330 The Scottish Naturalist. 



ously in the shops of those Edinburgh booksellers who specially- 

 lay themselves out for the sale of School Prizes. Beyond the 

 facts that the compiler confesses himself (p. 259) to being a 

 Forfarshire man, and that he appears to be as familiar with 

 Edinburgh and its vicinity as with London and its suburbs, 

 there is no clue to the discovery of the name or occupation of 

 the author. Nor is any author's name given on the title-page 

 or elsewhere. 



Notwithstanding its handsome binding, good paper and type, 

 and many excellent wood engravings, there are certain evidences 

 of careless " getting up " for sale, that are probably not chargeable, 

 however, against the compiler. For instance, at p. 254 there 

 are two pictures — exact duplicates — of the Aye-aye, facing each 

 other. Now there is always ground for suspicion as to the 

 originality or freshness of an illustrated work, when we find the 

 same engravings doing duty more than once, or the same illus- 

 trations appearing that have appeared elsewhere — perhaps re- 

 peatedly ; and nothing short of gross carelessness can be in- 

 ferred when the same drawing is reproduced on an opposite 

 page ! 



This, however, is a bagatelle compared with the faults of the 

 letterpress. An Embarras des richesses may be held to account 

 for the confusion of the printer in arranging his plates. But 

 the same excuse can scarcely be made for our critical friend, 

 the compiler. For he professes to be highly critical and dis- 

 criminating ; pointing out to ingenuous youth the metaphysical 

 or other pitfalls from which his acumen is supposed" to save 

 them. 



In his preface (p. ix.) he takes the very unnecessary trouble 

 of assuring us that " pains have been taken to assert nothing as 

 a Fact which is as yet merely matter of Surmise" It would 

 have been well had he confined himself to proven Fact, and 

 omitted matters of Surmise ; for so frequently do we find the 

 phrase " It is said"* prefixed to his anecdotes, that it is impos- 

 sible to distinguish the Fact from the Fiction, or from that, at 

 least, which remains to be proven Fact. He himself ridicules 

 (p. 329) the use of the saving clause " it is said," — in connection 

 with the publication by others of what he denounces as " absurd 

 notions" — " to be ascribed to the love of the marvellous" — 



* Such a phrase is tantamount to a confession of non-authenticity, or 

 doubtful authenticity, of the facts recorded in the narratives to which it is 

 prefaced. 



