however, an Egyptian squadron arrived, and the rattles, and this is said to be a piece of the True authorities felt themselves in a stronger position, Cross. One of the monks described to us the they proceeded to Murnies, and arrested thirty-miracles it had wrought, especially at the time of three of the people who had remained there, ten the insurrection-stories like those which a preof whom were subsequently hanged, while at the decessor of his had told to Pashley, of a monk same time, in order to strike terror into the Chris- having stood with it in his hand in the thick of a tians, twenty-one other persons were seized and battle, when bullets were whizzing round him, executed in other parts of the island. Who can while he remained unhurt. Notwithstanding this, wonder, after this and similar atrocities, if an in- they did not show it the profound veneration with surrection in Crete is almost an internecine which such relics are frequently treated in Greek struggle ? monasteries, and I was allowed to make a drawing From Murnies we turned aside to the monas- of it, which I hardly expected, as many Orientals tery of Hagios Eleutherios, which we found to have the greatest dislike to such a proceeding, bebe a small building, with a church in the By- cause they consider that the possessor of the likezantine style, but without any pretension to ness retains some mysterious power over the architectural effect. The object of our search original. The monk also said that three similar here, which had caused us to deviate from our ones existed in other parts of Crete, and that this proposed route along the north coast of the island, one was supposed to have been a present from the was a crucifix, which is mentioned by Pashley in Venetians: this however I doubt, for the history his Travels, though he gives no description of it. of such relics is seldom accurately known in the Now it is well known to archaeologists that a cruci- East, and Pashley was only informed that it was fix in the Eastern Church is an object of extreme very ancient; besides which, it is singularly unrarity, crucifixes having been traditionally pro-likely that members of the Greek Church should scribed just as much as statues, while icons, i.e. have accepted and preserved the symbol of a hospictures, have been retained. Indeed, in the whole tile creed. I have shown my drawing of it to my of Greece and European Turkey I only know of friends Professor Westwood and Mr. St. John two others that remain; one in the monastery of Tyrwhitt, who have a right, if any one has, to Xeropotamu on Mount Athos, which is set with pronounce on its character; but they both say diamonds, and has been spared, as being a reputed that it possesses so many unusual features as to gift of the Empress Pulcheria; the other, at make the question a very difficult one. In fact, Ochrida, in Western Macedonia, the former capi- they find it impossible to say anything confidently tal of the Bulgarian kingdom, which is regarded about its date; and yet, unless it is an early work, by its possessors as an unauthorised object, and is it cannot be genuinely Byzantine, for a Byzantine preserved only as a relic of antiquity, and may crucifix would not have been made except at an very possibly have descended from the times of early period. The long-tailed B is probably for a Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavo- minuscule Greek 3, and stands for Bags, which nians. On enquiry, however, we found that this takes the place of the Rer of the Latin supercrucifix is now kept at the Metochi (peróxtov) or scription: of this Mr. Tyrwhitt says that it is dependent monastery of Chrysopegi, and to this undoubtedly Byzantine. Indeed, he feels conwe proceeded, after the monks had regaled us with fident that the whole work is Byzantine in some preserve of quince. I may remark that, though sense; but not necessarily of the greatest antithere are no remains of antiquity at Khanea ex- quity, because after the Fourth Crusade Byzantine cept vases, lacrimatoria, and similar objects, which models were spread over Northern and Western are found in tombs in the neighbourhood, yet it is Europe. The shape is a natural one for an ancient tolerably certain that the ancient city of Cydonia metal cross, because it was easy to flatten and occupied the same site, or one in the immediate shape out the metal. vicinity; and those persons who believe in the permanence of vegetation in certain localities, and are disposed to use it as an argument for the position of an ancient site (in whose number I cannot enrol myself) may adduce in this connexion the quinces (endoria) which grow here, as that tree is believed to have taken its name from this city. In the course of conversation with the monks I enquired about the concealed Christians-that is, Mahometans by profession who, while they conform outwardly to that creed, practise Christianity secretly; and I was told in reply that some of these remain in Crete, though their numbers are much smaller than they used to be, and that these baptize their children and observe other Christian rites in private. I had subsequent confirmation of this statement, and learnt that the greater number are to be found on the northern slopes of Mount Ida. At Chrysopegi-which in its turn maintains that it is the original monastery, while Hagios Eleutherios is the dependency-we found in the church a handsome iconostasis or altar-screen of cypresswood, light in colour, which has been elaborately carved by a native artist in 1865. Behind this the crucifix was kept, and it was produced at our request. It is about eighteen inches high, of iron, flat, and hollow, in the shape of a Greek cross, with a round iron handle at the bottom to hold it by, while each of the other three limbs bifurcates at the end into two lobes. Attached to the face of this was a crucifix of silver gilt, somewhat less than half the height of the cross, with a crosspiece bearing the superscription INBI, only the upright of the B was prolonged downwards so as to form a tail. The left foot was attached by a single nail, but the other was left free: they rested on a scabellum, and round the loins was a waistcloth. Inside the cross there is something that SELECTED BOOKS. General Literature. H. F. TOZER. GRAVES, J. A Brief Memoir of the Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, known as the Fair Geraldine. Privately printed. GUERZONI, G. La Vita di Nino Bixio. Firenze: Barbèra. L. 4. HULME, F. E. Plants: their Natural Growth and Ornamental Treatment. Marcus Ward. MARKHAM, Clements R. The Arctic Navy List; or, a Century of Arctic and Antarctic Officers, 1773-1873. Griffin. 3s. 6d. PLUNKET, F. Here and There among the Alps. Longmans. 68. 6d. VOLTAIRE, les vraies lettres de, à l'abbé Monssinot, publiées par Courtat. Paris: Broussois. 5 fr. History. BAIN, J., and C. ROGERS. Diocesan Registers of Glasgow. Printed for the Grampian Club. CECCHETTI, B. La Republica di Venezia e la Corte di Roma nei rapporti della religione. Venezia: tip. Naratovich. LINDNER, T. Geschichte des Deutschen Reiches vom Ende des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts bis zur Reformation. 1. Abth. Geschichte des Deutschen Reiches unter König Wenzel. Erster Band. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 8 M. RAVALSSON, F. Archives de la Bastille. Regne de Louis XIV. (1681 et 1665 à 1674). Paris: Durand et Pedone Lauriel. 9 fr. Physical Science and Philosophy. HARTMANN, E. v. Wahrheit u. Irrthum im Darwinismus. Berlin: Duncker. HEER, 0. Flora fossilis arctica. Die fossile Flora der Polarländer. 3. Bd. Zürich: Wurster. JORDAN, W. Geographische Aufnahmen in der libyschen Wüste auf der Rohlfs'schen Expedition im Winter 1873-74 ausgeführt. Stuttgart: Wittwer. 1 M. LEWES, G. H. Problems of Life and Mind. First Series. The Philology. KRUMBHOLZ, A. Quaestionum Theocritearum specimen primum. Berlin: Mayer & Müller. 1 M. LANE, E. W. Arabic-English Lexicon. Book I. Part V. RÁMÁYAN, The, of Valmiki, translated into English Verse by CORRESPONDENCE. THE ORDRE POUR LE MÉRITE. Berlin: February 16. The letter in the ACADEMY of February 13, signed H. Schütz-Wilson, concerning Mr. Carlyle's election as a Knight of the Ordre pour le Mérite, requires correction. The foreign knights are not elected according to Section V. of the Statutes, as Mr. H. Schütz-Wilson imagines, but according to Section VI., which has been amended by a later Royal order of January 24, 1846. In accordance with these, whenever there is a vacancy, the Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Arts is invited to submit to the King those candidates who have received an absolute majority of votes from the members of either Academy. These names are handed to the Chancellor of the Order, who submits them to the King. This was the procedure followed in the election of Mr. Carlyle. On December 11, 1873, his name was submitted primo loco to the Chancellor, Professor von Ranke, and by him to the King. An interference on the part of Prince Bismarck was out of the question, and never thought of under the circumR. LEPSIUS. Knight of the Ordre pour le Mérite. stances. CAPTAIN MARRYAT A PLAGIARIST. Old Brompton, S. W.: Feb. 23, 1875. If "fears of the brave and follies of the wise" have a metaphysical interest for some persons, the thefts and petty larcenies of the rich should have an equal interest for others. This excuse is offered for what I am about to call the attention of the readers of the ACADEMY to. No one, I venture to think, has ever suspected the late Captain Marryat of having plundered other men's literary stores. Yet he has done so, in one instance at least, as unblushingly as ever did any poor author prompted by a sterile brain or an empty stomach. Most of us have read the Pacha of Many Tales, a collection of stories of unequal merit, but still deservedly popular. In this collection is a tale called "The Water Carrier," which to a degree pre-eminent above the others has the true Oriental cachet, and, as we shall see, it ought to have it. This tale Captain Marryat puts forward as his own production just as much as any of the others, e.g. a foolish story, undoubtedly of his own authorship, in the same batch, of a Spanish monk. I have The "Water Carrier," however, is certainly not his own, for it is identical in all things but the name and profession of the hero with a genuine Eastern story published in the last century by Beloe, the translator of Herodotus. Beloe's story before me in a duodecimo volume, one of several entitled Miscellanies, consisting of poems, classical extracts, and Oriental apologues, published by Rivingtons in 1795. Of the Oriental portion of his "Miscellanies," Beloe in the preface to vol. iii. says:— "I became possessed of these tales in the following manner. My friend Dr. Russell brought with him a small volume from Aleppo, from which he at different times recited to me so much that I became impatient to hear more. My importunity finally prevailed, and at various intervals his kindness induced him to dictate in the best manner he could from the Arabic, whilst I performed the humble office of scribe. . . . tales, which it is believed never appeared before in any European language, will, I have no doubt, preserve a high place among publications of the kind, and I am satisfied that in giving them to the world I perform no useless or dishonourable office." These As Beloe's veracity seems unimpeachable, it is clear therefore from these observations of his that the tales which he has edited are genuine Arabian compositions. I have said that Beloe's hero differs from Marryat's in his name and profession. In the one tale he is Basem the blacksmith, in the other Yussuf the water-carrier. But this is the only difference. In all other respects the tales are the same. The dramatis personae, their talk, and the incidents that form the plot and the dénouement, are identical, and it all takes place, as may be guessed, at Bagdad. Marryat must, under these circumstances, either have made free with Beloe's story, altering only the hero's name and trade, or he must have appropriated the same story through the aid of some other version. Which was it? Is anything known of Beloe's friend Dr. Russell, and his volume of Arabian stories brought from Aleppo ? H. C. COOTE. IRISH TEXTS. same results as the rhyme-test in this play also. The position assigned to it by Professor Ingram is quite untenable. See the essay of Delius on the subject. F. G. FLEAY. 66 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE LATE Shenstone Vicarage: Feb. 20, 1875. I had much pleasure in giving deserved praise to the above book, and I also testified to the learning, the industry, and the livelong piety of that distinguished clergyman who is the subject of it. But I did not admit that Dr. Williams was the perfect hero which his devoted wife very naturally, if not properly, supposed him to be. In return for this discriminating, but very favourable criticism, Mrs. Williams has attacked me angrily, and, therefore, unwisely. That lady I must not hope to satisfy. But if your readers are disposed to think that I did injustice to the dead, I refer them to that clause in the will of the late VicePrincipal of Lampeter which leaves a legacy to the town crier of that place. The conditions of the bequest are such as will surprise all who were not aware of the peculiarities of Dr. Williams; but they did not surprise me. For I had known him well for nineteen years at Eton and King's, and I entertained him, on his own invitation, at my house only a few weeks before his lamented death. I mention this intimacy not because I attach much importance to it on my own account, but because Mrs. Williams is of opinion that I might, with propriety, have made the observations to which she objects if I had kept up my intercourse with her husband, but not otherwise. Her insinuation that I did not read her book to the end does injustice to its merits, which are such as to secure a thorough perusal when it has been once commenced. But one does not always accept the account which a man gives of his motives; nor is the assertion that Dr. Williams would not Trinity College, Dublin: Feb. 17, 1875. Will you allow me to supply a strange omission in the letter of the Rev. James Graves, which appeared in the ACADEMY of last Saturday. În speaking of Irish Societies which have published, or are publishing, Celtic texts, he omitted altogether the name of the Royal Irish Academy. As Secretary of Council to that body, I think it right to state that it is doing (with the aid of a public grant) more important work of the kind in question than was ever done before, or than any other association is doing now. It is bringing out a series of lithographs from facsimile transcripts of the most ancient and valuable Celtic MSS. which this country possesses. It has already published the Leabhar na-h Uidhri, and the first half of the Leabhar Breac; the former containing 134, the latter 141, double-column folio printed pages. The second part of the Leabhar Breac (143 pages) will soon be issued. The Academy is now preparing, and has made considerable progress with, a similar edition of the Book of Leinster, in the publication of which it will be assisted by Trinity College, Dublin, to which latter body that MS. belongs. As to the value of the texts which will thus be given to scholars, any one may satisfy himself by consulting O'Curry's Manuscript Materials of Irish History. Of the services which the publication will render to the study of Celtic and Comparative Philology, some evidence has been already afforded by the use made of the Leabhar na-hidhri in Windisch's additions to the last edition of Curtius' Grundzüge. When I add that Mr. Whitley Stokes has in the press for the Transactions of the Academy the text of the Felire of Oengus, with translation and notes, and that the Academy has also in hand a Corpus of the Ogham Inscriptions, I think it will be admitted that this body is doing a great work, and one worthy of its position as the foremost archaeological as well as scientific-Society of Ireland. JOHN K. INGRAM. P C METRICAL TESTS FOR SHAKSPERE. Skipton: Feb. 20, 1875. I see it announced that Professor Ingram has a new metrical test in hand, viz., the use of the short line at the end of speeches. This test I worked out fully years since, and found that it gave no additional result to what we already ow. It is, in fact, involved with, though far inferior to, the stopt-line test. I have my results and they are at the service of any Society cares to print them. I look on them as Worthless. I may also notice that the weak by that me, endi In act ex ing test, which I worked out before Professor ram, but did not publish, because it gave no itional information, has in his hands given ctly the same results as the rhyme-test in ne, except for the play of Cymbeline, where it tradicts the clear internal evidence that this y must have been produced before Philaster. De apparent exception of Pericles arises from the ofessor's having used one of the wretchedlyranged modern editions. With the lines prorly divided, the weak-ending test gives the have been satisfied with the position which I assigned him in the Temple of Fame any proof whatever that he deserved a higher niche. R. W. ESSINGTON. The EDITOR will be glad if the Secretaries of Institutions, and other persons concerned, will lend their aid in making this Calendar as complete as possible. APPOINTMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK. SATURDAY, Feb. 27, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: Professor Clifford on "The General Principles of Science." Physical Professor G. C. Foster and Mr. O. J. Lodge on "The Lines of Flow and Equipotential Lines in an uniformly conducting sheet;" Mr. T. Wills on "A Mode of exhibiting to a large Audience the Spectrum of Sodium." British Wild Flowers. By John E. Sowerby and C. Pierpoint Johnson. Parts I.-VI. (London: Van Voorst.) The Flowering Plants of Great Britain. By Anne Pratt. Div. I. (London: Frederick Warne & Co.) Manual of British Botany. By C. C. Babington, F.R.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge. Seventh Edition, corrected throughout. (London: Van Voorst.) Topographical Botany. By Hewett Cotrell Watson. (Thames Ditton: Printed for private distribution only.) The London Catalogue of British Plants. Seventh Edition. (London: Robert Hardwicke.) British Hepaticae. By B. Carrington, M.D. And Parts I. III. (London: R. Hardwicke.) THERE is no branch of Natural History more popular apparently than Botany. At least there seems to be none which offers greater inducement to publishers to produce a steady supply of books of a rather expensive kind. Unfortunately the demand, if tolerably constant, is not very discriminating. although it is no doubt a satisfactory thing that there should be a distinct and healthy appetite for knowledge of a more or less scientific sort about plants, and especially about indigenous plants, it is rather unsatisfactory to find how easily it is satisfied if only the tints of the illustrations are vivid, and the nomenclature has an aspect sufficiently remote from what the majority of people think they can understand. The public not merely tolerate, but apparently seem to like a kind of sacerdotalism about such science as they clature;" adjourned debate on spontaneously patronise. A plant is nothing without a name as unpronounceable as may be by the vulgar, just as it is necessary to a large part of the community that medicine to be efficacious should be nauseating. Crystal Palace Concert (A. Holmes' Jeanne d'Arc). Saturday Popular Concert, St. James's Hall. 5 p.m. 7 p.m. Entomological. British Architects. Medical. Medical and Chirurgical: anniversary. Monday Popular Concert, St. James's Hall (Hallé, Joachim). TUESDAY, March 2, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: Mr. A. H. Garrod on "Animal Locomotion on Land, in Air, and in Water." Civil Engineers. Pathological. Biblical Archaeology: Professor If it were not for this blind faith no publisher would think it worth while to issue, as we are candidly told, for the third time (though only on the cover of the first and second parts) a work which is substantially an abridgement of one begun at the close of the last century, and completed no less than sixty years ago. Yet this is the case with Sowerby and Johnson's British Wild Flowers, which is merely an abridgement of Sowerby and Smith's English Botany. Of course it may be said that this is a case of caveat emptor. If there is a demand for a book relating to a subject by no means even yet worked out completely, and the public choose to buy one the plates of which openly bear a date sixteen years old, and profess to be copied from others published about half a century earlier, it may be said no one has a right to complain. But on the other hand, when any one interested in the British flora purchases, for the purpose of informing himself, a work which is to consist of twenty-two parts, each costing three shillings, he may reasonably expect to be spared stumbling over long-exploded errors, and to get in their place at least some of the newest possible lights. It is in no way unreasonable to look for as much as this. There is no mystery about the subjectmatter; there is rather a superabundance of good and accurate books about the wild botany of the British Isles, and there is, above all, Dr. Boswell Syme's admirable English Botany, based, like the present one, on Smith and Sowerby's work, but with the plates thoroughly and critically revised, with many additions, and a text entirely original-a work, in fact, as thoroughly scholarly as this is the reverse. An enumeration of a few of the inaccuracies of the earlier numbers will be a sufficient example of the whole. Take the genus Ranunculus: two species are figured which no one now believes to be British. Both were doubtless errors. Ranunculus alpestris was one of Don's discoveries, and has never been verified. R. gramineus was a blunder for a small state of R. Flammula. The aquatic species are illustrated by Dr. Boswell Syme with twelve plates. Here we have three figures, one of which (fig. 13), R. pantothrix, cannot nowadays be said to have any definite meaning at all. Further on we have (fig. 49) Papaver nudicaule, with the remark "Rocks and hills on the northwest coast of Ireland." Boswell Syme is quite right in asserting "there can be no doubt that it never grew there." Again, fig. 66 presents us with Vella annua, once found on Salisbury Plain, and even then doubtless a mistake for something quite different. Cardamine bellidifolia (fig. 98) is excluded in all the best manuals. Of minor errors there is a plentiful crop. Arabis striata should be Arabis stricta. Sisymbrium Iris (instead of Irio) is said to grow on "walls near London." We can assert with some certainty that it does nothing of the kind. Helianthemum surrejanum (fig. 143) is an abnormal state of H. vulgare; and the old confusion about the wood-violet-cleared up a quarter of a century ago-starts up again with renewed vitality. Here we meet once more Viola sylvatica in the double disguise of Viola canina and Viola flavicornis, being properly neither the one nor the other. No one believes now that the Mediterranean Frankenia pulverulenta (fig. 162) grows on the coast of Sussex, though it is admitted to be" Stellaria scapigera (fig. 205) may be sought for on "moist places on mountains" in vain; it is a garden variety of S. graminea, and was another of Don's spectral discoveries. very rare." | This is probably enough to prove the obsolete character of the book. It may be thought that after all it is of very little consequence. But as a matter of general principle it is very much the reverse. The public want good scientific information, and it is a very miserable state of things that as soon as one gets beyond the pale of books for students everything is scamped and inaccurate. One word more may be added about the introduction. Not to expend too much space on a thankless task, it will be sufficient to quote a few sentences the italics are ours: "During growth, however, the walls of the cells, either by a process of subdivision and ex- To the instructed this will seem perhaps Anne Pratt's Flowering Plants is another 66 and Turkey make a pleasant drink from the blossoms." As a concluding and more serions word, a variety is occasionally found with small flowers." Under the yellow water-lily we again return to pleasant drinks, with much that is curious about Turks and Arabs. If as we are led by Miss Pratt to believe, these people make "a pleasant liquor" from the flowers of the yellow water-lily, they are quite right in using the expression " May it benefit thee" before giving it to any of their friends to drink. Under the water-cress Miss Pratt is in great perplexity. M. Vogel found "that seeds placed in the soil perfectly free from The seventh edition of Professor Babing- Topographical Botany is privately printed, but it has been so liberally distributed among those who are interested in indigenous plants, that it may be not inexcusable to say something about it. The the book, which forms an octavo volume of 740 pages, is to give a record of every county in which each plant enumerated in floras as British has been found growing; in each case a brief memorandum of the authority for the record is attached. Mr Watson has, in fact, printed the material laboriously collected during a rather long life, upon which he has based the various publications relating to British botanical statistics which he has from time to time brought out. At first sight it would not seem that, except in so far as accurate work in any subject carries with it, in a way, its own pleasures, so laborious an undertaking would be justified by any interesting results. It might be supposed that wild plants would be found dispersed pretty uniformly over the surface of Britain, the only difference being that some would occur at longer intervals and be rare, and others at short intervals and be common. This is not at all the case. The local distribution of plants is by no means without method; it is, in fact, an effect of various causes which have acted by no means arbitrarily. What Mr. Watson has done and with a patience and skill altogether admirable is to establish exactly the materials for mapping out the territory occupied by each species. Like nations, the aggregate individuals of any one kind of plant invade, and, in a sense, make war upon each other. Such collisions result ultimately in a sort of equilibrium being reached; each species holds its own on the one hand, and is held in check on the other. To realise exactly what the status in quo is at a particular period is the first step towards ascertaining how it was brought about, and the right comprehension of this touches many interesting points, some in process of settling, such as the time and mode of the severance of the British Isles from the European continent, and some not settled, such as the relative ages of different specific forms. English field botanists are very familiar with Mr. Watson's London Catalogue of British Plants, of which a seventh edition has recently been published. The first appears to date as far back as 1844. The list, in its present form, enumerates 1,680 species (including the higher Cryptogams). Each species has a number attached, which indicates the number of the 112 comital divisions into which Mr. Watson has divided Britain in which the species has been found. Although Mr. Watson's Topographical Botany is unpublished, the new edition of his catalogue gives to this extent its summarised results. The publication of Dr. Carrington's monograph on British Hepaticae has been looked for during the last ten years. This interesting group of cryptogamic plants has been very little studied in this country-a somewhat curious fact, considering the interest which has always been felt for their near allies the mosses. Indeed, if we except Mr. M. C. Cooke's meritorious Easy Guide to the Study of British Hepaticae, published about 1865 (it bears no date), the last systematic account of the species is that contained in the supplementary volumes of Smith's British Flora, which is about forty years old. Besides this there was nothing for students to consult, except Gottsche, Lindenberg, and Esenbeck's Synopsis Hepaticarum, which, however, is itself thirty years old, and Sir William Hooker's classical British Jungermanniae, the plates of which will always be valuable, but which, having been published in 1816, is now hardly to be procured. The execution of Dr. Carrington's plates is decidedly disappointing. They no doubt are sufficiently accurate and copious in details for their purpose, but they are altogether wanting in that delicacy and finish which is, in its way, a pledge of other kinds of excellence, and is always met with in the best works on cryptogamic plants, especially those published in France. The text has, however, every indication of great critical accuracy. It is never perhaps of much importance to criticise mere terminology; all that can be demanded of a scientific term is that its connotation should be precise. The great danger in all monographs, however, is that terms will be borrowed from other subjects and used in new and confusing ways. It is decidedly to be regretted when we find the familiar term frond used pretty much as a synonym for stem; the Foliose Jungermanniae are defined as having "fronds [i.e. stems] clothed with distinct leaves," while further on in a subordinate group we find the character "fronds ascending rhizomatous." In plate i., fig. 1. 1, we have two objects which are called in the description "fronds natural size"; fig. 1. 2, is one of these same objects on a much larger scale, and this we are told is "fertile shoot × 16 diam.," i.e., magnified sixteen times in length. Now to call one and the same thing a frond when represented of natural size, and a fertile shoot when magnified, is really—if Dr. Carrington will exonerate us from any intention of disrespect mere superfluity of naughtiness. However, this is only a criticism demanded by general principle, and there is no reason to doubt that Dr. Carrington's book will be a very sound and valuable contribution to British natural history. W. T. THISELTON DYER. SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. To sketch the life and labours of Sir Charles Lyell would be much the same thing as sketching the development of the modern school of British Geology during well-nigh half a century. The task to which he devoted his noblest energies was that of establishing the principles of Geology on a sound and philosophical basis. His leading lesson was a belief in the uniformity of the laws of nature; a belief which led him to argue that by studying the changes which are being wrought upon the surface of the earth by the silent action of forces now in operation, we put ourselves in possession of a key to the interpretation of those ancient records which it is the special business of the geologist to decipher. Sir Charles indeed developed with singular success the great truths which were first enunciated by Dr. Hutton, of Edinburgh, and eloquently illustrated by his friend Professor Playfair. Hutton died in 1797, and it is curious to note that the same year which witnessed his death gave birth to one who was destined to expound his doctrines with such force of argument as to carry them successfully against all opposition, and establish them as fundamental principles of the science. Lyell was born, on his father's estate at Kinnordy, It was on November 14, 1797, that Sir Charles in Forfarshire. The earliest scientific observations of the young geologist appear to have been made on the rocks of his native county, since we find that his first paper, contributed in 1825 to the Edinburgh Journal of Science, was one "On a Dike of Serpentine in the County of Forfar." He received his early education at Midhurst, in Sussex; and in 1818 he entered Exeter College, Oxford, where he took his M.A. in 1821. Although the advanced views of the enthusiastic geologist rendered him for many years unpopular at his University, it is satisfactory to remember that he lived to outride this unpopularity, and that in 1855 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. On leaving college he came to London, where he studied for the Bar; but Dr. Buckland's lectures on Geology at Oxford had so charmed the young barrister, that on the opening of King's College, London, he accepted the Chair of Geology, and never returned to his legal studies. His labours in geological literature were commenced about this time, or even earlier, the first volume of his celebrated Principles of Geology having been published in 1830. So great has been the popularity of this work, that it has passed through no fewer than eleven editions; and during his last illness the venerable author was engaged upon a twelfth. The original scheme of the Principles was so far broken through, that a portion of the work was separated, in 1838, as an independent treatise, under the title of The Elements of Geology; subsequently it appeared in a modified form as a Manual of Elementary Geology; and at a yet later date it was condensed into a Student's Manual of Elementary Geology. These famous works have been translated into several Continental languages, and also enjoy an extensive circulation in America. In fact, it is a striking peculiarity of Sir Charles's writings that by their clear logic and attractive style they have gained extraordinary popularity, without in any way sacrificing their strictly scientific character. One of Sir Charles Lyell's earliest geological researches was a revision of the classification of the Tertiary strata. He classed all the Tertiary fordefinite relation between the percentage of recent mations in three groups, each marked by a and fossil shells. Assisted by his friend M. Des hayes, he drew up comparative tables of the mollusca in the several beds of the London and Paris basins, separating those species which were extinct from those which were identical with living forms. He was thus led to suggest the well-known grouping of all Tertiary strata into Eocene, Meiocene, and Pleiocene; and although subsequent researches have shown that the " percentage test cannot in all cases be strictly relied on, yet the soundness of the general classification is hardly open to doubt, and the names originally suggested have been imported into every geological system. In the year 1841 Sir Charles Lyell visited America, extending his excursions from the basin of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. On his return, he published his Travels in North America; and when, a few years later, he again visited the States, he produced an equally interesting work, entitled A Second Visit to the United States. As far back as 1833, Sir Charles Lyell, in passing through Liége, examined Dr. Schmerling's collection of organic remains from the Belgian caves, and from that time the great English geologist took much interest in all researches bearing upon the earliest remains of our species. By the year 1863 the geological evidences upon this subject had become so complete, that he published his famous work on The Antiquity of Man. In recognition of his valued labours in the cause of geological science, he was knighted in 1848, and created a baronet in 1864. But far above these honours we may rate those recognitions of merit which he so frequently received from his fellow-workers in the field of science. Thus he received in 1858 the Copley medal of the Royal Society, and in 1866 the Wollaston medal of the Geological Society. He was twice President of the Geological Society of London; first in 1836, and again in 1850. He presided over the British Association at the Bath meeting in 1864. In casting a glance over the life of Sir Charles Lyell, it will be seen that he was characterised by singular steadiness of purpose. The great doctrine of uniformitarianism which he advocated in 1830, he nobly supported to the day of his death, although modified, of course, by the progress of scientific enquiry. He made everything subordinate to his one ruling idea, that of establishing the principles of geology upon a thoroughly logical basis. Nor were his honesty and boldness less marked than his steadiness and concentration. A staunch advocate of perfect freedom of scientific opinion, he fearlessly pushed his principles to their legitimate conclusions. Having first satisfied himself of the soundness of his fundamental postulates, and employing a rigorous logic at each successive step of his reasoning, he cared but little whither his conclusions carried him; whether they chanced to fall in unison with general belief, or cut directly across the grain of popular prejudice. Toleration had been taught him by bitter experience in early life. Like most advanced thinkers, he had suffered keenly from the harsh criticisms of the narrow-minded; he had shared the fate which usually falls to the room-was placed in a mixture of ice and water. The mercury rose in the glass tube consequent upon the contraction of the air in the air thermometer, and the position of the top of the column was observed at fixed intervals of time by means of a kathetometer. Thus the experimental data were obtained, and from them the velocity of cooling was calculated, and thence the coefficients of thermal conductivity. Using three sets of apparatus of unequal dimensions, the author found that the velocities of cooling were very inconstant, and conceived that the irregularities might be due to inequalities of temperature on the surface of the outer cylinder. This supposition was justified by his subsequent experiments, for on agitating the mixture of ice and water by a peculiar form of annular stirrer, the inner edge of which was armed with fine brushes, and by further making a correction on account of the upper and lower surfaces which were not brushed by the stirrer, numbers were obtained agreeing very closely one with another. It is assumed that in consequence of the equal cooling of the outer vessel at all points of its surface, no convection currents arise to interfere with the conduction-passage of heat. The follow ing numbers represent the coefficients of thermal conductivity for the corresponding liquids, a centimètre and a second being the units of length and time: Water Sodium chloride (20 per cent. of salt) Sodium chloride (33.3 per cent. of salt) Alcohol Carbon bisulphido Glycerine. 0.001540 0-001912 0-002675 0.001506 0:002003 0.000748. dium chloride conduct heat better than pure It appears from the above that solutions of sowater, and better as the percentage of salt is greater, a result which agrees with those obtained by Dr. Guthrie. According to Lundquist and Paalzow, however, the heat-conductivity of water is not improved by the presence of salts in solution. "Teachers whose minds move faster than the age, And faster than Society's slow flight." Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Sir Charles Lyell was his remarkable mental plasticity, a power which made him ever ready to receive new impressions and never too proud to correct his old views, or confess to a change in his previous opinions. Not that he craved for novelty merely for novelty's sake. But if he considered that fresh evidence on a given subject justified the alteration of a previously-formed opinion, he frankly turned round and renounced his old views. This was nowhere more strikingly seen than in his change of attitude towards the great question of the Origin of Species after the publication of Mr. Darwin's epoch-marking work. Whenever Sir Charles considered that a case had been fairly made out, he was too noble to shut his eyes against the evidence, but freely accepted the new conclusion, even to the overthrow of his previous work. It was the advancement of the philosophy of Geology, not the advancement of self, that he was constantly seeking. To the very last he retained this plasti-cli., city of mind; a characteristic which led him so freely, yet so cautiously, to bend before new arguments, and to stretch his old views to meet the requirements of modern research; thus strikingly unlike so many men of genius, who having developed in early life to a certain point, are content to spend the rest of their life in a state of intellectual crystallisation. F. W. RUDLER. SCIENCE NOTES. PHYSICS. The Thermal Conductivity of Liquids.-Dr. Winkelmann in the last number of Poggendorff's Annalen (cliii. p. 481) gives an account of investigations which he has recently made on the thermal conductivity of certain liquids, viz., water, solutions of sodium chloride, alcohol, carbon bisulphide, and glycerine. The mode of experimentation was as follows:-Two cylinders of brass were employed, of which the smaller, which served as an air thermometer, was so fixed within the larger that the perpendicular distance between the surfaces of the two was the same at all points. The space between the cylinders was filled with the liquid whose conductivity was to be investigated. Into a hole in the top of the inner cylinder was cemented a glass tube, which, passing through the upper surface of the outer cylinder, was bent twice at right angles, and dipped into a cup of mercury. The apparatus, after having been allowed to assume a uniform temperature-that of on Does the Thermal Conductivity of Mercury vary with the Temperature?—The paper this subject month was originally communicated by its author in the Philosophical Magazine for the present M. Hermann Herwig to Poggendorff's Ann., vol. p. 177. According to Wiedemann and Franz, the metals have equal conducting power for heat and electricity, and since we know from numerous experiments that for electric conductivity a very marked variability with the temperature takes place, it follows, if the statement of Wiedemann and Franz be true, that there will be found for the thermal conductivity of most metals a variability with temperature in about the same degree. On the other hand, Lorenz has asserted the independence of temperature of the heat-conductivity of pure metals which remain homogeneous, and accounted for the observed variations by assuming the development of thermo-electric currents in consequence of unequal heating of the metals. To decide this question it was necessary to employ a pure metal which remains homogeneous, and mercury was accordingly selected as being the only known metal satisfying the condition. Herwig's experiments show that between 40° and 160° C. the heat-conducting power of pure the results of Lorenz. The author is occupied mercury is perfectly constant, and so far confirm with the arrangement of experiments the object of which is to ascertain how far solid metals differ in their behaviour from mercury. Mr. Baillie Hamilton's String Organ.-A short paper on the mathematical theory of this instrument is given by Mr. R. H. M. Bosanquet in the February number of the Philosophical Magazine. Following the method of investigation employed by the late Professor Donkin (Donkin's Acoustics, p. 139) Mr. Bosanquet is led to a general equation the solution of which determines what segment length of the string employed would, when vibrating alone, yield the same note as is actually sounded under the conditions of the instrument, i.e., when the string is attached at some point of its length to the tongue of a reed which is set in vibration by a stream of air. The solution of this equation in the general case presents great difficulty, but is effected in certain particular cases: e. g. (1) When the point of attachment of the reed is a node; (2) when the note sounded is that of the reed alone; (3) when the point of attachment is the middle of the string. Some experimental observations made by Mr. Bosanquet appeared to correspond roughly with theory, certain assumptions being made respecting the relations of the elements in the problem. Lord Rayleigh (Nature, February 18, 1875) considers that Mr. Bosanquet has not touched upon the chief points of interest in connexion with this instrument. He considers that the origin of the instrument has led to misconception as to its real acoustical character. It should be regarded rather as a modified reed instrument than as a modified string instrument, although the pitch of the system is mainly dependent upon the string. Lord Rayleigh is of opinion that the vibration of the system is rigorously or approximately simple harmonic, and that accordingly the sound emitted directly from the reed or string, or from the resonance board in connexion with the string, is simple harmonic. On the other hand, it is certain that the note actually heard is com pound, and capable of being resolved into several components with the aid of resonators. The explanation of this apparent contradiction is to be found in the consideration that the intermittent stream of air gives rise to a highly compound musical note, whose gravest element is the same as that of the pure note given by the string and resonance intensify the gravest note of the compound sound board. One effect of the string is, therefore, to given by the intermittent stream of air. The principal acoustical characteristic of the string that its notes form a harmonic scale-does not come into play, the office of the string being mainly to convey the vibration of the reed itself (as distinguished from the wind) to the resonance board, and thence through the air to the ear of the observer. These views require confirmation by experi ment. Studies on the Magnetisation of Steel.-In the same number of the Philosophical Magazine is a portion of a paper by Professor E. Bouty, on the magnetisation of steel needles. An extract from the original paper, relating to a new method of determining the magnetic moment of a magnet, and especially applicable to magnets of very small dimensions, is to be found in the Journal de Flysique (December, 1874). The principle of this method, which is very simple, may be briefly described. Upon a rigid support of sealing wax, moveable about a vertical axis, is fixed (1) a horizontal needle, the magnetic moment (M) of which is known, and (2) at rightangles to the needle (M) and a little above it, a small glass tube into which is introduced the needle whose magnetic moment (r) it is desired to determine. The system thus formed takes, under the influence of the earth's magnetism, a A mirror determinate position of equilibrium, such that the plane of the magnetic meridian an angle a de magnetic axis of the needle (M) makes with the termined by the equation = M tan. a. being attached to the support which carries the needles, the angle a is read off by means of a telescope with a scale placed horizontally immediately below its object glass. With this apparatus the author was able to effect measurements relative to needles 2 millims in length and 0.2 millims in diameter. magnetise a steel needle within a spiral of wire Four distinct processes may be employed to traversed, or capable of being traversed, by a current of electricity: |