REVIEW—FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 47 
us. The titles themselves are sufficiently suggestive of their contents. 
1. “The Fairy-Land of Science, how to Enter it, how to Use it, and how 
to Enjoy it.” 2. ‘Sunbeamsand the Work they do.” 3. ‘The Aerial 
Ocean in which we Live.” 4. ‘‘A Dropof Water onits Travels.” 5. ‘‘ The 
Two great Sculptors—Water and Ice.” 6. ‘‘ The Voicesof Nature and how 
we Hear Them.” 7. ‘ The Lifeofa Primrose.” 8. ‘ The History of a 
Piece of Coal.” 9. ‘‘Beesin the Hive.” 10. ‘‘ Bees and Flowers.” 
Perhaps the most interesting Lecture is that on ‘‘ The Two great 
Sculptors—Water and Ice.” It is an old story told in a new dress. As 
the sculptor fashions his rude block of marble perchance into 
the image of the lovely Galatea, so we have Water described 
as fashioning the face of the earth into the steep slopes and 
gentle curves, ‘the hills, valleys, gorges, ravines, slopes, plains, caves, 
grottos, and rocky shores”—and Ice as breaking up the ground, and 
forming the glacier—its progress and its destiny—with the marks 
it leaves in its erratic boulders and its striations of hard rocks. 
In ‘‘ The History of a Piece of Coal”—after tracing its existence from 
the far-off period when the sunbeams developed the ferns, calamites, lepido- 
dendrons and sigillarias to its presence in the mine and its value to our 
manutfactories, industries, and its essential aid to our comforts, the author 
says:—‘ All this, then, those plants and trees of the far-off ages, which 
seemed to lead such useless lives, have done and are doing for us. 
There are many people in the world who complain that life is 
dull, that they do not see the use of it, and that there seems no work 
specially for them to do. I would advise such people, whether they 
are grown up or little children, to read the story of the plants which 
form the coal. These saw no result during their own short existences, 
they only lived and enjoyed the bright sunshine and did their work, and 
were content. And now, thousands, probably millions of years after they 
lived and died, England owes her greatness and we much of our happi- 
ness and comfort to the sunbeams which those plants wove into their 
lives. They burst forth again in our fires, in our brilliant lights, and in 
our engines, and do the greater part of our work ; teaching us— 
‘ That nothing walks with aimless feet, 
That not one life shall be destroyed, 
Or cast as rubbish to the void, 
When God hath made the pile complete.’” 
The language of the book is simple, graceful, and forcible, and there 
is a reverent spirit pervading it throughout. The engravings are beauti- 
fully executed, and add much to its value, and many are original. The 
experiments are easy and within reach of average youth. With so much 
to commend, it seems almost ungracious to make a suggestion, but we 
think that—as it is intended for youth—the book would be improved 
by giving, as Professor Huxley has in foot notes to the ‘‘ Physiography,” 
the Greek roots of all generic and specific names derived therefrom. 
Authoress, artist, printer, bookbinder, and publisher must be congratu- 
lated on producing one of the most charmingly attractive volumes of its 
kind ever published. 
W. R. Huauss. 
