others, would be looked to for an authoritative and satisfactory exposition. No one, for instance, could so appropriately instruct us concerning the "Forms of Water" as Prof. Tyndall, who has done more to advance the scientific knowledge of this subject than any writer, living or dead. His book, though brief, is a complete and exhaustive treatise, and so very lucid and pleasantly written that quite young students need not be deterred from its perusal. Once thoroughly appropriated, the reader will find that he can follow water through all its aspects and forms from the vapor of the clouds to the vast masses of the Alpine glaciers, and at the same time get a suggestive glimpse of the great principles which underlie several of the physical sciences. It is needless to point out that no reader who desires to know what modern science is, or to keep up with its progress, can dispense with this series. It ought to mark an era in popular culture, and especially in this country should receive a generous and cordial support. THE ANCIENT STONE IMPLEMENTS, WEAPONS, AND ORNAMENTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. By John Evans, F.R.S. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1872. THIS is a very handsome and copiously illustrated volume, and throws new light upon the subject of prehistoric archæology (treated of in our leading article this month), drawing its materials from a source which makes it especially interesting to English and American readers. The London Examiner says of it:-"The new theory of the Antiquity of Man, as based mainly upon the discoveries of works of art in lake-dwellings, in caves, and in the quaternary deposits of river valleys, receives very zealous support from the volume lately published by Mr. John Evans, the well-known antiquary. The geological and other branches of the inquiry into the antiquity of man have had skillful exponents; but something was still required to popularize the study of the implements themselves, and to enable the less scientific portion of the community, and such persons as could not have easy access to the large collections, to appreciate the nice distinctions in the types of implements used at different periods and by different races. easy enough to understand, and it was soon generally admitted, that primitive man used implements and weapons of flint, and such hard materials as readily presented themselves to him; and, indeed, at the later stage of the controversy, there has been a liberal disposition to accept the idea that every nation has had its Stone Age. Yet there was of necessity some difficulty then in assigning certain of these relics to certain nations and races, and to special periods in their history. The book under notice is designed to give authentic information on these points, and to furnish a general classification of the numerous varieties of stone weapons and implements; and, bearing in mind the long experience of Mr. Evans, and It was his great enterprise as a collector of archaic relics, students will reasonably expect much at his hands. Having carefully examined this book, we are bound to say that the author has completed his difficult and laborious task with signal success. GARETH AND LYNETTE. By Alfred Tennyson. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co. Mr. Tennyson announces that this is the last of the Idylls of the King, and that its place in the series is after "The Coming of Arthur." Gareth, the hero, is "the last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, and tallest," and with ambition fired by what he has heard of the glories of King Arthur and his knights, he importunes his mother to permit him to seek his fortunes at the court. At last she consents, but in the hope of deterring him from the scheme, stipulates that he shall enter the service of the king without revealing his name or lineage, and serve for a whole year as a “kitchen menial." Gareth accepts this, and hastens to Camelot, and the Idyll relates his adventures there, and his "quest" with Lynette in relief of Lynette's sister, who was oppressed by four brother knights of great prowess. These he overthrows, winning at the same time his own knighthood and the favor of Lynette, who has all along scorned him as a "low-born kitchen scullion." It is left in doubt, however, whether he weds Lynette herself or "Lyonors, Lynette's sister," whose deliverance he had wrought. There are several fine passages in "Gareth and Lynette" which we should be glad to quote if we had the space, but as a whole, it seems to us the weakest of the Arthurian series. Read along with the rest in its proper sequence, it adds a new tint to the picture, and assists to round out the whole; but read by itself as a separate poem, it impresses us as rather disappointing. Biographical Of the great epic, now completed, we shall take occasion to speak at some future time. BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA; or, Sketches of my Literary Life and Opinions. By Samuel Taylor Coleridge. New-York: Holt & Williams. COLERIDGE was born on October 21st, 1772, and the publishers, in recognition of this fact, give us a "centenary issue" of what is probably his most characteristic and certainly his least impersonal work. It may be doubted if the work will meet the wants of any considerable number of readers; for besides being diffuse, rambling, and disconnected, the world has outgrown, or at least repudiated, the German theories and speculations which Coleridge here endeavors to erect into a comprehensive system of philosophy. The book is worth reading, however, as a record of the inner life and thoughts of one of the greatest poets and most subtle intellects that England has produced, and it may appropriately find a place in every literary collection. The present edition is a very choice one, and is accompanied with an elaborate introduction and notes. INCIDENTS OF MY LIFE. By D D. Home. New York: Holt & Williams. Mr. D. D. Home is well known to our readers by reputation probably, and by reason of that reputation many will no doubt be deterred from reading this book. It is worth reading, however, if for nothing else, because it is the latest exposition of the present attitude and claims of Spiritualism. Mr. Home is a fanatic, and very likely something of a charlatan; yet his life has been not unimportant, and the record of it is certainly abundantly interesting. The present volume is a continuation of the narrative of which the first installment was published ten years ago, and brings the record down to the celebrated trial of Lyon vs. Home. The report of this trial occupies nearly half the volume, and is the most interesting and suggestive portion. A Third Series, completing the narrative, is announced for next spring. MESSRS. APPLETON & Co. publish two more valuable scientific works: "Hand-book of Chemical Technology," by Rudolf Wagner, Ph.D., translated by William Brookes, F.L.S.; and "Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat," by Prof. John Tyndall. Wagner's book ranks among the best of its class, having passed through eight editions in the original German, and the additions by the English translator enhance its value for American students. All branches of the subject are treated of, and the book is handsomely printed, and illustrated with 336 wood-cuts. "Contributions to Molecular Physics," by Prof. Tyndall, comprises the valuable papers which he contributed several years ago to the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Institution. The papers have been revised for this volume and some additions made, and will doubtless be welcomed by all scientific students; though, as Prof. Tyndall explains in the Preface, summaries of most of them have already been given in his work on "Heat." This volume is also illustrated. Trinità in Cava, who have given to the world the results of their labors in the rich archives of that celebrated establishment of Benedictines. M. ALPHAND'S great illustrated work on "The Parks and Promenades of Paris," suspended by the war, is approaching completion. M. Rothschild, the publisher, has expended above $25,000 upon it. The parts still wanting will be issued this year. A PROF. PASQUALIGO is translating the complete works of Shakespeare into Italian prose. He has just published a second part with the conclusion of " Much Ado about Nothing" (Gran chiasso per nulla), and the beginning of "The Tempest." THE Rev. Dr. Schiller-Szinezzy is engaged in carrying through the press his learned and elaborate Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. in the University Library of Cambridge, on the compilation of which the Doctor has been working for several years past. A MEMORIAL volume, consisting of selections from the writings of Mazzini, is to be published for circulation among the working classes of England. At the time of his death, Mazzini had not completed the revision of his collected works. This task will, therefore, be performed by one of his English admirers. M. PAPILLON contributes to the Revue des Deux Mondes an article "On Electricity and Life," which deserves especial attention. The whole subject of animal electricity is most carefully considered, and the action of electricity on the animal and vegetable economy, as far as the researches of science have developed it, is examined with great kill and caution. THE sale of the copy-rights, etc., of the house of Bohn (not to be confounded with the English publisher of that name) took place lately at Haarlem. The copy-right of the Camera Obscura, by Hildebrand (Nicolas Beets), the most noted work in modern Dutch literature, was sold for 12,000 florins; that of the Poems of the same author fetched 5,000 florins. IT appears from a statement in a Russian journal that the number of periodicals published in the Empire of Russia is 337. Of these, 286 reviews and journals are in the Russian language, Moscow, and 147 in other towns. 189 being published in St. Petersburg, 30 in There are 40 publications in Polish, 6 in French, 30 in German, 4 in Lettish, 5 in Esthonian, 2 in Finnish, and 3 in Hebrew. AN English translation of the text contained in the eighth edition of Tischendorf's Greek Testament, by Dr. Davidson, is in the press, which will be an exact representation of the most recent and best critical text, as well as a revision of the received English version. The work is printed by Giesecke & Devrient, of Leipzig, and will have two introductions, by Tischendorf and Davidson. THE Athenæum says the Rev. Charles New, o the Livingstone Search and Relief Expedition, is engaged on a work entitled "Life, Wanderings and Labors in Eastern Africa, with an Account of the First Successful Ascent of the Equatorial Snow-mountain, Kilima-Njaro, with Remarks on the East African Slave Trade." It is to be published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton of London. MR. EDWARD JENKINS, author of "Ginx's Baby," etc., intends to publish a Christmas story, which will take up the question of the agricultural laborer. It will be entitled "Little Hodge," and is to be issued in the style of Charles Dickens's Christmas stories, at one shilling. He has also nearly completed a novel intended to illustrate the Coolie system, and the relations of the races in the West Indies. A FIND, which may turn out to be an interesting one, has been made by Dr. Grant, of the American mission at Cairo, in the shape of a Hebrew MS. of portions of the Bible. It was found in a synagogue in the neighborhood of Cairo, reported to have been built forty-five years before the second temple was destroyed. It was carefully deposited in a niche in the wall, ten feet above the ground, and had to be secured by the means of a ladder. Portions, at least, of this MS., which still awaits proper examination, are supposed to be very old.-Athenæum. "SHAKESPEARE AND TYPOGRAPHY," a work just brought out by Trübner, cites many instances of the great dramatist's familiarity with the technical terms of the "art preservative of arts." Among them these two :-I. "Come we to full points here? And are et cæteras nothing?"-2 Henry IV., ii. 4. 2. "If a book is folio, and two pages of type have been composed, and they are placed in proper position upon the imposing stone, and inclosed within an iron or steel frame, called a chase,' small wedges of hard wood, termed 'coigns' or 'quoins,' being driven in at opposite sides to make all tight. 'By the four opposing coigns Which the world together joins.' Pericles, iii. 1. This is just the description of a form in folio, where two quoins on one side are always opposite to two quoins on the other, thus together joining and tightening all the separate stamps." THE Portuguese are to have a dictionary equal to those of other peoples-some time. The Royal Academy of Science at Lisbon began the work toward the end of the last century, but abandoned it in B; leaving, however, a volume of 750 pages. In 1822, a fresh attempt was made, which broke down in D. Another effort, begun in 1844, has lingered till now, but can scarcely be expected to survive long. Finally, Dr. Fr. Domingos Vieira, of whose capacity nothing particular is known, has undertaken the herculean task, and the Grande Diccionario Portuguez, ou Thesouro da Lingua Portugeza, is now appearing in parts, of which the sixtieth has been reached, making two volumes of some 2,400 pages, and carrying the work to the end of C. There are Portuguese dictionaries; but they leave much to be desired. That of the Brazilian Antonio de Moraes Silva is the best now in use. For definitions Constancio's is valuable, but it is full of Gallicisms and is disagreeably dogmatic in tone. Edward de Faria's, with notes by Senor Lacerda, is barely passable. THE now famous Utrecht Latin MS. containing the Psalter has been examined by one clergyman at least, and will be inspected by more. The part which contains the Athanasian Creed has been photographed by the authorities, and a few copies of the photograph have been sent to this country. An examination of one of these has led those who inspected it to assign the MS. to the ninth, or perhaps to the eighth century. This is the opinion of scholars familiar with all kinds of MSS., and competent, as few are, to determine their ages. If the codex be so old, the origin of the Creed must be carried back at least a century earlier; so that the composition can hardly have proceeded from the age of Paulinus of Aquileia, or Alcuin, († 804,) or Charlemagne († 814.) It should be stated, however, that the librarian at Utrecht is inclined to give the MS. a later date, though we are ignorant of his reasons for doing so. As far as is known at present, this is the oldest copy of the Creed; and though two or three minute points may appear to detract from an eighth or ninth century date, yet the photograph, as a whole, scarcely justifies a later period.. The Deputy-keeper of the Public Records has been requested by the bishops to report upon it. SCIENCE. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK'S TAME WASP.-Sir J. Lubbock exhibited a tame wasp, at the recent meeting of the British Association, which he had brought with him from the Pyrenees, and which had been in his possession for about three months. The wasp was of a social kind, and he took it in its nest formed of twenty-seven cells, in which there were fifteen eggs; and, had the wasp been allowed to remain there, by this time there would have been quite a little colony of wasps. None of the eggs, however, came to maturity, and the wasp had laid no eggs since it had been in his possession. The wasp was now quite tame, though at first it was rather too ready with its sting. It now ate sugar from his hand and allowed him to stroke it. The wasp had every ap pearance of health and happiness; and, although it enjoyed an outing occasionally, it readily returned to its bottles, which it seemed to regard as a home. This was the first tame wasp kept by itself he had ever heard of. VITAL MOVEMENTS AND ELECTRICITY.-This subject was part of that of a paper by Dr. C. B. · Radcliffe, read before the British Association. The paper was entitled, "Whether the Causes of Vital Movement are yet clearly Appreciated." The paper commenced with a résumé of the opin ions of ancient and modern writers on the subject of vital movement. He ridiculed the current doctrine which, he said, assumes that vital movements are distinct from those manifested in inert matter, and which can at best be only regarded as a hasty deduction from superficial observations. The highest aspirations of philosophy, he contended, are in direct contradiction to this assumption: and the doctrine of the correlation of physical and vital forces implies a grand centralisation, by which what have been regarded as separate forces are made to appear as various aspects of some central force. Dr. Radcliffe then referred to some investigations which he had recently made with Sir William Thompson's electrometer, and which had tended to confirm the views of Galvani. He mentioned, by way of illustration, a singular experiment that he had made with a strip of Indiarubber, coated on the two surfaces with metal, which was elongated by the attraction of two opposite charges; the discharge causing the Indiarubber to contract to its original length. A NEW VEGETABLE INK.-In a recent num ber of Les Mondes, the editor states that experiments are being made to acclimatize in Europe the Coriaria thymifolia, or ink-plant of New Grenada. The juice of this plant, locally termed chanchi, is at first of a somewhat reddish color, but becomes intensely black in a few hours. This juice can be used for writing without requiring any further preparation; it corrodes steel pens less than ordinary ink, and has, moreover, the advantage of better resisting chemical agents. When the portion of America named above was under Spanish dominion, all public documents were written with chanchi, which was not removed from paper by sea-water. SPONGES.-Sponges have served a wonderful part in the scheme of creation. By the decomposition of their protoplasm, or sarcode, chemical changes have been naturally promoted which have had very important results. The silicates of soda held in solution by sea-water have been precipitated by such action, and the result has been the formation of bands and nodules of flint, such as we may see intersecting and alternating in any old chalk quarry. The spongeous origin of the greater part of such flints is now regarded as more or less settled. You can hardly chip off a thin flake, but you find it crowded with spicules, and with the internal casts of the same species of foraminifera as are to be found in the pure chalk. Flint seems to be forming in the same manner now, especially in the deeper parts of the sea. The casts of recent foraminifera and corals have been repeatedly dredged up, to show that the process which subserved such a wonderful end in the cretaceous period, as well as when the chert beds of the older limestones were formed, is still silently going on. Surely we may say of these sponges, as Montgomery, in his 'Pelican Island' did of the coral: Slime their material, but the slime was turned GENESIS OF THUNDER-STORMS.-Professor Palmieri's experiments at his observatory half way up Mount Vesuvius really throw great light on the philosophy of our thunder-storms. Haying watched the changes of atmospheric electricity there for nearly a quarter of a century, he believes he has detected their obedience to certain definite laws. One of the facts he has established is, that the electricity of any station is always positive if there be no shower of rain, hail, or snow falling within a distance of fifty miles, and provided there be no projection of ashes from the crater of the mountain. If a shower be falling within this radius, the following law holds good: At the place there is a strong development of positive electricity, round this there is a zone of negative, and beyond this again positive electricity. Should negative electricity be observed during the shower, it will be found to be induced by a more powerful one of positive electricity further away. All this has been ascertained by means of telegraphic communication with both neighboring and distant regions. There is no usual development of electricity cxcept where and when the moisture of the air is being condensed. In a cloud from which no rain is falling there is no greater electrical activity than elsewhere. But the moment aqueous vapor begins to condense into drops, positive electricity is thereby created, and the greater in quantity the greater the precipitation by changes of temperature. When, therefore, this condensation is extremely rapid, a superabundance of electricity accumulates, which must find its way to the negative zone, perhaps, or to the earth below, by lightning discharges-in other words, thunderstorms are produced. THE AMOUNT OF CAFFEIN IN COFFEE, AND ITS ACTION ON THE BODY.-Dr. Aubert, in an essay contained in the last part of Pflüger's Archiv, states that though it is well known that coffee-berries and tea-leaves contain the same very poisonous alkaloid, caffein or thein, no researches have been undertaken to show how much caffein is contained in an ordinary cup of coffee. It is also an open question, remarks the Lancet, whether the coffee-berries should be lightly or strongly roasted, though it appears that experience has taught mankind the mode of preparation by which the largest quantity of the alkaloid is best extracted. Dr. Aubert has made a series of researches on these points in conjunction with Dr. Haas. Dr. Aubert's mode of determining the amount of caffein present in any given specimen is based upon its great solubility in chloroform, and especially in hot chloroform, whilst most of the other constituents of the berry are insoluble in it. His results show the presence of a larger amount of caffein than that given by most other experimenters, with the exception of Graham, Stenhouse, and Campbell, with whose analysis his own nearly coincided. The quantity he and they obtained is about 8 or 9 per cent. Aubert thinks that a cup of coffee prepared from about one ounce of coffee contains from four to five grains of caffein. His experiments on the effects of various degrees of roasting show that there is little caffein lost even when the coffee berries are roasted black; in this respect he is in antagonism with Liebig. He obtains from the best Pekoe tea from 2.149 to 2.423 per cent of caffein, the greater portion of which is extracted by the simple process of infusion. As regards the physiological action of caffein, he coincides with previous experimenters in considering that it causes increased reflex excitability and tetanus, the action resembling that of strychnia. If, however, one sciatic nerve be divided before the poisoning, that limb is not convulsed; hence it acts on the nerve-centres. A frog is tetanized by the subcutaneous injection of a quantity not exceeding 0.005 of a gramme. 0.120 of a gramme injected into the jugular of a rabbit tetanizes it, and a cat or dog is tetanized by 0.2 of a gramme. It is remarkable that by maintaining artificial respiration for some time, the symptoms of tetanus entirely disappear. Its action on the heart of mammals is that it causes acceleration of the beats, with diminution of the wood-pressure; this last effect he attributes to the poison paralyzing the ganglionic nerves of the heart. MAGNETIC DECLINATION ON THE COAST OF ENGLAND.-Staff-Captain Evans of the Admiralty has made a communication to the Royal Society, which is well worth the attention of all who are interested in navigation. It is, On the Present Amount of Westerly Magnetic Declination on the Coasts of Great Britain, and its Annual Changes. This magnetic declination is commonly known as variation of the compass, that is, the amount by which the compass-needle varies, from the true north. At present, the variation is to the west of north, and Captain Evans, taking his facts from recent Admiralty surveys, makes known that the rate of variation is rapidly increasing, and is greatest in amount in the highest latitudes; for example, on the north-east coast of Scotland, and thence to the Shetland Islands. This being the case, it is clear that the compass-bearings, as laid down on charts and sailing directions, must be rectified, if ships and seamen are to escape disaster. Of course the Admiralty will take care that charts properly corrected shall be published; and Captain Evans' paper, with a chart corrected up to January, 1872, will be printed in due time in the Philosophical Transactions, so that mariners may provide themselves with safe guides. The variation, as above mentioned, is not only greater in the north than in the south, but is greater in the east than in the west; thus showing a difference on all our coasts. We may perhaps remark further, that the westerly variation is now, and has been for some time, decreasing; the needle is going back to the north and east, whence, in the next century, another mysterious oscillation will bring it back to the west. Chambers's Journal. A USEFUL INVENTION.-The material produced by Colonel Szerelmy, and called by the Arabicsounding name of Zopissa, is a species of paint, varnish, or glue, or rather a substance combining the special qualities of each of these bodies with others peculiar to itself. It can be employed with the facility of paint. It is as preservative of surface and of lustre as the most successful varnish. It holds with a tenacity equal to that of the best marine glue, not only wood, paper, and cloth, but stone, glass, and iron. It is im pervious to water. It is incombustible by fire. It is an almost absolute non-conductor of heat. While qualities such as these are enough to give a very high commercial value to a chemical product, the cost of production is said to be very low. We have not space to enter into the interesting details of the manner in which Colonel Szerelmy was led to the discovery of this important material. He believes that it is the very secret that has imparted so imperishable a durability to the sarcophagi, the mummy cloths, and the mural paintings of the ancient Egyptians. There is, it is certain, a wonderfully Egyptian look about the panels, and cloths, and piles, and beams, and sleepers, prepared by this process. Some of them have been for years under water. Some of them have been exposed to jets of flaming gas. They appear to have been little affected by either. Human life is hot of adequate length to apply the tests to which the inventor proposes to submit the timbers he has prepared. But when we say that not only a very large proportion of the newspaper press of the country has called attention to the results of experiment, but that Dr. Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchison, in an official report which the House of Commons ordered to be printed on the 16th of May, 1860, bear |