The
necessary
technique has probably by the earth's secular cooling,
ledge took place in 1870, when Hughlings- recently been described in these columns.
ledge took place in 1870, when Hughlings- recently been described in these columns.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
Mr.
Law
does not seem to know the procedure. The note some time back upon my argument as
PERMIT me to make brief reference to your is more depending upon this than he may
chance to have noticed.
Clerks of the Revels drew up their bill, and
they got the Auditor of the Imprest to fact that your critic imagined that I
to the antiquity of the Avesta. The very
THE WRITER OF THE NOTE.
engross it. I give the entry from 1605, credited him with Darmesteter's thesis illus-
as the clearest in the genuine 'Account
Books of the Masters of the Revels," for trates the difficulty there is in dealing ade-
that year :
SOME IMPORTANT FORTHCOMING BOOKS.
quately with complex subjects in the course
of a lecture already crowded with other mat-
“To be payd unto the Auditor of the Imprest for ters for exposition. I must reserve for the JUNE
Theology.
his travell and paines of himself and his clarkes in printed page my discussion of the problem
11 Early Church History to A. D. 313, by Prof.
taking of the accompt, and for the engrossing of it
as a whole. But I may say now that the H. M. Gwatkin, Second Edition, 2 vols. , 17/ net.
Macmillan
Lord Tresoror and Chancellor of the Exchequer as supposed disappearance of the Amshaspand
Lavo.
in former times hath been allowed, 51. "
conception between the time of Zoroaster
13 A Short History of English Law, from
and that of Strabo can hardly trouble one the Earliest Times to the End of the Year 1911,
This warrant would therefore have been who takes the ordinary view of the history by Edward Jenks, 10/6 net.
Methuen
brought before the Treasurer of the Chamber, of the Avesta. The Amshaspands do not
or officials of the Exchequer, and would be disappear at all
, for each successive stratum
History and Biography
detained by them as a receipt for payment of of the Avesta shows them. But there is G. R. Porter, New Edition, edited by F. W. First,
13 The Progress of the Nation, compiled by
the money. It was a warrant for payment admittedly no sign of the Avesta in the West 214 net.
Methuen
to the officers of the Revels for extra
until the fourth century. If it was, as seems
The Wardlaws in Scotland, by John C. Gibson,
attendance through September during three most probable, a product of Eastern Iran,
21/ net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
years, 1632–5, and it has no relation to
The Monros of Auchinbowie and Cognate
any account of 1636, beyond the date of the Strabo, and the even stronger, though rather
this is perfectly natural. The evidence of Families, by John Alexander Inglis, 21/ net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
warrant for payment, 25 May, 1636, nearly later evidence of the Indo-Scythian coins,
Geography and Travel.
a year before that of the following sheet.
prove, I believe, that the Amshaspands 11 Across Australia, by Baldwin Spencer and
The next document is also genuine. But, Vohumano and Khshathra had been for F. J. Gillen, 2 vols. , 21/ net.
Macmillan
again, it is in no sense an account," and generations known in the districts con-
Sociology.
has no relation whatever to the Masters of cerned, so that their names had become 11 Principles and Methods of Municipal
the Revels, who never paid the players ! stereotyped and their cult developed in Trading, by Douglas Knoop, 10) net.
It is a warrant, dated 12 March, 1636/7, directions
from Zoroaster's
Macmillan
from the Lord Chamberlain to Sir William modes of thought. But development of
Philology.
Vuedale, Treasurer of the Chamber (not to this kind is as early as the Gatha of
Descriptive Catalogue of the Gaelic Manuscripts
the Auditors of the Imprest, as Mr. Law seven chapters. ” May I add that the where in Scotland,
by Donald Mackinnon, 10/6
in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and else-
says), commanding him to pay to the King's writer of your note ignores the strongest net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
Players the sum of 2407. ; and thees, point in the case of the overwhelming
Science.
together with their acquittance for the majority of Avestan scholars, the total
8 Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. IV.
receipt thereof, shall be your warrant. " impossibility of conceiving the diction, Part IV. , June, 5/ net.
This, therefore, should now be reposing forms, and metres of the Gathas forged in a
Cambridge University Press
among the receipts of the Treasurer of the dead language ? That point of course I hope
Fiction.
Chamber or the Exchequer, as it is duly to elaborate in my book.
10 The Panel : a Sheer Comedy, by Ford
acknowledged by Eillardt Swanston, being
JAMES HOPE MOULTON. Madox Hueffer.
Constable
66
very alien
## p. 656 (#494) ############################################
656
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
new
At the fourth annual meeting of the resumed, arrangements having been made
Literary Gossip.
Scottish Library Association, held at with Mr. Francis Griffiths for the issue of
St. Andrews last Saturday, Sir James the fourth, fifth, and sixth of the Acts
Donaldson said that a University educa- Books, extending down to 1765. The
Thomas HARDY kept last Sunday his tion would help librarians, and that Acts of the Chapter of Llandaff Cathedral
seventy-second birthday, and was pre- they were looking forward to something have also been transcribed, and will
sented by Mr. Henry Newbolt and Mr. of that kind. Dr. A. H. Millar, Dundee, later be issued, for the Records Com-
W. B. Yeats with the gold medal of the the President, gave an address on the mittee of the diocese, in two volumes.
Royal Society of Literature. In the utterance of Lord
remarks he offered in reply he emphasized described
Rosebery when he
the
A WORK on Philip II. of Spain, written
the need of encouraging makers of lite in Glasgow as a
Mitchell Library
rature early in life. He also referred to English journalists specially had erred, Spanish archives, has just appeared in
in Glasgow as a "cemetery of books by a young Danish historian, Mr. Bratli,
and based on several years' studies in the
the appalling and daily increase “in he thought, in taking this utterance too French, accompanied by an Introduc-
slipshod writing that would not have
seriously.
been tolerated for one moment a hundred
tion by Count Baguenault de Puchesse.
years ago,” and pointed to the news- THE reviewer of Mrs. O'Neill's book Spanish and English translations will
papers of to-day as largely responsible on England in the Middle Ages' sends be published later.
for it. American journals," fearfully and the following reply to a correspondent of A NEW VOLUME of the Colonial State
wonderfully worded,” have had a devas- last week :-
Papers, edited by Mr. Cecil Headlam,
tating influence on the press, and have "If Mrs. O'Neill, or your correspondent will be issued shortly. It covers eleven
also, we might add, reduced that zeal of last week, had taken her advice and read months of the year 1702, and contains,
for the truth which is instinct in the Dr. Rashdall's Universities of Europe in amongst a mass of other interesting docu-
writings of Mr. Hardy.
the Middle Ages' (“very readable,' she calls ments, those which describe the events
He further expressed the view that the studium generale by prescription, and that leading up to Admiral Benbow's action
shortest way to good prose is by the route the studium generale did not come into being with M. Ducass in the West Indies, the
in 1214; and that the Legatine Ordnance of cowardice of his captains, and the proceed-
of Milton and Swinburnee as a moden 12
1214 is not a constitution of a studium ings of the subsequent court-martial at
Those who are interested in the subject generale, but a regulation of details of the Jamaica.
may find another view in Hazlitt's essay daily life of one already existing. ”
In view of the great interest of these
On the Prose Style of Poets. ' He says DR. R. Y. TYRRELL writes from Trinity Calendars to historians both in and out-
of such prose : “Not that it is not some- College, Dublin :-
side England, it is to be hoped that the
times good, nay excellent; but it is never
“Your interesting article on Jane Austen Commissioners now sitting may see their
the better, and generally the worse, from recalls to my mind a confirmation which way to recommend a more liberal output
the habit of writing verse.
I have met of a theory more than once put than that at present achieved. The last
THE continued increase in the over- I know. The theory is that the phrase 1911.
forward by me, but not accepted, so far as volume of this series was issued in April,
production of books has been the subject once in a way’ is unmeaning, and should
of comment here, as well as at the recent be once and away,' which pronounced
UNDER the title of The Britannica
Convention of the American Booksellers' once an' away is nearly the same in
Year-Book' a new annual will be pub-
de-
Association in New York. Mr. S. A. sound, and has an intelligible meaning. lished in the autumn which is
Everett, of Doubleday, Page & Co. , in
This confirmation is a passage in ‘Pride and signed to provide_those possessing the
a paper on · Fewer Books and Better," Prejudice (chap. xxxii. ), which runs thus : latest edition of The Encyclopædia Bri-
It was not merely a few formal enquiries tannica' with
pointed out that during the last ten and an awkward pause and then away, but to date the information contained in
record bringing up
years the tendency in the United he actually thought it necessary to turn it. Mr. Hugh Chisholm is acting as
States had been towards a greater back and walk with her. '
editor, supported by a numerous staff
from 7,000 to 8,000, and of late gearso te A DRAFT CONSTITUTION and by-laws of contributors
over 10,000. A letter he quoted from an
have been drawn up of a proposed
American league of authors and dramatists, Macmillan & Co. will publish early
in the
UNDER the title “ Foundations’ Messrs.
Englishman conversant with trade con-
ditions emphasized the same condition the main purpose of which is to ensure the Macmillan & Co. will publish early in the
in Great Britain, where the bookseller writer full and prompt returns for his autumn a volume of theological essays
in winter has not even time to glance work. Kate Douglas Wiggin is a member by members of the University of Oxford,
at the books which are submitted to of the present committee of organization, edited by the Rev. B. H. Streeter, Fellow
him in one day, and the traveller who which hopes to be doing business in of Queen's College. It may be described
goes round with a big list has great diffi- September, although it is not yet decided as an attempt to state the essentials of
will be included.
Christianity in the terms of modern
culty in getting the bookseller to consider whether
any books but those of well-known authors. Amongst other names identified with the thought. The contributors, besides the
What of the reviewers? The newspapers
movement are those of John Burroughs, editor, are the Rev. William Temple,
look at books less from a literary point Ellen Glasgow, Cleveland Moffett, Robert Head Master of Repton; the Rev. N. s.
of view than as furnishing subjects for Grant, Winston Churchill, and Hamlin Talbot, Fellow of Balliol; the Rev. R.
Garland.
Brook, Fellow of Merton ; the Rev. R. G.
news items. Books are treated as offering
Parsons, Principal of Wells Theological
interesting paragraphs on their respective THE registers of the diocese of St. College; the Rev. A. E. J. Rawlinson,
subjects.
David's were several years ago transcribed Tutor of Keble College ; and Mr. W. H.
A BLAKE SOCIETY, the principal dorion, with a view to their being published
for the Honourable Society of Cymmro- Moberly, Fellow of Lincoln College.
object of which is to bring together the in the Society's Record Series. The task will publish this month “The Poems
We are glad to hear that Mr. John Lane
admirers of William Blake, the poet- of supplying a translation of the registers of Rosamund Marriott Watson.
painter, has been formed. The Secre- and seeing the whole work through the volume will contain an Introduction by
The
tary is Mr. Thomas Wright, of Olney: press has now been entrusted to Dr. E. A.
Meetings will be held in London, at Lewis of the University College of Wales, Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson, and a photo-
Chichester, and at Felpham.
and the long-delayed volume will therefore gravure portrait; the collected poems from
The Bird Bride,' 'A Summer Night,'
The summer meeting of the English be issued in the course of the next few
Vespertilia,' and ` After Sunset'; also
Association will be held at King's College,
months.
new poems, and some published anony-
Strand, on Friday, the 21st inst. Mr. THE publication of the Acts Books of mously, which were to have appeared
H. J. Newbolt will deliver a lecture on the Bishops of Llandaff, which has also under the title of 'The Lamp and the
Poetry and Politics' at 5. 30.
suffered an interruption, will shortly be Lute. '
a
women
## p. 657 (#495) ############################################
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
657
nerves which supply the extensor muscles
SCIENCE
of the wrists and fingers ; whilst alcohol Cambridge Manuals of Science and Litera-
picks out the higher centres in the brain
ture. -The Origin of Earthquakes, by
Charles Davison; and Rocks and their
as well as the nerves supplying specially
the lower limbs.
Origins, by Grenville A. J. Cole. (Cam-
Diseases of the Nervous System. By
bridge University Press. )
Judson Bury. (Manchester University ence for the blood vessels at the base of It is humiliating that, notwithstanding
The poison of syphilis shows a prefer-
Press. )
the brain, the afferent conducting paths the progress of seismological inquiry in
OUR present knowledge of the functions in the spinal cord, and the cortical cells recent years, we still know so little about
of the nervous system may be said to in the front part of the brain. In diph- the general cause of earthquakes. On
date from the early years of the seven- theria we meet with paralysis of the eye this obscure subject Dr. Davison of Bir-
teenth century. It practically originated muscles and soft palate, and in rabies the mingham has written a neat little volume,
with the brilliant work of René Descartes, medulla oblongata is selected; whilst in full of interest to the geophysicist-a
who in the Passions de l'Ame' was the tetanus the virulent poison elaborated volume that comes to us with the authority
first to allocate definitely all the phe- by the bacilli affects the nerve supplying of one who has long been an attentive
nomena of consciousness to the brain. the muscle which closes the jaw. There student of earthquakes, especially those
Nothing can be clearer in statement or seems to be no end to the selective pro- occasionally felt in Britain. There is no
illustration than the view of reflex action perties of some poisons. It is interesting doubt that in certain cases seismic dis-
which he gives in Art. XIII. of the book to note in this connexion that, if anti- turbance is connected with the under-
just cited. He was aware of the functions toxin is given early in cases of diphtheria, ground working of volcanic mechanism,
of motor and sensory nerves, and he had the onset of paralysis is considerably but this is certainly not the origin of
actually sketched out the physical mechan- checked. According to Rolleston, the our British earthquakes, nor of such great
ism of memory. Descartes was no mere frequency of paralysis varies from 4:9 per and complex movements as those which
speculator; he was an unwearied dis- cent when antitoxin is given on the first in recent years have disturbed parts of
sector and observer, and it is said that day, to 31. 4 per cent if its administration India and "California. Dr. Davison seeks
when a visitor asked to see his library is delayed until the fifth.
to show that these latter catastrophes are
Descartes led him into a room set aside One of the greatest advances in modern attributable to movements of the crust
for dissections, and remarked, “There medicine is the power of demonstrating of the earth in the process of mountain-
is my library. "
the existence of certain poisons in the making. The rocks are bent or folded,
The next great addition to our know- blood.
The necessary technique has probably by the earth's secular cooling,
ledge took place in 1870, when Hughlings- recently been described in these columns. and when the strain becomes severe
Jackson discovered that the movements Our newly acquired knowledge is being enough to overcome cohesion, they sud-
of the body were represented on the surface put to practical use in the problem of the denly snap, producing a jar that we feel
of the brain. This brilliant piece of feeble-minded.
at the surface as an earthquake shock.
generalization was the outcome of years We have now discovered the cause of Generally, however, the quake seems due,
of careful observation in the wards of the syphilis, and we can also demonstrate not so much to abruption as to displace-
National Hospital for the Paralysed and the presence of the poison in the blood by ment of the rocks, whereby faults are
Epileptic in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, what is known as Wassermann's reaction. produced or, if already existing, are
combined with accurate post-mortem work. The hereditary type of the disease is extended: It is held that the grinding
The accuracy of these researches was after- known to affect the
growth of the brain and grating of rock upon rock, as they
wards . verified by experiments on animals
. in children, leading to idiocy and feeble- slip and slide over one another, will
This was only a small part of what mindedness; but recent researches into account satisfactorily for shocks on the
Hughlings - Jackson did. He left two
the condition of the blood in these cases grandest scale. Such movement must,
hundred papers dealing with problems have proved that the mental condition in many cases, be a great factor in the
connected with diseases of the nervous is due also to the circulation therein of production of earthquakes, but it is still
system, and it seems incredible that the actual poison of syphilis. Dr. Mott permissible to seek other and perhaps
such a man should be allowed to pass
has shown, in an analysis of a large more profound causes for certain seismic
away without due public recognition number of idiots, that in about 18 per phenomena. Among the interesting sub-
He was regarded amongst his
procent a definite Wassermann reaction could jects ably discussed by Dr. Davison is
fession as the father of neurology in this be demonstrated. Linser also examined that of earthquake-sounds and the deter-
country, and we sincerely hope that an the blood in a series of children of syphilitic mination of isoacoustic lines, or lines of
edition of his collected works will appear parents, and found that two-thirds gave equal audibility.
shortly.
a positive reaction, while only one-third The second work before us is by
Dr. Bury, in his Preface, refers to the of the cases showed any other sign of Prof. Cole of Dublin, who writes about
method of instruction he has adopted disease. Dr. Bury says :-
rocks with a freedom that shows his
at Manchester. It consists in bringing
There is therefore every
mastery of the subject, and a lucidity that
forward cases illustrating the various forms
believe that syphilis plays a larger part in enables the reader who is not a geologist
relation to lesions of the corresponding been admitted by writers on insanity. "
the production of idiocy than has hitherto to follow with ease his explanations and
arguments. It is impossible, in dealing
neurons ; in this way the student obtains
with petrology, to avoid touching on
a grasp of the principles of anatomical
It is high time that the public became certain collateral branches of science; but
diagnosis. This is excellent so far as it
aware of the danger and loss of citizen- the writer here treats his rocks, not so
goes, but we feel certain that, after being ship caused by this disease. It can now
much from the point of view of a system
grounded in Dr. Bury's method, the be regarded as preventable, and should of mineral and chemical classification,
student would obtain a far wider grasp
surely be treated on the same lines as which usually forms terribly dry reading,
of his subject if he were enabled to peruse tuberculosis. Until we face the problem as from that of natural history. His chief
the collected writings of Hughlings-Jack- in a bold spirit, and prevent our minds object is to trace the origin and evolution
son. There can be no question that in from becoming focussed
from becoming focussed on hereditary of the rocks, and the way in which they
the near future the treatment of diseases
causes, we shall do little in banishing control the features of the landscape
of the nervous system will have an
this dread scourge from our midst.
subjects which appeal to any reader who
important bearing on social legislation, The many excellent diagrams will help takes an intelligent interest in the structure
and it is therefore imperative that the considerably to unravel the intricacies of the earth beneath his feet. At the same
best work on the subject should be readily in the anatomical arrangement of nerve time, the advanced student may turn
accessible.
fibres. The book is primarily intended to certain parts of Prof. Cole's little
The author refers to the selective action for the use of students, and as such we volume with advantage, for he commands
of certain poisons : thus lead selects the can strongly recommend it.
exceptional familiarity with geological
reason
to
## p. 658 (#496) ############################################
658
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
a
literature, and gives the latest views of particular constellation under review, and Smith Woodward kindly determined. They
Continental and American authorities. then going on to describe the remarkable
consist of scales and teeth of Holoptychius and
On so difficult a subject as petrogenesis stars occurring in it, giving some account of Baten of Bothriolepis, both characteristic Upper
Devonian Old Red
there is room for much diversity of stars, stars with large proper motion, stars
their peculiarities as double stars, coloured Evans regarded the specimens on the table as
an excellent illustration of the importance of the
opinion. Prof. Cole, contrary to some with peculiar spectra, and the like. He
with peculiar spectra, and the like. He proposals. put forward by Prof. Watts in his
authorities, holds that an igneous magma quotes largely and effectively from a number
quotes largely and effectively from a number Presidential Address, in favour of the systematic
may be very greatly modified in composi- of writers, both in prose and verse, ancient
examination by borings of the rocks below the
Mesozoic strata of the South-East of England.
tion by absorption and assimilation of and modern, who, in a variety of ways, The speaker regarded the discovery of typical
adjacent rocks. With regard to the
throw light on his theme. The book is Upper Old Red Sandstone fishes at Southall as
assumption that two grand types of appropriately illustrated by representations an event of the greatest interest and importance
.
of some of the masterpieces of art more
There was nothing surprising in the occurrence
igneous rocks characterize the so-called
or less closely related to the myths enshrined lithological types in borings in the same area.
of the Upper Old Red and Upper Devonian
Atlantic and Pacific provinces, he doubts in the ancient constellations, as well as The latter were shown by the fossils to be of the
whether the simplicity of such a dual reproductions of photographs of nebulæ same littoral character as that with which we
classification is conformable with Nature. and star clusters.
are familiar in North Devon in the Baggy and
Although the volume is but small, room The portion of the heavens treated is that Marwood and Pilton Beds; while the former
has been found at the end for a list of
visible to an observer situated in 40° of immediately underlie the Baggy and Marwood
closely resemble the Pickwell Down Beds which
more than a hundred references to original
north latitude, and includes the stars occur- Group, and are of a pronounced Old Red Sand-
authorities. It is noteworthy that in the comprised in the
ring in the forty-eight ancient constellations stone type, with indeterminable plant- and fish-
comprised in the 'Syntaxis? of Ptolemy.
remains.
table of stratigraphical systems, all the The statements of the results of modern
Prof. Sollas remarked that the presence of
strata between the Ordovician and Devo- research as affecting individual stars, which
Silurian rocks in the South-East of England, and
their distribution so far as it was known, sug-
nian are included under the term Got- are scattered through the book, are taken gested many interesting problems. The Cale-
landian. ”
from good authorities, and generally correct. donian chain, so constant to a north-easterly
The sentence on p. 128 concerning sidereal and south-westerly trend for a great part of its
time is not, however, accurate as it stands,
course, seemed to curve into conformity with the
and requires modification. The same re-
Armorican chain as it approached those moun-
tains, thus forming an arc convex towards the
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
mark applies to the author's references to south, such as would arise under thrusts coming
what used to be called “lunar distance from the north. Observations in North Wales
[Notice in these columns does not preclude longer stars, as being important stars for the and Scandinavia are in harmony with this view,
reviow. )
mariner in the determination of longitudes and the Caledonian chain would thus seem to
Chemical Research in its Bearings
at sea. This method of determining longi- a strange exception. The Caledonian chain is
obey the Asiatic régime. Sutherland remains as
on
National Welfare, 1/6
S. P. C. K.
tudes is almost obsolete, and “ lunar confined to a restricted region in Europe, but
distances
A concise handbook dealing with the
are no longer given in the national movements of corresponding age may be looked
development of technical industry and
ephemerides ; so that the importance of for elsewhere. Thus the Charnian axis may
experimental science in relation to national
these stars, from this particular point of represent part of a chain which curved away to
the south and east, and found its continuation in
prosperity.
view, is a thing of the past.
With reservations as to in-
the axis of Condroz. If so, we should have a
creased economy, the book is favourable to
Condrozian chain which would have joined the
the furtherance of research. In the Romance
Caledonian by linking, and, like it, have arisen
under thrusts from the north. Evidence of this
of Science Series.
might easily be obscured by subsequent move-
ments of Hercynian age. This view is suggested
McKready (Kelvin), A BEGINNER'S STAR-
SOCIETIES.
by the interesting work of Mr. Mackintosh of
BOOK: AN EASY GUIDE TO THE STARS
Dover, who has brought together many important
AND TO THE ASTRONOMICAL USES OF THE
ROYAL. --May 23. - Sir Archibald Geikie, Presi- facts in its support, and is led by them to believe
OPERA-GLASS, THE FIELD-GLASS, AND
dent, in the chair. —Mr. H. S. Hele-Shaw read a
that the Condrozian chain may play an important
THE TELESCOPE, 9/ net.
paper on The Theory of a New Form of the part in the tectonics of Southern England.
Putnam's Chamber Crank Chain,' — Prof. R. A. Sampson on
Nothing less than a systematic survey by, boring,
This is a well-arranged practical guide Sir W. de W. Abney
on The Extinction of Light
A New Treatment of Optical Aberration,'-
such as has long been carried on in Holland, will
'
meet the case.
for the young astronomical observer, and
This should be undertaken by the
by an Illuminated Retina,'--Mr. Walter Wahl on
Government, who in return might claim to ex•
should be of much assistance in enabling Optical Determinations at High Pressures,'- ercise authority over the coalfields which such a
him to become familiar with the brighter Mr. T. R. Merton on The Changes in Certain survey could scarcely fail to bring to light. The
stars which are visible to the unaided Absorption Spectra in Different solvents, Mr. discussion was continued by other speakers.
eye.
The book is furnished with a series
W. C. Ball on · Changes in the Absorption Spectra
of Didymium Salts,'-and Mr. P. Phillips
of night charts of the sky (adapted to
on 'The Viscosity of Carbon Dioxide. '
the latitude of New York or Chicago)
LINNEAN. —May 24. - Annual Meeting. -Dr.
giving the stars in white on a black back-
D. H. Scott, President, in the chair. -Miss C. E
ground. On the page opposite to each chart
GEOLOGICAL. - May 15. -Dr. A. Straban, Presi-
Larter and Sir F. W. Moore were admitted Fellows.
is a key map showing the constellations and dent, in the chair. -Messrs. P. G. Broad, J. W.
-The officers for the ensuing year were elected
their individual stars as depicted on the Jervis, R. R. Lempriere, J. R. Moir, E. D.
as follows: President, Prof. E. B. Poulton ;
charts. Foot-notes to each page supply Nicholson, and J. S. Owens were elected Fellows;
Treasurer, Mr. H. W. Monckton; Secretaries,
information as to the more interesting stars
Dr. B. D. Jackson, Dr. Otto Stapf, and Prof.
Prof. M. Boule (Paris), was elected a Foreign
Member; and Dr. F. W. Clarke (Washington, President, delivered his address, devoting their
G. C. Bourne. -Dr. D. H. Scott, the retiring
and nebulæ that are within the reach of an
D. C. ), Dr. W. Cross (Washington, D. C. ), and
opera-glass, a two-inch telescope, and a
Baron Nopcsa (Hungary), were elected Foreign greater part of it to a review of the palæo-botanical
three-inch telescope respectively. Other
Other Correspondents.
work of the late Sir Joseph Hooker. —The Presi;
chapters are devoted to the sun, moon, The President stated that, no papers having dent addressed Capt. C. E. U. Meek, and handed
been ready for presentation at the meeting, he
to him the bronze medal of the Crisp Award for
major planets, comets, and meteors
objects suitable for observation with small
had obtained the consent of the Director of' the Microscopical Science. The President handed
Geological Survey to exhibit specimens. Prof.
to Prof. E. B. Poulton the Linnean Medal for
instruments, hints being added as to the E. Hull, in opening the discussion, expressed
transmission to Dr. R. C. L. Perkins, who is
work that can be profitably undertaken pleasure in having an opportunity of examining abroad. Prof. Poulton made a suitable acknow
by a beginner. We notice a tendency to the specimens of cores brought up from the ledgment, and undertook to convey the medal to
the recipient.
gush and to quote poetry which rather borings under and around London. "In none of
the borings in the London area had the Carboni-
mars the effect of a book that purports to ferous Limestone been proved. He believed that
be a practical work of a scientific character. this limestone would most probably be found by
boring under Croydon, and to form the base of
Geographical, 8. 30. -'The Garden of Eden. ' Sir W. Willcocks.
Tues. Palestine Exploration Fund, 3.
does not seem to know the procedure. The note some time back upon my argument as
PERMIT me to make brief reference to your is more depending upon this than he may
chance to have noticed.
Clerks of the Revels drew up their bill, and
they got the Auditor of the Imprest to fact that your critic imagined that I
to the antiquity of the Avesta. The very
THE WRITER OF THE NOTE.
engross it. I give the entry from 1605, credited him with Darmesteter's thesis illus-
as the clearest in the genuine 'Account
Books of the Masters of the Revels," for trates the difficulty there is in dealing ade-
that year :
SOME IMPORTANT FORTHCOMING BOOKS.
quately with complex subjects in the course
of a lecture already crowded with other mat-
“To be payd unto the Auditor of the Imprest for ters for exposition. I must reserve for the JUNE
Theology.
his travell and paines of himself and his clarkes in printed page my discussion of the problem
11 Early Church History to A. D. 313, by Prof.
taking of the accompt, and for the engrossing of it
as a whole. But I may say now that the H. M. Gwatkin, Second Edition, 2 vols. , 17/ net.
Macmillan
Lord Tresoror and Chancellor of the Exchequer as supposed disappearance of the Amshaspand
Lavo.
in former times hath been allowed, 51. "
conception between the time of Zoroaster
13 A Short History of English Law, from
and that of Strabo can hardly trouble one the Earliest Times to the End of the Year 1911,
This warrant would therefore have been who takes the ordinary view of the history by Edward Jenks, 10/6 net.
Methuen
brought before the Treasurer of the Chamber, of the Avesta. The Amshaspands do not
or officials of the Exchequer, and would be disappear at all
, for each successive stratum
History and Biography
detained by them as a receipt for payment of of the Avesta shows them. But there is G. R. Porter, New Edition, edited by F. W. First,
13 The Progress of the Nation, compiled by
the money. It was a warrant for payment admittedly no sign of the Avesta in the West 214 net.
Methuen
to the officers of the Revels for extra
until the fourth century. If it was, as seems
The Wardlaws in Scotland, by John C. Gibson,
attendance through September during three most probable, a product of Eastern Iran,
21/ net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
years, 1632–5, and it has no relation to
The Monros of Auchinbowie and Cognate
any account of 1636, beyond the date of the Strabo, and the even stronger, though rather
this is perfectly natural. The evidence of Families, by John Alexander Inglis, 21/ net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
warrant for payment, 25 May, 1636, nearly later evidence of the Indo-Scythian coins,
Geography and Travel.
a year before that of the following sheet.
prove, I believe, that the Amshaspands 11 Across Australia, by Baldwin Spencer and
The next document is also genuine. But, Vohumano and Khshathra had been for F. J. Gillen, 2 vols. , 21/ net.
Macmillan
again, it is in no sense an account," and generations known in the districts con-
Sociology.
has no relation whatever to the Masters of cerned, so that their names had become 11 Principles and Methods of Municipal
the Revels, who never paid the players ! stereotyped and their cult developed in Trading, by Douglas Knoop, 10) net.
It is a warrant, dated 12 March, 1636/7, directions
from Zoroaster's
Macmillan
from the Lord Chamberlain to Sir William modes of thought. But development of
Philology.
Vuedale, Treasurer of the Chamber (not to this kind is as early as the Gatha of
Descriptive Catalogue of the Gaelic Manuscripts
the Auditors of the Imprest, as Mr. Law seven chapters. ” May I add that the where in Scotland,
by Donald Mackinnon, 10/6
in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and else-
says), commanding him to pay to the King's writer of your note ignores the strongest net.
Edinburgh, W. Brown
Players the sum of 2407. ; and thees, point in the case of the overwhelming
Science.
together with their acquittance for the majority of Avestan scholars, the total
8 Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. IV.
receipt thereof, shall be your warrant. " impossibility of conceiving the diction, Part IV. , June, 5/ net.
This, therefore, should now be reposing forms, and metres of the Gathas forged in a
Cambridge University Press
among the receipts of the Treasurer of the dead language ? That point of course I hope
Fiction.
Chamber or the Exchequer, as it is duly to elaborate in my book.
10 The Panel : a Sheer Comedy, by Ford
acknowledged by Eillardt Swanston, being
JAMES HOPE MOULTON. Madox Hueffer.
Constable
66
very alien
## p. 656 (#494) ############################################
656
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
new
At the fourth annual meeting of the resumed, arrangements having been made
Literary Gossip.
Scottish Library Association, held at with Mr. Francis Griffiths for the issue of
St. Andrews last Saturday, Sir James the fourth, fifth, and sixth of the Acts
Donaldson said that a University educa- Books, extending down to 1765. The
Thomas HARDY kept last Sunday his tion would help librarians, and that Acts of the Chapter of Llandaff Cathedral
seventy-second birthday, and was pre- they were looking forward to something have also been transcribed, and will
sented by Mr. Henry Newbolt and Mr. of that kind. Dr. A. H. Millar, Dundee, later be issued, for the Records Com-
W. B. Yeats with the gold medal of the the President, gave an address on the mittee of the diocese, in two volumes.
Royal Society of Literature. In the utterance of Lord
remarks he offered in reply he emphasized described
Rosebery when he
the
A WORK on Philip II. of Spain, written
the need of encouraging makers of lite in Glasgow as a
Mitchell Library
rature early in life. He also referred to English journalists specially had erred, Spanish archives, has just appeared in
in Glasgow as a "cemetery of books by a young Danish historian, Mr. Bratli,
and based on several years' studies in the
the appalling and daily increase “in he thought, in taking this utterance too French, accompanied by an Introduc-
slipshod writing that would not have
seriously.
been tolerated for one moment a hundred
tion by Count Baguenault de Puchesse.
years ago,” and pointed to the news- THE reviewer of Mrs. O'Neill's book Spanish and English translations will
papers of to-day as largely responsible on England in the Middle Ages' sends be published later.
for it. American journals," fearfully and the following reply to a correspondent of A NEW VOLUME of the Colonial State
wonderfully worded,” have had a devas- last week :-
Papers, edited by Mr. Cecil Headlam,
tating influence on the press, and have "If Mrs. O'Neill, or your correspondent will be issued shortly. It covers eleven
also, we might add, reduced that zeal of last week, had taken her advice and read months of the year 1702, and contains,
for the truth which is instinct in the Dr. Rashdall's Universities of Europe in amongst a mass of other interesting docu-
writings of Mr. Hardy.
the Middle Ages' (“very readable,' she calls ments, those which describe the events
He further expressed the view that the studium generale by prescription, and that leading up to Admiral Benbow's action
shortest way to good prose is by the route the studium generale did not come into being with M. Ducass in the West Indies, the
in 1214; and that the Legatine Ordnance of cowardice of his captains, and the proceed-
of Milton and Swinburnee as a moden 12
1214 is not a constitution of a studium ings of the subsequent court-martial at
Those who are interested in the subject generale, but a regulation of details of the Jamaica.
may find another view in Hazlitt's essay daily life of one already existing. ”
In view of the great interest of these
On the Prose Style of Poets. ' He says DR. R. Y. TYRRELL writes from Trinity Calendars to historians both in and out-
of such prose : “Not that it is not some- College, Dublin :-
side England, it is to be hoped that the
times good, nay excellent; but it is never
“Your interesting article on Jane Austen Commissioners now sitting may see their
the better, and generally the worse, from recalls to my mind a confirmation which way to recommend a more liberal output
the habit of writing verse.
I have met of a theory more than once put than that at present achieved. The last
THE continued increase in the over- I know. The theory is that the phrase 1911.
forward by me, but not accepted, so far as volume of this series was issued in April,
production of books has been the subject once in a way’ is unmeaning, and should
of comment here, as well as at the recent be once and away,' which pronounced
UNDER the title of The Britannica
Convention of the American Booksellers' once an' away is nearly the same in
Year-Book' a new annual will be pub-
de-
Association in New York. Mr. S. A. sound, and has an intelligible meaning. lished in the autumn which is
Everett, of Doubleday, Page & Co. , in
This confirmation is a passage in ‘Pride and signed to provide_those possessing the
a paper on · Fewer Books and Better," Prejudice (chap. xxxii. ), which runs thus : latest edition of The Encyclopædia Bri-
It was not merely a few formal enquiries tannica' with
pointed out that during the last ten and an awkward pause and then away, but to date the information contained in
record bringing up
years the tendency in the United he actually thought it necessary to turn it. Mr. Hugh Chisholm is acting as
States had been towards a greater back and walk with her. '
editor, supported by a numerous staff
from 7,000 to 8,000, and of late gearso te A DRAFT CONSTITUTION and by-laws of contributors
over 10,000. A letter he quoted from an
have been drawn up of a proposed
American league of authors and dramatists, Macmillan & Co. will publish early
in the
UNDER the title “ Foundations’ Messrs.
Englishman conversant with trade con-
ditions emphasized the same condition the main purpose of which is to ensure the Macmillan & Co. will publish early in the
in Great Britain, where the bookseller writer full and prompt returns for his autumn a volume of theological essays
in winter has not even time to glance work. Kate Douglas Wiggin is a member by members of the University of Oxford,
at the books which are submitted to of the present committee of organization, edited by the Rev. B. H. Streeter, Fellow
him in one day, and the traveller who which hopes to be doing business in of Queen's College. It may be described
goes round with a big list has great diffi- September, although it is not yet decided as an attempt to state the essentials of
will be included.
Christianity in the terms of modern
culty in getting the bookseller to consider whether
any books but those of well-known authors. Amongst other names identified with the thought. The contributors, besides the
What of the reviewers? The newspapers
movement are those of John Burroughs, editor, are the Rev. William Temple,
look at books less from a literary point Ellen Glasgow, Cleveland Moffett, Robert Head Master of Repton; the Rev. N. s.
of view than as furnishing subjects for Grant, Winston Churchill, and Hamlin Talbot, Fellow of Balliol; the Rev. R.
Garland.
Brook, Fellow of Merton ; the Rev. R. G.
news items. Books are treated as offering
Parsons, Principal of Wells Theological
interesting paragraphs on their respective THE registers of the diocese of St. College; the Rev. A. E. J. Rawlinson,
subjects.
David's were several years ago transcribed Tutor of Keble College ; and Mr. W. H.
A BLAKE SOCIETY, the principal dorion, with a view to their being published
for the Honourable Society of Cymmro- Moberly, Fellow of Lincoln College.
object of which is to bring together the in the Society's Record Series. The task will publish this month “The Poems
We are glad to hear that Mr. John Lane
admirers of William Blake, the poet- of supplying a translation of the registers of Rosamund Marriott Watson.
painter, has been formed. The Secre- and seeing the whole work through the volume will contain an Introduction by
The
tary is Mr. Thomas Wright, of Olney: press has now been entrusted to Dr. E. A.
Meetings will be held in London, at Lewis of the University College of Wales, Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson, and a photo-
Chichester, and at Felpham.
and the long-delayed volume will therefore gravure portrait; the collected poems from
The Bird Bride,' 'A Summer Night,'
The summer meeting of the English be issued in the course of the next few
Vespertilia,' and ` After Sunset'; also
Association will be held at King's College,
months.
new poems, and some published anony-
Strand, on Friday, the 21st inst. Mr. THE publication of the Acts Books of mously, which were to have appeared
H. J. Newbolt will deliver a lecture on the Bishops of Llandaff, which has also under the title of 'The Lamp and the
Poetry and Politics' at 5. 30.
suffered an interruption, will shortly be Lute. '
a
women
## p. 657 (#495) ############################################
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
657
nerves which supply the extensor muscles
SCIENCE
of the wrists and fingers ; whilst alcohol Cambridge Manuals of Science and Litera-
picks out the higher centres in the brain
ture. -The Origin of Earthquakes, by
Charles Davison; and Rocks and their
as well as the nerves supplying specially
the lower limbs.
Origins, by Grenville A. J. Cole. (Cam-
Diseases of the Nervous System. By
bridge University Press. )
Judson Bury. (Manchester University ence for the blood vessels at the base of It is humiliating that, notwithstanding
The poison of syphilis shows a prefer-
Press. )
the brain, the afferent conducting paths the progress of seismological inquiry in
OUR present knowledge of the functions in the spinal cord, and the cortical cells recent years, we still know so little about
of the nervous system may be said to in the front part of the brain. In diph- the general cause of earthquakes. On
date from the early years of the seven- theria we meet with paralysis of the eye this obscure subject Dr. Davison of Bir-
teenth century. It practically originated muscles and soft palate, and in rabies the mingham has written a neat little volume,
with the brilliant work of René Descartes, medulla oblongata is selected; whilst in full of interest to the geophysicist-a
who in the Passions de l'Ame' was the tetanus the virulent poison elaborated volume that comes to us with the authority
first to allocate definitely all the phe- by the bacilli affects the nerve supplying of one who has long been an attentive
nomena of consciousness to the brain. the muscle which closes the jaw. There student of earthquakes, especially those
Nothing can be clearer in statement or seems to be no end to the selective pro- occasionally felt in Britain. There is no
illustration than the view of reflex action perties of some poisons. It is interesting doubt that in certain cases seismic dis-
which he gives in Art. XIII. of the book to note in this connexion that, if anti- turbance is connected with the under-
just cited. He was aware of the functions toxin is given early in cases of diphtheria, ground working of volcanic mechanism,
of motor and sensory nerves, and he had the onset of paralysis is considerably but this is certainly not the origin of
actually sketched out the physical mechan- checked. According to Rolleston, the our British earthquakes, nor of such great
ism of memory. Descartes was no mere frequency of paralysis varies from 4:9 per and complex movements as those which
speculator; he was an unwearied dis- cent when antitoxin is given on the first in recent years have disturbed parts of
sector and observer, and it is said that day, to 31. 4 per cent if its administration India and "California. Dr. Davison seeks
when a visitor asked to see his library is delayed until the fifth.
to show that these latter catastrophes are
Descartes led him into a room set aside One of the greatest advances in modern attributable to movements of the crust
for dissections, and remarked, “There medicine is the power of demonstrating of the earth in the process of mountain-
is my library. "
the existence of certain poisons in the making. The rocks are bent or folded,
The next great addition to our know- blood.
The necessary technique has probably by the earth's secular cooling,
ledge took place in 1870, when Hughlings- recently been described in these columns. and when the strain becomes severe
Jackson discovered that the movements Our newly acquired knowledge is being enough to overcome cohesion, they sud-
of the body were represented on the surface put to practical use in the problem of the denly snap, producing a jar that we feel
of the brain. This brilliant piece of feeble-minded.
at the surface as an earthquake shock.
generalization was the outcome of years We have now discovered the cause of Generally, however, the quake seems due,
of careful observation in the wards of the syphilis, and we can also demonstrate not so much to abruption as to displace-
National Hospital for the Paralysed and the presence of the poison in the blood by ment of the rocks, whereby faults are
Epileptic in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, what is known as Wassermann's reaction. produced or, if already existing, are
combined with accurate post-mortem work. The hereditary type of the disease is extended: It is held that the grinding
The accuracy of these researches was after- known to affect the
growth of the brain and grating of rock upon rock, as they
wards . verified by experiments on animals
. in children, leading to idiocy and feeble- slip and slide over one another, will
This was only a small part of what mindedness; but recent researches into account satisfactorily for shocks on the
Hughlings - Jackson did. He left two
the condition of the blood in these cases grandest scale. Such movement must,
hundred papers dealing with problems have proved that the mental condition in many cases, be a great factor in the
connected with diseases of the nervous is due also to the circulation therein of production of earthquakes, but it is still
system, and it seems incredible that the actual poison of syphilis. Dr. Mott permissible to seek other and perhaps
such a man should be allowed to pass
has shown, in an analysis of a large more profound causes for certain seismic
away without due public recognition number of idiots, that in about 18 per phenomena. Among the interesting sub-
He was regarded amongst his
procent a definite Wassermann reaction could jects ably discussed by Dr. Davison is
fession as the father of neurology in this be demonstrated. Linser also examined that of earthquake-sounds and the deter-
country, and we sincerely hope that an the blood in a series of children of syphilitic mination of isoacoustic lines, or lines of
edition of his collected works will appear parents, and found that two-thirds gave equal audibility.
shortly.
a positive reaction, while only one-third The second work before us is by
Dr. Bury, in his Preface, refers to the of the cases showed any other sign of Prof. Cole of Dublin, who writes about
method of instruction he has adopted disease. Dr. Bury says :-
rocks with a freedom that shows his
at Manchester. It consists in bringing
There is therefore every
mastery of the subject, and a lucidity that
forward cases illustrating the various forms
believe that syphilis plays a larger part in enables the reader who is not a geologist
relation to lesions of the corresponding been admitted by writers on insanity. "
the production of idiocy than has hitherto to follow with ease his explanations and
arguments. It is impossible, in dealing
neurons ; in this way the student obtains
with petrology, to avoid touching on
a grasp of the principles of anatomical
It is high time that the public became certain collateral branches of science; but
diagnosis. This is excellent so far as it
aware of the danger and loss of citizen- the writer here treats his rocks, not so
goes, but we feel certain that, after being ship caused by this disease. It can now
much from the point of view of a system
grounded in Dr. Bury's method, the be regarded as preventable, and should of mineral and chemical classification,
student would obtain a far wider grasp
surely be treated on the same lines as which usually forms terribly dry reading,
of his subject if he were enabled to peruse tuberculosis. Until we face the problem as from that of natural history. His chief
the collected writings of Hughlings-Jack- in a bold spirit, and prevent our minds object is to trace the origin and evolution
son. There can be no question that in from becoming focussed
from becoming focussed on hereditary of the rocks, and the way in which they
the near future the treatment of diseases
causes, we shall do little in banishing control the features of the landscape
of the nervous system will have an
this dread scourge from our midst.
subjects which appeal to any reader who
important bearing on social legislation, The many excellent diagrams will help takes an intelligent interest in the structure
and it is therefore imperative that the considerably to unravel the intricacies of the earth beneath his feet. At the same
best work on the subject should be readily in the anatomical arrangement of nerve time, the advanced student may turn
accessible.
fibres. The book is primarily intended to certain parts of Prof. Cole's little
The author refers to the selective action for the use of students, and as such we volume with advantage, for he commands
of certain poisons : thus lead selects the can strongly recommend it.
exceptional familiarity with geological
reason
to
## p. 658 (#496) ############################################
658
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4415, JUNE 8, 1912
a
literature, and gives the latest views of particular constellation under review, and Smith Woodward kindly determined. They
Continental and American authorities. then going on to describe the remarkable
consist of scales and teeth of Holoptychius and
On so difficult a subject as petrogenesis stars occurring in it, giving some account of Baten of Bothriolepis, both characteristic Upper
Devonian Old Red
there is room for much diversity of stars, stars with large proper motion, stars
their peculiarities as double stars, coloured Evans regarded the specimens on the table as
an excellent illustration of the importance of the
opinion. Prof. Cole, contrary to some with peculiar spectra, and the like. He
with peculiar spectra, and the like. He proposals. put forward by Prof. Watts in his
authorities, holds that an igneous magma quotes largely and effectively from a number
quotes largely and effectively from a number Presidential Address, in favour of the systematic
may be very greatly modified in composi- of writers, both in prose and verse, ancient
examination by borings of the rocks below the
Mesozoic strata of the South-East of England.
tion by absorption and assimilation of and modern, who, in a variety of ways, The speaker regarded the discovery of typical
adjacent rocks. With regard to the
throw light on his theme. The book is Upper Old Red Sandstone fishes at Southall as
assumption that two grand types of appropriately illustrated by representations an event of the greatest interest and importance
.
of some of the masterpieces of art more
There was nothing surprising in the occurrence
igneous rocks characterize the so-called
or less closely related to the myths enshrined lithological types in borings in the same area.
of the Upper Old Red and Upper Devonian
Atlantic and Pacific provinces, he doubts in the ancient constellations, as well as The latter were shown by the fossils to be of the
whether the simplicity of such a dual reproductions of photographs of nebulæ same littoral character as that with which we
classification is conformable with Nature. and star clusters.
are familiar in North Devon in the Baggy and
Although the volume is but small, room The portion of the heavens treated is that Marwood and Pilton Beds; while the former
has been found at the end for a list of
visible to an observer situated in 40° of immediately underlie the Baggy and Marwood
closely resemble the Pickwell Down Beds which
more than a hundred references to original
north latitude, and includes the stars occur- Group, and are of a pronounced Old Red Sand-
authorities. It is noteworthy that in the comprised in the
ring in the forty-eight ancient constellations stone type, with indeterminable plant- and fish-
comprised in the 'Syntaxis? of Ptolemy.
remains.
table of stratigraphical systems, all the The statements of the results of modern
Prof. Sollas remarked that the presence of
strata between the Ordovician and Devo- research as affecting individual stars, which
Silurian rocks in the South-East of England, and
their distribution so far as it was known, sug-
nian are included under the term Got- are scattered through the book, are taken gested many interesting problems. The Cale-
landian. ”
from good authorities, and generally correct. donian chain, so constant to a north-easterly
The sentence on p. 128 concerning sidereal and south-westerly trend for a great part of its
time is not, however, accurate as it stands,
course, seemed to curve into conformity with the
and requires modification. The same re-
Armorican chain as it approached those moun-
tains, thus forming an arc convex towards the
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
mark applies to the author's references to south, such as would arise under thrusts coming
what used to be called “lunar distance from the north. Observations in North Wales
[Notice in these columns does not preclude longer stars, as being important stars for the and Scandinavia are in harmony with this view,
reviow. )
mariner in the determination of longitudes and the Caledonian chain would thus seem to
Chemical Research in its Bearings
at sea. This method of determining longi- a strange exception. The Caledonian chain is
obey the Asiatic régime. Sutherland remains as
on
National Welfare, 1/6
S. P. C. K.
tudes is almost obsolete, and “ lunar confined to a restricted region in Europe, but
distances
A concise handbook dealing with the
are no longer given in the national movements of corresponding age may be looked
development of technical industry and
ephemerides ; so that the importance of for elsewhere. Thus the Charnian axis may
experimental science in relation to national
these stars, from this particular point of represent part of a chain which curved away to
the south and east, and found its continuation in
prosperity.
view, is a thing of the past.
With reservations as to in-
the axis of Condroz. If so, we should have a
creased economy, the book is favourable to
Condrozian chain which would have joined the
the furtherance of research. In the Romance
Caledonian by linking, and, like it, have arisen
under thrusts from the north. Evidence of this
of Science Series.
might easily be obscured by subsequent move-
ments of Hercynian age. This view is suggested
McKready (Kelvin), A BEGINNER'S STAR-
SOCIETIES.
by the interesting work of Mr. Mackintosh of
BOOK: AN EASY GUIDE TO THE STARS
Dover, who has brought together many important
AND TO THE ASTRONOMICAL USES OF THE
ROYAL. --May 23. - Sir Archibald Geikie, Presi- facts in its support, and is led by them to believe
OPERA-GLASS, THE FIELD-GLASS, AND
dent, in the chair. —Mr. H. S. Hele-Shaw read a
that the Condrozian chain may play an important
THE TELESCOPE, 9/ net.
paper on The Theory of a New Form of the part in the tectonics of Southern England.
Putnam's Chamber Crank Chain,' — Prof. R. A. Sampson on
Nothing less than a systematic survey by, boring,
This is a well-arranged practical guide Sir W. de W. Abney
on The Extinction of Light
A New Treatment of Optical Aberration,'-
such as has long been carried on in Holland, will
'
meet the case.
for the young astronomical observer, and
This should be undertaken by the
by an Illuminated Retina,'--Mr. Walter Wahl on
Government, who in return might claim to ex•
should be of much assistance in enabling Optical Determinations at High Pressures,'- ercise authority over the coalfields which such a
him to become familiar with the brighter Mr. T. R. Merton on The Changes in Certain survey could scarcely fail to bring to light. The
stars which are visible to the unaided Absorption Spectra in Different solvents, Mr. discussion was continued by other speakers.
eye.
The book is furnished with a series
W. C. Ball on · Changes in the Absorption Spectra
of Didymium Salts,'-and Mr. P. Phillips
of night charts of the sky (adapted to
on 'The Viscosity of Carbon Dioxide. '
the latitude of New York or Chicago)
LINNEAN. —May 24. - Annual Meeting. -Dr.
giving the stars in white on a black back-
D. H. Scott, President, in the chair. -Miss C. E
ground. On the page opposite to each chart
GEOLOGICAL. - May 15. -Dr. A. Straban, Presi-
Larter and Sir F. W. Moore were admitted Fellows.
is a key map showing the constellations and dent, in the chair. -Messrs. P. G. Broad, J. W.
-The officers for the ensuing year were elected
their individual stars as depicted on the Jervis, R. R. Lempriere, J. R. Moir, E. D.
as follows: President, Prof. E. B. Poulton ;
charts. Foot-notes to each page supply Nicholson, and J. S. Owens were elected Fellows;
Treasurer, Mr. H. W. Monckton; Secretaries,
information as to the more interesting stars
Dr. B. D. Jackson, Dr. Otto Stapf, and Prof.
Prof. M. Boule (Paris), was elected a Foreign
Member; and Dr. F. W. Clarke (Washington, President, delivered his address, devoting their
G. C. Bourne. -Dr. D. H. Scott, the retiring
and nebulæ that are within the reach of an
D. C. ), Dr. W. Cross (Washington, D. C. ), and
opera-glass, a two-inch telescope, and a
Baron Nopcsa (Hungary), were elected Foreign greater part of it to a review of the palæo-botanical
three-inch telescope respectively. Other
Other Correspondents.
work of the late Sir Joseph Hooker. —The Presi;
chapters are devoted to the sun, moon, The President stated that, no papers having dent addressed Capt. C. E. U. Meek, and handed
been ready for presentation at the meeting, he
to him the bronze medal of the Crisp Award for
major planets, comets, and meteors
objects suitable for observation with small
had obtained the consent of the Director of' the Microscopical Science. The President handed
Geological Survey to exhibit specimens. Prof.
to Prof. E. B. Poulton the Linnean Medal for
instruments, hints being added as to the E. Hull, in opening the discussion, expressed
transmission to Dr. R. C. L. Perkins, who is
work that can be profitably undertaken pleasure in having an opportunity of examining abroad. Prof. Poulton made a suitable acknow
by a beginner. We notice a tendency to the specimens of cores brought up from the ledgment, and undertook to convey the medal to
the recipient.
gush and to quote poetry which rather borings under and around London. "In none of
the borings in the London area had the Carboni-
mars the effect of a book that purports to ferous Limestone been proved. He believed that
be a practical work of a scientific character. this limestone would most probably be found by
boring under Croydon, and to form the base of
Geographical, 8. 30. -'The Garden of Eden. ' Sir W. Willcocks.
Tues. Palestine Exploration Fund, 3.
