338 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



to most of the newer developments of astronomy. He writes for the in- 

 expert reader with a pleasant, easy style, and, for a book of this type, with 

 a remarkable freedom from serious inaccuracies. The volume will serve 

 a very useful purpose in bringing the reader in touch with those develop- 

 ments which have so greatly widened our outlook upon the universe since 

 the beginning of the present century. 



A few of the inaccuracies and omissions may be mentioned : if a further 

 edition should be required, perhaps these will be rectified. On p. lo, the 

 ring nebula in Lyra is stated to be a spiral seen edgeways : this is not cor- 

 rect — it is a planetary. On p. 20 the weight of the earth is referred to : it is 

 to be regretted that this incorrect and misleading terminology should be 

 perpetuated. On p. 33 there is a confusion between W. H. and E. C. 

 Pickering. On p. 80 the probable existence of dark stars is overlooked, 

 and in the same paragraph (p. 81) the assumption is tacitly made that 

 a Centauri {not a Centauri) has no motion perpendicular to the line of sight. 

 On p. 84 the representation of a star as a crust which confines a molten 

 interior is inaccurate. On p. 125, the evidence afforded by Shapley's recent 

 work on clusters on the general question of cosmic dust has been overlooked ; 

 in view of this important evidence, the paragraph requires rewriting. On 

 p. 134 occurs a very bad sentence : " the photographic plates used in the 

 telescope are such tiny squares of glass that the figure of Mars on them 

 ... is about the size of a pin's head " — the size of the plate apparently 

 conditions the size of the image ! The final chapter in the book is the poorest : 

 the giant and dwarf theory of stellar evolution is represented as not being 

 generally accepted by astronomers ; and when the author touches on the 

 relationship between aether and matter he is quite out of his depth : he 

 refers to " the material atoms which make up our worlds being formed out 

 of aether," and so on. It is to be regretted that the last chapter falls so far 

 below the general level of the book. H. S. J. 



John Murray III, 1808-1892. A Brief Memoir by John Murray IV. 

 [Pp. viii-}- 106, with portrait and illustration.] (London : John Murray, 

 Albemarle Street, W., 1919. Price 3s. 6d. net.) 



The name of John Murray is a household word, and the title of this little 

 work indicates that this old and celebrated firm has now been carried on 

 by four generations of the same name. Many will therefore be interested 

 in this memoir of the last John Murray, written by his son, which carries 

 forward that most entertaining book, the Life of John Murray II, by Samuel 

 Smiles, published in 1891 — a book which contained numerous letters from 

 most of the famous writers of the earlier part of last century, and ably 

 pictured the character of a publisher who not only built up the greatest 

 publishing business in the world, but who "was noted as a Maecenas of the 

 time. The first part of this book, also, expounds for the reader the character 

 of a good, learned, and studious man, looked up to and loved by a large 

 and varied society of people, which included such notable names as Gladstone, 

 Bright, and Livingstone ; and the second part contains extracts of his 

 letters home during his travels. These not only formed an important part 

 of his own life, but subsequently bore fruit in the shape of the famous Guide 

 Books. Although some travellers were latterly in the habit of consulting 

 Baedeker's book, Baedeker himself acknowledged that the idea, and to 

 a great extent the matter, were drawn from Murray's Guide Books, the 

 original conception of which was due entirely to John Murray II (if we 

 remember a right). Previous to the publication of them nothing existed in 

 print to help the traveller on his way. In fact, Baedeker states distinctly 

 in his first edition that he copied, extracted, and even translated freely from 

 Murray's books. 



