Page images
PDF
EPUB

to extend to at least twice this distance. The whole corona had an appearance of movement, suggesting to Mr. Buchanan certain features which occur when a search-light illuminates the atmosphere. Observations of the partial eclipse are of no great interest as compared with those made during totality, but a number of thermometric readings were recorded at numerous stations. Mr. Spencer Russell, in a communication to the Standard for September 2, gives a table of fifteen-minute observations of a wet and dry bulb thermometer, made at Epsom between 11.45 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the day of the eclipse. Whilst the wet bulb readings remained constant at 53° F., the dry bulb showed a minimum temperature of 54° F. between 12.45 and 1.30 p.m. Photographs of the partial eclipse were secured by Messrs. Spencer and Butler during a balloon journey from Wandsworth to Caen in Normandy.

An interesting record of a series of "pin-hole images of the crescent sun reaches us from Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.R.S. Whilst sailing in a ten-ton boat having a large mainsail, he observed the partial eclipse under favourable conditions in Falmouth Bay. About I p.m. a slight breeze caused the sail to incline from the perpendicular, and a number of well defined crescent images were projected on to the whitened deck of the boat, and occasionally on to the water. An investigation showed that these images were formed by a series of eyelet holes, used for the balance reef, high up in the sail. The phenomenon was so vivid and the images so sharply defined as to appear worthy of record.

A correspondent to the Daily Graphic (September 2), the Rev. Frederick Ehlvers, rector of Shaftesbury, Dorset, records the remarkable phenomenon of an evening primrose unfolding itself during the eclipse as if evening had arrived. Observers at the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, were prevented by clouds from seeing the eclipse, except for one or two breaks of short duration. About one minute before last contact, however, the sky suddenly became clear for a short distance around the sun, and brilliant sunshine prevailed as the last trace of the moon left the solar disc.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN NATAL.'

THE report of the commission appointed to inquire

into technical education in Natal has just been received. It is signed by eleven out of twelve of the commissioners, and Mr. C. I. Mudie, superintendent of education, has forwarded a minority report.

The commission, under the presidency of Sir David Hunter, K.C.M.G., held eleven meetings and examined fifty witnesses; some of the members were also sent to Johannesburg to confer with the council and board of studies of the Transvaal Technical Institute. Delegates from the Orange River Colony also attended the conference.

The commission finds that Natal, with its European population of 97,109, has as yet but meagre provision for technical and higher education, and, indeed, states that boys who had received primary and secondary education in the colony were frequently found to be so deficient in general knowledge that they were not well qualified to enter upon technical education.

The result of inquiries as to the probability of youths availing themselves of instruction should it be placed within their grasp was decidedly encouraging, and the commission concludes, from the evidence and

1 Colony of Natal. Report of the Technical Education Commission May, 1905. (Maritzburg: P. Davis and Sons, 1905.)

statistics, and from the fact that considerable sums are being expended by individuals in Natal on American correspondence classes and private tuition, that there is an urgent necessity for more adequate provision to equip the youth of the colony for the battle of life.

The resolutions of the conference held at Johannesburg point out that there is a present and immediate need for a full teaching university in South Africa, and that the colonies in which the university may not be situated should each have one or more colleges or institutes devoted to higher or technical education which should be recognised by the university council as integral parts of that teaching university, and that the university should grant diplomas in professional subjects, and degrees in arts and science, in the faculties of (1) education; (2) engineering, including mining; (3) agriculture; (4) law; and (5) medicine. The recommendations of the commission are based upon the resolutions of the conference, and suggest that immediate steps should be taken by the Government to provide for higher education; that a council be appointed by Government to organise and control technical education in Natal which shall be independent of the education department, although that department should be represented on the council. It suggests that specialists be obtained as lecturers in (1) chemistry and metallurgy; (2) physics and electrotechnics; (3) natural science (botany, zoology, geology, physiology); (4) pure and applied mechanics; (5) modern history and literature; while other subjects would be taught by local part-time men.

It is suggested that Pietermaritzburg has first claim for this college, but that Durban also has claims, and the commission thinks that the foregoing lecturers should be peripatetic, in the first place teaching at Pietermaritzburg and Durban only, but as occasion required going farther afield.

While appearing to have somewhat wide views as to the subjects that should be taught for twenty-six branches are mentioned in the list of subjects in which the commission finds there is a need for classes the estimates of cost are strictly moderate, for the annual expenditure is taken at 6500l., and the initial expenditure to provide the necessary equipment for engineering, chemical, physical, natural science, and other laboratories is estimated at about 2000l. It is true that no provision is made in this estimate for rent or capital expenditure on buildings, but we should think even without these the estimate was likely to

be exceeded.

and those which start with the highest aspirations All institutions, however, must have a beginning, have a good chance of attaining some, if not all, of their objects. There can be no doubt that technical education should be conducted everywhere quite apart possible under the guidance of from the education department, and as much as men who are acquainted with some at least of the subjects that are being taught. Technical education, especially in the colonies, should be made accessible to everyone. and should more especially offer inducements to those knowledge of the sciences which underlie their who are working for their living to improve their handicrafts. If this be the first object in view, it will be evident that evening classes and evening laboratory work must be undertaken before any attempt is made to form day classes. It appears to be chiefly on this subject that Mr. Mudie dissented from the Pietersburg, which, as he says, covers a preparatory. report of the commission, for he thinks the college at a high school, and a college proper, should form the nucleus of a university college in Natal. It would not seem to be a desirable thing to commence operations in this way for many reasons, the principal of

which is that artisans, clerks and others, for whom technical education is primarily provided, while wishing to learn, have in many cases left school so recently that they do not wish to return, and those of maturer age are not always quite certain whether their dignity will allow them to go to school again.

THE WOBURN EXPERIMENTAL FRUIT

FARM.

THE fifth report on the Woburn Fruit Farm, by the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Spencer U. Pickering, F.R.S., contains a very useful summary of the results of ten years' experiments and observations on apple-trees. The conclusions arrived at are based on measurements of leaves, trees, and fruits, and also on weighings of the fruit. The average size of the leaf of the tree seems gradually to diminish with age, and there is a similar but less marked tendency in the fruit. The experiments indicate no advantage from heavy thinning of the fruit, for the size was not increased; hard pruning proved unprofitable, unpruned trees were three times more productive than those heavily pruned; summer pruning was found not to be desirable, and even moderate root pruning was found to injure the trees. Apple-trees transplanted at 2-3 years old were found to grow better than either younger or older plants.

A very curious result which for some time puzzled the experimenters was that carelessly planted trees, though weak at first, ultimately made more growth than those carefully planted. A satisfactory explanation has, however, been found. The roots of carelessly planted trees are so much injured that they make scarcely any growth; the result of this is that numerous new roots grow from dormant buds higher up the stem, and these new roots, not having suffered from transplantation, ultimately surpass in size the original roots of carefully planted trees.

very

The results obtained at the Woburn Fruit Farm are to some extent due to the particular soil-a moderately stiff clay-but it is probable that the conclusions arrived at would be found to hold good in many English orchards. It is, however, a difficult thing to judge how far conclusions of the foregoing kind, based on a particular set of conditions, apply under different conditions, and the practical value of the long series of experiments and observations made at Woburn would be very greatly increased if similar experiments were conducted on a soil, or soils, of different character. In any action which the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries may take upon the report of the "Fruit" Committee, it is to be hoped that the important work of the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Pickering may be followed up and extended. T. H. MIDdleton.

NOTES.

To commemorate the meeting of the British Association in South Africa, a scheme has been formulated to found a British Association medal for South African students. This announcement was made by Prof. Darwin at the close of his presidential address at Johannesburg. A visit was paid to the Johannesburg Observatory on August 30, and the opportunity was taken of pointing out to Lord Selborne the suitability of the site for a fully-equipped observatory and the necessity for more astronomical work in the southern hemisphere. Referring to this suggestion in the course of his speech introducing Prof. Darwin as president of the association, Lord Selborne is reported by the Times correspondent to have said that "he greatly regretted he had been obliged to refuse the only request

that the association had made to him-namely, to find funds for the establishment of a proper observatory in Johannesburg. He was obliged to say that all the revenue they at present possessed was required for the development of their material resources and means of communication; but where the Government was powerless, what a magnificent opportunity there was for a patriotic Transvaal. For a site in the purest atmosphere, 2000 feet above the highest observatory now existing, only 10,000l. was required. There they might establish a telescope which would help observers in the southern hemisphere to compete with the astronomers of the northern hemisphere. The site was there, and it was already occupied by a perfectly equipped meteorological observatory." All the papers on South African matters read during the meeting are to be published in a separate volume by the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. At the closing meeting, held on September 1, Prof. Ray Lankester was elected president of the association for 1906.

MR. J. W. DOUGLAS, one of the editors of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, died at Harlesden on August 28 in his ninety-first year.

THREE distinct earthquake shocks, the severest ever experienced in the district, were felt at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 30, beginning at 5.40 p.m.

REUTER'S correspondent at Stockholm reports that Prof. Nathorst has received a letter in which Lieut. Bergendahl, who is a member of the Duc d'Orléans's Greenland Expedition, states that on July 27, as the expedition passed Cape Bismarck, unknown land was discovered. It appears that Cape Bismarck lies on a large island, and not on the mainland. The new land has been mapped as well as possible, and has received the name Terre de France. The expedition was unable to penetrate further north than 78° 16' N. lat.

Ar the annual meeting of the Academy of the Lincei, which was held on June 4 in the presence of the King and Queen of Italy, the president, Prof. Blaserna, announced the result of the competition for the three Royal prizes founded by the late King Humbert. In the section of normal and pathological physiology, the prize is awarded to Prof. Aristide Stefani, of Padua, for his published work dealing with the physiology of the heart and circulation, the non-acoustic functions of the labyrinth of the ear, and the serotherapeutic treatment of pneumonia. In the sections of archæology and of economic and social science, the judges reported that the competitors were not of sufficient merit to justify the award of the prizes. This is the first occasion on which so small a proportion of the prizes have been conferred, and it is proposed that in future the section of archæology shall embrace not only classical, but also Christian and mediæval archæology. Ministerial premiums intended to aid original work among teachers in secondary schools were awarded in the department of mathematical sciences to Prof. Ciani (5ol.), Prof. Pirondini (381.), and Prof. Chini (20l.). Out of the funds available from the Carpi prize, a sum of 321. was awarded to Dr. P. Enriques for a thesis on the changes brought about in absorbed chlorophyll by the action of the liver, and the relation existing between the derivatives of chlorophyll produced in the organism and the genesis of the hæmatic pigments. In his address the vice-president, F. d'Ovidio, discussed in general terms the question "Art for Art's Sake," dealing more particularly with the influence exerted on national life and character by art and literature.

[ocr errors]

THE Popular Science Monthly (vol. lvii., No. 4) contains a suggestive article by Prof. John M. Coulter on the methods available for arousing public interest in scientific research. The results of scientific work usually reach the public through the medium of reporters to the newspapers and writers for the magazines; the material dealing with original research is, generally speaking, scant in amount, sensational in form, and wide of the mark. It is urged that men of science should, so far as possible, be their own interpreters, so that the misleading statements of the middle man may be avoided. Particularly, not only the facts of the investigation, but its general bearing should be made clear; it is this feature that the reporter always misses, and a "strategic movement is represented to the public as a dress parade." As a justification, it is contended that research will be shown to be practical, and a more ample endowment be secured for it. The question of adequate support for research is the most serious one that confronts American science to-day." The appeal to American interest is utility, and it is necessary to show that practical results are reached most surely and most quickly from the vantage ground of pure science.

46

THE report of the commission appointed for the investigation of Mediterranean, or Malta, fever (part iii.), recently issued by the Royal Society, contains the important announcement that goats seem to be capable of transmitting the disease. The evidence supporting this conclusion is as follows:-On June 14 Dr. Zammit examined six goats, and found that the blood of five of them gave the agglutination reaction for Mediterranean fever. This was confirmed by Major Horrocks, R.A.M.C. Major Horrocks and Dr. Zammit then undertook the examination of eight different herds of goats, and in every herd examined an average of half the animals (from 7.6-75 per cent.) gave the agglutination reaction for Mediterranean fever. It was also found that one or more apparently healthy goats in every herd were excreting the specific organism of the disease-the M. melitensis-in their milk and urine, the number of the organism in the milk being very large. It would seem probable, therefore, that infected goat's milk may be the source of infection of man, particularly as monkeys may be artificially infected by feeding with material containing the specific organism, as has been detailed in a previous report. It is of interest that in Gibraltar, where the disease is also very prevalent, goats are almost the only source of the milk-supply.

THE report of the Government analyst of Trinidad for the year 1904-5 contains several points of general interest. Samples of water from the Carrera Convict Depôt have been examined to ascertain if a connection could be traced between the water supply and the prevalence of diarrhoea and dysentery among the prisoners. Very small proportions of lead, copper, and zinc were found to be present, and, in view of the fact that all attempts made during several years past to trace the epidemic to other causes have been unsuccessful, it appears possible that the metallic impurities named are responsible for the trouble. Before the question can be definitely decided, further investigation will be necessary. The aërated waters which are largely consumed in the colony were found to be usually contaminated with lead, owing to the use of an impure sulphuric acid in their manufacture, to an extent likely to prove dangerous. It is suggested that the use of liquefied carbon dioxide, such as is now imported into the colony in cylinders, would be a remedy for the difficulty.

The adulteration of milk has very much decreased owing to the system adopted of suspending the licenses of sellers convicted of adulteration during the past year. Previously the Board of Health did not refuse the renewal of licenses, either temporarily or permanently, but only issued warnings.

THE fishes of Puget Sound form the subject of a paper by Messrs. Gilbert and Thompson in the Proceedings of the U.S. Nat. Museum (No. 1414). The paper is based on a collection made in 1903, which included two species regarded as new and six not previously recorded from the area in question.

THE opening article in the first part of the third volume of the quarterly issue of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Con

tributions is a translation of Dr. E. Mascha's valuable paper on the minute structure of the flight-feathers of birds, originally published in the Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie, and already noticed in our columns. Among the original communications, special reference may be made to one by Mr. F. W. True on the skull of an extinct sea-lion (Pontoleon) from the Miocene of Oregon, apparently the earliest known representative of this group of seals; to a second, by Mr. A. Mann, describing the extreme beauty of the surface sculpture in diatoms ("Diatoms, the Jewels of the Plant-World," it is called); and to a third, by Mr. C. A. White, on the ancestry of the North American pond-mussels of the family Unionidæ, in which it is concluded that all the living forms in this particular area are descended from fossil local types. It may be added that if we accept the views on nomenclature expressed in yet another article, the well known name Dromæus (for the emeu) has to give place to Dromiceius.

THE Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia (xlix., No. 179), contains papers on the Filipino, on the Aborigines of Western Australia, on the osteology of sinopa, and on the marsupial fauna of the Santa Cruz beds. In an article on the oligodynamical action of copper foil on certain intestinal organisms, Mr. Kraemer concludes that intestinal bacteria such as the placing clean copper foil in water containing them, and colon and typhoid bacilli are completely destroyed by that certain of the lower animal and vegetable organisms possess a special sensitiveness to minute quantities of copper. The copper is probably in the form of a crystalloid rather than that of a colloid. It will be remembered that Dr. Moore, of the United States Department of Agriculture, has suggested the use of copper salts and of bright copper for the purification of water supplies. In another article Dr. Wiley discusses the effects of preservatives in food on metabolism, and expresses the opinion that boric acid and borates in any quantity upset digestion, and even in small doses, if given over a long period, have an unfavourable effect on health and digestion.

A PAPER by Dr. W. T. Calman, of the British Museum, on the Crustacea of the group Cumacea from the west coast of Ireland, published as No. 1, part iv., of Scientific Investigations, 1904, by the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, illustrates the importance of collecting on a thoroughly practical and effective system. During the entire cruise of H.M.S. Challenger. for instance, the whole collection of Cumacea was represented by no more than fifteen species, whereas Mr. E. Holt, the collector of the specimens submitted to Dr. Calman, obtained within a small area representatives of no less than forty-eight species, of which nine are regarded as new, one being so aberrant, as to be assigned by its

describer to a separate family group. Most of the specimens were collected by means of tow-nets attached to the back of a trawl in such a position as to capture any creatures disturbed by the ground-rope.

IN the report on the sea and inland fisheries of Ireland for 1902 and 1903, part iii., scientific investigations, Mr. E. W. L. Holt, the scientific adviser of the fisheries branch of the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, takes a broad view of the services which scientific investigations can render to practical fishery problems. Not only are such subjects as oyster culture, the artificial propagation of the Salmonidæ, and the mackerel fisheries dealt with, but the various appendices to the report constitute a most valuable addition to our knowledge of the invertebrate marine fauna of Ireland, more especially of the very interesting and little-known fauna occurring in the deeper water off the west coast. The most important paper, from a scientific point of view, is that contributed by Mr. Holt himself, in collaboration with Mr. W. M. Tattersall, on the schizopodous crustacea of the north-east Atlantic slope, in which a great number of new or little known species are fully described and figured. Other papers deserving special notice are Mr. G. P. Farran's account of the copepoda of the Atlantic slope, and the interesting contributions of the Misses Delap on the rearing of Cyanea lamarcki and on the plankton of Valencia Harbour from 1899 to 1901. The whole report, which treats of both sea- and fresh-water fisheries, is well illustrated with a large number of plates and diagrams excellently reproduced, and reflects great credit upon the department responsible for the scientific study of the Irish fisheries.

THE Pioneer Mail of July 28 published an account of the phenomenal storm of wind and rain which devastated a large portion of the province of Gujarat between July 22 and 24, owing to which it was estimated that about 10,000 people were rendered homeless. The storm seems to have been most severe at Ahmedabad, 310 miles north of Bombay. The average annual rainfall of that place is only about 33 inches; during the storm in question it was stated that fully 37 inches were measured in two days. We find from the Official Indian Daily Weather Report that the fall was over-stated, but that nevertheless it was quite abnormal; 14 inches fell in twenty-four hours ending 8h. a.m. July 23, and 12 inches on the following day. The Government meteorological reporter states that the fall was due to a severe cyclonic storm passing over the head of the peninsula, and to the fact that when it entered Gujarat it was fed by strong winds from the Arabian Sea.

WE have received "British Rainfall, 1904," being the forty-fourth annual volume of this very useful publication, containing the carefully prepared results of observations taken at nearly 4000 stations. Dr. Mill states that every return undergoes critical examination before the results are published, a task that must strain the energies of himself and his small available staff to the utmost. While every page of this now somewhat voluminous work contains information of the highest value in connection with the distribution of rain over the British Isles, it is difficult to fix upon any particular portion calling for especial remark. One new feature is the publication of complete daily records for ten selected stations, and, as last year, attention has been given to a discussion of some of the wettest days, illustrated by special charts. There are also several interesting articles dealing with various branches of rainfall work, e.g. an analysis of the observations on the

summit of Ben Nevis and at the base station at Fort William, for the years 1885-1903 for more complete details reference is made to an exhaustive discussion published by Mr. A. Watt in the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society. Another article deals with October rainfalls; this is generally the wettest month of the year over the greater part of England. In the present case, special reference is made to the comparatively dry Octobers of 1879, 1888, 1897, and 1904; with one exception, October, 1904, was the driest on record since the foundation of the British rainfall organisation. Another important article discusses the duration and average rate of rainfall in London since 1881. It shows inter alia that the rate of fall per hour is twice as great in July as in January.

WE are glad to be able to reproduce from the Annuario of the Messina Observatory for the year 1904 an illustration of that important Sicilian station, which, under the able superintendence of Prof. Rizzo, undertakes, in addition to the usual meteorological observations, valuable

[graphic][merged small]

researches connected with solar and terrestrial physics. The institution has risen from modest beginnings in 1876, when, at the instigation of Prof. Manzi, it was attached to the Technical and Nautical Institute of that city. The importance of its work was soon recognised by the Central Meteorological Office at Rome, which supplied it with several instruments. The present edifice on the hill of Andria was completed in 1902, under the auspices of the Royal University of Studies at Messina, and occupies a position much better suited to its useful work; it is now removed from all disturbing influences, and we look forward with confidence to important results connected with the relation of magnetism to solar activity and to the movements of the ground, to which subjects Prof. Rizzo devotes special attention.

THE International Council for the Exploration of the Sea continues to issue its publications in rapid succession. Of the Bulletins, which embody the records of the work more especially entrusted to it, we have received those for the terminal expeditions in November, 1904, and February, 1905 (Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Bulletin, 1904-5, Nos. 2 and 3). We note, as additions to the routine observations of the council, an

extension of the surface observations made by merchant steamers on various routes, and a series of observations in February, 1905, made and communicated by the fishery branch of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. It can serve no useful purpose to attempt the general discussion of the observations contained in these Bulletins as they appear; the general results can best be summarised at a later stage by the central authority, by whom the work will no doubt be undertaken. For the two dates concerned, a very marked feature of the observations in the English area is worth pointing out-the high salinity of the water at the entrance to the channel and to the west of Ireland. The origin of this salt water demands close investigation; it would seem to have come almost directly from the south, and in that event it is to be hoped that means of ascertaining whether Mediterranean water was present or not are available.

THE Psychological Review (article section) contains in its July number the following articles :-The synthetic factor in tactual space perception, T. H. Haines; consciousness and its object, F. Arnold; and a motor theory of rhythm and discrete succession (i.), R. H. Stetson. The first of these tabulates the results of certain preliminary experiments made by the writer in order to discover the exact relation between the two sorts of synthetic factor for local signs, viz. inner tactual sensations and the visual image. The main positions of the second article are these:-(1) Neither by introspection nor by any hypothesis of a consciousness aware of its own stream can we have any mental state in which consciousness does not have an object, and that object in the present; (2) the same holds for feeling and emotion; (3) the relation of thing to consciousness cannot be represented by any simple formulation like aRx, but is in reality much more complex.

THE July number of Mind contains an excellent article by Mr. R. F. Alfred Hoernlé on Pragmatism v. Absolutism, which is mainly occupied with a discussion of Mr. Bradley's views. The writer finds fault with Mr. Bradley's use of the criterion of non-contradiction, his neglect of epistemology in favour of metaphysics, his doctrine of degrees of truth and reality," and his theory that " a self-consistent reality must include the appearances, and yet cannot be its appearances." Dr. Norman Smith, in a second article on the naturalism of Hume, deals sympathetically with Hume's treatment of ethics. He claims that Hume may, indeed, be regarded, even more truly than Kant, as the father of all those subsequent philosophies that are based on an opposition between thought and feeling, truth and validity, actuality and worth." Other articles deal with Empiricism and the Absolute, Plato's view of the soul, and Symbolic Reasoning.

[ocr errors]

Adriatic, brachycephalic, tall and dark. There are also four secondary races :-Sub-Nordic, brachycephalic, short and fair; Vistulan, brachycephalic, very short, fair or medium; North-Western, mesocephalic or brachycephalic. tall, medium or dark; and Sub-Adriatic, brachycephalic. and medium in stature and pigmentation. The maps of the average stature and pigmentation for Europe which accompany the paper are scarcely satisfactory. The cardinal principle laid down by Prof. Ripley, that the visual impression must, so far as possible, conform to the represented facts, has not been successfully followed, with the result that in the bewildering mass of detail no general impression can be gained by the eye without the assistance of the convention in the legend.

THE Journal of the Franklin Institute for August (clx., No. 2) contains papers of more or less interest, and covering most of the branches of science. Mr. Fuller discusses in a very complete manner the subject of sewage disposal and the pollution of shell-fish. A very full bibliography is appended to his paper.

WE have received from the Sytam Fittings Co., of Basinghall Buildings, Leeds, the catalogue of the company's system of filing, classifying, and indexing bottles, boxes, specimens, tubes, apparatus, &c. The company has applied the characteristics of the well known elastic or expansion series of bookcases to the purposes named, the specimen cabinets being built up of a number of interchangeable elements.

THE Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin for August (xvi.. No. an 173) contains interesting account, by Dr. MacCallum, of the life and work of Marcello Malpighi, with full-plate portrait of this distinguished Italian anatomist of the seventeenth century. The concluding sentence of this article may be quoted:-"After all is considered the most enduring things in Malpighi's books are his perfect honesty, his extraordinary keenness and good sense in the interpretation of what he saw, and his ingenious objective methods of observation. What he saw could not have failed of being seen very soon by others. but we are filled with wonder that quite alone, with his quiet, eager mind,' he could have encompassed all, steadily searching out one thing after another throughout his forty years of restless activity."

WE have received the report of the second meeting of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. It forms a handsome cloth-bound volume ot 598 pages with 44 plates, and contains the forty-four read papers before full. the association printed in Summaries of the papers were published in NATURE (vol. lxx. p. 41) shortly after the meeting, and also the greater part of Mr. E. B. Sargant's address on the education of examiners (vol. lxx. p. 63). The presidential address by Sir Charles Metcalfe, and the sectional addresses by Mr. J. R. Williams on the metallurgy of the Rand, by Dr. G. S. Corstorphine on the history of stratigraphical investigation in South Africa, and by Sir Percy Girouard on improvements in rolling stock, are of permanent value, and the subjects and names of the authors of the papers make the volume an important addition to scientific literature, and show what a large amount of valuable scientific work is being done in South Africa. The illus

THE Journal of the Anthropological Institute (JulyDecember, 1904) contains the Huxley lecture for 1904, presented by Dr. Deniker, the subject being "Les Six Races composant la Population actuelle de l'Europe." This is virtually a re-statement and a vindication of the racial division which was propounded by Dr. Deniker eight years ago in "Les Races européennes (Bull. Soc. d'Anthr., Paris, iv., 3), which the researches of later years have served to illustrate and confirm. To the Nordic, Ibero-Insular, and Western or Cevenole races (correspond-trations are excellent. The coloured plates accompanying

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Dr. L. G. Irving's paper on miners' phthisis are admirably reproduced, as also are the photomicrographs of blue ground illustrating the paper by Mr. H. Kynaston and Mr. A. L. Hall on the geological features of the diamond

« PreviousContinue »