by the great advances made in the apparatus both for attack and for defence in recent years. The absurd inadequacy of most if not all of our present fortifications is pointed out; for those of them that were erected about 1812 had only to withstand a 42-pound projectile fired with a muzzle energy of 800 foot-tons by a 10-pound charge of powder, and those built at the outbreak of the rebellion had only to withstand a 450-pound projectile fired with a muzzle energy of 9,000 foot-tons by a 130-pound charge of powder. The 16-inch rifle of 1886, which is 45 feet 6 inches long, weighs 115 tons, and fires a projectile weighing 2,300 pounds with a muzzle energy of 55,000 foot-tons by the explosion of 800 pounds of powder, would make short work of the best of them. The bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 is cited as an instance of what might quite readily happen to us. The defences of Alexandria were quite similar to ours, and their armament far superior to any that we have; yet eight English ironclads made their evacuation necessary after one day's bombardment.

Our forts, excellent during the masonry and earthen ages, have never been replaced in the iron age. On the other hand, twenty-eight of the Gruson cast-iron cupolas, which have been found efficient against the heaviest projectile, have been constructed in the harbors of Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Holland within a few years. Lieutenant Griffin's treatment of modern seacoast defences is very thorough, and, we should fancy, authoritative. He appends to his article a very valuable table, showing the name, age, displacement, draught, speed, class, thickness of armor and style of armament, of every foreign vessel available for offensive operations against the United States. The list is most imposing, and includes 71 English ships, 50 French, 14 German, 24 Russian, 19 Italian, 15 Turkish, 13 Austrian, 7 Danish, 7 Dutch, 5 Spanish, 6 Brazilian, 3 Japanese, and 3 Chilian. In the face of all this, "since 1875 not one penny has been appropriated for the construction of seacoast defences. The annual appropriation of $100,000 for preservation and repairs, increased to $175,000 since 1881, has not even suf ficed to preserve our unfinished works, and our defences are actually in a worse condition to-day than they were ten years ago."

METEOROLOGY IN CALIFORNIA.

THE ninth biennial report of the California state board of health (Sacramento, 1886) contains, besides much immediately pertinent to its office, several valuable descriptions and tables concerning meteorological data, which the members of

the board wisely deem of importance in their professional studies. First in value is a long table of monthly rainfall, both for the past year and for the mean of several years, compiled by Lieut. W. A. Glassford, in charge of the Pacific coast division of the signal service. This is similar to the newspaper list prepared by the same officer, to which reference was lately made in Science, but it is here presented in more extended and convenient form. The weak spot in this table is the absence of any indication that the numerous stations possess good gauges, uniformly placed and well observed. On account of the difficulty in identifying the position of many of the stations, it would be of much service to readers at a distance if such a table as this could be reduced to graphic form in a series of monthly maps. They would necessarily be only provisional for the present, as some records are much shorter than others, so that the means are not properly comparable; but even these values would doubtless present a truer picture of west-coast precipitation than any yet prepared. It is to be hoped that similar tables and diagrams of temperature means may also be attempted.

Sergt. J. A. Barwick of the Sacramento signal office contributes a review of the meteorological conditions of his city for the past year, and a table of its temperature and rainfall since 1853 and 1849 from records early established by Drs. Logan and Hatch. The mean seasonal temperatures for 33 years are, spring, 59°.5; summer. 71°.7 ; autumn, 61°.5; winter, 48°.3; for the year, 60°.2. The extremes of the mean annual are 57°.5 (1880) and 629.8 (1864). The absolute maxima rise to 103 or 105° in July and August, and the minima fall to 21° or 22° in January or February. The mean annual rainfall for 38 years is 19".64, varying from 8.44 (1877) to 34.92 (1844): the mean for July is 0".03; August, 0.003; December, 4.65; January, 3.84; February, 2.80; March, 2.91; counting the years by seasons, from July to June inclusive, the annual amounts range from 4.71 (1850-51) and 7.79 (1863-64) to 36.00 or a little more (1849-50, 1852-53, 1861-62). These pronounced contrasts of seasonal fall and great variations in the annual total show how completely unlike the western coast climate is the eastern and central. Sergeant Barwick presents also brief monthly notes of significant features, all of interest and value, but easily increased in both respects if the phenomena described were viewed in a broader way, from a more physical and less statistical stand-point. Annual and monthly averages show general planetary or continental relations; monthly extremes usually result from cyclonic disturbances, and should be stated in connection

with their transitory causes; diurnal variations, when not controlled or destroyed by importation of external conditions in the winds of strong gradients, are always significant of local geographic surroundings, and cannot be too closely examined for every separate station. Such local characteristics are, without doubt, known to many of our signal-service observers, but they have not often found their way into print. The annual reports of the chief signal officer hardly have room for them; the regrettable cessation of the signalservice notes' withdraws a fitting medium for their publication; scientific journals and local health or engineering reports may well open their pages to such material, when adequately prepared., Three general papers should also be mentioned, The climatology and diseases of southern California,' by H. S. Orme, M.D., of Los Angeles, president state board of health; Report on the climatology of Surprise and Goose Lake valleys,' by Dr. G. M. Kober, U. S. A., stationed at Fort Bidwell; and The coast climate of California,' by J. W. Robinson, M.D., of Crescent City. Dr. Orme mentions the pronounced control of the sea-breeze over the coast temperatures. During hot days, when thermometers in the interior rise to 115° to 125°, a stiff sea-breeze blows inland all along the southern coast, and prevents the littoral temperature from rising over 90°. He briefly mentions also a hot and dry wind, usually confined to limited localities a few miles inland, and frequently issuing from the Santa Ana pass in the Coast range, whence it takes its name. This is of particular interest, as it suggests the physical identity of the wind with the Foehn of Switzerland; and further details of its occurrence will therefore be impatiently awaited by those who are already tired of having to quote so largely from foreign sources for illustration of phenomena that certainly only need intelligent and discriminating observation for their discovery in our own country. The same expectation is raised by Dr. Kober's brief report on Surprise valley, a flat depression in the north-eastern corner of the state, sixty miles north and south by eight east and west, with elevation of 4,600 feet, enclosed by an ascending barren plateau on the east, and separated from Goose Lake valley on the west by the Warner range, 6,000 to 8,000 feet high. The valley is well described in its geological relations by Russell in the Fourth annual report of the geological survey,' and shown to be the dried bed of an old lake, whose highest shore-line forms a conspicuous feature on the valley slopes, 550 feet above the present shallow alkaline lakes on the valley floor. Dr. Kober's figures give a characteristic great

diurnal range of temperature, not uncommonly amounting to 50°; a relative humidity of 83 per cent in November, 1885, January and February, 1886, when 9".09 of the total 19".15 of precipitation occurs, according to a twenty-year record, contrasting strongly with the nearly absolute dryness of the summer: in September, 1885, the mean relative humidity was only 24.1 per cent, with a mean temperature of 64°. The winds show two diurnal maxima, indicating local control of their flow, a west wind from the Warner range, with highest velocity shortly after midnight ; and a southerly wind from the centre of the valley basin towards the high northern divide, with greatest strength just after noon. These directions clearly indicate the rhythmical flow of the cool, mountain, down-cast wind at night, and the warm, valley, up-cast wind by day. Winds of the Foehn species commonly known in the north-west as the Chinook — ought to be felt here with much distinctness; and a comparison of records at Fort Bidwell, in Surprise valley, with others at some of the settlements in Goose Lake valley, on the western side of the Warner range, would doubtless lead to their accurate definition.

Dr. Robinson's paper is of especial value in its desire to discriminate between the good and poor records of the various coast stations. We fear that his criticism on observations at military posts may be only too just. These observations are in many cases merely perfunctory, in obedience to orders from headquarters, and are here described as too often made, not by the post-surgeon, but by the hospital steward," who, from the recesses of his inner consciousness, draws up a report that reads well, but which has not the slightest foundation in fact." But in other cases great differences appear in neighboring records, where both observers are conscientious and painstaking: so that the variation must be laid, as it commonly may well be, to the instruments and their exposures. For example: Crescent City, on the coast, in latitude 42°, has two gauges: one is a five-inch square gauge, placed near the shore, at low level, and in line with a depression that leads an indraught of rainy winds from the sea; the other is a two-inch circular gauge, half a mile away at the lighthouse on a promontory, sixty feet over the ocean. From September, 1885, to May, 1886, inclusive, the first gauge collected 105".28, and the second only 57′′.69. Along with critical comparisons such as these, we regret to see the author's belief in the forest-control of rainfall. Rain-records have not yet been quoted in sufficient confirmation of this unwarranted conclusion; and even here we read, in regard to Crescent City, that the rainfall has diminished,

but "how much it is difficult to say, as observations conflict." Dr. Robinson also makes interesting reference to the winds of the coast, and describes the west winds of summer as greatly intensified by the (diurnal) heat of the interior valley, so that the sea-breeze is unusually strong over the passes that break down the elevation of the Coast range.

It is greatly to be wished that further detail should be presented of facts so interesting in themselves and so valuable in the physical description of our country. The suggestion made above concerning the cyclonic and local control of the weather elements is, it is believed, in a most profitable line for further work. Examples of similar weather-types, as indicated by recurrence of similar distribution of isobaric lines on the signal-office daily maps, should be brought together and discussed in search of their specific characteristics, instead of lost in the indiscriminate average of the monthly mean, itself of true value, but too often the end instead of the first step of the discussion. Local controls are found to prevail during anticyclonic weather, with high pressure and weak baric gradients: imported conditions appear with the approach and passage of cyclonic areas of low pressure and stronger gradients. Here is a wide field for observation and research. W. M. D.

CONSUMPTION IN PENNSYLVANIA. THE New York medical journal of Dec. 4 contains in full the exceedingly valuable contribution to the climatological study of consumption in Pennsylvania, by William Pepper, M.D., which was read at the third annual meeting of the American climatological association. In the inquiry which formed the basis of this paper, Dr. Pepper followed the plan adopted by Dr. Bowditch in investigating the same disease in Massachusetts in the years 1854–62. Dr. Bowditch, it will be remembered, found a law in the development of consumption in that state, which has for its central idea that the dampness of the soil of any township or locality is intimately connected with, and probably a cause of, the prevalence of consumption in that township or locality. Similar investigations, especially those of Dr. Buchanan in England, which were carried on in 1865, 1866, and 1867, confirm the views of Bowditch. In that country, where the subsoil was drained by sewers, and where the water-supply was improved, deaths from consumption diminished, falling 49 per cent in Salisbury, 47 in Ely, 43 in Rugby, and 41 in Banbury. With answers from physicians to twenty-eight questions propounded in a circular

6

by Dr. Pepper, and the statistics of the tenth census of the United States, together with the topographical map of Professor Lesley as a basis, maps have been prepared showing the prevalence of consumption in Pennsylvania counties, and the relation between such prevalence and elevation, and mean annual temperature and rainfall. One of these maps is given in the journal referred to: the others will be published in the Transactions of the association. It is noticeable that those portions of the state where phthisis is rarest are the most elevated, having a general altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 feet, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and that its mortality increases as the altitude becomes less. In Philadelphia the wards having the least elevation, greatest density of population, and most inferior water-supply, furnish the greatest mortality from phthisis. The answers to the inquiries received from the state at large do not seem to indicate excessive soil moisture as the main causal condition of consumption in the state. A number of individual cases are given, in most of which damp and otherwise unsanitary conditions existed in and around the houses in which repeated cases occurred. This inquiry is a most timely one, as the tendency of the times seems to be to ignore conditions such as are here described, and to account for the disease only by the introduction of the bacilli of Koch. That these are the direct cause but few doubt, though unsanitary surroundings and heredity are important predisposing

causes.

THAYER'S GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON.

THE only special dictionary in the English language hitherto available for students of the Greek New Testament has been a translation of Cremer's Biblisch-theologisches wörterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Gräcität.' This is not only very inconvenient in its arrangement, but is justly chargeable with a certain vagueness in its definitions. We think, therefore, that Professor Thayer has rendered an incalculable service to a numerous class of students by opening to them the treasures of German erudition to be found in Grimm's 'Clavis.' But he has done vastly more than this. Almost every page of the noble volume bescholarship, his profound learning, and his confore us shows such signal traces of his critical scientious labor, as to make it only a matter of simple justice that the book should bear his name. In regard to the technical and theological aspects of the work, we have neither the desire nor the competence to pronounce an opinion; but, as a

A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament, being Grimm's Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti. Tr. by JOSEPH HENRY THAYER, D.D. New York, Harper, 1887. 4°.

monument of Greek lexicography, we consider that it reflects the highest honor upon American scholarship. After a careful comparison of results obtained from the long-continued use of other Greek lexicons, we feel constrained to pronounce the present one a marvel of accuracy. In his modest preface the editor expresses a keen sense of the shortcomings of his work, and seeks to enlist the co-operation of fellow-laborers to help rid it of every remaining blemish. Surely all who profit by his labors must rejoice to be able to serve him in this way. We will accordingly make such few suggestions as have occurred to us in the course of our examination of the volume.

In the summary of the interminable discussion about the distinction between βούλομαι and θέλω, which is found upon p. 286, it may be advísable to quote also the opinion of such an eminent Hellenist as the late Professor Shilleto. He states in a note to Demosthenes (De falsa legatione, 348, 14) that in Attic writers Bobhopal implies a positive wish, and 02ʊ the merely negative idea of willingness, having no objection. This is the view also of Sauppe, on Demosthenes (24, 3), who cites to the same effect Gottfried Hermann (Zimmermann, 1835, p. 299).

The very unusual expression ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων, which is found in John viii. 44, may be illustrated by the example of the same idiom in Thucydides (ii. 42). where it is opposed in signification to kovos. It occurs also upon a bronze tablet containing a decree of the senate and people of Assos, in honor of Germanicus, discovered in the course of the explorations made upon that site by the Archaeological institute of America (Clark's Report upon the investigations at Assos, p. 134). It is there translated, at their own expense;' but the rendering, in a private capacity,' would seem to be more in conformity with the other instances of its

use.

In the text the statement is made that the word Karapy is found frequently in Paul's writings, who uses it twenty-five times; while elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only twice; viz., in Luke xiii. 7 and in Hebrews ii. 14. We recollect that this exceptional use by Paul of one word is referred to by Rev. Robert Aris Wilmott, in his charming little volume on the pleasures of literature, as characteristic of his style. This would seem to make the word a proper candidate for a place among the words peculiar to Paul, contained in Appendix iv. 6, unless that term is intended by the editor to be restricted to words used by him alone among the New-Testament writers.

Under the word how we are told that it nowhere occurs in a good sense, unless either the adverb ev, or an accusative of the thing, is

IT is with genuine pleasure that the critic takes hold of a volume like the present, so daintily gotten up with illustrations made for the book, and evidently the work of a practised hand. Then the story is told in such a simple and attractive manner, that one unconsciously drifts into the places of the astronomers, and feels each mosquitobite as keenly as though he had actually experienced the bites in the flesh.

The journey was undertaken in 1860, before the days of railroads in that part of the continent, or, indeed, of steamboats with the exception of the solitary stern-wheeler on the Red River, which broke down before our voyagers returned. The portion of the route lying beyond Fort Garry the site of the now live city of Winnipeg — was made in the North canoe, a giant of its kind, which had been constructed years before for the accommodation of Sir George Stimson. Delay after delay occurred, for in even such a big canoe one could not brave the waves of Winnipeg with impunity. Then the current of the Saskatchewan proved to be unusually swift. The result of this combination was, that on the day of the eclipse the observers had not reached their destination : nor. in fact, had they advanced much beyond the outskirts of the eclipse belt. However, there was nothing for it but to get out on the first bit of solid ground that showed itself above the everlasting flooded marsh. An alcohol can on top of four stakes served as a pedestal for one telescope, while a birch-tree with lopped-off branches did similar duty for the other. Then, while the naturalist carefully beat time with a screw-driver, the clouds obscured the sun so that the astronomers who had dared hunger and mosquitoes could only note the minor phenomena of the last phase. It was provoking, but nothing could be done. By the time the instruments had been repacked, the river had risen higher and submerged the little island. A rest of one day, and then the homeward journey was begun. The delights of that portion of the trip can best be understood from the following: "Our long canoe-voyage of forty

The Winnipeg country; or, Roughing it with an eclipse party. By A ROCHESTER FELLOW. Boston, Cupples, Upham, & Co., 1886.

two days was over. We had been provisioned for thirty-five."

To add to their miseries, upon their arrival at Fort Garry they learned that the steamer had broken down so the return journey was made overland in a Red River ox-cart. However, it must have had its pleasant side, or our author could not have looked back with so much evident pleasure to the experience. Not the least striking part of the volume is a set of views contrasting the state of things then at Fort Garry with the bustle and noise of a street of the present Winni peg. The old Selkirk settlement has disappeared. But is not something better in its place?

COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY. STUDENTS of vertebrate and invertebrate anatomy, both in this country and Great Britain, and other parts of the world where the English tongue is spoken, have much to be thankful for of late years; for during the last four or five of them have appeared in their language, either through original contribution or by translation, an exceptionally fine series of helpful handbooks of their science. Chief among these we notice upon our shelves the compact though useful little volume by Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell: the admirable manuals of Professors Martin and Mosle; the welcomed and invaluable translation of Claus's 'Text-book of zoology,' by Adam Sedgwick, in two volumes; the popular series contributed by Prof. A. S. Packard; a carefully revised third edition of Flower's excellent work on the osteology of the Mammalia; the favorite of all students of vertebrate anatomy, Mivart's 'Cat;' the best of little books, T. J. Parker's Zoötomy,' the work of the younger representative of a house the members of which now hold an unrivalled place in the science of modern times, which their extraordinarily fertile and brilliant contributions to vertebrate morphology have easily gained for them. And now comes a welcome volume from the pen of the senior son of this same family, an English translation of Wiedersheim's famous handbook of vertebrate anatomy.

We

It is to this last handsomely gotten up, and, almost without exception, exquisitely illustrated work, that we would here now devote a few words by way of comment and criticism. find the book bound and printed with all that care for which the firm of Macmillan & Co. are so justly famous, and which they invariably bestow upon all their scientific publications. The work itself is divided into two parts, the first of which,

Elements of the comparative anatomy of vertebrates. Tr. by W. NEWTON PARKER, New York, Macmillan, 1886.

8°.

entitled the 'Introduction,' comprises fifteen pages only, while the second or 'Special part' claims the remainder of the volume.

One of the principal points open for criticism in the introduction lies in its extreme brevity, and it must stand to reason that much must be sacrificed when one attempts to present the structural characters in general, and the mode of development in so important a group as the Vertebrata, in so limited a space. The great wonder is, that, notwithstanding this, the subjects treated in this part have been rendered so clearly and so thoroughly comprehensible. Nine excellent figures illustrate it, and it is completed by a helpful 'Table showing the gradual development of the Vertebrata in time.'

We find the 'Special part' divided up into sections, leading off with A. Integument:' followed by B. Skeleton; then C. Muscular system; D. Electric organs;' E. Nervous system: F. Organs of nutrition;' 'G. Organs of respiration;' 'H. Organs of circulation;' and, finally, I. Urinogenital organs.' These several sections are found appropriately subdivided into other parts; and this plan has been found to answer the purposes both of the student and anatomist most admirably. Following as a natural sequence to such an arrangement as this, it affords, so far as the make-up of a volume is concerned, an excellent opportunity to offer a concise and convenient table of contents. presenting us with the several headings and divisions of the treatise, which has been done in the present instance. And to one at all familiar with the subject, this table of contents, supplemented, as it here is, by a wonderfully well-arranged and complete index (which latter contains but few omissions), leaves but little to be desired on this score. One word, however; for students are critical, and all are not thoroughly informed upon anatomical synonymes: so in future editions of this work it would be better to have index and text agree in every particular, and such errors, for instance, as indexing 'adrenal, 161,' and on p. 161 find suprarenal' only referred to, removed.

The section devoted to the treatment of the integument, though very brief, is excellent, and has been fully brought up to our present knowledge of the morphology of this structure and its appendages, in the several groups of the Vertebrata.

As we might expect, a considerable share of the work (pp. 30-111) is devoted to the Skeleton,' and it is ably dealt with under two headings; viz., (I.) Dermal skeleton (pp. 30-33), and (II.) The endoskeleton. Under the latter we are presented with a capital discussion of the Theory of the segmentation of the skull,' a fitting introduc