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HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



original proportions. The Bacteria now form a 

 specialistic study. The study has been very popular, 

 and it is also a very important one. The entire 

 subject, as now discussed, has arisen within the last 

 ten years. Dr. Crookshank's first edition met a 

 want which had been felt so severely that it was out 

 of print within a few months of its appearance. A 

 second edition was demanded, and the author wisely 

 determined to recast some of the chapters, and 

 bring it up to date. Additional chapters have been 

 written on the General Morphology and Physiology 

 of the Bacteria, as well as on Antiseptics, Disin- 

 fectants, and Immunity. To the large list of illus- 

 trations, which appeared in the first edition, seventy- 

 three fresh ones are added in the second. There is 

 also a bibliography of the Bacteria. The present 

 work, therefore, may fairly be regarded as the best 

 of its kind in existence. 



Comparative Morphology and Biology of the Fungi 

 Mycetozoa and Bacteria, by Professor De Bary, trans- 

 lated by H. E. F. Garnsey, M.A., and revised by 

 Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour (Oxford : Clarendon 

 Press). This handsomely got up volume has long 

 been known to specialists in its German form. It is 

 one of the most important extant, for Professor De 

 Bary's life has been mainly spent in the researches 

 which have made the microscopic fungi so well 

 known in our time. The Clarendon Press have 

 done a wise and gracious thing in thus bringing 

 within reach of English-speaking students such 

 a valuable and comprehensive work. The greatest 

 part of the volume is occupied with the Mycetozoa — 

 the Bacteria only coming in for 45 pp. out of a total 

 of 490. The copious "Explanation of Terms" 

 appended will prove handy for students, seeing how 

 fast terms are multiplying. 



Hydrophobia, an account of Pasteur's System, by 

 Renaud Suzor, M.D. (London : Chatto & Windus). 

 No medical man ought to be without this book, and 

 very few medical men can afford to be. Pasteurism is 

 dominant, whether people believe in the system or 

 not, and you cannot even afford to despise a system 

 unless you know something about it — although it 

 would be easier to do so. The present volume gives 

 a historical description of hydrophobia from the 

 earliest times down to 1880, when Pasteur first made 

 known his method for dealing with this terrible and 

 much-dreaded disease. The second part is devoted 

 to the various communications which Pasteur has 

 made on the subject, and to all readers who have 

 interested themselves in this important subject, this 

 section will prove exceptionally useful. Lastly, we 

 have a third chapter, dealing with the technicalities 

 of Pasteur's method. The author writes with a full 

 knowledge of his subject, writes directly and to the 

 point, so that the reader is put in possession of 

 Pasteur's facts, discoveries, and views in the shortest, 

 and yet plainest and plcasantcst, period of time. It 

 should be added that Dr. Suzor was a delegate from 



Mauritius, sent out by that public-spirited little 

 island to Paris, purposely to study Pasteur's system 

 for treatment of hydrophobia. 



Bird Life in England, by Edwin Lester Arnold 

 (London: Chatto & Windus). Mr. Arnold is an old 

 and valued contributor to Science-Gossip, a 

 sportsman as well as a naturalist, a traveller of ex- 

 perience, and a leading member of the London press. 

 All of these qualifications entitle him to be the 

 author of a readable book. His parentage (if 

 Galton's theory of hereditary genius be true) further 

 lays on him the duty, not only never to be dull, but 

 to be both entertaining and instructive. Further, 

 the subject is a hackneyed one, although always a 

 welcome one. So many young men have given us 

 their opinion on the British avifauna (often founded 

 on shooting some rare specimen, instead of pre- 

 serving its life) that books on British birds are too 

 numerous. No doubt Mr. Arnold was perfectly 

 acquainted with all this before he wrote the present 

 book. For that very reason, we can understand he 

 may have been loth to publish it. He did not want 

 to add another volume to the lumber-heap — notwith- 

 standing "friends" advised him (as "friends" 

 always do advise inexperienced young authors to 

 publish). But Mr. Arnold has given us a real book, 

 full of quiet, keen observations. He is a naturalist 

 first, and a sportsman afterwards. He describes a 

 duel between a peregrine falcon and a woodcock, of 

 which he was witness, and of all that took place 

 within fifty yards of the observer. He let both es- 

 cape, whereas a sportsman would have killed them, 

 or have tried to do so. Altogether, Mr. Arnold has 

 given us a delightful book, a sunny, arborescent, 

 fresh-air kind of book, both delightful and instructive 

 to read. It is a genuine gain to British ornitho- 

 logical literature ; and we heartily commend it to 

 all of our readers who enjoy "something really 

 good." 



The Commonhealth, by Dr. B. W. Richardson 

 (London : Longmans). The author is a man who has 

 long made his mark. It is now for people to listen 

 to what he says — not for him to ask them. As a 

 writer of English, he stands in the front rank of 

 contemporary authors. As a genuine and original 

 thinker, few in his profession are in front of him. 

 He is a sanitarian above all things, and this volume 

 is really a series of essays on health subjects. Most 

 of them, if not all of them, were delivered as lectures 

 in various parts of the country, and were in part 

 reported at the time. Now]\ve have them, fresh from 

 the last touches of their genial author's pen. 



Paleolithic Man in Middlesex, by J. A. Brown 

 (London: Macmillan & Co.). Anybody desiring to 

 know the latest thing said on the antiquity of man 

 should forthwith procure this pleasant and most 

 deeply interesting book. Just now there is a 

 tendency for the pendulum to swing back in certain 

 geological circles. Professor Prestwich has partly 



