ppear to us that there is much advantage in thus dividng the responsibility in a small text-book which does not ontain any original or speculative matter of importance; nd in our opinion the reader would have gained had the German original been freely edited by the translator, ho should have borne the entire responsibility for the English edition.

The arrangement of the material is much the same as n most previous works on this subject, but the descripon of a larger number of micro-organisms, considering the size of the book, is attempted. In this matter the time has now come for a new departure, for with the continual additions to the number of known bacterial forms, it is both impossible and undesirable that the descriptions of all of them should find place in the body of a textbook. For the purpose of illustrating the principles of bacteriology, comparatively few forms need be described in detail, whilst for an account of those forms which are of secondary importance, special works should be consulted. A work of this kind, which endeavours to describe in the tabular form, every micro-organism hitherto discovered, fortunately already exists in the shape of Eisenberg's "Bakteriologische Diagnostik" (Hamburg and Leipzig, 1891), so that the necessarily brief and imperfect descriptions of bacteria which are to be found in small text-books, like the one under review, become worse than valueless, inasmuch as they take up space which should be devoted to the discussion of general principles. Now, in this latter particular the work before us is specially weak; not only is the preliminary chapter on the "general morphology and biology of micro-organisms" very scanty, but the introductory matter at the commencement of the several chapters is generally also quite inadequate. Thus, for instance, in the chapter on the micro-organisms of soil we find no less than two pages devoted to the description of such obscure and unimportant forms as bacterium mycoides roseum, b. radiatus, spinosus, liquefaciens magnus, scissus, and clostridium fœtidum, whilst there is absolutely no mention of the bacteria producing nitrification, nor of the organisms occasioning the tubercles in leguminous plants, which are of such enormous importance, both from a practical and theoretical point of view.

In that portion of the book devoted to the practical methods, we find very ample descriptions of the mechanical details for staining bacteria, but the account given of the principles upon which these methods rest is very meagre, and often betrays much ignorance of chemical principles in general. Thus, what are we to think of the statement that “ aniline oil and phenol are the mordants (sic) most used in bacteriological research"? Surely a few words from a competent chemist would be calculated to put some order and arrangement into the wilderness of empirical staining recipes with which the student is confronted, and would prevent such inaccuracy in the use of old-established technical terms. A mistake of more practical importance, which a little chemical knowledge again would have rendered impossible, is the Statement on page 20, that plates intended for culture may be sterilised "after being cleansed with alcohol and corrosive sublimate"; in this case, however, we are inclined to believe that the "alcohol" being placed before instead of after the "corrosive" sublimate must be a

can be described as "a splitting up," the addition of two chimneys to a house might as logically be called a disruption of the building!

The author in his preface states that "conformably to the scope of a hand-book like the present, all references to the literature have been omitted," but the names of investigators have been freely introduced in the text, and in some cases they have been selected apparently without a due knowledge of the literature. Thus, from the text (p. 124 and p. 156) it would appear that it is to Rubner and Kirchner that we are indebted for the discovery of the great bacteriological efficiency of the soil as a natural filtering medium, whilst we were certainly under the impression that Pasteur, not to mention others, showed the bacteriological purity of spring and deep well waters before the names of the above gentlemen were known to the scientific world. In the same way the discovery of the increase in the efficacy of chemical disinfectants by moderately raising the temperature is ascribed to Heider, whilst it was really first made by Dr. Wynter Blyth, some eight years ago, but his paper, which was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, was doubtless unknown to both Heider and the author of this book; but the translator might, in the interests of British science, have seen that the papers in that and other English media of publication had received their due. In the chapter on Morphology we find no mention of the researches of Ray Lankester and others on the polymorphism of beggiatoa, which are of such interest in connection with those phenomena of variation in both the form and function of bacteria which are now beginning to receive the serious attention of investigators ; nor is there, indeed, any special reference to this subject of variation, which at the present time is certainly one of the most important in the whole domain of bacteriology.

A considerable part of the translator's appendix is devoted to the bactericidal action of light; here again we think that the work of the original discoverers, Downes and Blunt, has been inadequately appreciated, for these investigators practically explored the whole subject in outline, and the more recent researches have principally consisted in a confirmation of their results, and in filling in details; thus they showed that the bactericidal action of sunlight is independent of rise in temperature, that the most refrangible rays of the spectrum are the most active, that their effect, moreover, is highly favoured if not entirely dependent on the simultaneous presence of oxygen, and, further, that the bacteria may be destroyed by light in the absence of any culture-medium, but that they are more resistant to light when immersed in water or very dilute culture material. Again, we find no reference to one of the most interesting recent additions to our knowledge of this subject, viz. the discovery by Laurent that exposure to sunlight causes some chromogenic

bacteria to lose their power of producing pigment, either temporarily, as in the case of the bacillus prodigiosus, or even permanently, in the case of the bacillus ruber of Kiel. We are, therefore, surprised at being categorically informed, both in the introduction and in the appendix of this work, that pigment is formed especially under the influence of light, a statement which is entirely out of harmony with the observations of Laurent, and for which the experimental foundation should have been carefully set forth.

These and other points of a similar character will doubtless be rectified by the translator in preparing a second edition, which it would be well to amplify with references to literature, with which even an elementary student in a new science must at once be made familiar. The illustrations are in the majority of cases very good, and contrast most favourably with those we have seen in some recent works of the kind in which photographic representations have been attempted. The coloured prints of cholera and typhoid bacilli are especially excellent.

OUR BOOK SHELF.

Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo. By John Whitehead. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1893.)

MR. JOHN WHITEHEAD belongs to the much-maligned class of field-naturalists. For the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the ornithology of Mount Kina Balu, he spent nearly four years collecting in the region, and accumulated a large number of new species. In addition to visiting North Borneo, he stayed some time at Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the State of Malacca. The rather cumbersome volume before us recounts the story of these explorations. It consists of 192 pages of general description and 115 pages of matter reprinted from the proceedings of various Societies. Thirty-two excellent plates illustrate specimens from the extensive zoological collections made by Mr. Whitehead, and the places and peoples seen by him. It need hardly be said that these add considerably to the value of the book. Several woodcuts are also included. It would be ungracious to find fault with Mr. Waitehead for looseness of expression, since he craves indulgence for his "literary shortcomings." He found it far easier to explore an unknown tract of country than to write an account of his travels. Like some other travellers who have given to the world accounts of their wanderings, Mr. Whitehead dwells too much on trivialities. for all that, there is much that is new and interesting in the book, and one cannot but admire the indomitable spirit which carried the author through numerous difficulties, and enabled him at last to reach an altitude of 13,525 feet on the mountain of Kina Balu.

But

Pillow Problems. Curiosa Mathematica, Part II. By Charles L. Dodgson, M.A. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1893.)

IN these pages we have a series of problems worked out, or, as the author says, "nearly all thought out during sleepless nights." In the preface he informs us the exact method of procedure, and the way in which he obtained his results. The problems are about seventy in number, and deal with many branches of mathematics, but chiefly with algebra, plane geometry, and trigonometry. The order of the three and only chapters is as follows: questions, answers, and solutions; and he explains the reason for this peculiarity in the preface. Considering the problems themselves, one is apt to think that some of

them at least are not so very hard, but the publication of them will be found very interesting and perhaps useful to those of ordinary mathematical powers, who may like to follow the same routine way of thinking as that adopted by the author.

The ABC Five-Figure Logarithms. By C. J. Woodward, B.Sc. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1893.) THIS small book of logarithms may be said to be a second edition of the tables previously published by the author. In addition to the tables of mantissæ of numbers, the same A B C system has been applied to legarithms of art functions, with only a slight difference in the method. Besides these the square roots of numbers (from 1 to 100 to three places of decimals are given, and a table of "numbers often wanted," and of the densities of gases, weights and measures, &c. To facilitate the finding of the logarithms, &c., a lateral index is adopted. Besides being a compact and convenient set of tables, the worker will find them easy to use, and accurate enough for such calculations as are generally met with in the physical laboratory, the class-room, &c.

Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid and Trigonometry. By P. A. Thomas, B.A. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1893.)

IN these pages one is treated to a selection of some of the chief questions that relate to Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, and Trigonometry. Stress is laid on the more elementary parts of each subject, and several typical problems are inserted. The latter relate chiefly to the arithmetical and algebraical sections, while the Eucad section is accompanied by important riders. The book should prove acceptable to those revising these subjects, whether for examination or not, and will be, both for teachers and taught, a useful companion to the text-books in use.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

[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, rejett manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURL. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences suggested by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association.

THE opening paragraph of the President's address contains this sentence: We have come to learn what progress bas been made in departments of knowledge which lie outside of our own special scientific interests and occupations, to widen per views, and to correct whatever misconceptions may have arisen from the necessity which limits each of us to his own field of study."

A most worthy and attractive ideal. Something of this kind of intersectional information does go on at these meetings; ba to how small an extent! It may be said, indeed, that except for the presidential address and the two evening lectures. everyone sticks to his own section, and discusses matters lying in his own groove.

This state of things is perhaps inevitable, but it is none the less to be regretted. It is extremely difficult for anyone actively engaged in the work of any one section to attempt to attend any other. I myself used to make the attempt, but concluded that the results were too precarious and uncertain to be worth the dissipation of energy involved, and have now abandoned it. Yet there can be little doubt that if the state of things postulated by the President were feasible in practice i would be a distinct gain.

But it would seem as if the modern tendency were all in the other direction. Papers in the two great scientific departments are read as far as possible on different days at the Royal Society, and are published in separate volumes. Such an arrange ment is decidedly convenient: I am not repining at it. The

Royal Scciety type of paper is almost necessarily unintelligible to any but specialists, perhaps sometimes even to them.

But the arrangement should not be regarded as anything but a lamentable necessity. If a more conjoint character could by ary device be given to the meetings of the B. A. it would be an excellent thing: so it seems to me.

Whether the British Association can or cannot act as a connecting link between the sciences, there is no doubt but that he pages of NATURE do so act; and long may it be before NATURE (I mean the publication) finds herself also bifurcated or otherwise subdivided, and we on either side cease to hear even an echo of what the other side is talking about. Perhaps few are able to say that they read NATURE all through as Mr. Darwin did, but we all have the chance of doing so; and I hope it is the practice of the biological side to communicate to its pages at least an epitome or a popular account of all the researches which have a wide embracing interest.

Much that the chemist does-still more that the biologist does-we of the physical camp do not care to hear; partly because we might not understand it, chiefly because the research lies so far from the field we are at present occupied in cultivating, that we can perceive none of the connecting links.

But some of the problems on which the biologist-especially perhaps the physiologist-is engaged are, or might easily become, of supreme interest to phy-icists; notably everything connected with sense organs and the "mechanism" of sensation.

The fear is lest we drift apart so far that we cease to understand each other's language.

The current language of physics consists mainly of alaptations of simple English phrases. It is full of common words, redefined and made definite in connotation. We do indeed use the word "coefficient" occasionally, but we are getting ashamed of its length and high-falutin' character. We got it from the Mathematicians. We have also a few other long words, as Electricity and its derivatives, which we sometimes try to abbreviate without much success. We got them in the Middle Ages. But the words we coin now are as nearly monosyllabic as possible, and as near akin to the ordinary usage of language as may be.

The current language of biology is quite different. Its sentences, as exemplified in parts of the presidential address, are highly dignified and elaborate structures, not wholly different from a once more prevalent German model. Its words, especially its new words, are hendecasyllabic or, at any rate, polysyllabic. They are extremely classical, and as unlike the language of daily life as can be contrived. This is done of good set purpose, viz. to keep free from the misunderstandings arising out of the attempt to give to popular words a scientific, i.e. an accurate, meaning.

I suppose it is inevitable, and no doubt biologists know what is best for their own science; I only lament it because it seems likely to retard that free intercommunication between the sciences which many of us would like to see made more possible than at present it is. I shall have the President with me here; but may I put a question to him without profanity? May I ask him if he can imagine a biologist asking about a process, "What is the go of it?" I conjecture, but perhaps I am wrong, that if a young biologist wanted to know more about a most important and interesting process occurring in the blood, he would ask, "What mechanism do you consider it was which supplied the chemiotactic stimulus impelling these leucocytes towards the morbific microbes which they are devitalising?" I do not complain of this language-very likely it is well suited for home consumption-but it does seem to render intercommunion difficult.

Now, for instance, I am anxious to learn the most recent view of biologists on the subject of life, or vitality, or vitalism, or whatever word conveys the hypothesis that the life of an organism is something different from the chemical and mechanical activities of its tissues. I see that the President touches on this very subject, but somehow I cannot seize concerning it any distinct idea, though I rejoice to see his warning against the misuse of the terms "mechanism" and "mechanical." The mechanical" is regarded by physicists as the ne plus ultra of explanation, and it is unlikely that any explanation of physio logical processes will skip the intervening chemical and physical stages, and land itself straight in simple mechanics.

term

But I wonder if I am right in supposing that the definition of life, given apparently by Treviranus, satisfies the modern biolo

gist, viz. (I put it only in paraphrase, for more exact wording see NATURE, September 14, p. 464), "that property of an organism which enables it to respond similarly to a variety of different stimuli "; because a steam engine or any other prime mover can do as much as that. It matters nothing by what means the throttle valve is opened, whether by the proper driver, or by a larky boy, or by a piece of string, or a falling weight, or an electric current; the result is the same-wheels go round.

This property of responding to stimuli, and responding always in the same way if at all, may be characteristic of a clock-work mouse, but surely it is not a special peculiarity of life. If a muscle can only twitch, then, however you tickle it, it must either twitch or do nothing.

But life surely is something other than a power of response to a stimulus; it is more like a something which directs the stimulus, more like the driver who decides whether the throttle valve shall be opened or not. But it is absurd for me to attempt to answer such questions. I only want to ask them : all I clearly perceive from the physical standpoint is that live creatures have the power of directing energy into otherwise unoccupied channels, and that life in itself, whatever it is, is not a form of energy.

But this leads me to a subject which though apparently trivial may, if not attended to, have serious or at any rate inconvenient consequences, I mean the occasional misuse by one science of the language of another science. The term 66 energy" is a physical one given us by Thos. Young, and it has been fought for by us through a great part of this century. It will be wanted seriously by Physiologists before long, in its proper sense, and it will be a thousand pities if they

misuse it.

If it be urged, "but Helmholtz used the term specific energies," I reply yes, a long time ago, and so also he used the phrase, Erhaltung der Kraft. But precision in the use of the term energy is of comparatively modern growth, and every one now translates Erhaltung der Kraft as conservation of energy." So, also, I venture to think, they should usually translate the phrase "specific energy" by the words normal activity or normal reaction. Of course if normal activity of an organ or tissue does not represent the thing meant, that is another matter -so far as I can judge, it usually does; but whether it does or not, I am clear that specific energy is usually wrong. There

is one definite theory or hypothesis, to express which the words energy in some form would be correct-viz. when it is meant to assert that, for instance when light falls upon the retina, all it does is to pull a trigger, and the explosion or nerve stimulus which results is due to energy in or near the nerve ending itself. If that is a true statement of the case, and there must be a great deal to be said for such a view, the latent energy of the organ can no doubt be measured. But inasmuch as energy is all one thing in many forms, the adjective specific is better omitted; moreover the phrase is not usually limited to this particular hypothesis; and by "the specific energy of an organ," is usually meant, not anything quantitative, but simply the mode in which it normally reacts.

Another case of terminology occurs to me. For specification of small lengths microscopists have introduced the term micron for a thousandth of a millimetre, or a millionth of a metre ; and very handy is both the magnitude and the name, and I hope physicists will adopt it. But everyone should consent to use it in the same sense. There was a discussion about it in the pages of NATURE a few years ago, but I am not sure that the usage even now is quite distinct. Many biologists call it a micromillimetre, which it is not; and though they may mean the same thing, it can only be by an erroneous, because unconventional, use of the prefix micro. All these things are conventions, and once made the convention should be rigorously adhered to. Sometimes the word is written micro instead of micron a very small divergence, but better avoided. term will do perfectly well, but not both.

Either

May we understand then that a micron is a micro-metre, or a milli-milli-metre, or 10 centimetre; and that a millimicron is a micro-millimetre, or 10-7 centim. ?

And may I incidentally protest against too much public use of the meaningless and wasteful symbols u and up for these two lengths. If these symbols are found too handy in technical microscopy to be abandoned, they must be used there; but they should never be allowed to obtrude into anything intended for the general reader, nor for workers in other departments of science.

I trust that physicists will agree with me in this. I know that some Electricians try to sin in a similar way, by writing 6 when they mean 6 ohms. But with all deference to any individuals who may have allowed themselves carelessly to drift into this practice, it is a thoroughly bad precedent. We shall soon be having 12a and 52 and 3 for current and voltage and inductance respectively; a simple specification will look like algebra, and algebra will look like gibberish.

Similarly the custom of writing M for a millionth of an atmosphere, or I barad, is a worrying custom. Let us always have names for units with which we have much to do, but never single letters. Single letters have to serve a far more important purpose, that of denoting the quantities themselvesthe whole of a quantity, numerical part, unit, and all.

This last is an old hobby of mine. Ever since my brother showed me the advantage of consciou-ly interpreting algebraical symbols as standing for concrete quantities, and not merely for abstract numbers, the advantage of doing so has presented itself to me with cumulative force. Most physicists are, I think, now of a similar opinion, if they have thought at all about the matter, and Prof. Greenhill is being left almost alone in his state of grievous error; I would say heresy, but that I fear he has some of the pure mathematicians with him for company.

I have dragged Prof. Greenhill in because I want to deny the extraordinary assertion which he makes in an article on page 457 of your issue for September 14, viz. that I would like to "banish the word hundredweight from our language." On the contrary, for the specification of loads I have always found it a very convenient word; and if architects use it thus, for pressure on foundations, so much the better. I know what he is referring to a part of my book on mechanics where I am instructing youth in the meaning of the term mass, and the difference be tween mass and weight. Till they are clear on this point I say that "hundredweight" is a term better avoided for the present. I should, for instance, recommend its avoidance for the present by Prof. Greenhill.

But to return to Dr. Burdon Sanderson's address, which it is perhaps evident from a former part of this article that I have been trying to read, there are two small points on which I would ask a question. First, with regard to totally colourblind vision. If a person sees all the world in shades of gray he may properly be called colour-blind, in one, and that the most important, sense; but it does not seem to me to follow that he necessarily appreciates white, still less that he proves a specific white sense in normal eyes. On the orthodox theory, as held by physicists, such an eye would strictly be called monochromatic; one only of the three colours would be seen, and which it was would matter nothing to the seer, though it might be ascertained by studying his spectrum vision which the one colour was in any given case. I believe that Abney and Festing found it usually blue. But as regards the psychological impression produced by mono-chromatic vision on the seer, its indiscriminating monotony would obviously result in total absence of colour perception. One colour sensation is psychologically the same as none.

The other question is whether it is useful to distinguish between "physical light" and "physiological or subjective light." The term light applies to the stimulus as far as the retina, but after that is it not better called either sight or some other and more impressive-looking word, beginning with photo or neuro and perhaps ending with taxis, signifying the specific disturbance of the optic nerve and brain centres. These terms light, heat, sound, &c., have always been ambiguous; but, if needful to discriminate, they had better perhaps now be handed over entirely to physics, to signify monosyllabically the external physical stimulus; while fresh words are coined for the physiological, and again, where not already existing, for the psychological, result.

I trust that this letter has not the appearance of undue presumption; the whole of it is written in the key of interrogation. OLIVER J. Lodge.

British Association: Sectional Procedure. MEMBERS of the British Association often entertain schemes for the improvement of sectional procedure, which rarely, so far as I have seen, commend themselves to the good opinion of the organising committees. I beg leave to produce one scheme more. Whether the remedy is practicable or not, I am quite sure that the grievance I have to point out is a real one.

on.

Every member of the Association has suffered from the great uncertainty as to the hour at which a particular paper will come At the recent Nottingham meeting I was unlucky enough to spend one morning to no purpose. I had a direct interest in two communications; one was not reached that day, the other was taken as read. There is no care taken to prevent such accidents, and yet it would have been easy to provide agitat the second one at least by marking the communication "Title only." The other case is of greater, but not, I think, of insuperable difficulty. The remedy which occurs to me is this a fixed time should be assigned to communications whe in the opinion of the Sectional Committee are of special interes and importance. There might be at least two absolute fixtures in each day's proceedings, when members would know that nothing would be allowed to interfere with the punctual pro duction of certain papers or addresses. I should be inclined. mark these by some distinctive title, such as "Address request of the Section." It seems to me very desirable to sen out special invitations before the meeting to persons who co communicate interesting results, and I have little doubt that fixed time would often lead to acceptance by persons whom the Sections would be glad to hear, but who rarely or never aper in the programme under the existing system. What is bad the audience is bad for authors too, and after an author finds that his communication is addressed only to people who come to hear something else, and to people who in their despair an working through the entire list, he ceases to offer himself.

If the facilities granted to pre-arranged addresses should lea to a stricter treatment of trivial papers and business maller no direct scientific interest, the Sections would not suffer. L. C. M.

Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades. EIGHTEEN months ago, while at the Mena House, Cart I came across a back number of NATURE, which contained an article on "The Origin of the Year," in which reference made to the orientation of some Egyptian temples, and I suggested that inquiries should be made as to whether they were not in some cases oriented by the Pleiades. I had then seen the numbers that referred to stellar orientation.

A pamphlet of 105 pp. was privately printed by myself tr years ago (!) for my own use in the prosecution of "A Cem parison of the Calendars and Festivals of Nations," with special reference to the Pleiades.

Since that pamphlet, and a second, of about 20 pp. on cycle regulated by the Pleiades, were printed, I have collected a grea deal of further data confirming the conclusions arrived at 1863. Müller says, in his Religion, &c., of the Dorians, I. 337, that the famous eighth-year cycle, which was in general s in Greece, was luni-sidereal, and regulated by the Pleiades, and that the great feasts of Apollo at Delphi, Crete, and Theses. were arranged by it. He also states (p. 338) that there are vestiges of a sacred calendar in general use in Greece in any ages based on this cycle, but that it fell into disuse, and consequence, the Attic festivals and months were thrown in confusion. He had previously stated that the Olympiads were based on the eight-year cycle. Apollo, generally assumed to have been essentially a solar deity, though he evidently was originally a type of Karlikeya, was a god of the Pleiades, a hence the seventh day was sacred to him at Athens As th stars were the daughters of Atlas, the forty days during di they deserted the nightly sky were spent by Apollo in da and singing among the Hyperboreans of Marias. When the rising of the Pietades at early morning took place, he returned In 1882, at the American Association, I showed that t is still remembered south of the Atlas as Apolo, & god god, who comes and plays upon the harp." But int Lapse of centuries the Pleiades seemed to go astray, and were fur gotten, and, strange to say, Atheneus was forced to tre the history of the Pleiades as a bit of obsolete folk-lare. discussing the subject of the two groups of Pelciates ca the handles of the divining cup of Nestor, he says that it is a take to suppose that Homer by Pelciades meant "doves mistake which Mr. Gladstone has also made in his Homer. Studies), and he explains that the cup had two clusters of seren stars represented on it. Many persons, he says, are puzzles the prominence thus given to those stars, but in early times ther were regarded as very important, and left their impress on es mythology, and he also shows that they once regulated the tia

of sowing, and the season for navigation. He goes at great ength into the question in his Deipnosophists; and I invite the ttention of those who wish to know something as to the early history and influence of the Pleiades to the work in question.

As Plutarch says that the great feast of Isis was always held it the time" when the Pleiades are most conspicuous," and I ound that the month of Athyr, in which it was held, was decribed as "the shining season of the Pleiades," I sent, in 1865, a copy of my pamphlet to Prof. C. P. Smyth, before he went to Egypt, and invited his attention to the probability that hose stars were in some way indicated by the Great Pyramid. The recent discovery by Mr. Penrose that the Hecatompedon si'e of the Parthenon, and other archaic Greek temples were oriented by the Pleiades, lends a new interest to this subject.

This diversity of orientation has had a far wider range than has been supposed, for nearly forty years ago it was noticed in the Mississippi mounds by Squier and Davis; and was long ago detected in several early churches of the south of England, a very remarkable fact, which I think was referred to At the Anthropological Institute. As it greatly surprised and Interested me, I made a careful note of it when it was published, which I regret that I cannot now hunt up, as I am preparing to leave England for the winter; but as the point cannot have escaped the attention of others, some one among your readers will perhaps be able to give you further information as to it.

NATURE of August 31 contains an interesting letter on the importance of the study of the date of the birth of Rama by competent astronomers. For several years I have been trying to find out what was the precise time of the year when Kartikeya was born-" The Birth of the War God" does not refer to it. There is a most interesting subject which is new to science, the connection of the Pleiades with the nativity of divine heroes. I think I can at last supply a clue to the Star of Bethlehem (which Kepler imagined to have been a conjunction of planets !) in "the Christmas Stars," of the negroes, and other African races. September 7. R. G. HALIBURTON.

Early Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations.

It seems of interest to record that the Chinese, neglectful of the sciences as they are nowadays, nevertheless suggested the Darwinian interpretation of animal colours as early as the ninth Century A. D.

Twang Ching-Shih, in his Yú-yáng-táh-tsú (Maútsin's edition, bok xvii. p. 7 Kyoto, 1697), describes a trap-door spider as follows:-"Whenever rain has fallen, the ground facing my book-room has plenty of the 'tien-táng' (that is, the 'tumblingdefender'). Its nest, commonly so-called, is as deep as an earthworm's hole, and the network is finished in it. The earthy lid of the nest is quite even with the ground, and of the size of elm-samara. The animal turning upside down, guards the lid, and thus watching for the appearance of flies and caterpillars, it readily turns up the lid and catches them. As soon as it retreats the lid is closed again. The lid is coloured like the ground." Apparently from this and other facts the observer has attained a revelation of the truth, which he expresses thus :-"In general, birds and mammals necessarily conceal forms and shadows by their assimilation with various objects. Consequently, a snake's colour is similar to that of the ground; the hare in the Imperata grass is unavoidably overlooked, and the hawk's hue agrees with that of the trees."

It

Twang Ching-Shih was a man of great erudition, and versed in poetry; he died in the period of Hwi-Cháng (841-846 A.D.), leaving us the work cited above, consisting of thirty books. is highly commended by Sie Tai-Kang, a distinguished encyclopædist of the seventeenth century A.D., as one of the two Crowns of all Miscellanies."

KUMAGUSU MINAKATA.

15, Blithfield-street, Kensington, September 26.

A Remarkable Meteor.

A METEOR of surpassing brilliancy and great size was seen here on the 1st inst., just before 10 p.m. The course seemed to be from westwards towards the north-east. The meteor was of a vivid blue colour, and it lighted with its splendour the whole visible horizon. In a clear blue sky the harvest moon, on the wane, was at the time shining brightly.

On disappearance the blue fiery ball left behind it for some seconds a long luminous trail, like that which follows the flight of a rocket. Travelling apparently at a considerable height, the ball was observed at much about the same time at Llanefydd, amongst the hills in North Wales. A correspondent wiites thence: "Last night (the 1st inst.) I witnessed a remarkable meteor. I always, these moonlight nights, go up the Freith just before 10 p.m. I went up last night; it was just like day (the effect of the moon shining in the clear air of the hills). Just when I was on the top, turning to come down, and looking up the valley, the place suddenly became lit up with a blaze of intense blue light. I thought it was a tremendous lightning flash; but as it lasted too long for tha', I looked, and then saw what it was. There was a meteor falling just behind Tan-y-Gurt Mountain, as bright apparently as the sun. It was a globe of flame as large as an ordinary football, and of a light blue colcur. 1 saw the ball for about as long as a rocket takes when falling. The ball was very much like an enormous rocket, and afterwards there was an appearance just like a stick falling from the flame. The meteor came from the west, travelled towards the north-east, and fell perpendicularly." My correspondent adds: "The meteor did not shoot from any radiant known to me." Worcester, October 4.

J. LLOYD BOZWARD.

THIS meteor was distinctly seen at Driffield, East Yorkshire. It proceeded from a point about 45° altitude in the west, and passed towards south south-west at an angle of about 40°, disappearing at an altitude of about 20° in the south-west. Duration two seconds; slow motion. A trail of yellowish-red sparks appeared on both sides (top and bottom) as it travelled forward. Several letters appear in the Yorkshire Post of the 5th inst. from persons who saw it in Yorkshire.

J. LOVEI.

accomplished. The earlier workers in the field laboured under the disadvantage of having to deal with comparatively scanty material, mostly scattered in private collections over large areas at a time when intercommunication was far from easy. Nowadays these old collections with their type-specimens have for the most part found their way into the museums of the principal cities. Moreover, not only may they freely be examined on the spot, but sometimes, we are glad to know, are allowed, under proper precautions, to be removed for the purpose of comparison with types preserved elsewhere. altered circumstances and the acquisition of new specimens have not merely aided, but even provoked the revision, rectification, and completion of the labours of bygone times.

These

The two articles before us are examples-the one of supplementary, the other of both supplementary and. revisionary work.

To take them in their order :-
:-

Dr. Dreger's paper is the first of a projected series in which it is intended to treat of the fauna of the tertiary beds at Häring in so far only as it has not already been dealt with. Any conclusions Dr. Dreger may have come to concerning the exact age of these deposits, which Gumbel considered to be the equivalents of our Bembridge and Headon beds, are reserved till the whole of the material has been disposed of.

The fossils are in a very bad state of preservation, being much crushed, distorted, and broken the more "Die Gastropoden von Häring bei Kirchbichl in Tirol." Von Dr. Julius Dreger. (Annalen des K K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, Bd. vii. 1892, pp. 11-34; Pls. i.-iv.). "Die Gastropoden der Schichten von St. Cassian der südalpinen Trias." Von E. Kittl. 11. Theil. (Ibid. pp. 35-97, Pls. 5. (Wien: A. Hölder.)