NOTICES OF BOOKS. in 



Principia Nova Astronomica. By Henry Pratt, M.D. London: Williams & Norgate, 1894. 



In this book the author puts forward a new theory, illustrated by figures and diagrams, 

 of astronomical motion, and argues that the sun is revolving in commensurable orbit around 

 a " Centra! Sun ". He suggests as a possible answer to the question, " What is the meaning 

 of stellar activity ? " that it is an expression of the life of space, and that just as in organic beings 

 a circulation of cells is carried on, so in space a circulation of the heavenly bodies occurs. 



" Quis credet ? " asks the author at the beginning of his book. " Quis credet?" the 

 reader may well ask after a perusal of it. 



Elements of Bacteriology. By Dr. S. L. Schenke. Translated from the German by W. R. 

 Dawson, B.A. , M.D. , Dublin University. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1893. 



This is a translation of Professor Schenke's Grundriss der Bakteriologie, and the author 

 states in the preface that particular attention has been paid to the elementary technique. The 

 operations of staining and preparing tissues and fluids for examination are, as a rule, well 

 described, but in the case of paraffin imbedding it would have been better to omit the descrip- 

 tion altogether than to give such an inadequate one as is here presented. The descriptions of 

 individual organisms are generally well done, though somewhat short, and the figures are good, 

 but would have been rendered more useful had they been provided with some indication of the 

 amplifications used. 



