The

a tropical region, by MM. V. Marcano and A. Muntz. observations were made at Caracas, in the Gulf of Venezuela, lat. 103 N., altitude 922 metres. An examination of twenty samples of rain gave a mean proportion of ammonia of 158 milligram per litre, with a minimum of 0.37 and a maximum of 401. The proportion of gaseous ammonia present has been determined by exposing a known surface of acidulated water to the air and observing the ammonia absorbed in a certain time. Eleven determinations, extending over 174 days, have been been made, and they show that, on the average, an acid surface of 1 mq. absorbed, in twenty-four hours, 12:52 mgr. of ammonia, with a minimum of 5 30 mgr. and a maximum of 27 mgr. It appears, therefore, that the air of the tropical station is not so rich in gaseous ammonia as that of temperate regions. Influence of the sun's rays on the bacilli of fermentation found on the surface of grapes, by M. V. Martinand.-On some effects of the parasitism of plants, by M. A. Magnin.

DIARY OF SOCIETIES. LONDON.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.-n a Compensated Air-Thermometer: H. L. Callendar.-Note on the Necessity of using Well-annealed and Homogeneous Glass for the Mirrors of Telescopes: A. A. Common. F.R.S.On some of the Properties of Water and of Steam: Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. Young.-On the Surya Siddhanta (Hindeo Astronomy): W. Brennand.-Repulsion and Rotation produced by Alternating Electric Currents: G. T. Walker.

MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-The Equations of Propagation of Disturbances in Gyrostatically-loaded Media: Dr. J. Larmor.-Theory of Elastic Wires: A. B. Basset, F. R.S.-Researches in the Calculus of Variations; II. Discrimination of Maxima and Minima Solutions when the Variables are connected by Algebraical Equations, the Limits being supposed Fixed: E. P. Culverwell.

INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.-Annual General Meeting. -Election of Council and Officers. - On the Specification of Insulated Conductors for Electric Lighting and other Purposes: W. H. Preece, F.R.S. LONDON INSTITUTION, at 7.- An Hour with my Mozart Manuscripts (Illustrated): Prof. Bridge.

CAMERA CLUB, at 8.-A Short Description and Demonstration of New Telescopic Lens for Photography: T. R. Dallmeyer.-The Use of the Lantern for Scientific Illustration: Dr. A. H. Fison.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13.

SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY, at 4-The Origin and History of the Thames (with Oxyhydrogen Lantern Illustrations): Prof. J. F. Blake. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14.

SOCIETY OF ARTS, at E.-The Pigments and Vehicles of the Old Masters: A. P. Laurie.

ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY, at 8.-The True Sense of the Term a priori: J. H. Muirhead.

LONDON INSTITUTION, at 5.-Tropical Plants and Flowers (Illustrated): D. Morris.

CAMERA CLUB, at 8.30.-Development: Lyonel Clark.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15.

ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY, at 7.45.-Enumeration and Classification
of Paupers and State Pensions for the Aged: Charles Booth.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 5.15.-The Sources of
Nitrogenous Food of Leguminous Plants: H. Thompson.
INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, at 8.-The Sale of Water by Meter in
Berlin Henry Gill. (Discussion.)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16.

SOCIETY OF ARTS, at 8.-Typological Museums, as Exemplified by the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford: General Pitt Rivers.

ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 7.-Report on the Thunderstorms of 1888 and 1889: William Marriott.-On the Prevalence of Fog in London during the Twenty Years 1871-90: Frederick J. Brodie.

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-On the Resolution of Podura: Hon. J. G. P. Vereker.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, at 2.-Students' Visit to the Stations of the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation, 11 Millbank Street, and Eccleston Place, S.W.

CAMERA CLUB, at 8.-Retouching Class.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.
LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 8.-Development of the Head of the Imago of
Chironomous: Prof. L. C. Miall and A. R. Hammond.-On Two Species
of Cumacea in New Zealand: G. M. Thomson.
CHEMICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-The Composition of Cooked Vegetables: Miss
K. Williams-On some Metallic Hydrosulphides: S. E. Linder and H.
Picton. On the Physical Constitution of some Solutions of Insoluble
Sulphides: Harold Picton.-Solution and Pseudo-solution: H. Picton
and S. E. Lindor.-The Change proceeding in Acidified Solutions of
Sodium Thiosulphate when the Products are retained within the System;
and The Action of Sulphurous Acid on Flowers of Sulphur: Dr. A.
Colefax.-The a and 8 modifications of Chlorobenzene Hexachloride:
Dr. Matthews.-Camphrone, a Product of the Action of Dehydrating
Agents on Camphor: Drs. Armstrong and Kipping.-Studies on the
Dibromonaphthalenes; Dr. Armstrong and Mr. Rossiter.

LONDON INSTITUTION, at 6.-Winchester Cathedral (illustrated): Very Rev. the Dean of Winchester.

CAMERA CLUB, at 8. 30.-Simplified Collographic Process (Description and Demonstration): Leon Warnerke.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18.

PHYSICAL SOCIETY, at 5.-On Interference with Alternating Currents: H.
Kilgour.
CAMERA CLUB, at 8.-Retouching Class.

BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, AND SERIALS
RECEIVED.

BOOKS.-The Universal Atlas, Part IX. (Cassell).-The Powers which Propel and Guide the Planets: S. Laidlaw (Kegan Paul).-Progressive Mathematical Exercises, First Series: A. T. Richardson (Macmillan).— The Principles of Chemistry, 2 vols.: D. Mendeléeff; translated by G. Kamensky; edited by A. J. Greenaway (Longmans).-Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Entwicklungsgeschichte der Wirbellosen Thiere, Specieller Theil, Zweites Heft: Dr. E. Korschelt and Dr. K. Heider (Jena, Fischer). -Proceedings of the American Association, August 1890 (Salem).-Oriental Cicadida, Part 4: W. L. Distant (London)-Annalen der k.k. Univer sitäts-Sternwarte in Wien, Band vii. (Williams and Norgate)-Travels in Africa during the Years 1879-1883: Dr. W. Junker; translated by A. H. Keane (Chapman and Hall).-An Essay on Reasoning: E. T. Dixon (Cambridge, Deighton).-Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. xiii., 1890 (Washington).-An Introduction to Chemical Theory: Dr. A. Scott (Black).-Himalayan Journals: Sir J. D. Hooker (Ward, Lock).— Falling in Love, &c. Grant Allen; new edit. (Smith, Elder).-Nature and Man in America: N. S. Shaler (Smith, Elder).-Annuaire 1891, par le Bureau des Longitudes, Paris (Gauthier-Villars).-Connaissance des Temps ou des Mouvements Célestes, 1893 (Gauthier-Villars). -Ephémérides des Etoiles de Culmination Lunaire et de Longitude pour 1891: M. M. Loewy (Gauthier-Villars).-The Harveian Oration on Harvey in Ancient and Modern Medicine : Dr. W. H. Dickinson (Longmans).-The Cause of an Ice Age: Sir R. S. Ball (Kegan Paul). - Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission-Introductory Note and Map. 1878-91.-Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission-Aves: Dr. R. B. Sharpe (Taylor and Francis).-Animal Sketches: C. Lloyd Morgan (Arnold)-A Manual of Physics: Dr. W. Peddie (Baillière).Memory, its Logical Relations and Cultivation: Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green; 2nd edition (Baillière).

PAMPHLETS.-Connaissance des Temps. Extrait pour l'an 1892 (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).-Australian Museum, Sydney; Hand-List of Australian Mammals: J. D. Ogilby (Sydney).-Compass-Deviation; Syllabus of Examination in the Laws of Deviation (Imray).

SERIALS.-Records of the Australian Museum, vol. i., No. 9 (Sydney). — North American Fauna, No. 5 (Washington).-Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1891, Part 2 (Philadelphia). - Brain, Parts 54 and 55 (Macmillan).

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1891.

TWO ZOOLOGICAL TEXT-BOOKS. Text-book of Comparative Anatomy. By Arnold Lang, Professor of Zoology in the University of Zurich. Part I. Translated into English. (London: Macmillan and Co.)

Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Entwickelungsgeschichte der Wirbellosen Thiere. Von Dr. E. Korschelt und Dr. K. Heider. Parts I. and II. (Jena: Fischer.)

HERE can be no doubt that the first-named of these

THERE

two treatises, containing, as it does, a number of new engravings and process-cuts, and a recognition and exposition of some of the recent advances in zoological science relating to Invertebrata, will be useful to junior students in our Universities.

Whilst it will, no doubt, fulfil the author's purpose, and have a measure of success in its original German form, I must confess that it does not appear to me to be altogether satisfactory, whether we view it as an elementary sketch for junior students or as a work designed to assist the serious devotee of zoological research.

The most serious defect in the book from the latter point of view is that no attempt whatever is made to refer a given statement to the author who is responsible for it. A very short bibliography is appended to each chapter, but the reader of the book receives no assistance in tracing a new or striking observation to an original source. This curious reticence as to original authorities is carried to an extreme. For instance, on p. 137 there is a brief description (without figures) of Coloplana and Ctenoplana; Korotneff is alluded to anonymously as "the discoverer of Ctenoplana"; neither his name nor that of Kowalewsky, the discoverer of Coloplana, are mentioned; and the student has no means afforded him, either through the text or through the scanty bibliography, of finding out anything more as to these two remarkable forms. The same defect characterizes every page of the book; a very little trouble would have sufficed to remedy this, and thus not only to make the book useful to students but also to do justice and honour to those whose statements and observations Prof. Lang uses in order to build up his treatise.

The exact classification adopted by a writer nowadays, in so far as zoology is concerned, is to a large extent a matter of taste. One cannot expect to find oneself in agreement with a colleague on all matters of the kind. Prof. Lang is an authority on the Platodes or flat-worms, and I am glad to see that he assigns them a distinct position as an independent " phylum" of the animal kingdom; but I think that he has seriously injured the usefulness of his work by recognizing the "Vermes as a phylum, including in it such diverse groups as the Nemertina, the Nemathelmia, the Annulata, the Prosopygia, the Rotatoria, and as an appendage (why an appendage when we have already such a mixed lot?) the Chatognatha Prof. Lang, after doing this, proceeds to condemn his own action by stating that the so-called phylum of Vermes "is by no means a natural, welldemarcated division of the animal kingdom; now, as heretofore, it is like a lumber-room, to which all those

groups are relegated which cannot be placed elsewhere." Prof. Lang was not compelled to maintain this ridiculous lumber-room. The consequence of doing so is that he is unable to treat any of the included classes fairly, and that some of the most important problems in morphology are tacitly assumed as solved, or are withheld from the student's consideration. Under the heading “Bloodvascular System," in the chapter on Vermes, we find brought together, and treated as though morphologically identical structures (1) the canal system of the Nemertines; (2) the sub-cuticular network of the Acanthocephala; (3) the sinuses, vessels, and capillaries of the Leeches; (4) the closed vascular system of Chatopods; (5) the tentacular vessels of Sipunculids; (6) the redcorpuscled vascular system of Phoronis; and (7) the unexplored vascular systems of Brachiopods. Neither the method of juxtaposition adopted nor the space given permits the author to discuss whether any two of these so-called “blood-vascular systems" are homologous with one another, or whether any one of them is entitled to the name at all. It seems to me that, whilst senior students will be disappointed by the absence of any attempt to deal with the difficult problem of the real nature of the canals and their contained fluids in the cases of Nos. 1 and 3, the junior student will be seriously misled by the easy assumption that any system of canals in the so-called “ Vermes" may be called "a blood-vascular system," and is homologous with any other, and with the standard blood-vascular system, viz. that of man. The entire chapter on the Vermes seems to me to be misleading, owing to the author's attempt to deal in a few pages with a number of very different but important groups under this unfortunate heading.

I need hardly say that I am sorry that Prof. Lang adheres to the old view (p. 540) that "the Arachnoidea are not nearly related to the Xiphosura and fossil Gigantostraca, but are racially connected with the Antennata, and are to be considered as Tracheata which have lost their antennæ." It is perhaps only natural that I should distrust the judgment of a zoologist who can at the present day maintain the above propositions. However much I may admire his original work on the Planarians, I cannot consider him a good general guide for the student of zoology. Though I regret Prof. Lang's opinion on this subject, I am not surprised at it, for, in the statement which follows his expression of opinion, he gives a one-sided and erroneous summary of the facts which he thinks can be adduced on either side of the question. Here, as so often elsewhere in the book, one notes the injustice done by Prof. Lang in not citing the name and the work of the author whom he is imperfectly quoting. The student who reads what Prof. Lang has to say on the relationship of the Arachnida to Limulus and the Eurypterines will be misled as to the mere facts of the case, and will not be helped by any reference towards obtaining a fuller knowledge of this interesting

matter.

Though many of the illustrations are excellent, Prof. Lang's book cannot be recommended to English readers either for its originality or for its faithful exposition of cotemporary knowledge.

The translation appears to be fairly well executed, though the word "apparati," on p. 268, and the repeated

use of "Disconanthe" and "Siphonanthe," in place of "Disconanthæ" and "Siphonanthæ," are astonishing, when we note that the translator is M.A. of the University which refuses to inquire whether "compulsory Greek" is useful or not.

A very different work from Prof. Lang's is the treatise on the embryology of the Invertebrata by Drs. Korschelt and Heider, of the University of Berlin, of which an English translation is in preparation. Two parts of this admirable book have appeared, containing 900 pages and more than 500 woodcuts, dealing with the embryology of the Porifera, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Platyhelmia, Orthonectidæ, Dicyemidæ, Nemertina, Nemathelminthes, Acanthocephali, Rotatoria, Annelida (including Echiurids and Leeches herein), Sipunculidæ, Chætognatha, Entero

weigh fairly nearly every fact which has been adduced in favour of the association of Limulus and the Eurypterines with the Arachnida. Their conclusion is as widely different from Lang's as is their method of discussion.

There can be no doubt that we have in this new treatise on comparative embryology one of those invaluable, indispensable works for the production of which authors receive the gratitude and esteem of their fellow-workers in all lands. It is a truly first-rate book. E. RAY LANKESTER.

MODERN ARTILLERY.

The Artillery of the Future and the New Powders. By James Atkinson Longridge, M.I.C.E. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1891.)

classes of the last-named phylum occupy two-thirds of the work at present issued. There remain still to be dealt with the Mollusca, the Bryozoa, and the Tunicata. The best idea which can be given of the scope and value of this work is obtained when we compare it with Frank Balfour's treatise on comparative embryology. It is not too much to say that it is the most valuable text-book for the zoological student which has appeared since Balfour's book, and is a worthy successor to it. The mass of literature, vast as it was ten years ago, has increased enormously in the interval. Drs. Korschelt and Heider have carefully gone over it all; and not only that, but they accurately and clearly give each author's contribution to the subject in hand, citing authority for every statement made, so that the student can go to the original treatises for fuller detail. I do not know of any scientific treatise which shows so clearly the authors' desire to do justice to every fellow-worker of whatever nationality, and to produce a work which shall be a complete and trustworthy guide to the recent literature of a prodigiously prolific subject. Very often the authors abstain from offering a decided opinion upon a matter where the observations made have led previous writers to diverse conclusions: such cases are those in which the facts are incompletely observed and obviously require renewed investigation. But where the observed facts on one side or the other are of a decisive character, the authors, after giving both sides in detail, exercise a judicial function.

The book deals not only with the earlier but also with the later stages of development, and not merely with the facts of embryology, but with the conclusions as to the affinities of groups, which are so severely tested by the progress of embryological inquiry.

It is not possible to particularize in regard to such a work as this, but I have been struck by the very full way in which the morphology of the Crustacea, and each succeeding class of Arthropods, has been dealt with in every respect in which embryology throws light upon it. A very fully illustrated chapter gives a complete and impartial account of the researches of Sedgwick, Sheldon, and Kennell on the development of different species of Peripatus. The question as to the relationship of the Arachnida to Limulus and the Eurypterines, alluded to above, is fully treated by Drs. Korschelt and Heider. They summarize the arguments with clearness, and state and

favourite subject, which he originally brought forward, now more than thirty years ago, in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

His valuable ideas are at length receiving recognition, and his principle of strengthening guns, by layers of wire wound with appropriate initial tension, is now largely employed in the construction of modern ordnance.

The chief object of the present book is to point out that the fullest application of his principle of wire strengthening permits of the use of much higher powder pressures than are considered admissible in Government circles; and that thereby guns may be much shortened and reduced in weight, while at the same time the full power of the most modern high explosives can be utilized. This is to a great extent a return on the steps which have guided our gun designers in recent years; their chief object being, to reduce initial pressure as much as possible, say down to 17 tons per square inch, and to get the full power out of the powder by a great increase in the length of bore, up to 40 and even 50 calibres in length in guns of large size.

Mr. Longridge is fully acquainted with all the valuable and original work in gunnery science which has been developed of late years in France by Sarrau, Veille, and Sebert; and analyzes carefully in chapters ii. and iii. the various experimental methods and empirical formulas in use for the measurement of powder pressure in the bore of a gun.

In chapter iii. he attempts a theoretical explanation and formula for maximum pressure and total energy, but his investigation rests upon an assumption of the adiabatic law; and the mathematical treatment is not presented in an inviting or elegant form. Considering the unexplained chemical combinations which affect the rate of combustion of the modern smokeless powders, this mathematical assumption can only roughly account for an average performance, and leaves unexplained the violent abnormal effects sometimes experienced and shown in General Wardell's curves, to guard against which the gunmaker has to exercise a vigilant caution.

General Brackenbury is quoted as calling gunpowder the Spirit of Artillery, and in his official capacity, Superintendent of the Royal Gunpowder Factory, as a maker of gunpowder, saying metaphorically, "How sad the body is so weak" in preference to "What a pity the spirit is so strong."

But so long as steel is the strongest material of which the body-the gun-can be constructed, makers of powder and explosives, new and old, must be content to moderate and regulate the strength of their compounds. Much was expected of gun-cotton in its early days as a propulsive agent, but these hopes were falsified by the uncertainty of its action.

Again, with the vast extent of our Empire, climatic conditions have to be considered in their bearing on the action and preservation of explosives, conditions which do not affect French or German artillerists, who know the exact limits over which their warlike operations must take place. A. G. G.

N

GIANTS AND ACROMEGALY.

The Skeleton of the Irish Giant, Cornelius Magrath. By Dr. D. J. Cunningham, F. R.S. (Dublin: Published by the Royal Irish Academy, 1891). JOTWITHSTANDING the close attention which has been applied to the clinical aspects of disease during so many centuries, every now and then some observer, more acute than his brethren, recognizes a morbid condition which had not previously been satisfactorily discriminated, and gives to it a name. Although in some cases the form of disease is thought to be new, and is described as such, it is generally found, when the records of medicine are examined, that corresponding cases and symptoms had been noticed previously, although their import had not been properly understood, and they had not been distinguished by a special name. Amongst the latest contributions in this direction is a memoir published in 1886 by M. Pierre Marie, in which he described a morbid condition where the hands and feet were enlarged out of proportion to the rest of the body, chiefly due to a hypertrophy of the soft parts; and where the face had become remarkably elongated and deformed, partly from hypertrophy of the soft parts, but more especially from an increase in magnitude of the bones of the face, of the glabella and supraciliary ridges of the frontal bone, and of the pituitary fossa. To this condition M. Marie gave the name of Acromegaly. The attention of physicians and pathologists having thus been directed to the subject, several similar cases were described

in the course of the next three or four years; and a few

other cases and specimens previously recorded in medical literature were recognized as having been similarly affected. One of the most important of these was a skeleton in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh, which was determined by Dr. H. Alexis Thomson to be a case of acromegaly, and the giant characters of the skeleton were associated with the peculiarly hypertrophied condition of the soft parts above referred to.

It was the perusal of Dr. Thomson's account of the Edinburgh skeleton which led Prof. Cunningham to pay especial attention to the characters displayed by the skeleton of the Irish giant Cornelius Magrath, which has been in the museum of Trinity College, Dublin, for 131 years, and to conclude that it also was an example of acromegaly. Dr. Cunningham's memoir, in addition to the anatomi

cal description of the skeleton, contains much interesting information relative to Magrath himself, which he has collected from various quarters. Magrath was born in Tipperary in 1736, and died in Dublin in 1760, at the age of 23. He seems to have attained a height of 6 feet 83 inches when he was only sixteen years old; and for several years he travelled about as a show, and visited many of the great cities of Europe. The accounts which were given of his height in the periodical literature of the day, after he had reached his full dimensions, varied considerably; and a most exaggerated statement, that he was 8 feet 4 inches, made apparently with the view of out-rivalling the altitude of the skeleton of another Irish giant, Charles Byrne, in the Hunterian Museum, London, has found its way into anatomical literature. Dr. Cunningham has subjected all these statements to a careful analysis, and has studied and examined the skeleton itself, from which he concludes that the articulated skeleton is only 7 feet 2 inches high, and that this in all probability expresses the maximum height during life. Magrath is thus by no means the tallest giant whose height has been put on record. Charles Byrne was three or four inches taller; and Topinard, Ranke and Virchow have recorded examples of persons who ranged in height from 7 feet 3 inches to 8 feet 4 inches. From an examination which Prof. Cunningham has made of the skeleton of Byrne in the Hunterian Museum, he has come to the conclusion that in certain particulars, eg. the magnitude of the lower jaw, the dilated pituitary fossa, and the great size of the feet, it presents some of the characters of acromegaly. It must not, however, be supposed that giant growth is necessarily associated with the condition of acromegaly; for although it is not unusual to find the lower jaw disproportionately large in giants, yet it by no means follows that the other signs of acromegaly should be present.

Dr. Cunningham suggests that the morbid condition which M. Marie christened acromegaly should be known by the more etymologically correct term of "megalacria."

PEAKS AND PASSES IN NEW ZEALAND. With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps. By George Edward Mannering. With Illustrations. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1891.)

TEN

EN years ago the ice scenery of the New Zealand Alps was almost unknown even to the colonists. But in 1882 the Rev. W. S. Green, with two first-class Swiss guides, explored the glacier region beneath the highest peak

Aorangi, or Mount Cook—and arrived, after a long, difficult, and dangerous climb, on the summit of that mountain. His delightful volume "The High Alps of New Zealand," and the laborious explorations of Dr. von Lendenfeld in the following year, indicated that a region, certainly not inferior in grandeur and beauty to the Alps of Europe, could be reached in a journey of little more than two days from Christchurch. Since then the "Britain of the South" has become proud of possessing the "playground of Australasia"; the number of visitors has been rapidly increasing; an hotel has been built in a convenient situation near the foot of one of the glaciers; surveys have been undertaken; and the author of this volume, with one or two friends-inexperienced in mountain craft