56 



HA RD V/ICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIP. 



of pounds, its pursuit was a rich man's luxury. 

 This is all changed, for amongst the batch of books 

 before us is one entitled : " Astronomy with an Opera 

 Glass." Thanks to the popular and picturesque 

 descriptions of Dr. Dick, Professor Mitchell, Dr. 

 Lardner, and R. A. Proctor, astronomical knowledge 

 is no longer the possession of a privileged few. The 

 Royal Astronomical Society of London is one of our 

 oldest scientific societies, and its fellows regarded it 

 almost as a liberty that was taken when the town of 

 Liverpool set up an Astronomical Society of its own. 

 But that society has produced Mr. Roberts, whose 

 famous stellar photographs are just now the admira- 

 tion of the scientific world. We hope that ere long 

 every city and town in the kingdom will have an 

 astronomical society of its own. The author of the 

 present book, Mr. Gore, has already earned a high 

 reputation as a writer on astronomical subjects. This 

 reputation will be more than sustained by the present 

 volume, which gives us a popular and exact descrip- 

 tion of the most interesting facts relating to planets, 

 comets, meteors, fixed stars, and nebula; in terms free 

 from mathematical formula; and in language in- 

 telligible to the general reader. Two highly 

 .interesting chapters are those on the Astronomy of 

 the Poets, by the author, and that on Fireballs, 

 Shooting Stars, and Meteorites, contributed by the 

 well-known astronomer, Mr. W. F. Denning. The 

 work is illustrated by a considerable number of stellar 

 photographs and other drawings. 



Occasional Thoughts of an Astronomer on Nature 

 and Revelation, by Rev. C. Pritchard (London : 

 John Murray). Anything from Professor Pritchard's 

 pen is sure to be received with thankful- 

 ness all round. This volume is in reality 

 a series of discourses which he has given 

 at various times and in divers places to the 

 British Association, the Church Congress, 

 as well as to the followers of Mr. Brad- 

 laugh. The chapters are as follows : "The 

 Continuity of the Schemes of Nature and 

 Revelation," "The Analogy of Intellectual 

 Progress to Religious Growth," "The 

 Testimony of Science to the Continuity 

 of the Divine Forethought for Man," 

 "Modern Science and Natural Religion," "Aspects 

 of Nature in Relation to Miracles and Providence," 

 "Scepticism and Faith considered in their Relations 

 to the Progress of the Knowledge of Nature," "The 

 Slowness of the Creative Progress," " Difficulties of 

 Belief," "The Miracle in Joshua at the Battle of 

 Beth-Horon," "The Star of the Magi," "The 

 Creation Poem of Genesis." The book is distin- 

 guished by a fine and delicate fibre of originality and 

 thoughtfulness, and is also very delightfully written. 



The Southern Shies, by R. A. Proctor (London : 

 W. II. Allen & Co). This is one of the late Mr. 

 Proctor's latest bits of work. It is a guide to the 

 constellations of the Southern Hemisphere, and con- 



sists of a series of twelve maps, one for each month, 

 so that it is true for every year. The positions of the 

 principal star groups night after night are shown. 

 There is a very intelligible Introduction to the work, 

 and each map is accompanied by a separate expla- 

 nation. All the maps are remarkably well executed, 

 and by their aid it is utterly impossible for a student 

 of the southern skies to mistake any star, cluster of 

 stars or constellations. 



An Illustrated Manual of British Birds, by 

 Howard Saunders (London : Gurney & Jackson). 

 This splendidly illustrated work, by one of the best 

 known and most trustworthy ornithologists of the 

 day, and which has been coming out in shilling 

 monthly parts, has now reached the twentieth and 

 final number. Young students of British bird-life 

 could have no better work placed in their hands. 

 The woodcuts are in the very highest style of wood- 

 cutting art. An important feature we have not 

 hitherto noticed, is the bird charts, showing the 

 geographical distribution and wanderings of all our 

 British kinds. 



A NEW PRESSURELESS MOUNTING-CLIP. 



I NOTICED Mr. Bryan's note in the December 

 number of Science-Gossip, suggesting a new 

 form of mounting-clip designed to hold the cover- 

 glass without pressure, thus being a great improve- 

 ment on the spring-clip commonly used ; and as I 

 have devised one which I think has some advantages 

 over his, I enclose you a sketch of it, thinking it 

 may interest some of your readers. Fig. 26 A is an 



Fig. 26. — Clip on slide. 



Fig. 27. — Section of Clip. 



illustration of the clip in use as seen from above, and 

 Fig. 27 B is an end view of the same as seen from a 

 section through the cover-glass. The clip should 

 be made of rather stout springy wire, so as to grasp 

 the slide firmly. This clip will be less liable to 

 shift or become detached from the slide ; and it has 

 the advantage of being suitable for rectangular as 

 well as circular cover-glasses. 



S. Pace. 



