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 NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES. 



A Manual of Microscopic Mounting, with Notes on the Collection 

 and Examination of Objects. By John H. Martin. London : J. and 

 A. Churchill, 1872. — There can be very little doubt that the general 

 microscopical student requires a new work or a new edition of some of 

 the older books on the subject of the preparation and mounting of 

 microscopic objects. The old books, though admirable each in its 

 own special department, are, nevertheless, devoid of all that has been 

 done in the way of work and apparatus for the past few years. It is 

 not therefore surprising that persons like the author of the book under 

 notice should — thinking themselves the ones who are chosen for the task 

 — give us the results of their experience. But we are sorry to say that 

 Mr. J. H. Martin is about the very last who should be selected for so 

 important a duty, and that his book, though it may possess some three 

 or four points of interest, is the very worst possible companion that 

 can be placed in the hands of a student. For ourselves, we had hopes 

 that a new edition of a recent work would have been all that could be 

 desired, but, unfortunately, that is not the case. So we are left to the 

 desire that Dr. Carpenter may, either by himself or some one perfectly 

 skilled in the subject, bring out a new edition of his excellent treatise 

 on the microscope ; for assuredly, as regards the wants of the general 

 student, it is the very best and most abundantly illustrated work on 

 the subject, that any language possesses. In the meantime we cannot 

 accept books like the present one as offering at all what we require, 

 for, in addition to the fact that the present treatise is most limited in 

 outline and heterogeneous in plan, it is certainly almost the worst 

 illustrated book we have ever beheld. It contains in the commence- 

 ment some useful remarks on some of the apparatus to be employed 

 by the worker, and a few good cuts accompanying the text, but beyond 

 this it is really unworthy of any serious criticism. The plates are simply 

 horrible, and the alphabetical arrangement of the subject is an absurd 

 one. We are sorry to have to speak so distinctly, but we fear we should 

 be but pretending to discharge our task were we to commend the essay 

 to our readers' notice. 



The Micrographic Dictionary. A Guide to the Examination and 

 Investigation of the Structure and Nature of Microscopic Objects. 

 Third Edition. By J. W. Griffith, M.D. ; the Eev. M. J. Berkeley, 

 M.A., F.L.S. ; and T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S. London, Van Voorst, 

 1872. — Parts VIII., IX., and X. of this work have lately appeared, 

 and they bring the work down to Equisetum, thus showing how much 

 more remains to be done. It is to be regretted that the publisher 

 cannot produce the book more rapidly, for behindhand as the earlier 

 numbers unquestionably are, they will become doubly so if it is not to 

 be completed, till four years after they have been issued. We trust, 

 therefore, that he will use his best endeavours in this direction, and 

 further, that he will insist on another editor being added to the list 



