work is contrasted with that of his three great conTemporaries, Cavendish, Scheele and Lavoisier. One explanation of these defects may be found in the fact that he was not, as he said, "a practical chemist," or, as we should say, a trained chemist. This was perfectly true. That he knew little about the substances which he employed in his experiments is evident from his habit of applying to his chemical friends for such materials as a man like Scheele would never have hesitated to prepare himself, and, moreover, the absorbing interest of his laboratory seems to have obliterated any inclination towards the study of text-books. Priestley, in both his social and scientific life, seems to have been pursued by an ironical fate. On the one hand his honest zeal in the cause of reform was turned against him to his undoing; on the other, his experiments which were founded on his cherished theory of phlogiston became the weapon which demolished it. Priestley was fortunately endowed with a serene disposition, and in spite of his many misfortunes it would be incorrect to suppose that his life was not a source of real happiness and satisfaction. Such at least may be gathered from the perusal of the volume before us. J. B. C. SPHERICAL ASTRONOMY. 1 Compendium of Spherical Astronomy with its Applications to the Determination and Reduction of Positions of the Fixed Stars. By Prof. Simon Newcomb. Pp. xviii+444. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 12s. 6d. net. S Prof. Newcomb has been in close touch with all branches of the astronomy of position during the last forty years, and as so much of the progress that has been made is his work, a text-book by him on spherical astronomy will be eagerly examined by all who are interested in the subject. With such qualifications we may be sure, before opening his book, that we shall be conducted to the various points on the frontiers of the subject, some of which it is necessary to occupy before an advance can be made in any direction; and we are also certain to be spared those tiresome digressions into problems such as To find the season of the year, when twilight is shortest in a given latitude," which serve to degrade astronomy into a mere examination subject. Let us examine Prof. Newcomb's arrangements. His first three chapters, forming part i., are introductory. They serve to equip the reader with a competent knowledge of spherical trigonometry, interpolation, and least squares. A pleasing feature at the end of each chapter is a page or two of bibliography. Part ii. opens with a chapter on spherical coordinates. Practical illustration is given of the problem, so simple in theory and so laborious in practice, of turning latitude and longitude into right ascension and declination; and here we find a striking feature differentiating Prof. Newcomb's book from one that would be written by a mere lecturer on astronomy. The lecturer, if he gave an example at all, would probably work to the nearest tenth of a degree with four-figure logarithms, and tell the reader that that sufficiently illustrates the method. Prof. Newcomb's book is for those who may want to carry out actually calculations of the kind. He therefore places before the reader two different computations of the same problem each with seven-figure logarithms, and knowing that the difficulty is the practical one of keeping out numerical blunders, and not in the last degree the theoretical one of understanding the formulæ, he adds a test computation, thus forcibly insisting upon the superior value of checks by test equations over checks by duplicate computation. The fifth chapter of the book, the second of part ii., is on time, solar and sidereal, mean and apparent, Greenwich and local, the Besselian and Julian year, with numerical examples. The sixth chapter is on parallax, naturally subdivided into figure of the earth, and formulæ for parallax in right ascension and so on. The seventh chapter is a very short one on aberration. The next chapter is on refraction. "There is perhaps," says the author, "no branch of practical astronomy on which so much has been written. and which is still in so unsatisfactory a state." Prof. hypotheses as to the state of the upper regions of the Newcomb gives an excellent account of the various atmosphere. We have not found any allusion to the way in which observed refractions are mixed up with division error, and R-D discordance. The question of systematic corrections has been reserved for a later chapter. The ninth chapter, the last of part ii., is devoted to precession and nutation. This chapter, in particular, is full of formulæ and data for practical use, and, like the previous chapter, it concludes with an excellent bibliography. Part iii. is devoted to the "reduction and determination of positions of the fixed stars." It is the part of the book where the author at length closes with the observations, and to which the previous parts are in fact merely introductory. But even now two more chapters of an introductory kind still remain, chapter x., on the application of precession and proper motion, chapter xi., on star corrections. In chapter xii. we come to a description of the methods of observation and allusion to the systematic errors to which observation is liable. Chapter xiii. may be regarded as the real purpose of the book. It describes how individual catalogues are corrected so as to reduce them to an adopted system, and thus render them comparable with one another. At the end of the chapter is given a list of star catalogues. The book concludes with an appendix giving tables and precepts for their use. We are inclined to consider some of these tables a mistake, or, at least, their inclusion in this book a mistake. The fact is that tables in constant use wear out very fast, and we are none of us rich enough to care to throw aside a copy of a three-dollar book when four or five pages of it have become too dirty or too tattered to please our fastidiousness. We do not know a more excellent book on its subject. P. H. C. OUR BOOK SHELF. Die neueren Wandlungen der elektrischen Theorien einschiesslich der Elektronentheorie zwei Vortrage. By Dr. Gustave Holzmüller. Pp. viii+119. (Berlin Julius Springer, 1906.) In this little book the author publishes some lectures delivered before a society of German engineers. The subjects for discussion do not seem to have been selected on any principle, and are inadequately represented by the title. The first chapter deals with Newtonian potential, the second with logarithmic potential; neither of these topics can be described as "neueren Wandlungen." We then proceed to the theories of electromagnetism based on "action at a distance," and are informed at the conclusion that these developments are also not new, having been superseded by the Faraday-Maxwell theory, to which the next chapter is devoted. The author devotes a considerable amount of space to analogical representations of the electric field, but the electromagnetic theory of light is considered beyond his scope. No doubt the author knows best what is likely to interest his hearers; it is sufficient for our purpose to note that his treatment is undeniably accurate. But it should be pointed out that the information which he assumes that his readers possess is rather heterogeneous. The training of German engineers must be very different from that of their English colleagues if they require a lengthy proof that the conservation of mechanical energy is a consequence of the Newtonian law of attraction, and yet are ready to plunge, on the next page, into a discussion of the dimensions of electrical units. The final chapter deals with the theory of electrons; it is really a description of some of the more important properties of kathode and Becquerel rays. The mathematical aspects are hardly mentioned, so that the term "electromagnetic mass " is used without a word of explanation as to its meaning. It is to be regretted that in this part of his work, where accuracy is especially desirable in the absence of complete text-books, there are to be found many statements which require considerable revision. În fact, when we find the author stating that the diameter of an electron has been determined by the application of the kinetic theory of gases, and accounting for the ionisation of a gas by the adherence of a slowmoving electron to the neutral molecule, we begin to doubt his competency to lecture or write at all on these subjects. N. R. C. The Unity of Will. Studies of an Irrationalist. By George Ainslie Hight. Pp. xv+244. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1906.) Price 10s. 6d. net. EVEN if the thinking of this book were of the best, it would seem a somewhat expensive morsel at half the price; and its thinking is not of the best. It professes to be an exposition of the leading doctrine of Schopenhauer, that in self-consciousness the primacy belongs to will. The author is at the same time careful to explain that he is a Vedântist while Schopenhauer is a Buddhist, but we doubt if the ordinary man will appreciate these fine distinctions. We rather fear that the ordinary man will be repelled by a certain lack of unity, coherence, systematic statement, and logical proof. Thus, for example, we have a chapter full of irrelevancy on "hysteria and sophistry, the deadly evils of civilisation." Thus, too, we have a small appendix on the notion of life, which explains that everything in the world is in a certain sense alive, and seems to regard it as a valid argument that "the language of the skilled artisan is full of anthropomorphic expressions." A five-page statement of first principles at the end has certain of the merits that are so conspicuously lacking in the main body of the volume. Diet and Dietetics. By A. Gautier. Edited and translated by Dr. A. J. Rice-Oxley. Pp. xii+552(London: A. Constable and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 18s. net. THIS is a translation of the second edition of Prof. Gautier's book published in Paris in 1904. It contains a vast mass of useful information, and is a laudable attempt to be an exhaustive treatise on diet. It deals with the individual articles of food, animal, vegetable, and mineral; with the combinations of these that constitute dietaries; it contains (inter alia) discussions, lightened by homely phrases and apt illustrations, on the dietaries of different races, on vegetarianism, on the part played by food as a source of heat and energy, on the alcohol question; and finally treats of the part played by diet in the cure and alleviation of disease. Prof. Gautier's large experience would lead one to anticipate a useful book; the arrangement of subjects appears, however, to be rather confusing, and the translator, although as a rule he has done his work ably, is not always happy in rendering the original into acceptable English. German Grammar for Science Students. net. SCIENCE students who have not been taught German in schools will find this volume very useful in enabling them to read scientific papers published in that language. The essential parts of German grammar are described in sixteen lessons, and the exercises, instead of being of the " Have-you-seen-the-hat-ofmy-uncle?" type, deal with scientific work and phrases-chiefly relating to chemistry-from the beginning to the end. Lists of words commonly met with in scientific German, and terms of frequent occurrence in papers on anatomical, botanical, chemical, physical, mathematical, and physiological subjects are given in an appendix. The book should be particularly valuable to private students. LETTER TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Colour Phenomena in "Boletus cœrulescens." IN reply to the query by Edgar Trevithick respecting the blue coloration in Boletus, Bourquelot and Bertrand (Bull. Soc. Myc., 1896, p. 18) have recently investigated of an oxidising ferment they have named tyrosinase. This the subject, and consider the action due to the presence ferment acts on certain chromogenous materials present in the fungus when exposed to the air. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. GEO. MASSEE. THE EARLY HISTORY OF SPITSBERGEN.1 "INASMUCH as industrie and diligence are two principall steps to atchieve great enterprises, and negligence and idlenesse are enemies to the same; we would have you in this charge committed unto you, to embrace the one, and to avoide the other." Such were the instructions of the Muscovy Company to Thomas Edge, the commander of its third expedition to Spitsbergen, in 1610. By these same steps to success Sir Martin Conway has collected the widelyscattered materials of Spitsbergen history, and by wise selection and with high literary skill has wrought them into an addition to Arctic literature of unusual interest. The volume tells us in greater detail than has ever before been possible the history of Spitsbergen from its discovery by Barents in 1596, to the beginning of its scientific exploration by the expedition of Sven Loven in 1837. It is, on its own lines, an ideal geographical monograph, from its bibliographic thoroughness, its sound literary judgment, and its evidence of exhaustive research in British and Continental libraries. It contains much of interest to naturalists, with its fresh information regarding the early whale fishery in the Greenland seas. Geographical exploration in Spitsbergen area was begun as a business enterprise, and the keen commercial competition led to serious political complications. Though discovered by a Dutchman, Spitsbergenf was formally annexed by England in 1614; but we were forced to agree to a partition of the territory with the Dutch, and after 1670 both nations abandoned it. Though now the only ownerless. piece of Europe, it is claimed as being within the Russian sphere of influence, owing to its occupation by Russian trappers in the nineteenth century. The main part of the history is political; but the adventures of the whalers and walrus-hunters, and the tragic fate of various parties left to winter there contribute the most stirring incidents in the narrative. Vogel boeck The Spitsbergen settlements declined after 1644, as the whales abandoned the fiords and had to be followed into the Greenland Sea, and there killed and treated. The Dutch kept up the fishing somewhat later than the English whalers, who abandoned the industry in 1670, and only resumed it, and then not from Spitsbergen, after 1770. The land animals on Spitsbergen must have been very abundant on its first discovery, for in 1613 Fotherby's party, in addition to as many whales as he could use, secured a bag of "400 deare," and "also good store of wild fowle" and "manie young foxes, which wee made as tame and familiar as spaniell-whelpes." The walrus has shared in the same reduction in range and numbers as the rest of the fauna. It has now abandoned the western coast of Spitsbergen, but, as the author reminds us, a walrus was killed in the "Netherlandish Sea," as recorded by the drawing of it, now in the British Museum, by Dürer in 1521. Tveere FIG. 1. The chapters of most scientific interest are those dealing with the fishery for Balaena mysticetus, the Greenland right whale, which was begun by some Biscay whalers in the employment of the Muscovy Company of London in 1611. The European whaling industry was founded by the Basques, and, as the author tells us, the British and Dutch whalers retained many Basque methods, regulations and terms, as, e.g., harpoon. The Dutch, having established their claim to join in the whale fishery, founded Smeerenburg, or Blubbertown, in 1614, on Amsterdam Island, off the north-eastern corner of Spitsbergen. This, the most northern town on record, flourished from 1633 to 1643. The whale oil was prepared on shore, and, according to Sir Martin Conway's estimate, the town was occupied in the season by from 1000 to 2000 people-a number far below the exaggerated reports of 20,000 which are so often quoted. The book includes some interesting contemporary accounts of the whaling industry, of which perhaps the most valuable is Fotherby's description, written in 1615, of the method of whale capture adopted at that period. 1 "No Man's Land: a History of Spitsbergen from its Discovery in 1596 to the beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country." By Sir Martin Conway. Pp. xii+378. (Cambridge: University Press, 1906.) -Spitsbergen from Barents' Chart (1598). From "No Man's Land." The early narratives say little about the interior of Spitsbergen, but the records are of value in reference to the reported emergence of land during the past three centuries. Sir M. Conway remarks that Poole's record of 1611 shows that there has been no change since then in the level of the shallow bar off "Bear Island." The value of the book as a permanent work of reference is enhanced by its full bibliography of the history and geography of Spitsbergen (pp. 305-327), a chronological list of the maps (pp. 342-346), and a history of the geographical nomenclature. There is also a valuable series of reprints of the early maps, from Barents in 1598 to that after Edge in 1662, and that after Doncker in 1663, which was the first of the series which "really begins to resemble the form of the country it professes to depict." The volume is accompanied by a map, of which the outline is taken from the Admiralty chart, and the names are given according to the results of Sir Martin Conway's study of the nomenclature. J. W. G. PROF. GEORGE RAYET. TO the long list of astronomers recently deceased, with the greatest regret we have to add the name of Prof. George Rayet, who for five-and-twenty years directed the Observatory of Bordeaux with equal vigour and success. Born in 1839, and entering the Paris Observatory in the early 'sixties, the name of Rayet not only recalls to us the ancient history of that establishment, when its fortunes were guided by Le Verrier and Delaunay, but the forty years that separate us from that period embrace the new departures that have been made, in more than one of which Rayet may be said to have assisted. For example, at that time Le Verrier was engaged in the creation of an international bureau for the furtherance of meteorological study. The subject of weather forecasting was then in its infancy, and Le Verrier was endeavouring to give scientific accuracy and precision to the method. Into this department and the allied subject of storm warnings Rayet was early initiated. Similarly his astronomical career coincides very approximately with the time in which spectroscopic studies have been vigorously prosecuted, and in this department he laboured strenuously. It may be recalled that he was one of the observers of the famous solar eclipse of 1868, when the characteristic light of hydrogen was first perceived in the solar prominences, and we were further led to the study of the helium ray. In another direction Prof. Rayet was again a pioneer, when, in conjunction with M. Wolf, he detected that peculiar variety of gaseous star with which his name has been particularly associated. The three typical representatives found in the constellation Cygnus are members of a tolerably large class, the spectroscopic examination of which has done much to widen our conceptions of stellar chemistry. now As professor of astronomy Rayet was much engaged in teaching, and as occupant of the chair of physical astronomy at Bordeaux he was naturally pointed out as the most appropriate director of the new observatory it was proposed to construct in that town. Since 1881 this observatory has been in full activity, and a valuable series of volumes has been issued containing the work of the director and staff. These volumes can generally be divided into two sections, one giving the results of observations, the other the details of mathematical researches. Among the observations are given the coordinates of stars, the position of comets, and nebulæ and measures of double stars. In the memoirs there are signs that Prof. Rayet still retained his old fervour for meteorological study, but we have, in addition, inquiries connected with problems arising out of the construction of the International Star Chart. In his conduct of the observatory Prof. Rayet was indefatigable; its interests he defended with energy, and his administration was able and judicious. While French science will regret his removal, his immediate associates will mourn his loss as that of a friend whose sympathy, knowledge, and experience were ever at their command. NOTES. W. E. P. THE annual meeting of the British Medical Association will next year be held at Exeter; the president-elect is Dr. H. Davy. THE appointment of Prof. Hermann Thoms as director of the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Berlin at Dahlem is announced. THE death is announced of Dr. Adolf Voss, director of the prehistoric section of the Royal Berlin Museum. WE regret to have to record the death, on July 27, of Mr. Richard Glascott Symes, who retired from service on the Geological Survey in 1900. Mr. Symes was born at Kingston, Dublin, in 1840; he joined the survey assistant-geologist in 1863, and in 1869 was made geologist. After a long period of useful work in Ireland, he was transferred to Scotland in 1890. Most of his work will be found recorded in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, WITH reference to the recent correspondence in CULT columns concerning the Geological Survey of Canada (ser NATURE, June 21, p. 175, and July 12, p. 245), Mr. A. P. Low has sent us a certified copy of a report of a committee of the Privy Council, approved by the GovernorGeneral in Council on January 5, 1892, which reads as follows: "Geological Survey. "That in accordance with the provisions of 53 Victoria chap. 11, an act respecting the Geological Survey, 2. Bell, Robert, LL.D., M.D., F.R.S.C., Assistant Director and Chief Geologist-$2,250.00 . (Signed) JOHN J. MCGEE, "Clerk of the Privy Council."* A PARTY of French medical men is about to visit Germany for the purpose of inspecting the medical institutions of the country. Three days will be spent in Berlin, and other cities and towns visited will include Cologne, Frankfort, Leipzig, Munich, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Marburg. A committee of entertainment has been formed under the presidency of Prof. von Bergmann. STEPS are being taken by the German Government to encourage sea fisheries in view of the national importance of this industry in furnishing a recruiting ground for the navy and the mercantile marine. A fishing cutter having an auxiliary engine of twenty horse-power and every modern equipment has, says the Cologne Gazette, been constructed at the Government expense, and after being tested in practice, and if necessary improved, will be adopted as a model for further fishing craft which are to be built, with the assistance of grants from the Imperial Treasury. CAPTAIN LENFANT, the French explorer, is, according to the Siècle, about to leave on another expedition to West Africa in order to discover, if possible, a navigable waterway connecting Lake Chad with the coast of the Atlantic It will be remembered that in his expedition of 1903-4 Captain Lenfant ascertained that a through waterway existed along the Niger, the Benue, the Mayo-Kebbi, the Logone, and the Shari, but he was unable to follow it from beginning to end by boat, as the Mayo-Kebbi was found to be obstructed by rapids, round which it was necessary to travel by land. ACCORDING to a Reuter telegram from St. Petersburg, violent earthquake shocks were felt on August 13 in the districts of Jarkent and Kopal, in the government of Semirechensk, Central Asia. THE Pioneer Mail for July 27 states that earthquake shocks were felt at Mussoorie, Lahore, Delhi, and Naggar (Kangra) on the morning of July 21. DR. H. W. WILEY, chemist to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been elected president of the commission appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce and Labour, and the Secretary of Agriculture to formulate rules and regulations for the enforcement in America of the pure food law. The public hearings by the commission are to begin in New York on September 17. ACCORDING to the Electrical Review, the working of the electric tramways on the overhead trolley system in the neighbourhood of Berlin, and of the electric haulage system on the Teltow Canal, has interfered with the work of the magnetic observatory at Potsdam, and in consequence the Meteorological Institute recently addressed a request to the Ministry for Home Affairs asking for sanction to establish an auxiliary station for delicate magnetic registrations, while at the same time ameliorating the protective regulations for the principal institute at Potsdam. The pro posal, it is stated, has now received the approval of the authorities, and preparations have been made in regard to the realisation of the scheme. It has been possible to secure a site eight miles to the south of the Potsdam Observatory, and on the northern bank of the Seddin Lake, near Kunersdorf. The exact spot selected is in a wood, and the cost of the building and instruments is estimated at 2200l. In order that the work may be completed as rapidly as possible, and without waiting for an estimate to be inserted in the next Budget statement, the Teltow Canal Construction Board has advanced the necessary funds unconditionally. THE Canadian Government is still further extending the organisation of Marconi stations which it has established for communication with ships and from point to point along the coast. One of the new stations is to be at Father Point and one at Seven Islands, in the Province of Quebec. The station at Cape Race, in Newfoundland, is being enlarged. When the two new stations are completed, there will be a continuous Marconi system from Quebec to Labrador on the one side and to Cape Race on the other. It is stated in Science that the Indiana University has had granted to it by the legislature of the State the management of a tract of timber land of 182 acres, on which are the openings to extensive caves and the richest blind-fish localities known. The University is in search of a graduate able and willing to conduct research work on cave animals for twelve months, beginning on September 1 next. A PRELIMINARY report of the archæological mission which went to Abyssinia last spring has been received by the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The mission, the intention of which was to explore the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum, has made, it is stated, a plan of the site, collated inscriptions already known, and copied others discovered in the course of its researches; it has also accumulated information of great interest from an architectural as well as from an ethnical point of view. AN exhibition of india-rubber is to be held next month in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, the object being to encourage further the growth of rubber in the island. It is thought that both Ceylon and the Malay States may soon become important sources of supply of rubber. AN International Maritime Exhibition, in celebration of a century of steam navigation, is being organised under the auspices of the League Maritime Française. It will be opened in Bordeaux on May 1 next, and remain open until the following November. A section will be devoted to colonial products which are intimately connected with the commerce of Bordeaux, and there will be pavilions devoted to ocean geography, nautical automobilism, and aërial navigation. Congresses, competitions, and lectures on maritime affairs, science, art, industry, &c., are being arranged for. The exhibition will be divided into the following groups :-marine history and fine arts; instruction; charts and instruments; navigation and commerce; navy; materials for construction; motor machines and propellers; fittings and apparatus; automobile navigation and boats of all types; aëronautics; port and harbour works; sea and river fishing; hygiene, salvage, and sports; ship's provisions, food; various industries: interior decoration of passenger steamers and yachts; mariners' and passengers' clothing, sporting attire; special furniture for passengers' steamers and yachts, &c.; travelling articles, &c.; commercial relations of Bordeaux with the colonies; social economy; and works of mutuality and charity. THE fourteenth meeting of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography will be held in Berlin from September 23 to September 29 of next year. The congress will be divided into eight sections, devoted to the following subjects :-hygienic microbiology and parasitology; hygiene of nutrition and hygienic physiology; hygiene of childhood and school life; industrial hygiene; the prevention of infectious diseases and the cure of patients suffering therefrom; hygiene of the dwelling and the community; hygiene of traffic; military, colonial, and marine hygiene; and demography. The general secretary of the congress is Dr. Nietner, 9 Eichhornstrasse, Berlin, W. ACCORDING to the Pioneer Mail, Allahabad, the programmes of work of the various Indian scientific departments for 1906-7 have been issued by the Board of Scientific Advice. Our contemporary states that the principal questions to be taken up by the director of the Imperial Institute and reporter of economic products are the produce of Ficus elastica and the developments of rubber planting in India, tanning extracts from barks, the improved preparation of agave fibre, and manganese ores. The Meteorological Department will undertake the preparation of an atlas showing the normal monthly conditions for the Indian Ocean, and the study of the upper atmosphere by kites and balloons, and of atmospheric electricity and earthquakes. The Survey Department, it is proposed, shall compile a paper summarising the geographical position of our knowledge of the Himalayas and Tibet. The Botanical Survey will conduct economic investigations regarding Indian cottons and fibre-yielding plants. The Agricultural Department will investigate remedies for injurious crop pests, and conduct investigations into the improvement of cotton, wheat, tobacco, tea, indigo, and The Forest Department will examine tanning extracts. THE fifth biennial congress of the International Com-jute. mittee on Aeronautics will be held at Milan under the presidency of M. Palazzo in September next. THE report of a subcommittee of the Board of Scientific Advice on the consumption of mineral fertilisers in India has been issued by the Government of India Revenue Department. The director of the Geological Survey having reported on the possible consumption in India of sulphuric acid, and the large supply of rich phosphate of lime on Christmas Island, and the officiating inspector-general of agriculture having directed attention to the scope for the |