The Reviewer.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 285, 14 July 1877, Page 6

The Reviewer.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE. Vol. 9.

The volume under notice is larger than any of its predecessors, and would have been still bulkier had the proceedings of the various societies and all the papers been printed. It consists of 700 pages, comprising 9-1 papers, the meteorological reports for the year, and a list of members. Of the seven societies Auckland contains the greatest number, then Otago and Wellington : but the greatest intellectual activity' is displayed by Wellington. The Hawke's Bay, Nelson, and Westiand societies have not between them contributed a single paper ; apparently they exist only in name. The total number of members is 850.

This volume is a creditable production, its contents varied, the amount of information conveyed enormous, and much of it extremely valuable. It is a question if the time has not already come when not every paper that is react before a branch society shall be published. The volume is growing very bulky, and if certain papers had been left out of the volume it would have been well both for author and reader. Many of the articles may be read with pleasure and profit even by those who lack all scientific training ; others are so technical as to be utterly unreadable except by specialists. The volume begins with a paper by Mr. Travers, M.H.R., " Notes on the Lake District of the Province of Auckland." It is a carefully-written record of a holiday trip to the geyser region, and reads like a chapter out of one of Murray's Handbooks of Travel. It contains very little of scientific interest. The second paper is also by Mr. Travers, " Notes of the Traditions and Manners and Customs of the Mori-Oris." It relates many interesting facts about the offshoot of the Maori race which inhabit the Chatham Islands, and of whom less than 30 now remain. Canoe burial was common among them. Savages who have migrated from some far distant land think fondly of it, and imagine that when they die their ghosts will revisit their old homes ; it is their Heaven •, e.g., the Maori came from Hawaiki, in the North, and they believe that the spirits of the dead visit the Reinga by going to the North Cape, and there descending the face of a beetling cliff. It was only natural for a people who left their old homes by means of canoes, to think that the ghosts of their dead would need canoes to carry them back. Hence arose the wide-spread custom of setting the body afloat in a canoe. If a chief died inland, a canoe and paddles were made, and the corpse was put in it ; but in such cases the ghost was allowed the trouble not only of paddling his own canoe, but also of launching it. This practice is common among the natives of Madagascar, Australia, Polynesia, among the Maori, the Mori-Ori, and many others. The Mori-Ori used to kill every child that cried while it was being born, a strange custom which prevails among other races. The MoriOri believed that if a body were crushed by a rock, its ghost was completely annihilated, and would never come back to harm the living ; i this belief is also common to many races. Captain Mair treats of the influence of the atmosphere on the geysers, but adduces very little evidence in support of the belief that he has in common with the Maori, that the 1 geysers are greatly affected by the changes of the climate. It is strange that this question has not been definitely decided long ere now. The fishermen near Stromboli are said to use the eruptions as barometers to foretell the weather, and the Icelanders believe that their geysers are directly affected by the weather. Captain Mair seems singularly destitute of any knowledge of hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, and pneumatics. Mr. Adams contributed a paper on Polynesia, containing a wild and utterly improbable theory. Mr. Barstow believes that the Polynesians, including the Maori, came from America, and were probably a race expelled from Peru. By far the most learned and rational papers on the " Whence of the Maori," are those of Mr. J. T. Thomson, who tried to show that the original starting place of the Maori was Southern India ; that from this spot swarms were given off, one swarm colonizing Madagascar, in the south-west, the other the Malay Peninsula, whence have sprung the Malay tribes of Samoa, the Kanaka, the Maori, the Mori-Ori, and many others. He culls facts in support of his theory from a study of their languages, their customs, and racial characteristics Mr. Thomson furnishes an elaborate and accurate paper on the "Colonial Standard Surveys," and Mr. Travers a criticism upon it which teems with errors. Mr. Skey, Government Analyst, whose really high attainments are not properly appreciated by the public, has made a very valuable discovery, , which he describes in his paper " On a : Modification of the Mercuro-lodide Test for the Detection of Alkaloidal or Albuminous Matters." By this delicate test he can discover narcotine, the poisonous agent of tobacco, in a solution containing one-millionth part of it. The test is also useful in detecting strychnine, morphia, veratria, and other poisons. Daily science is . rendering more and more dangerous the poisoner's art. The women who in the middle ages poisoned their husbands wholesale and with impunity, would, if now living, be found out and hung. Mr. J. O.

Crawford attempts to explain the origin of gold and silver in veins. It is remarkable and worthy to be read ; it shows so well how dangerous it is for any man to write on any part of science other than his own pet branch. By far the ablest paper is that by Frankland, "On the Simplest Continuous Manifolduess of two Dimensions and of Finite Extent." It is a really brilliant exercise in imaginary geometry. The science of imaginary geometry was created by Lobatschewsky, and has been studied by great mathematicians like Gauss, Helmholtz, and Sylvester. Space as we know it, is of three dimensions ; but geometers have conceived a space of four dimensions, and even of "n" dimensions. A space of two dimensions is here discussed. Helmholtz conceived that if beings could live in a space of two dimensions, and "in the surface of a sphere or pseudo-spherical saddleshaped surface," the axioms of Euclid would not then be true. Other mathematicians conceived that there might be worlds where the three angles of a triangle are either greater or less than two right angles ; where, if two parallel lines are produced they must meet, and where 2 and 2 do not make 4, but 3 or 5 or some other number. All of these are, to use Erankland's expression, " valid as analytical conceptions, all of them perfectly incapable of being realised in thought." Mr. Buchanan supplies an exhaustive paper on the botany of Kawau, the island home of Sir George Grey. Few people realise the immense amount of work and knowledge required for such a paper. Mr. Kirk has discovered several new plants, and Dr. Buller writes on the natural history of birds and reptiles. Dr. Hector, whose knowledge is so wonderfully vast, so varied, and so accurate that humbler ordinary minds are awed by it, might proudly exclaim with the old philosopher, " I take all knowledge to be my province"—has re-dis-covered a petrel, and discovered several new fishes, one of which (an eel) he calls Muraana Krulli, after the popular German Consul in Wellington. Dr. Hector also writes on New Zealand Crustacea, and on the native dog. His last paper is on the Cetacea (whales, porpoises, and dolphins); his researches in the Cetacea rival, and probably exceed, in value those of Struthers and Eschricht. Mr. Haast, E.R.S., contributes thx-ee papers on the Cetacea. During the year it was repox-ted that the perfect skull of a moa had been found at Tauranga. It proved to be the skull of a whale maxiy feet in length. Captain Campbell Walker's instructive lectxxres on State Forestry, aud Mr. Blair's papers on the " Building Materials of Otago," the first treating of stones, the second of woods, well deserve attentive perxxsal and reperusal. Besides the papers mentioned are many others of great value and scientific interest alike to the public and the specialists.

AUSTRALIANS ABROAD. A book published by Mr. George Robertson, of Melbourne, bearing the title, " Hasty Notes of a Flying Tx-ip with the Victorian Rifle Team in England and America in 1876," has received a rather amusing critique from a " A Vagabond" iix the Australasian. The author of the book is Captain Arthur Blannin, hon. secretai'y of the Victorian Rifle Association, who, in sixch capacity, paying his own expenses, accompanied the Victorian five on their late chivalrotxs exexxrsion to compete with and win fanxe from the other nations of the earth at Wimbledon and Creedmoor. "A far better title for this book," says the "Vagabond," " would have been ' Riflemen on the Rampage.' Although hardly adapted for Sunday school reading, it is written in a chax-mingly simple manner. The author takes you at once into his confidence and iixto the confidence of his conypagnons de voyage. Before you have got to St. Geox-ge's Sound on board the Bangalore with them, you appear to know all the personal peculiarities of each gallant rifleman. This book is decidedly modelled more after the American than the English style. It is evidently the work of a citizen of a new country, who despises old-fashioned notions and puts in 'his best licks in his own manner.' Thehumox-s of thevoyageintheßangalorearewell described. The ' boys' appear to have had a remarkably good time of it. They commexiced their fun at Adelaide, and kept it up steadily till they got to Galle. High wassail appears to have been held eveiw night,—indeed, the amount of drinking, with accounts of which this book is from fix-st to last filled, is something enormous. It is-one of the thix-stiest effusions I ever read, and clearly proves that where two or three Australians are gathered together there shall be shouting aixd draining of nob■blers. The author is to be thanked that he has spared us all gxxide-book descx-iption, and given us his own personal experience and those of his friends. We learn how they enjoyed themselves on shore at Adelaide and King George's Sound. They everywhere seem to have made the best of their time, and at Galle saw everything, from the cinnamon gardens to the nautch girls. At Adeix some of them had a wonderful x-ide around the fortress. In the Red Sea, theatricals, mock trials, and midnight merrymakings passed the time. " At Suez Captain Blannin left his companions and lingered a week in Egypt. He appears to have enjoyed himself very much in Cairo, and to have been more impressed with the bazaars and cafes chantants and divans on the Esbekieh than the Pyramids or the Sphinx. But our axxthor is evidently one of the xxew and irx-evex-eixt school of tx-avellers. He is the only writer I knew (not excepting myself, I have been as guilty as the rest) who, in describing Brindisi, has not referred to Brundusium and its ancient glories. You can make a page or two with sxxch description. But Captaiu Blanxxiu dismisses the anciexxt seaport thusly : —' I was not long in getting ashore, had some breakfast, and finding I had two hours before the train started, secured the services of a youthful guide and did Brindisi, and I found it ample time. It is a quiet old-fashioned town, something after the style of Geelong.' Vesuvius, Pompeii, and Hex-culaneum call forth no emotioxxs in our matter-of-fact Australian. One of

the only bits of sentiment in the book, however, is about the Neapolitan guide ' George." He aroused the captain's sympathy by a tale of his having ' seen better days,' ' had his home broken up,' &c, with the desired result of being lavishly treated to wine, and no doubt receiving an extra fee. Guides are privileged liars everywhere, and the ordinary Neapolitan is renowned as being the biggest liar and thief in Europe. Ergo, what is a Neapolitan guide? Our author scampered through the large cities of Italy. Venice alone appeared to impress him much. On the lake of Geneva he fell in with the members of a ' shooting feast' on the boat bound to Lausanne. Noticing the address on his luggage, he was asked if he was a rifleman, and on admitting it a scratch match, Australia versus Switzerland, was at once made up. Capt. Blannin was successful, and was decorated with the trophy, a cock's feather, which it is to be hoped he keeps. The author arrived at Wimbledon in time to see the conclusion of the shooting, and to find that the "Victorians, or Australians, as they were called there, had only secured £72 iu prizes. Our boys do not seem to have been ever happy in England ; although at ' home,' they found themselves strangers there after all. In the great world of London half-a-dozen Victorians are easily absorbed. After the shooting was over they lived together at the Bedford for a time, and devoted themselves to the weary business of sight-seeing. This seems to have involved a lot of drinking, and a general meet at the Criterion as a haven of refuge each night. Then two of the party started off ©n a flying trip to Paris, Brussels, and "Waterloo. They were very much shocked—innocent, young Victorians —at what thev saw at Mabille and Bullier's. "The team left for New York by the Algeria on the 12th August. They had a rough passage, and found that voyaging on the North Atlantic was a different thing to their experiences in the comparatively calm southern seas. On arriving at Jersey City, Major Sleep and Captain Blannin were despatched across the river to New York to obtain information, and the rest awaited their return. ' I can imagine our four Australians, rifle in hand, dismally keeping guard over their baggage on the dreary wharf in the dreariest of Now York suburbs, Jersey City. But the two spies they sent out fell ha with a good Samaritan. They called at the office of the American National Bine Association, in Broadway, to endeavor to see the president, who was not in. 'As we were leaving the office, a tall dark gentleman said, " Are you the Australian riflemen ?" "We are," said I, "part of them." "Ho," said he, " that's real nice, My name is Bhodes. I'm from the Tribune, and I should be glad to accompany you back to your friends." We said we should be delighted, so he joined us, and we returned by ferryboat to Jersey City. After making arrangements re our luggage, we departed for New York under the guidance of Mr. Bhodes. And here I must state that the everlasting gratitude of the team is due to Mr. Bhodes for the very great trouble he took with us during our first day in New York. What we would have done without him goodness only knows. But in America our boys found that their lines had fallen in a pleasant place. Hospitalities were everywhere showered upon them. They had receptions given them by the Centennial Commission, by the Mayor of New York, and the National Rifle Association. They had excursions down the bay and up the Hudson. The combined teams received an ovation at Booth's Theatre. 'As we took our seats the progress of the piece—(Sardanapalus) was stopped for _ several minutes to allow the audience to give us a hearty welcome. At the conclusion of the first act the orchestra burst out into our National Anthem, and as we rose to our feet at the sound of the grand old tune, the Americans broke again into tumultuous cheering, and when that had died away, gave three cheers for each team separately.' They were honorary members of no less than six clubs, and received 'invitations from all quarters for every kind of entertainment.' A grand complimentary banquet was given at Delmonico's to the combined teams. Altogether there is no doubt that our boys enjoyed themselves more in America than in England. They were more at home in the former place, and as representatives of Australia appear to have had special attention paid them."

Speaking of the full'in emigration to America, the London Times says : —" If there are fewer emigrants than there used to be, it is because emigration has done its work thoroughly, and has pretty well equalised the wages of labor in the hemispheres." If the movement of population has finished its work as between Europe and America, it has not at any rate gob through, as far as the distribution over the surface of the United States is concerned. This republic is very unevenly settled. The North is too crowded in some parts, and the South is too vacant. Part of the work of the next ten years will be to equalise population in the national territory at home, and this will be profitable both for the several States and the people themselves. If a million or two intelligent people of the admirable industrial class which may be found in the manufacturing cities of the North should remove to the South during the next four years, it would be to the advantage of all concerned. The South is appealing for settlers, and can furnish land, work and wages to all who may come. The crowd in Northern cities would be relieved, and there would be more to do and better wages for those who remain. Considering the national and personal advantages of a movement of population towards the South, it is gratifying to notice that one has seriously begun. Last year 300,000 people went into Texas alone ; and there is a small but steady flow towards Georgia and Florida already in progress. Skilful, industrious men who are tempted by what they hear from emigration agents to go from this country to Australia, should understand that they will do far better in the long run to remain at home."