The Solar Corona.-In the second part of his paper on this subject (supplementary number of the "Monthly Notices ") Mr. Proctor considers the evidence derived from the microscopic and chemical analyses of meteorites in favour of the theory that matter is propelled from our sun and his fellow suns in such sort as to pass away beyond their domain. Combining this evidence with Zöllner's observations of brilliant linear flashes passing over the whole length of the dull spectrum on which the prominences are seen by Dr. Huggins's method, and with the results of the researches of De la Rue, Stewart, and Loewy into the behaviour of the solar photosphere, he infers that there is sufficient reason for considering with attention the eruption theory of the corona. The bearing of Professor Young's observation on this somewhat startling theory will at once be recognised. At the last meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society Mr. Proctor read a paper discussing this point; and afterwards Mr. Ranyard mentioned that Professor