make use of them. In connexion with this subject, I may mention that a proposal will probably soon be made to found a Professorship of Chinese in this University. Those who have given any attention to the science of language know well how valuable such a professorship would be, while from a missionary point of view fit provision for the study of so important a speech is much needed. It may be added, too, that a large number of native students from the Celestial Empire, following the lead of Japan, may before long be expected bere. We have at present in this country one of the profoundest Chinese scholars in the world, whose attainments gained him the rare distinction of Stanislas Julien's praise. Should the scheme for the foundation of the chair take definite shape we cannot doubt that the University will meet it in a liberal spirit. Only last week Convocation voted 105. for the purpose of buying the geological collections of the late Professor Phillips, which contain specimens of great value from the Carboniferous and Oolite beds of Yorkshire. Another edition of Professor Max Müller's Lectures has been called for and will soon be forthcoming. Just before leaving for Rome, the Professor gave a most interesting and suggestive lecture on Chronology as applied to the Development of Language." It was a criticism of the attempt of Curtius to map out the history of Aryan speech into seven distinct periods. Professor Max Müller showed how impossible such an attempt must be; all the philologist can do is to determine three overlapping stages of juxtaposition, agglutination, and inflection. The main point of the lecture was that no language is purely inflectional, agglutinative or isolating, whatever its chief characteristic features may be, and that the assertion that every rational analysis of inflection had proved it to have been the result of a previous agglutination is not to be applied to inflection generally, but only to those instances of it which have been successfully analysed. The Clarendon Press has not been idle of late. One of its most recent productions is a translation of Von Ranke's History of England, which has been made by resident members of the University ander the superintendence of Mr. Kitchin and Mr. Boase. Matriculation and candidature for honours do not always imply a knowledge of German, and there are many who will be grateful for having the famous German historian presented to them in an English dress. If the study of the modern languages, however, is still somewhat backward among us, there are increasing signs of a more intelligent study of the dead ones. Since my last letter, a new edition of Messrs. Sargent and Dallin's Materials and Models for Latin Prose Composition has appeared, which differs not only from the first edition, but also from all preceding attempts to instruct our youth in the art of Writing like Cicero. Extracts from our standard authors have been classified under five heads, and references given in each case to parallel passages in Greek and Latin writers. It is something to be made to feel that Latin composition is no mechanical exercise, but that the language of Plato and Livy ought to be as real and living to as as the language of Gibbon, of Renan, or of Goethe. I have little news to give of the Bodleian this term. If the nation is happy whose annals are scanty, this evidence of quiet work is no cause for regret. I must not forget to add, however, that a MS. of the Persian writer Khardisi has been sent to Professor Dorn, and that M. Neubauer's edition of Ab-ul-Walid's Dictionary is almost completed. He is now only waiting for two MSS. from St. Petersburg which belonged to the collection of Dr. Firkowitz, a Crimean rabbi, who died about a year ago. Meanwhile the Curators of the Library are occupied in procuring plans and estimates for enclosing and fitting up the Pigmarket, or Proscholium as it is more euphemistically called, as a fire-proof receptacle for the MSS. and other valuables under their charge. If the FITZMAURICE, Lord Edmond. William, Earl of Shelburne, afterwards first Marquess of Lansdowne. His Life, with Extracts from his Papers and Correspondence. Vol. I. 1737-1766. Macmillan. 12s. MALLESON, G. B. Studies from Genoese History. Longmans. 10s. 6d. SATHAS, C. Deux lettres inédites de l'empereur Michel Ducas Parapinace à Robert Guiscard, rédigées par Michel Psellus. Paris Maisonneuve. Physical Science and Philosophy. LEIBNIZ, G. W. Philosophische Schriften. Hrsg. v. C. J. Gerhardt. 1. Bd. Berlin: Weidmann. 14 M. M'INTOSH, W. C. The Marine Invertebrates and Fishes of St. Andrew's. Edinburgh: Black. 21s. PRESTWICH, J. The Past and the Future of Geology. An Inaugural Lecture. Macmillan. 2s. Philology. LEVY, J. Neuhebräisches u. chaldäisches Wörterbuch üb. die Talmudim u. Midraschim. 1. Lfg. Leipzig: Brockhaus. 6 M. RENOUF. P. Le Page. An Elementary Manual of the Egyptian CORRESPONDENCE. IRISH TEXTS. Inisnay Glebe, Stonyford: March 1, 1875. I beg to say that it was not by an "omission," much less a 66 strange" one, that I did not mention the Irish Texts which are in course of production by the Royal Irish Academy. I had in view societies all the members of which obtain the Irish Texts printed by their means. The noble works issued by the Academy are confined to those who can afford the large price necessarily charged for facsimile reproductions of Irish Texts. The members of the Academy do not get them as such. The Felire of Oengus when it appears will be the only exception to this rule, and I trust it may be followed by other works of the same class. I give all honour to the Royal Irish Academy for the noble work it is doing, but its "Irish Texts' within the reach only of a few, comparatively speaking, and could not meet the wants of those who were endeavouring to get up a new "Irish Text Society," and to such it was that I addressed my observations. JAMES GRAVES, A.B., Member of the Royal Irish Academy. "WHAT." are 3 St. George's Square, N.W.: March 1, 1875. How many of your readers have asked themselves what part of speech what is, in such a sentence as "What with the piano jingling next door, and what with the baby screaming at home, I can not work!" You cannot put the what before one adverb-clause, but must say, "With my sprained ankle, you can't expect me to run a race. You can, however, leave out the what in the double adverb-clause. Does then this what mean partly, or is it introduced merely for emphasis ? Historically, it means "partly: the writer called Robert of Gloucester, just before 1300 A.D.: see "So that moo than syx thousend of the Saxon aslawe were, Wat aslawe, wat adreynt " [slain, drowned]. (Chronicle, p. 170, in Richardson.) "What for eye [awe], what for love, non him ne withsede." (Life of Beket, p. 16, 1. 337 [Stratmann].) But in our present usage, what certainly gives emphasis to the adverbs of cause following it. The meaning of "partly" is seen also in "somewhat," what having been formerly used as a noun = 'thing," as Dr. Morris has shown. Dr. Abbott's second explanation of this use of what, in his How to Parse, is therefore right. F. J. FURNIVALL. 66 DR. COOKE'S " REPORT ON THE GUMS, RESINS, ETC., IN THE INDIA MUSEUM.' Acton Feb. 27, 1875. The Botanical Notes in the ACADEMY are always so carefully written that I am all the more solicitous to be allowed to point out the seeming injustice inadvertently done to Dr. M. C. Cooke, of the India Museum, in the short paragraph in which you have to-day criticised his Report on the Gums, Resins, Oleo-Resins, and Resinous Products in the India Museum. The scope and purpose of Dr. Cooke's Report are altogether missed. It is not a botanical treatise printed for general circulation, but expressly a compilation prepared for our Forest officers in India, as a basis for the correction and verification of the published information on a class of Indian products more obscured by authorised errors regarding them than perhaps any other class excepting drugs. An exhaustive list of native names-in which the spelling of the authorities using them is scrupulously followed-is furnished in order that they may be attested on the spot by gentlemen who at once are trained botanists and possess a knowledge of Indian local names of plants and vegetable products equalled only by our missionaries. In this way it is hoped to ascertain for a certainty whether the products known under the several native names are accurately referred to their reputed botanical sources, and what are the sources of those, the sources of which are at present unknown. It is, therefore, wholly to misconceive the aim and object of Dr. Cooke's Report--and calculated to injure him as a Government official-to say of it, without explanation" that it is a compilation," that "no system of nomenclature is followed," and that "obsolete names are employed." All this is quite true, but all this is just what was required of Dr. Cooke by those who have to use his Report. It is further said that "the extracts seem to have been made at random." I can only say that, having devoted myself for twenty years to the identification of Indian and Eastern vegetable products, and the obscure study of the cloud of writers on them, I find Dr. Cooke's extracts most pertinent and suggestive. To all practical students of Indian gums and resins the compilation will prove an invaluable handbook of research. It is to be regretted that Dr. Cooke has overlooked Brandis's Forest Flora, "containing," as you justly say, "much original information," which, moreover, may be implicitly relied on; Dr. Brandis's accuracy being always as conspicuous as it is rare. GEORGE BIRDWOOD, M.D. THE UTRECHT PSALTER. Clifton March 1, 1875. In calling the attention of your readers again to the Utrecht Psalter, I will confine my remarks for the present to a single point. Anything that tends to throw any light on the date of its execution must be interesting both to antiquarians and to churchmen. As far as I know, only two opinions have been expressed as to the point of priority in time of the handwriting and of the drawings, and the general current of opinion has run in favour of the theory which places the drawings entirely after the handwriting at whatever interval of time. But there are many considerations which lead, as appears to me, irresistibly to the conclusion that they were exe cuted simultaneously-that is to say, that the scribe and the artist were at work together, and that the artist was sometimes, though not often, in advance of the scribe. As the first evidence for this I will take folio 77A of the photogram, premising that I have not seen the original, and that for my present purpose the copy is quite as good as the original. Folio 77A contains the last twelve and a half verses of the 135th Psalm (E.V. 136th), followed by a drawing which is a little below the middle of the page and which refers, as all the drawings do, to the psalm immediately following it, of which Psalm 136 (E.V. 137) the page holds seven and a half verses. This drawing, in common with many others which follow, but with very few indeed of those that precede the 118th Psalm, overlaps the text of the Psalm on the upper part of the page and trenches very closely on the Psalm below it. It is one of many instances, therefore, which supply evidence as to the priority of the MS. or the drawing. Now anyone who has gone over the Psalter with any care will have observed that the scribe very seldom resorts to contractions, except under compulsion, or what appeared to him to be compulsion-except in such words as Deus, Dominus, Spiritus, &c., to which must be added quoniam, which is variously written qm and qnm, and sometimes, though rarely, at full length. For example, in the whole of that part of the 118th Psalm which precedes the last page, of which I shall have more to say presently, there are only thirty-five contractions, if I have counted them rightly, twenty-five of which are omissions of the final (m) at the end of a word and of a line. This I call compulsory, as it would have made an awkward division of such a word as templum, for instance, to write templu at the end of one line and m at the beginning of the next. Of the remaining ten, three more have a right to be considered in the same light as occurring in the same line and designed to prevent such a separation as would have occurred by writing templ in one line and um in the next. Of the remaining seven, three are contractions of the same kind occurring in the middle of a line, such as tépore for tempore, and are most of them evidently resorted to to save the last line of a verse having but one or two letters in it. This occurs on 69A, where is also another, suoblitus, intended to save the syllable us from occupying a line by itself. Three others are not so clearly reducible to the same head, as there was no absolute necessity for them, and the remaining one is in the word justificationib; which is written for justificationibus, which was adopted for precisely the same reason, to save dividing the word tuis at the end of a verse into two lines, or leaving a blank space long enough for seventeen or eighteen letters. In writing the 118th Psalm the scribe was not fettered by want of space, for there are no drawings excepting at the beginning of each psalm. The question arises whether he was so fettered when he wrote the last half of Psalm 135. I have no doubt that he was so fettered, and for this reason:-In the lower part of the page where he was quite free to write as he pleased, there is not one contraction of any kind, excepting in the word DNI, for Domini, which is never written in any other way, while on the upper part of the page there are as many as thirteen contractions, omitting to count instances of qum for quoniam. Some of these may be dismissed because they come under the head of compulsory, such as aetnu at the end of a line. Others are of various kinds, such as twice over, aet̃nú for aeternum, nři for nostri, ei for ejus, while the last line of the last verse is written in the following remarkable manner, NORUQMINATNUMISÎRÎ, and the remaining portion of the Psalm cordia ejus is alNow all this has of course to together omitted. be accounted for. And I see no other reasonable account of the matter than this, that the drawing was already executed before the scribe had reached the page, very nearly but not quite room enough having been left for the Psalm to be inserted be Garrod on "Animal Locomotion." Gibb 8 p.m. Anthropological Institute: Sir D. on "Ultra-Centenarian Longevity;" Rev. D. I. Heath "Molecules and Potential on Life." Civil Engineers. Photographic. Royal Albert Hall Concert (Hymn of Praise and Stabat Mater). WEDNESDAY, Mar. 10, 3 p.m. Royal Literary Fund: Anni versary. Malle. Krebs's Second Recital, St. 8 p.m. Archaeological Association. fore it. If this had not been the case the scribe TUESDAY, March 9, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: Mr. A. H. could easily have made his first column of fourteen instead of thirteen lines, in which case the second column, being also fourteen lines long, there would have been exactly room, and nothing to spare, for a third column of the same length to complete the Psalm without danger of omitting its final words, and without the necessity of contractions of a kind seldom resorted to. For it is impossible to conceive that he miscalculated the length of the Psalm so materially as the short column of thirteen lines would show that he did, if there was nothing to interfere with his arrangements. Whereas, he plainly wrote his thirteenth line as low as was possible on the page, just touching the picture, and, indeed, somewhat interfering with the long spears that are in the hands of the men on the left-hand side of the page; and after having done his best to get the whole Psalm in so as not to interfere with the rest of the drawing, the letters MISIRI just overlapping the head of one of the figures, he preferred omitting the well-known termination of the verse, which is the same with that of every verse in the Psalm, to encroaching on the sacred symbol of the hand of the Almighty, which is close under his last line. I should consider this page alone to be conclusive of the argument that in one case, at least, the drawing preceded the manuscript; but I have referred to the 118th Psalm, and at the risk of being tedious I will show how it bears in the same direction. I have already given an account of the small number of contractions in this Psalm when from the nature of the case the scribe had no conditions that on the last page of this Psalm there had of space imposed upon him. But it so happens previously been drawn the picture which illustrates the next Psalm, and that here, too, there was a little miscalculation as to the amount of room required. And accordingly, to avoid encroaching on the picture, there are no less than ten contractions in the last of the three columns, which occupy twenty-three lines each, one of them being the unusual contraction of oma. for omnia, and the other the not very common one of N. for Non. I could extend this argument if necessary by referring to many other pages And I think it which prove exactly the same. unnecessary to prove, what I think nobody will dispute, that the manuscript in most cases preceded the drawing; but I submit that I have said enough to prove that they were proceeding simultaneously. If your readers are interested in the subject I shall have more to say hereafter. NICHOLAS POCOCK. P.S. I will only add that on folio 72 there is a unique instance of a contraction at the end of a verse in the middle of a line where there could be no necessity for it, excepting the very obvious one, that the insertion of the M in SVORVM instead of writing it SVORV, would have encroached upon the drawing. 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, March 6, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: Professor W. K. Clifford on "The General Features of the History of Science." II. Crystal Palace: Bennett Concert. London Institution : Travers Monday Popular Concert, St. James's Hall. 8.30 p.m. Geographical. Graecus Venetus. Pentateuchi Proverbiorum GREEK and Hebrew scholars are alike indebted to Dr. O. Gebhardt for his beautiful and accurate edition of the Venetian Greek version of the Pentateuch, and some other portions of the Old Testament, the result of a long study of the codex unicus in the Library of St. Mark's. We will not dwell on the inaccuracies of the previous editions of Ammon and Villoison, which, owing in fail to satisfy even the most moderate critical part only to the character of the writing, standard, but rather occupy our space with the conclusions of the editor and his friend Dr. Delitzsch as to the age and authorship of this curious version. Dr. Gebhardt makes it clear that the translator was acquainted with and attached great weight to the "Book of Roots," by David Kimchi, also that he was a good Hebrew scholar, with a sense of the niceties of the language, and that he was a Jew, not a Christian, since he makes no attempt to harmonise the Old Testament text with the New Testament quotations. Still he must have been a man of independent character, for he does not scruple to render the name of God by ὀντωτής, ὀντουργός, οι οὐσιωτής, deriving it therefore from the Hifl or causative form of the verb. Dr. Gebhardt thinks he was a Karaite, but, as Dr. Delitzsch points out, there are not wanting passages opposed to the Karaite interpretation. Not the least remarkable feature in this translation, which aims like that of Aquila at extreme fidelity, is its erudite ingenuity in the formation or selection of " word words. Thus at the "Chaldee Karbela, Dan. iii. 21, the author recollects the name of the Persian bonnet in Herodotus and Aristophanes (vpßaría); in Lam. i. The writing of the MS., the first part of which seems to be from the hand of the author, is that of the fourteenth or fifteenth But who is the author? century. Dr. Delitzsch has made out a good case for Elissaeus, a learned Jew of the fourteenth century, who resided at the court of Murad I., the conqueror of Adrianople (1361). The Greek learning of Elissaeus is guaranteed by the fact that Gemistus Pletho, the Platonist, one of the lights of the Renaissance, became his disciple. The liberality of his opinions by an epistle of Gennadius Scholarius, in which he is described as ó 7 doкεiv μèv 'Iovdaios, oλúdeos dé. This agrees excellently with the extraordinary licence of the translation, which admits words so redolent of heathenism as ἑκάτη (Cant. vii. 3), ἑωσφόρος (Cant. vi. 10), parás (Prov. vi. 26). Elis- Megilloth, and substituted Daniel. Dr. MINOR SCIENTIFIC NOTICES. The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. By Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S. With three Plates. Second Edition, revised. (Smith, Elder, & Co.) It is now nearly forty years since Mr. Darwin, in a memorable paper read before the Geological Society of London, first sketched the outlines of his famous theory of Coral Reefs. The views originally advanced in that memoir were soon afterwards worked out in detail, and published in the shape of the well-known volume which formed the first part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle. It is the second edition of this volume which is now in our hands. Mr. Darwin's admir able investigations on the structure of coral reefs, the theory which he philosophically deduced from those investigations, and the grand generalisations which flowed from his theory, are too well known to need more than a passing reference. By carefully comparing the different forms of reef one with another, he was enabled not only to classify them, but to establish a relation, previously unsuspected, between the several classes. Observations on the growth of the reef-building polypes had shown that their range in depth is contined within narrow limits; and coupling this fact with the hypothesis that certain areas of land are gradually sinking, Mr. Darwin was led to the construction of a theory which offered at once a simple and satisfactory explanation of all the observed phenomena. It has fallen to the lot of few men of science to see more of corals and coral reefs than Professor Dana has seen; and it is therefore instructive to hear how Mr. Darwin's theory is viewed by so competent a judge. "The theory of Darwin," says Professor Dana, "gave me, in my ocean journeyings, not only light but delight, since facts found their places under it so readily, and derived from it so wide a bearing on the earth's nor history." At the same time it was hardly to be secure accuracy the engraver inspected the insects before touching the block on which they were drawn. The result is certainly of more than average merit in the representations, but we wish English engravers would come nearer to the French in delicacy of shading and elegance of composition. The woodcuts scattered abundantly through the letterpress are more effective than the page plates, most of which are damaged by an excess of monotonous shading all over the backgrounds. Mr. Darwin's views are those which were raised a Trespassers: showing how the Inhabitants of Earth, very readable by young persons, and will help to desirable. It is surely a mistake to suppose that In some cases a little more care would have been In another place Mr. Wood tells the old story 66 Illus Insects Abroad; being a Popular Account of passing what is found among mammals, birds, reptiles, or fishes, which two latter come nearest. Among the strangest will be noticed some of the gigantic beetles-the extremely odd "walkingthe various leaf insects, which marvellously mimic, sticks," like stems of plants on which they feed, not only the general shape and colour of the leaves among which they perch, but copy minute details of markings, so that a botanist might be deceived, and the queer monstrosities of shape in ricoma, of Mexico), Mr. Wood remarks: "Any one various Homoptera, on one of which (Phenax auunacquainted with entomology could hardly believe that it really was an insect, and not the creation of some fantastic manufacturer of sham insects. The general colour is pale green, but it has upon its head a crest of long, soft, silky, goldcoloured hair. The whole surface of the body is covered with a white downy secretion, which looks as if the insect had been hastily made from cotton wool. the insect are of similar material, and look very The long fibres that trail behind much as if they had been made of cotton wool that the entire group of creeping, crawling, flying, loosely twisted by the hands." When we consider rable sizes, called insects, the majority undergoing and swimming objects, of all shapes and innumegether by certain structural peculiarities common to strange transformations, are really connected toall, and distinguishing them, on the whole, pretty amazing plasticity of the type they represent. No sharply from other groups, we are struck with the other group suggests so strongly to the unenquiring observer the idea of a multitude of special creations, and yet in the hands of Wallace, Bates, and Darwin, they have been made to furnish some of the strongest evidences in favour of the development theory. They also offer highly curious illustrations of instinct, frequently passing into something very like reason, as is especially the case with many of the ants so highly eulogised by Mr. Belt, who is disposed to place them among the most intelligent of animals, an opinion difficult to dispute when we find some of them bringing up other ants to be their servants, others burying their dead, and many storing food for the winter, and, classification and to the individualization of most wonderful of all, the agricultural ants (Myr-minute differences of character in varieties, mica barbata) preparing the ground and sowing as well as in more marked species, the work the seed of a peculiar grass, which they cut down will prove an invaluable aid to the botanical in due season and harvest the grain. If all this traveller in Norway. The present number ends is instinct, it is much like reason n; but among with the Carlineae under the head of the other insects there seems to be little or no power Compositae, which, like the other orders, is preof varying action according to circumstances. ceded by a concise but very clear definition of its Thus the Philanthus coronatus, "although so bold prominent characters. The natural system is foland active, and possessing a sting which is venomous lowed throughout in the mode of its arrangeenough to disable even the hive-bee, is curiously ment; the printing is extremely good; and the averse to using its sting except for the purpose descriptions, in accordance with Scandinavian of securing its prey. Mr. Smith found that custom, are put into the simple vernacular, with he absolutely could not provoke the insects to use no further use of Latin or Latinised words than is their stings, even though he held them in the bare absolutely necessary. We wish we could see this hand." Although most of the instincts may be re- practice somewhat more closely followed in our garded as inherited aptitudes, which may have been botanical literature, where even the simplest slowly acquired in preceding generations, the manuals of instruction require the student to be a wonder remains how the directive power is given proficient in classical terminology before he can to the minute brain, and how the germinal par- hope to master the very first steps towards a knowticles of the egg hand it down. We meet ledge of botany. with the same wonder in larger creatures, but it is certainly very striking to note what complicated actions can be performed with the minutest quantities of matter. In addition to its popular and readable qualities, Mr. Wood's work will be welcome to numerous families whose relatives in India, China, Australia, or elsewhere, send them home boxes of insects, as they will find most of them figured and described in its pages. British Marine Algae: being a Popular Account of the Seaweeds of Great Britain, their Collection, and Preservation. Illustrated. By W. H. Grattan. (London: The "Bazaar" Office, 32 Wellington Street, Strand, 1874.) This little book contains within a compass of 230 pages a description of all the British seaweeds, terminated by a complete list divided into Chlorospermeae, Melanospermeae, and Rhodospermeae, or green, olive, and red seaweeds. Their microscopical details are described and sometimes figured, and their habitats are given. We learn that these flowers of the sea are not only beautiful, but often useful: thus in Ireland several varieties of seaweed are eaten, some of them make excellent pickle, and many varieties when burnt furnish ash, from which iodine and bromine are extracted. As an example of the subject-matter we may quote the following:: "The genus Zonaria (from the Greek word for a girdle or zone) contains two curious species; one of which, Zonaria parvula, is found occasionally on various parts of our coast, its usual habitat being in rather deep water on the stony nullipores. Hence its rare appearance unless cast ashore after storms. Our illustration is from two fronds of the Zonaria collaris, or collar-like zonaria. This singular plant grows on rocks, to which it is attached by numerous woolly fibres, which spring from the under surface of the primary fronds. The secondary frond, or upper portion of the plant, as seen in the upper figure of our illustration, springs from the lower or procumbent frond, and is usually cup-shaped, slightly notched at intervals, and terminated with a border or fringe of delicate fibres." A main feature of the book is a number of lent representations of seaweeds shown on a black ground. The work will be found of interest to all those who contemplate a lengthy visit to the seaside, and who are fond of natural history. A History of British Birds. By the late William Yarrell, V.P.L.S., F.Z.S. Fourth Edition. Revised by Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S., ProfesUniversity of Cambridge, F.L.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. sor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the (Van Voorst. Part VIII., November, 1874.) The eighth part of this admirable work completes the first volume, and carries the subject as far as the Larks. No fresh edition of a scientific book has been prepared with more skill and care. It must have been a labour of love to Professor Newton, or he could not have done it so well. The only drawback to complete satisfaction has been the delay, but we hope that the editor has by this time collected enough material to be in advance of the printer, and that the remaining volumes will appear in reasonably quick succession. It is found impossible to complete the work in three volumes, as originally intended, and a fourth is promised. Considering the value of the new matter introduced by Mr. Newton, subscribers will make no complaint on this account; but it is the more necessary that they should be relieved from anxiety concerning the period of completion, as they may be excused for thinking of themselves as well as of their heirs, executors, or assigns. The illustrations retain their well-known merit, and great pains have been taken to distinguish accidental visitants from real natives, as well to include all that can be ascertained to deserve the latter appellation. We also notice the introduction of many new facts and observations, so that to a great extent the book is a new one. SCIENCE NOTES. METEOROLOGY. EDITOR. the Repertorium für Meteorologie, vol. iii., ProMeasurement of Atmospherical Pressure.-In fessor Wild has commenced a series of studies on Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Obexcel-servation; and he has begun with the barometer, as being not only a very important instrument in itself, but as being indispensable as an auxiliary instrument to the air thermometer, the only thoroughly satisfactory apparatus for measuring temperature. The present paper, which may almost be described as a monograph of the subject, extends to 145 quarto pages, with three plates. It treats successively of the various forms of barometers, viz.:-1. Standard; 2. Ordinary highclass mercurial; 3. Aneroids; 4. Thermo-barometers; 5. Barographs. Professor Wild claims to WE have received the latest published number of Axel Blytt's work on the Botany of Norway, which bears the title Norges Flora, eller Beskrivelser af de i Norge vildtvorende Karplanter. (Christiania, 1874.) This volume is, we find, a continuation of the work which appeared as far back as the year 1861, under the immediate direction of the late Professor M. N. Blytts, whose collected herbariums and drawings have been used by the present compiler. The work in its still unfinished state, and with no certain prospect of completion, is of comparatively little utility; but there can be no doubt that if the remaining numbers are carried out with same methodical attention to important the He objects in toto to Fortin's standards, on the ground that the reading in the cistern is taken from the adjustment of a point to touch the surface of the mercury, while the reading at the top of the column is taken from the coincidence of a line with the tangent to the meniscus of mercury. These are totally dissimilar observations, and minute accuracy is impossible with them. On this account he insists on the readings being taken in the same way at each end of the scale, that is, in other words, on the employment of syphon barometers. The accuracy of most barometers tested by him has been within ±0.004 in. As regards aneroids the definite opinion expressed is that in the present state of their manufacture and of our knowledge of the action of elasticity, they cannot replace good mercurial barometers. Professor Wild considers that well verified thermo-barometers (boiling-point thermometers), by Geissler, afford an accuracy of +0.003 in., and so are equivalent to ordinary good mercurial barometers. Lastly, he considers that the best forms of barographs, electrical or photographical, will give the barometer, and so only require to be checked as correct a record of pressure as eye readings of occasionally by the latter. We may, perhaps, remark that the degree of accuracy demanded by Professor Wild is beyond that required by ordinary observation. Progress of Geographical Meteorology.-In Behm's Geographisches Jahrbuch (Gotha: Perthes), Dr. Hann, who has paid more attention to the investigation of the climate of distant regions, especially in the southern hemisphere, than any one else, has begun the laudable practice of publishing a yearly Report on the Progress of Geographical Meteor ology. The first report, which appeared last year in the third volume of the Jahrbuch, consisted mainly of a summary of the different existing meteorological organisations on the globe. The present, being the second report, contains in forty-five pages a careful summary of all the important contribu tions to this branch of the science which appeared in the years 1872-3. We have not space even to hint at the principal works which are mentioned. One, however, of special interest to Londoners is by Dove on the results of a comparison of the temperatures obtained during twenty-nine years at Chiswick and at Greenwich, which shows that these two stations give very concordant results for the abnormal variations of temperature, but that as regards the mean temperature, taken on the average of nearly fifty years, there are noticeable differences, tending to indicate how unsafe it is to reason about the change of climate of large cities from the comparison of ancient with modern thermometric records, taken probably under very different circumstances. Distribution of Pressure, Wind, and Rain.—Dr. A. Wojeikof, formerly secretary of the Meteorological Committee of the Russian Geographical Society, has published a very elaborate discussion of the above subject as Ergänzungs-heft No. 38 to Petermann's Mittheilungen. (The paper may also be procured separately). It is now fourteen years since the same journal contained a similar paper, and in the interval the materials which have been collected have enabled our author to give a much fuller representation of the real conditions than was previously possible. In fact the principal modern papers which he has utilized have been, Buchan's Mean Pressure and Prevailing Winds, in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., and Hann's "Winds of the Northern Hemisphere," in the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy. As to the Rain, the only comprehensive treatment of the subject is in Dove's Klimatologische Beiträge, Part I., nearly twenty years old. now have secured for the new standard barometer of the Central Physical Observatory of St. Petersburg, which is at the same time capable of being used as a manometer for physical experiments, an accuracy of 0.01 mm. (0.0004 in.), and he calls on all central meteorological institutes to provide The present paper is so condensed that it does for themselves, if they do not already possess such, absolute standard barometers independent of however, are not supported by tabular matter not admit of being abstracted; the statements, any comparison with other barometers. which would have swelled the paper to far beyond its present limits. It is illustrated by three charts, two of pressure and wind for January and July respectively, and the third of rain for the year. On the whole the paper is most carefully compiled, and will be invaluable to the physical geographer. We can safely assume that the statements are as trustworthy as Dr. Wojeikof's former papers have proved themselves to be, and are rendered more interesting by the fact of the author's extensive experience as a traveller. The Deutsche Seewarte.-Dr. Neumayer, the Hydrographer to the German Admiralty, has announced that he has taken charge of this office at Hamburg, which has now been made an Imperial establishment, as announced in our issue of January 2. Herr von Freeden's interest in the office has been purchased by the Government, so that he has no longer any connexion with it. Our readers may perhaps remember that he established it in 1867, and for some years worked gratuitously as its director. It does not yet appear whether the Hydrographic Office is to be transferred to Hamburg from Berlin, or whether Dr. Neumayer will continue to hold both appointments. Weather Charts.-The Signal Office of the United States has sent over for distribution in this country a number of copies of the volumes containing the reduced daily charts, with the "Probabilities" and results for the months of October and November, 1872. The magnificence of the outlay on one science at the other side of the Atlantic makes us Europeans a little envious, as it is only with difficulty that Captain Hoffmeyer can procure a sufficiency of subscribers to guarantee himself against serious loss in his issue of daily synoptic charts of the weather of Europe: no European government dreams that such an object merits official pecuniary support. In this connexion we may remark that Captain Hoffmeyer announces that the future issue of his charts (see our issue of January 16) will be on conical, instead of "Mercator's" projection, and will, therefore, embrace a far larger extent of the earth's surface in high latitudes. Furthermore, they will contain some information as to temperature, all which changes will be recognised as desirable improvements by many of the supporters of the undertaking. a Arctic Meteorology.-The fourth and concluding portion (vol. ii. part ii.) of the Report of the German Polar Expedition has at last appeared, just in time to be utilised for the preparation of the Manual for the use of our own expedition. It is principally composed of the account of the meteorological and other observations carried on in both ships, which, we need hardly remind our readers, were separated at an early stage of the voyage, the Hansa being subsequently crushed in the ice. The records are rather scanty as to the list of phenomena embraced by them, which consisted only of pressure, temperature, wind, and weather. No attempt was made to take hygrometrical observations, or to measure rain or snow. The observations of the Germania, which were the more copious, extended over an entire year, from August 1, 1869, to July 31, 1870, and were made hourly up to May, 1870, and for the rest of the time two-hourly. However, the conditions of exposure of the thermometer were not uniform while the ship was in winter quarters, for when a storm was blowing it was impossible to go to the observatory, 280 yards from the ship, and then a thermometer suspended on deck was read instead. In fact, the reading thermometers by lamp-light at every hour for two months cannot have been a pleasant job, when we add to this that each visit to the observatory required two independent observers, one for the instruments, the other for the bears! The results have been carefully discussed, and the diurnal and annual curves of temperature and pressure calculated. For comparison the observations taken at other stations in high latitudes are cited, but those of the German Expedition are especially valuable, as the east coast of Greenland has been so rarely visited. We have, however, said enough to show that those who look for elaborate physical investigations from our own Arctic expedition are likely to be disappointed, owing not to the want of will, but to the want of way to make any but the simplest observations. THE last two numbers of the Austrian Journal for Meteorology are mainly occupied with papers of which we must postpone the detailed account. The first is on the proportion of oxygen in the air, by Dr. Julius Ucke, in Samara, who attributes the sanatory efficacy of that place, despite the extreme character of its climate, to the purity of its atmosphere. The first portion only of this paper has as yet appeared. The number for February 15 contains a description of the electrical meteorograph, invented by Professor van Rysselberghe, of Ostend, of which an account was read by him before the Meteorological Society at their last meeting, and which we shall notice when it is printed in their journal. Solar Radiation.-The last number of the Quarterly Journal of the Meteorological Society has just appeared, and the principal paper in it is a continuation of Mr. Stow's researches on Radiation (ACADEMY, January 2). The special subject of the present memoir is the Absorption of the Sun's Heat-Rays by the Vapour of the Atmosphere. It is found that the drier the air is the greater is the amount of radiation, and,so northerly winds show a greater effect than southerly, but, e.g., at Whitby northerly winds, being sea winds, are not dry, so that the maximum radiation is exhibited by N.W. winds. Similarly, N.E. winds favour radiation in spring, owing to their low and autumn, when they are warm winds. Mr. temperature and dryness, but not so in summer Stow next instituted a set of observations in order to gain an insight into the seasonal change of radiation, by finding the corrections for the figures for each month for the varying altitude of the It was therefore attempted to find the amount of radiation corresponding to different on a cloudless day, when vapour was nearly constant, and compare the figures thus obtained with those found in cloudless weather at all seasons, and with variable amounts of vapour tension. The final result is that in this climate, in clear weather, the amount of solar radiation, which would be intercepted by the atmosphere if the sun were vertical rarely exceeds 13° out of a possible maximum of 69°, or about 19 per cent. 10 or 12 per cent. appears to be approximately the winter minimum, and 20 per cent. the summer maximum of absorption, for a vertical sun, when the sky is clear. sun. altitudes of the sun GEOLOGY. It is well known that Professor Phillips, for some time before his death, had been engaged in the preparation of a new edition of his great work on the Geology of Yorkshire. We understand that the proof-sheets of this work, which were in a very advanced state at the time of the professor's death, have been placed in the hands of Mr. Etheridge, who has carefully revised the lists of fossils, and has so far completed the work that its publication may be expected at a very early date. THE last number of the Verhandlungen der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt is one of peculiar interest, since it is devoted to a report of the proceedings which took place at Vienna on January 5, when the Imperial Geological Institute celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. The distinguished director, Hofrath Franz Ritter von Hauer, delivered an appropriate address, in which he traced the history of the Institute-dwelling naturally on the life of Haidinger, its founder-and explained the good work which it had already accomplished by the publication of maps, the issue of geological memoirs, and the formation of a museum. Speeches were delivered by delegates from various learned bodies, and in the course of the day congratulatory addresses, letters, and telegrams were received from nearly one hundred societies, corporations, and eminent men of science. While places as far apart as Paris, Philadelphia, and St. Petersburg were represented, it is to be regretted that Great Britain was conspicuous by its absence, although Von Hauer did not omit to refer in graceful terms to the geological work done in this country. SOME time ago we called attention to a treatise on geology by Von Hauer, which was being issued in parts, under the title of Die Geologie und ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der Bodenbeschaffenheit der Oesterr.-Ungar. Monarchie (Vienna: A. Hölder). We have recently received the concluding part of this work, which now forms a handsome volume of about 680 pages, profusely illustrated. It is not only an admirable treatise on general geology, but it gives for the first time a survey of the geological structure of the entire Austro-Hungarian monarchy. After dealing with the chemical, minerálogical, and petrological characters of the rocks forming the earth's crust, the author discusses successively the leading features of dynamical, historical, and descriptive geology. In the descriptive portion the several formations are dealt with in ascending order, special reference being made to their local development and to their characteristic fossils and useful minerals, as found It may be mentioned that a geoin Austria. logical map of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, by Von Hauer, is about to be issued as a companion to this treatise. This map will embody all the most recent information on the geological structure of the country, and will be comprised in a single sheet, to be printed in eleven colours. tributed to the Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, Mr. D. Corse Glen describes a narrow tract of sandstone remarkable for exhibiting a columnar structure, resembling that of certain basalts. The sandstone columns, which stand nearly vertical, vary in diameter from six inches down to half an inch, and although usually hexagonal, are in some cases four, eight, or ten-sided. There can be little doubt that this structure has been induced by the action of heat, but although igneous rocks are found in the neighbourhood it is not easy to determine precisely how they have affected the sandstone. Mr. Glen suggests that the effect has been due to the action of steam or highly-heated vapour passing through a vertical IN some "Notes from the Island of Bute," con fissure in the rocks. Connected with the columnar sandstone of Bute, it may be interesting to remark that at a recent meeting of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, Dr. Hörnes brought forward a similar example in sandstone, obtained by Herr Baumheyer at Kriesdorf, in Bohemia. The sandstone appears to belong to the Lower Quadersandstein (Cretaceous), and the prismatic structure has evidently been induced by contact with basalt. In section the prisms are triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal, or seven-sided. Many other instances of a columnar structure in sedimentary rocks are mentioned by Dr. Hörnes. MOST of the papers which appear in the recently-published number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society have already been noticed in the ACADEMY among the proceedings of that society. But at the close of the last session there was so great a glut of papers that many of them were merely taken as read, and these have consequently not been previously noticed in these columns. Among these we may call attention to a valuable communication "On the Glacial Phenomena of the Eden Valley and the Western part of the Yorkshire-dale District," by Mr. Goodchild, of the Geological Survey. The author concludes that the whole of this district was once enveloped in a great ice-sheet, which in places has left its marks between 2,200 and 2,400 feet above the present sea-level. He believes that but few even of the smaller valleys could have been |