taking the editorship. The latter informs the reader that the text is from Mr. Corner's copy, so far as it goes, with additional matter, from the date of the arrival at Batavia up to reaching England, from the Admiralty copy.

In an interesting chapter of fifty pages Captain Wharton gives a spirited sketch of Cook's life and labours from his birth in 1728 to his murder in 1779. It contains a list of the antiscorbutics supplied to the Endeavour, and an account of the preventive measures adopted to ward off sickness in his ship. It is not mentioned in it that this led to his election, after his return from his second voyage, to the Fellowship of the Royal Society; before which Society he communicated a paper on the above measures, and another on the tides along the east coast of New Holland. Nor that for the former of these he was awarded the Copley medal by the President and Council, the highest honour in the gift of any scientific body, and the more honourable in the case of Cook, from the fact of the medal having been instituted as an award for discoveries or researches in experimental science. It is a melancholy fact that Cook's departure on his third voyage prevented his receiving in person this the sole public recognition of his still unparalleled services.

To dwell upon Cook's professional labours would be out of place here, are they not written in his own Report? which is a model of completeness and conciseness, recalling in these respects the Wellington despatches. There is a reason for the minutest detail, down to the naming of islands, bays, straits, and inlets, with the result of these being as appropriate as are Linné's names of animals and plants.

Captain Wharton has further illustrated his work with valuable footnotes and facsimiles of some of Cook's original charts, as of the Society Islands and New Zealand, making that of the Australian coasts specially interesting by placing on the same sheets parallel with Cook's chart of 1770 one corrected up to 1890, and reduced to the same scale, thus showing the marvellous approximate accuracy of the former. It is to be regretted that no list of the charts and plates is appended to that of the chapters into which, for convenience, Captain Wharton has divided the Report. It is difficult to find some of these in a work printed on thick paper with uncut edges; and without such a list there is no assurance that a copy is perfect.

In the preface, Captain Wharton says (p. vii) "that it has several times been in contemplation to publish Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks' Journal, but this has never been accomplished," and again (p. xxvi) that the said Journal" cannot at the present time be traced." This was, till the other day, true. Captain Wharton had spared no trouble in his endeavours to trace it; and the writer of this notice had, at intervals, for many years past pursued the same object, he having a personal interest in its discovery, as being one of the few persons living who had seen it. Its history he believes to be the following. On Sir Joseph Banks' death, without issue, in 1820, his effects passed to the Knatchbull family, with the exception of his extensive Herbarium, Library, and the lease of his house in Soho Square, which were left to the late eminent botanist, Mr. Robert Brown, who had been for many years Banks' librarian, with the proviso that the Herbarium and Library

were to be eventually deposited in the British Museum. The Banksian correspondence and papers, including the Report, were thereupon confided to Mr. Brown, with the object of his writing a Life of Banks. Age and infirmities interfered with the prosecution of the work; and the materials were for the same object transferred, in the year 1833, to my maternal grandfather, Mr. Dawson Turner, F.R.S., a naturalist, and man of high literary attainments, in whose house I aided in the collation of a copy of the Journal, which he had caused to be made, with the original. In Mr. Turner's case they met the same fate as in Mr. Brown's, and they were then placed in the hands of the late Prof. Thomas Bell, secretary of the Royal Society, and who succeeded Brown as President of the Linnæan, in the hope that he would undertake a Life of Banks. After retaining the materials for some time he declined the task, but before returning them (in 1857 or 1858) he submitted them to Mr. John Ball, F.R.S., who also declined. Nothing further was known to me or to Captain Wharton of their history until last week, when (having previously been misinformed on this point) I ascertained that the original of all Banks' correspondence and of his Journal of the Endeavour's voyage, were in the MS. Department of the British Museum, and the aforesaid copy in the Natural History Department of the same Institution. It only remains to add the hope that this gratifying intelligence may lead to the publication of Banks' Report uniformly with Captain Wharton's admirable edition of Cook's. J. D. HOOKER.

OUR BOOK SHELF.

The Soil in Relation to Health. By H. A. Miers, M.A., F.G.S., F.C.S., and R. Crosskey, M.A., D.P.H. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1893.)

THE attractive title of this little book speaks for itself, indicating that it is one of those numerous endeavours which are being made at the present day to supply just such an amount of information in several different sciences as will satisfy the requirements of men engaged in some particular department of practical life. In the present case it is a combination of chemistry, geology, and bacteriology which is offered for the benefit of the sanitary officer. The task undertaken by the authors is obviously a difficult one, and, if the book be regarded as a mere outline stimulating the reader to more extended and special study, they may be said to have accomplished this task with a fair degree of success. Our knowledge of the chemical and biological changes taking place in the soil has, during recent years, been so much increased, and is in some respects so complete, that it might have been anticipated that much of this book would have been devoted to a clear exposition of such matters as nitrification and denitrification, the micro-organisms of water, their removal by filtration and other agencies, the purification of sewage, &c. As a matter of fact, the account given of nitrification is incomplete, whilst of the other subjects referred to above, and which are of such cardinal importance in connection with sanitary science, we find hardly any mention whatsoever. On the other hand, there are long passages devoted to such speculative matters as the causes of epidemic infantile diarrhoea, the connection between typhoid and the depression of groundwater, the relationship between soil and the prevalence of cancer and phthisis, &c. In the chapter on water-supply we are informed that the water from the magnesian lime.

stone is" too permanently hard to be a wholesome drinking-water," whilst a few lines further on we are surprised to read that "the total solids rarely exceed 20 grains per gallon." The chapter on the atmosphere makes no mention of the numerous investigations which have been made both at home and abroad on the aërial microbes and their distribution. The authors almost apologise for the prominence they have given to the subject of microorganisms, but we think they might more appropriately have tendered some excuse for their unfortunate frontispiece, which endeavours to represent the microscopic appearance of the typhoid and anthrax bacilli; for whatever the excellence of the original illustrations may have been, the reproductions in the copy before us do little credit to British printing.

Practical Astronomy. By P. S. Michie and F. S. Harlow. Second edition. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., Ltd., 1893.)

IN this book the authors have brought together all those astronomical problems which are required for field work, limiting themselves simply to these, and dealing with them at sufficient length for practical work. The volume is intended especially for the use of cadets of the U.S. Military Academy, and as a supplement to Prof. Young's text-book, and several subjects not sufficiently discussed there for this special branch of practical work are here expanded. After a short discussion on the uses of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, and a few words on interpolation, the authors launch out into the usual methods of determining Time, Latitude, and Longitude on Land, explaining them concisely and deducing the requisite reductions formulæ. Corrections for refraction, parallax, &c, also receive a good share in their respective places, while the instrumental errors are fully explained and discussed. Excellent illustrations of instruments (those in use in the Field and Permanent Observatories of the Military Academy during the summer encampment) are inserted and described. In addition to a set of tables collected together at the end, a few wellarranged forms, showing the methods of computing several problems, are inserted, which should prove a great help to those not accustomed to such calculations.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

W. J. L.

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.]

tion of original papers, and a number of others communicated by the Physical Society, with which there is evidently an arrangement. Thereare also purely electrical paper like the Electrician, which covers most branches of electrical work, and the Electrical Review, which publishes filtrates of papers on electrolysis and kindred subjects editorially, with the names and references left out; an annoying proceeding. Coming to the societies, the Physical Society is alone devoted to physics. The Royal Physical

Society in Edinburgh need not be considered, as it indulges in ornithology and things of that sort. The Physical Society publishes well. Abstracts of the papers and discussions appear in NATURE and in most scientific or technical, and in some literary journals. The papers are often published in the Philosophical Magazine, and again in the Society's own Proceedings. No doubt in time this society will be to physics as the Chemical is to theoretical chemistry, but at present it does not command by any means all the most important physical papers. There is also some waste in republishing in the Philosophical Magazine and the Proceedings, though this does not cost much. The arrangement with the Philosophical Magazine prevents the immediate publication of a Physical Society paper in the scientific and technical journals at home and abroad. This is a source of weakness. A society which objects to its papers being published everywhere before appearing in its own journal does The Physical may be unable to help this, but in the Royal, or other wealthy institution, it is defeating the main object of the society's existence for the sake of selling a few odd copies of the Proceedings. To go back to the Physical, the result is that its papers are never reprinted either from the Philosophical Magazine or from the Proceedings. The Philosophical Magazine is not very cheap, and the Proceedings are, I think, not sold to non-members.

much to defeat its own ends.

The Royal Society gets physical papers, I believe they are sometimes read, but do not know, not being a Fellow. The best papers are published a long time afterwards in a form which is very expensive to buy, and those who are not Fellows generally know nothing about them until they find them by Royal Society papers, again, are seldom reprinted in

chance.

the journals.

The Publication of Physical Papers. THERE is little doubt that there is much to be done towards improving the machinery connected with the publication of papers on physical science. By publication of a paper I do not mean printing and binding and sending it to libraries in inconvenient places, which are open at inconvenient hours, but bringing it under the eyes of those interested in its subject. hardly possible to discuss this matter without being personal to journals and societies, so perhaps direct references may be allowed.

The present position is that as societies we have the Royal Society, which nominally embraces all branches of science, and the Physical Society, which is alone devoted entirely to physics, and several important general scientific societies scattered about the present kingdom. We have also some journals. Of these NATURE must here be put first, but NATURE is by no means purely physical, and is a scientific newspaper, and not a collection of scientific papers, and, owing to the nature of the case, incomplete as regards abstracts. The Philosophical Magazine, with its splendid record, fills its place alone. It contains a certain propor

Another course would be for the Royal Society to act as the central body. This would be rather hard on the Physical, and would tend to reduce its standing, so that we would have no first-rate society devoted specially to physics in a country where an enormous amount of work is done in a disorganised way. There would be another difficulty. The Royal Society standard of papers is supposed to be very high, and though it occasionally publishes papers of no value, the high standard generally maintained would exclude many papers of great importance which were hardly good enough for the Royal Society. Then the Royal Society is specially devoted to pure-that is unapplied science, and there are very many papers on applied physics which are of the highest importance.

Still another course would be for a firm of publishers to bring out a purely physical paper. The stumbling-block here is the question of advertisements. According to Mr. Thiselton Dyer, scientific men are supposed to beun business-like, no doubt without reason; but it may be well to remind them that most journa's live on their advertisements, the reading matter being a necessary evil. It would thus be commercially impossible to run a purely physical paper, as there is no trade, except to a certain extent electrical engineering, which has much to do with physics.

It might be better to abandon the idea of a central organ for physics, and to publish a complete set of abstracts. Abstracts to be useful must be very well made, and they must be complete. It is very difficult to get good abstracts. The work is laborious and costly when efficiently done. Abstracts are only a developed index, and it would still be necessary that separate papers should be obtainable. Incomplete abstracting is a very common vice. It is not enough to have a few papers brought under a reader's notice: that is good when one is reading for general information in an indolent way, but it is useless in the far more common case in which he wants to know either all that has been done on a given subject, or whether some discovery has been hit upon before. A scientifically worked out subject index is also essential, and, as said before, the abstracts must be practically complete. JAMES SWINBURNE,

4, Hatherley Road, Kew Gardens, June 25.

The Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes.

I HAVE read with interest the discussion in NATURE on the "Glacier Theory of Alpine Lakes," and I feel constrained to write now, more especially as Mr. Wallace his cited Tasmania as a country, among others, where Alpine lakes are associated with "palpable signs of glaciation." Having recently, with Prof. Spencer, of Melbourne University, made a visit to the central lake district of Tasmania, a few words about the lakes may not be without interest in reference to the subject under discusion.

The lake district of Tasmania is situated about the centre of the island on the great central greenstone plateau, which attains to a height of 4000 ft. above sea level in places. We camped on the shores of Lake St. Clair, and remained there during the whole month of January of this year. Lake St. Clair is about 2500 ft. above the sea, and is about 11 miles long by 2 broad. It occupies a narrow valley between the Olympus Range on the one hand and the Traveller Range on the other. A depth of 590 ft. is recorded. Its basin probably lies in sandstone (carboni. ferous?), the structure of the adjoining mountains being sandstone capped by greenstone (diabase).

Both Prof. Spencer and myself, being believers in the glacier theory of Alpine lakes, had half expected to find evidences of glaciation, especially as we had heard of well marked signs being found on the west coast, some 50 or 60 miles to the northwest. However, we could not find the slightest trace of glacia action. From the top of Mount Olympus, rising about 2350 ft. above the surface of the lake, we got a magnificent view of the country. The Traveller Range opposite is really the edge of a great greens one plateau, stretching away with a roughly undulating surface for miles beyond. The surface of this plateau is studded all over with lakes and tarns of various sizes and at different levels. In other directions, too, lakes can be seen here and there nestling in the valleys. In all we counted between thirty and forty lakes and tarns from the top of Mount Olympus. Two small basins of water-the "Olympian Tarns "-rest on the flanks of the mountain itself. On the opposite side of Olympus from St. Clair lies Lake Petrarch, occupying an oval basin and apparently of shallow depth. This lake is about 560 ft. above St. Clair. On the right shore of St. Clair occurs another small lake (Lake Laura) 50 ft. above the former, and separated from it by a ridge about 3400 yard across.

A characteristic feature of this district are the "button-grass" flats. These are open, marshy expanses covered with "buttongrass" (Gymnɔschanus sphærocephalus) and other plants. They are traversed by numerous little runlets of water, which usually unite into one or more main streams. Here and there in many of them masses of greenstone protrude. Between these "Hats" are generally low ridges of greenstone covered with Eucalyptus and Banksias, &c. Many of these flats or marshes -as, for instance, those in the Cuvier Valley, at the head of which lies Lake Petrarch-reminded me very strongly of the

moorland scenery in the Scottish Highlands, and the plateau, already referred to, with the lakes and tarns scattered over its surface, might be a scene in Sutherlandshire. But in all our wanderings we did not find the slightest sign of glaciation either in the form of moraines or of striated rock-surfaces. We were not able to examine the lakes on the plateau mentioned, but from its configuration I am confident that evidences of glaciation do not exist. On the west coast, notably about the Pieman River, signs of glaciation are, I believe, abundant, and numerous tarns and rock basins are associated with them. Here the neighbouring mountains are not so high as those further inland, and it was probably their proximity to the coast that was the cause, during the last glacial epoch, of glaciers being formed there and not further inland.

So then, though in Tasmania there are instances of rock-basin lakes being associated with undoubted evidences of glaciation, yet, as I have shown, the glacier theory will not account for by far the greater number of the Alpine lakes on the great central greenstone plateau. I do not propose to put forth any theory to account for these lake-basins, but have put down the above facts in the hope that they may prove of some interest in the question at issue, and to show that at least there are some excep. tions to Mr. Wallace's statement that Alpine lakes only exist in glaciated regions.

I may add that Lake St. Clair has been accounted for by Gould, who explained it by supposing that a flow of basalt had dammed up the lower end of the valley in which the lake lies. I am, however, much inclined to doubt the existence of this basalt. Though we traversed the end of the lake where it is said to occur, we did not recognise any basalt.

It may also be remarked about the "button grass" flats or swamps, that they really occupy rock-basins, and may perhaps be regarded as the analogues of the peat-bogs of Scotland and Ireland. All those occurring in the same drainage area seem to be directly connected with each other, and I think there can be little doubt that many of them were formerly occupied by lakes. Melbourne University, May 7. GRAHAM OFFICER.

THE Editor having given me the opportunity of reading Mr. Graham Officer's interesting letter, I will make a few remarks upon it.

It seems to me that, without further information as to the nature of the search for drift, erratics, or ice-worn surfaces, and judging from the statement that the plateau studded with lakes and tarns was only looked down upon from an adjacent mountain summit, we can hardly give much weight to the positive statements, "I am confident that evidences of glaciation do not exist," and-" as I have shown, the glacier theory will not account for by far the greater number of the Alpine lakes on the great central greenstone plateau." Some light may perhaps be thrown on the matter by the consideration that the undoubted marks of glaciation in many parts of Australia are believed to have been caused by, comparatively, very ancient glaciers, since some of the glaciated surfaces are overlain by pliocene deposits, while others are believed to be of paleozoic age. If the Tasmanian glaciation was also of pliocene age, most of the superficial indications may have been destroyed by denudation, or, if preserved, may be hidden by vegetation or by alluvial deposits. We must therefore wait for a much more thorough examination of the district and of other parts of Alpine Tasmania before it can be positively stated that no evidences of glaciation exist. ALFRED R. WALLACE.

was originally destined to be a student of medicine or physic, or whether he was led to it mainly by that which he found in that College, from the help and advantages given to the study of medicine and sciences. Harvey found there and there alone, he thought, certainly amongst the Colleges of the University-a license for dissection. A license was obtained from the King to dissect in that College the bodies of criminals, and Dr. Venn, in the register of St. Mary's parish, had found records of two who were executed here in Harvey's time. The register said distinctly "They have been buried here after being anatomised in Caius College. He might add that the bodies were to be interred with great reverence, and the Masters and Fellows had to attend the funerals. From that College Harvey went to Padua, where he had the best learning from the best biological teachers of the time. He took the degree of doctor of medicine with the highest honour, and then he returned to the practice of his profession and the teaching of it in the University. Alluding to Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood, Sir James said he thought he might venture to say that that was the greatest discovery in biological science ever made by one man. He thought there never had been any one man to whom biology was so indebted as to Harvey for that discovery, and that was in the early part of his life. He supposed they could not now think of what would have been the progress of biology but for that discovery, neither could they form any just estimate of the honour due to Harvey for that discovery, which was to them now so plain, so evident, that one might wonder how it could ever have been doubted, but was then surrounded by difficulties which it seemed impossible ever to overcome. It was marvellous, if one looked back at it, to think what must have been the power of observation, the ingenuity, the constant, resolute industry of the man who could find that out, not only in the face of actual difficulties of inquiry, but in the face of those who were perfectly satisfied with their own opinions. He worked on and on until he brought out the best result he could obtain. He had shown by his discoveries, which had had even a greater influence on the progress of biological knowledge, the right method of inquiry. He had to find his results in the face of that full and perfectly-satisfied belief that all truth in such a science as that of medicine could be deduced from general principles then prevalent, and from the physiological doctrines which few men then dared to doubt. Nothing could have proved more than Harvey's results that the way to knowledge in biological science was through continual observation and experiment and recording. That was what Harvey showed, and it had never been forgotten. Again and again Harvey said in his works, and more especially in that admirable introduction to his work "De Generatione," that the way to knowledge was by observing, experimenting, and recording, and not by thinking. The same thought was expressed by John Hunter, who said, "Don't think; try." Those were words he (Sir James) would venture to say every one pursuing biology might well bear in mind. Both of those men were most earnest and profound thinkers. This could be traced in all their works, but that in which they distinguished themselves from other men of the same calling and the same pursuits was that they tried their thoughts. They tested them by every possible observation and experiment. They thought, and thought, and thought, but they were never satisfied with thinking; every thought they had was tried by experiment. When they remembered that Harvey was not only the greatest physiologist of the time, but the greatest physician, it was well to look and see as far as they could how much he himself followed that out, and he thought it would be found, unhappily, they had scarcely any record of Harvey's observations in practice. Repeatedly in his works that were published he stated that he intended to

publish his medical observations. Now the whole of those, he supposed, were lost, and yet his (the speaker's) brother pointed out there was no certain knowledge at all either of the time or of the manner in which they were lost. Those observations would be of inestimable value if they could be found. They might hope that some of the younger Caius men would find out where those manuscripts were. It would be well if the MSS. could be published in facsimile, or in the same manner as the one done by the College a few years ago, when they at last found Harvey's lectures on anatomy and surgery. He asked them to drink to the memory of Harvey, who had made discoveries surpassing those ever made by any one man, and had showed the true and only sure methods by which biological science could be increased.

After the toast had been duly honoured the College "Carmen Caianum" was sung, the words of which were written by the President, Rev. B. H. Drury, and set to stirring music by Mr. C. Wood. An extra verse commemorative of Harvey and Glisson, also once a member of the College, was introduced into the song for this occasion. Dr. Clifford Allbutt (Regius Professor of Physic) proposed the toast of "The Guests," and in doing so read a letter which had been received from the rector of Padua University, in which he expressed the pride of that University at having been the place where William Harvey had pursued his studies. Dr. Allbutt also referred to the sense of loss which was felt by all present at the death of Sir George Paget, who would, had he lived, have been the man of all others upon whom it would have been fitting that the duty of taking an important part in that celebration should have fallen.

Sir Andrew Clark responded, and said he desired in the name of his more distinguished fellow guests to give them his grateful thanks for permitting them to be present that evening.

Prof. Gairdner next proposed "The University," and said that the toast needed nothing on his part to recom. mend it. He could not conceive a greater eulogium upon the University of Cambridge than that it contained such magnificent representatives of ancient learning as their Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Peile; and at the same time eminent representatives of what he would venture to call the modern scientific method as the Professor of Medicine, Dr. Clifford Allbutt and of Physiology, Prof. Michael Foster. The University was an institution founded upon all that was best in human learning and in human experiments, and it will go on and prosper to the end of time. He proposed the health of the University and coupled with it the name of their distinguished Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Peile.

The Vice-Chancellor, in returning thanks, alluded to the great development of studies and of buildings in the University during the past thirty years. He was sorry to say that their rapid development had almost caused alarm in certain most important quarters. He read the other day one of the leading newspapers of England, which called attention to their unsatisfied spirit of innovation. He thought that that must have reference to some of their most recent developments of the engineering tripos. Yet surely it might have occurred to any one that the sciences of engineering were most closely connected with the study of mathematics, which was their chief glory in Cambridge. Possibly, also, it had reference to the development of agricultural science. Well, agricultural science was a very excellent thing. It seemed to him that, after all, some of the greatest discoveries in science had been made, not merely by students or by lecturers, but by men who had been carrying on professional work and working purely with mercantile aims. The duty of the University, he took it, was to encourage those studies as well as others. But there would always be a problem before them. At present the prob lem would raise the very, very old story-the limited means of the University. The problem was how far