or more plates devoted in part to the illustration of the earlier stages of our butterflies, while the text has constantly improved from that point up to the present time; a far larger proportion of the space being now occupied in treating of the biology and distribution of butterflies, and with their climatic and seasonal variations-the latter a study in which our author has taken the first rank in this country.

The first series of parts was completed in five years; the second has occupied more than ten for its issue. But the value of the second, with twenty-seven out of its fifty-one plates devoted in part to illustrations of the earlier stages, is beyond comparison more valuable than the first series, in which only nine out of the fifty plates contained any illustration whatever of the earlier conditions of the existence of these animals. As to the execution of the plates, no iconography of the present time excels them; in faithfulness and sobriety of color, in gracefulness of disposition upon the plates, in artistic execution and in faithful representation of the minutest details, they surpass anything that has been given to the world from the most famed ateliers of Europe. There is little inequality about them. They are uniformly exquisite, and lepidopterists the world over are indebted to Mr. Edwards for the faithfulness and luxury of his illustrations. By text and plates he has enriched the natural history of our native butterflies to such an extent, during the seventeen years in which these two volumes have been passing through the press, that the butterfly fauna of the United States is now quite as well known and illustrated as that of any equal region elsewhere, not excluding the long gleaned fields of Europe.

The manufacture of the book is equally creditable, with the single exception of the difficulty of reference. By the system adopted it becomes necessary to refer to plate 'Papilio 8B,' for instance, instead of to a single number. So also the text is unpaged, excepting in a few instances where it is separately paged throughout a single part, as in 'Lycaena II.-III.' The author's intention is that at the close of the volumes text and plates shall be re-distributed and bound in an order fixed by himself, and then numbered in pencil; and he gives, therefore, a numerical order to the plates. But this is a most unsatisfactory method, and there is no index to the volume, so that any reference to the text is troublesome and vague.

In closing the first series of his Butterflies,' Mr. Edwards gave what he termed a 'Synopsis of North American butterflies,' with ample reference to the literature of the subject. This he has wisely discarded at the close of the present volume, substituting therefor a merely nominal list of species.

In this, however, in which the number of species is raised from 512 to 612, he retains in nearly every particular the antique classification adopted in the first volume. The studies which Mr. Edwards has undertaken upon the history of butterflies have rendered him an authority on that subject, and his skill in field investigation has been unexcelled. This, however, constitutes no claim whatever to any knowledge of the structure itself of butterflies, upon which classifications must be founded; and as he has shown no such knowledge in his writings, we can only regret that he did not altogether omit this list, since it carries an authority to the public eye which it does not possess, the classification being not only faulty in many minute particulars, but fundamentally false to nature.

LIPPS'S PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES.

THIS firmly and clearly-written volume is the work of a very acute and able man. No competent person will read it without wishing to read the other work to which its author refers,-his 'Grundthatsachen des seelenlebens' (Bonn, 1883). One can never do justice to a psychologist without knowing the ensemble of his views; and as we have not yet seen the larger volume, our own notice better be descriptive than critical. There are two essays in the work before us; one on visual spaceperception, the other on the essence of musical harmony and discord; and both stick close to the particular matter in hand. In the space-perception essay, these topics are treated of: the nature of seen distance, the continuity of the field of view as connected with the filling out of the blind spot, and the space intervals seen between different retinal spots when the latter are excited. On all these subjects Dr. Lipps's views are thoroughly original. To take the last one first; it is an empirical fact that (distance and eye-position being equal) an object appears of about the same size to us, no matter on what part of the retina its image falls; why is this so? why, on the whole, do equal retinal distances correspond to equal extensions seen? The simplest answer is that they have an inborn tendency to do so, of which we can give no farther account. This answer is nowadays unpopular-notwithstanding the very great ability of some of those who defend it, first because it is the fashion to substitute genesis for innateness everywhere in our explanations just now, and second because there are variations in the judgments of size, shape, distance apart, etc., which we get from the same retinal tracts, under different Psychologische studien. Von Dr. THEODOR LIPPS. Heidelberg. Weiss, 1885, 161p.

Dr.

circumstances, and these variations seem often in a singular way to conform to what they would be like if the retinal excitements acted on the mind by suggesting space determinations learned in some other way. Even should the retinal tracts have innate feelings of extension of their own, the variations in question force us to admit that the innate extensions etc., are often overpowered by the suggestion of other and different ones. Thus the nativistic school of explanation is replaced by the 'empiristic' school, as Helmholtz calls it. The experiences, whose suggestions prove themselves to be so much more powerful than anything else, are, for these authors, on the whole, experiences of motion. The movements of the eyeball are the deus ex machina which shall solve all riddles. The excessive intricacy and delicacy of the facts to be interpreted can be estimated by the differences of opinion that still exist among the interpreters many of them men of as great ability as our century has shown in any intellectual field. Lipps now rushes into their midst, and deals blows against the whole movement-theory that ought really to warm the hearts of its doubters. Whatever it be that measures off the field of view and establishes directions and distances between the impressions we get from retinal points, it is, according to him, neither muscular sensation nor feeling of innervation,—it must be something else. Let us say here, that however it may fare with Dr. Lipps's positive theories, this critical onslaught of his is a permanent achievement from which it will be hard for the muscle-theory to recover. 'Feelings of movement' and 'unconscious inferences' have too long run riot and had it their own way in the philosophy of vision. Being more or less hypothetical entities, one may construct very much what one pleases with them, and hitherto they have turned a deaf ear to critics. The champions of the feelings of movement can, however, hardly ignore Dr. Lipps's manner of calling their protégés to account.

Dr. Lipps's own theory is nativistic to the extent of admitting that if ever retinal impressions are discriminated at all, their difference will (by an inexplicable law) appear as a difference of position. It is however empiristic' first, in that it assumes that no discrimination would occur at all unless differently colored extended objects were what excited the retina in the first instance; and second, in that it makes the average extension of the objects determine the extension at which the various excited retinal points shall appear to us apart. Adjacent points everywhere on the retina are more likely to have a portion of one object than the boundary of two objects cast upon them. Distant points are more likely to be excited by different

objects than by the same object. Distant points will tend then rather to be discriminated; adjacent points rather to remain fused together. The object-experiences of intermediate points will have helped partly to separate them, partly to keep them together. The author seems to think that with a greater tendency of two points to be discriminated will go a feeling of their greater, and with a lesser tendency, a feeling of their lesser, distance apart-a point which he has not made theoretically sufficiently clear.

The tendency to be fused together until discriminated is for Dr. Lipps fundamental. That the borders of the blind spot should give images that are fused, and run into each other, that are without breach of visual continuity between them, is nothing peculiar. Every part of the retina is similarly continuous with every other, even distant, part. We see then space continuous over the blind spot. How much we see there is determined by the general law of discrimination. The two borders of the spot receive images sometimes of the same, sometimes of different objects, and the balance of their tendencies to fuse and separate is what will determine their apparent distance apart. A close study of the actual phenomena of the blind spot is apparent in this section.

The section on the perception of the third dimension, depth, or distance, is properly an expansion of Ferrier's commentary on Berkeley. Berkeley said we cannot see distance. Ferrier, the metaphysician, said we can see space only between two things both of which we see. We cannot see our own eye; ergo we cannot see the space between it and anything else. But such space is what is meant by distance; ergo we cannot see distance. Dr. Lipps enforces this by the most remorseless logic, denying that there is any properly so called visual perception of the third dimension at all. There is merely a conceptual knowledge of it. He makes a brave attempt to explain away the apparently direct sensational character of this knowledge, as when we look, for example, into the stereoscope; and he makes a heavy attack on Stumpf as the ablest advocate of a direct feeling of depth. He carries the discussion to a point, as it seems to us, where it becomes largely a matter of words. To admirers of Berkeley, however, it may be said, that nowhere has the original negative Berkeleian doctrine about distance received anything like such able support as this.

In the essay on musical discord, our author reverts to the old-fashioned theory of a subtle sense for the incongruity of the rates of vibrations of the notes simultaneously heard. He shows by an interesting experiment how hard it is to hear one rhythm made outside of us, and to carry on a differ

ent incommensurate rhythm ourselves, whether by movement, or inward time keeping. Helmholtz it is known explains discord by 'beats,' harmony by their absence; and melody he explains by the 'affinity' of the consecutive notes, i. e., the presence in them of identical over-tones. All these theories Dr. Lipps denies, to touch the essence of the matter; and reduces harmony, discord, and melody to the single positive principle of felt congruence or incongruence of vibratory rates. The paper is too technical to be gone into in more detail. All musical æstheticians should read it. It closes a little book, which, for acuteness, clearness and vigor, has not been surpassed for many a long year.

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

It appears from the latest reports we have seen that the new star in the Andromeda nebula (31 Messier) to which attention was first generally called by Hartwig's telegram, was discovered independently by several observers, one at least antedating Dr. Hartwig. Dun Echt Circular No. 98 announces that it was seen by Mr. Isaac W. Ward on August 19, and by M. Lajoye at Rheims, August 30. Baron von Spiessen at Winkel, in Prussia, seems to have noticed it on the evening of August 30, about 94h., communicating his observation to Dr. Deichmüller by mail. On August 31, at 10h. 20m. Berlin mean time (before the arrival of Hartwig's telegram), Dr. Oppenheim turning his 3 inch comet seeker upon the nebula, noticed the new star-like nucleus and estimated it to be between the 5th and 6th magnitude. The new star was also independently discovered by G. W. Middleton, at Mexbro' Common, England, on September 3. Hartwig telegraphed the peculiar appearance of the nebula from Dorpat at 10h. 15m., August 31. We have the testimony of different observers that the star was not there in the early part of August. Hartwig estimated it at 7th magnitude on August 31, Oppenheim making it 5th to 6th magnitude, and Lamp 7.4 magnitude on the same evening. On September 1, and for several days following, it was variously estimated from the 6th to 7th magnitude, and since that time it has gradually grown fainter, the latest estimate (by Mr. Skinner, with the transit circle of the naval observatory, September 30) making it of about 9 magnitude. On September 2 it was reported visible to the naked eye. In color it was called red and orange during the first week in September, but it now appears nearly white. We learn from the Athenaeum that Mr. Maunder examined the star with the large spectroscope of the Greenwich observatory, describing the spectrum as of precisely the same character as that of the nebula, i.e., it was perfectly continuous,

no lines either bright or dark being visible, and the red end wanting, so that there is at present no evidence of any outburst of heated gas, as was the case with the star T Coronae in 1866, and Nova Cygni in 1876.

The Andromeda nebula, though probably composed of a great number of very small stars, has never been resolved. The spectroscope seems to show that it is not gaseous. Assuming that the nebula is stellar in nature, and that the 14th magnitude is the upper limit of any one of its component stars, then a rise from the 14th to the 7th magnitude indicates an increase in brightness of 631 fold, which renders it very improbable that the star is one of the constituent parts of the nebula. It seems rather more probable that it is a variable or new star which happens to be in line with the nebula as seen from the earth.

The following observations of the Nova were made with the transit-circle of the naval observatory, and, by permission of the superintendent, are herewith communicated. The estimates of magnitude are differential with respect to the star W2 Oh, 969 which follows the Nova about 2m., and is assumed to be 9.0 mag. Photometric observations of this star would be desirable:

For the floating dome of the observatory at Nice it is proposed to employ a solution of chloride of magnesium of a density of 1.25, which will not freeze down to-40° C.

Comet 1885 II (Barnard). A conjecture having been expressed by Faye and Krueger that Barnard's comet might be periodic, Dr. Lamp, of Kiel, has computed elliptic elements and finds a period of 8,700 years. He remarks, however that, owing to the uncertainty in the single observations employed, his results can hardly be considered decisive, and the orbit may yet turn out parabolic.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

THE Italian Corvette Vettor Pisani, commanded by G. Columbo, recently completed a three years' circumnavigation of the globe, with a suitable outfit and instructions for scientific hydrographic and biological work. The vessel left Italy early in 1882, provided with the most improved apparatus for sounding with wire. The officers to whom zoological work was entrusted were specially instructed at the Naples zoological station in the methods necessary for making satisfactory collections. The regions visited included both coasts of South America, from Pernambuco on the east, south to Magellan Straits, and north to Panama, the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands, the China, Indian and Red seas, and so home. The results of the voyage are very satisfactory, many deep sea soundings having been taken, numerous charts corrected or resurveyed, general hydrographic information gathered, and a zoölogical collection accumulated which, for its fine state of preservation and preparation, is believed to exceed any collection ever made under similar circumstances.

The government of Chili has published an important work by Al. Bertrand, entitled Memoir on the Cordilleras and the Atacama Desert and adjacent regions,' which gives the result of explorations made during the period 1880-84, explains the system adopted, and maps on a large scale the region studied, beside giving numerous profiles. This work must form the foundation for any future discussion or description of the region acquired by Chili in the war recently terminated.

The last number of the Mittheilungen of the Vienna geographical society contains the annual summary of the president of geographical work (for 1884), beside the usual annual tables and reports. Among contributed articles is a valuable summary by Dr. Rink on the scientific work carried on in Greenland by the Danish government since 1876, and letters, nearly a year old, giving data on his last journey in Tsai-dam by Prjevalski. Breitenstein continues his interesting notes on Borneo, and especially on the Dyaks.

In the Bulletin of the Geographical society of Lisbon for 1883, but just distributed, Coelho has a long article on the chants and songs of Portuguese children, which have been collected by Senors Pires and Sequeira Ferraz. These have not only an ethnic interest for the anthropologist but the longer songs embalm fragments of popular tradition which have been sung by children without essential change from a very dim antiquity. Some of them are known to have existed in their present form as early as the 13th century. Probably the peasant life of the Iberian Peninsula has remained

less affected by the progress of civilization than that of any other area of equal extent inhabited by civilized man, and for this reason investigations into such topics are likely to have especial value.

The numbers of the Bulletin for 1885 contain articles on African exploration and on the island of Timor. Figueiredo also has an article on mediæval Portugal, with an excellent and interesting reproduction of a panorama of Coimbra as it appeared during the last quarter of the 16th century.

Some time since (Science No. 110) we referred to a journey by Mr. Richards of the east-central African mission in October, 1884, from Inhambane to the Limpopo River. The chief settlement of a tribe called Amagwaza, the town of Baleni was one of the localities sought, but want of time prevented the traveller from reaching it. We learn from the Missionary herald for September that on a second journey by Mr. Richards, beside visiting a large and hitherto untravelled area, was successful in reaching Baleni. He left Delagoa Bay on foot April 20, attended only by a Zulu convert and three porters. The Komati River, two hundred yards wide and thirty feet deep, was crossed about a day later in a dugout' canoe, and its course was followed for several days through unhealthy marshes swarming with insects. The river abounded with sharks, crocodiles and sea-cows. Leaving the river on the fourth day, a series of thirteen lakes was passed. Though there was no connecting stream at that season, the natives call this string of lakes the Liputa River, but there are often hills and bushy districts between the lakes. The country was hilly. On the seventh they emerged from the bush close to the Limpopo, and here Baleni was situated. Herds of cattle were visible in every direction, and clusters of small huts were very numerous. Manjobo or Majova, the ruling chief, has several kraals on the west and one on the east side of the river, which here runs through a low flat plain of indurated alluvium 'as hard as marble.' The river banks are about two yards high, the stream being about fifteen feet deep and two hundred yards wide. Five sea-cows and eight crocodiles were seen at the crossing. Manjobo's kraal on the east side is called Emkontweni, the place where the spear is stuck in the ground. The chief is next in authority to Umganu, the son and successor of the celebrated Umzila, is very old, bald, and good natured, and commands the army of Umganu. The hostilities between his people and the Chobbas, or Machappas, have ceased on the latter agreeing to pay tribute. Previously they had been subject to raids which were little more than massacres, only the children being saved alive to be sold as slaves

to the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay, or kept in slavery by the victorious Amagwazas. The kraal is on the Limpopo, about twelve miles north of the Shangan River, which enters the former from the eastward, and is otherwise known as the Luize or Mitti River. From a hill just eastward of the Shangan the plain of Baleni could be seen extending northwest and southeast as far as the eye can reach, and about twenty-five miles in width. In the rainy season the plain is an immense pool or lake, and all the kraals are deserted for several months. Corn and millet reach a fabulous height; sweet potatoes, peanuts, melons, pumpkins, beans and bananas all seemed to flourish exceedingly. The Shangan is salt, but good water can be had by digging. The people call themselves Ama Shangani, and all the adults speak more or less Zulu, which is the language of the court.' Thence to Inhambane took nine days through a most populous country. Bingwana, a kraal of about 5,000 inhabitants, is about four days from Inhambane on the river of the same name, a deep but narrow stream, abounding in sea-cows. The route was considerably south of the one taken in 1884.

NOTES AND NEWS.

THE following extract from a letter of Mr. Louis Pasteur, to Professor Jules Marcou, dated Arbois (Jura), France, Sept. 7, is kindly furnished us by Professor Marcou. "I take a great deal of pleasure in the thought that, on my return to Paris, I shall present to the Academy of sciences an account of what I believe to be a very valuable prophylactic treatment against hydrophobia, applicable after the accident both to man and dogs. Do you not know some feature of this terrible disease which may be peculiar in America? Is it of frequent occurrence there? Remember that I should have the courage to apply my treatment even on persons who, after being bitten, had made the journey from Paris to America-although under these conditions at least two weeks must have elapsed since the accident-so great is my confidence in my method. However, I shall feel more sure of myself when I have made a large number of trials on man, which I shall do in 188586. I have as yet made but one trial-on an Alsatian boy, whose mother brought him to me. He had been bitten horribly on the fourth of last July, and death by hydrophobia seemed unavoidable. Up to the present time I have excellent news of his health, although it is sixty-four days since the accident."

displayed by the public was extremely little; the attendance averaging from fifty to a hundred. The following papers were read: Facts in regard to the present state of American forestry, State of forest legislation in the United States, by N. H. Egleston; Forests of California, Prentice Mulford; The Middlesex Fells, Elizur Wright; Massachusetts forestry law, Dr. George B. Loring; Arbor day, B. C. Northrop; Forest economy in Canada, Walnut culture in southern latitudes, Hon. H. J. Joly; What have the different states done in regard to their forests? J. S. Hicks; The forest laws of Colorado, E. T. Ensign; What are the requisites of an effective forest fire legislation, S. W. Powell ; Spark arresters for locomotives, J. N. Lander; Relation of forests to floods, T. P. Roberts; Lumbering interests-their dependence on systematic forestry, J. E. Hobbs ; Charcoal interests and the maintenance of forests, John Birkinbine; Lumbermen's waste as a fertilizer, B. E. Fernaw; Trees as educators, Prof. Edw. North; Arbor day celebration in schools, J. B. Peaslee; Seacoast planting its importance, practicability, methods; August planting of evergreens, W. C. Strong; Recuperation of barrens by tree planting, B. G. Northrop; The osier willow and red cedar, E. Hersey; On the distribution of economically important resiniferous pines in the southern United States, and on the production of naval stores, C. Mohr; Profits of forest culture, B. P. Poore; The new version of the children in the wood, Rev. A. D. Mayo; Needs of a national forest policy, Hon. Warner Miller; Profits of forest culture, State of forest legislation in the state of New York, Hon. H. R. Low.

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The American astronomical society of Brooklyn, N. Y., issued in August last the first number of its publications, bearing the title Papers read before the American astronomical society,'-a pamphlet of thirty-two octavo pages. It appears

to be a selection from the papers read before the society during the year 1884, and the first half of 1885; and among the papers we find, The disappearance of the water and atmosphere of the moon,' by Prof. George W. Coakley; On the structure and age of the universe,' by Garrett P. Serviss: Relation of sun-spots to meteorology,' by G. D. Hiscox. It is a matter of congratulation that a society in this country devoted solely to astronomy is to be found in such a flourishing condition as to be able to print its proceedings so promptly.

-Dr. D. G. Brinton of Philadelphia, has now in press the sixth volume of his Library of aboriginal American literature. It is the annals of the Cakchiquels, written by a native about 1560, and never