LITERARY NOTICES. 



415 



This is followed by an account of the prin- 

 cipal results of meteorological observations 

 up to the present time, and the work closes 

 with a section on the application of meteor- 

 ology to agriculture. Besides the views al- 

 ready mentioned the volume is illustrated 

 with a large number of diagrams, charts, and 

 cuts of instruments. 



Zoology of the Invertebrata. By Arthur 

 E. Shipley. New York : Macmillan & Co. 

 Pp. 458. Price, $6.25. 



This is a text-book for college students 

 who have some knowledge of biology, but is 

 not intended as an advanced treatise. The 

 author has undertaken to describe one ex- 

 ample of each of the larger groups, with 

 specified exceptions, and then to give a short 

 aocount of the most interesting modifications 

 presented by other members of the group. 

 A great extension of our knowledge of the 

 invertebrata has been made in the last few 

 years, leading to a rearrangement of material 

 and a revised classification. These facts 

 have led the author to treat the subject 

 largely from the morphological standpoint. 

 More space has been devoted to animals in- 

 termediate between the larger groups than 

 to the more specialized members of the 

 groups. The text is illustrated with 263 

 cuts. 



The Genesis op Art Form. By George 

 Lansing Raymond. Xew York: G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. Pp. 311. Price, $2.25. 



Gothic Architecture. By Edouard Cor- 

 ROYER. Edited by Walter Armstrong. 

 New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 388. 

 Price, $2. 



The former of these two very suggestive 

 and interesting works on subjects of art is 

 described in the subtitle as "an essay in 

 comparative aesthetics, showing the identity 

 of the sources, methods, and effects of com- 

 position in music, poetry, painting, sculp- 

 ture, and architecture." It is the result of 

 an endeavor to trace to their sources in mind 

 or matter the methods employed in the com- 

 position of the art forms; and as an inci- 

 dental though seemingly necessary step to the 

 accomplishment of this object the action of 

 the mind in these methods has been identi- 

 fied with its action in scientific classification; 

 and, having arranged them according to 

 their logical order and development and 



added to them those methods hitherto recog- 

 nized only indirectly or not at all, their char- 

 acter and effects are shown to be exemplified 

 in all the arts, including music and poetry, 

 etc., as well as in painting, sculpture, and 

 architecture. It takes many centuries, the 

 author says, " for such methods to develop 

 into arts like those which have been named. 

 But, after a while, these all appear. It is 

 important to notice, too, that the way in 

 which they differ from ordinary and merely 

 natural modes of expression is the fact that 

 they are not used, or, if so used at first, have 

 ceased to be used for expression's sake alone. 

 . . . While, therefore, the art-product is 

 traceable to an expression of mental thoughts 

 and feelings, the elements of which it is con- 

 structed are forms borrowed from Nature, 

 and the method of construction, or composi- 

 tion as it is ordinarily called, is a process of 

 elaboration." The theoretical has been so 

 connected in the essay with the practical, as 

 the author hopes, to adapt the work to the 

 wants of readers who, while interested in one 

 or other of these phases of the subject, are not 

 interested in both ; and the effort has been 

 made to distinguish between well-grounded 

 tastes and mere fashions or whims. 



M. Corroyer's Gothic Architecture, trans- 

 lated from the French by Miss Florence 

 Simmons under the editor's direction, is in- 

 tended to give such an account of the birth 

 and evolution of that form of the art as may 

 be considered sufiicient for a handbook. The 

 author, writing from a thoroughly French 

 point of view, is apt to believe that every- 

 thing admirable in Gothic architecture had a 

 Gallic origin. He dismisses vexed questions 

 of priority with a phrase, and finds French 

 influence in the examples which he cites 

 traceable to suggestion from a French mas- 

 ter or a French example. In this disposition 

 he is very like nearly all other Frenchmen, 

 in whatever field we take them with a few 

 shining exceptions like M. Taine, or, in the 

 author's own field, M. VioUet-le-Duc, whom 

 he sometimes contradicts. This character- 

 istic weakness may, however, be discounted, 

 and, when the allowance is made, does not 

 greatly affect the value of the author's 

 observations as a picture of Gothic de- 

 velopment. Taking an evolutional view of 

 the growth of Gothic architecture, he points 

 out how material conditions and discov- 



