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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



themselves to would-be students of this sub- \ 

 ject, and he therefore devotes the first chap- 

 ter to a careful consideration of elementary 

 principles. Appended is a brief discussion 

 of logarithmic and ribbed oblique arches. 

 Numerous cuts illustrate the principles ex- 

 plained. 



The Making of Pictures. Twelve Short 

 Talks -with Young People. By Sarah 

 W. Whitman. Chicago : The Interstate 

 Publishing Company. Pp. 131. Price, 

 60 cents. 



In this book the writer has undertaken 

 to treat of the principles underlying the 

 various processes of making pictures — oil 

 and water-color painting, etching, wood and 

 line engraving, photography, and the various 

 reproductive processes. 



First, the author, herself an artist, seeks 

 to help her young friends to an understand- 

 ing of what art is, and assist them to recog- 

 nize that subtile " something " which marks 

 the difference between a mere picture — no 

 matter how well done — and a true work of 

 art. 



In this connection she speaks of the 

 great laws that exist in art as well as in 

 morals — which laws must be thoroughly 

 understood and comprehended even by those 

 who would merely look at pictures, and 

 speak intelligently of them. Then she tells 

 of the fundamental principles that underlie 

 the different ways of making pictures. No 

 attempt is made to teach how to paint in 

 oil, or how to execute an etching, but the 

 implements necessary arc enumerated, and 

 the modes of procedure in each process are 

 sketched in clear, bold outlines. 



Lectures and Essays by the late Will- 

 iam Kingdon Clifford, F. R. S. Edited 

 by Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pol- 

 lock. With an Introduction by F. Pol- 

 lock. Second edition. London and New 

 York: Macmillan k Co. Pp.443. Price, 

 $2.50. 



Professor Clifford was a thinker and 

 philosopher — he can hardly be called a 

 writer except in a subsidiary sense — of the 

 rarest qualities of mind, and some of them 

 unique. lie seemed to have the power, to 

 a degree which is seldom exhibited, of 

 grasping comprehensively the most ab- 

 struse subjects, seeing into them clearly 

 and deeply, and of expressing himself lu- 



cidly and vigorously upon them. No bet- 

 ter conception can be gained of the charac- 

 ter of the work which he produced, includ- 

 ing the pieces which are embodied in this 

 volume, than by taking a few views of the 

 representations of the various sides of his 

 nature as they are given by his friend Mr. 

 Pollock, in the biographical introduction. 

 The picture, as a whole, is a charming 

 study of a man who differed much — in ex- 

 cellences — from others of his kind. Clif- 

 ford began to attract attention not long 

 after he had entered Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, as a young man of extraordinary 

 mathematical powers, and eccentric in ap- 

 pearance, habits, and opinions, and withal 

 an ardent High Churchman. Mr. Pollock, 

 his fellow-student, was early struck with 

 the "daring versatility of his talk. Even 

 then there was no subject on which he 

 was not ready with something in point, 

 generally of an unexpected kind ; and his 

 unsurpassed power of mathematical expres- 

 sion was already longing to find exercise." 

 Being asked for aid in solving some elabo- 

 rate geometrical theorem, he spoke, appear- 

 ing " not to be working out a question, but 

 simply telling what he saw. Without any 

 diagram or symbolic aid, he described the 

 geometrical conditions on which the solu- 

 tion depended, and they seemed to stand 

 out visibly in space. There were no longer 

 consequences to be deduced, but real and 

 evident facts, which only required to be 

 seen." This incident illustrates Clifford's 

 theory of what teaching ought to be, and 

 his constant way of carrying it out. He 

 showed great taste for gymnastics, in which 

 his accomplishments "were the only ones 

 in which he ever manifested pride," and 

 when he took his degree he had the dis- 

 tinction of being pointed out in "Bell's 

 Life " as an example of a superior scholar 

 who was also a superior athlete. While pre- 

 eminently mathematical, he was at various 

 times and in various ways marked out for 

 honorable mention in classics, modern his- 

 tory, and English literature. He was fond 

 of historical reading, but took a poetical 

 or dramatical rather than a scientific view 

 of the subject, and saw events " in a scries 

 of vivid pictures, which had the force of 

 present realities, as each came in turn be- 

 fore the mind's eye." He did not care 



