1874.] Notices of Books. 107 
aseries. They are all written with Mr. Proctor’s usual graphic 
clearness, and carry the reader forward with the latest steps 
in the progress of those departments of science which they 
treat. 
Besides these, there is a critical sketch of the life and 
works of Mrs. Somerville. 
In his preface Mr. Proctor invites special attention to the essay 
on the Transit of Venus, and expresses his practical conclusion 
on this subject in unmistakable and uncompromising terms, in 
italics, thus, that ‘“‘there is great risk that, for want of an 
adequate number of southern stations, the whole series of 
observations, by all countries engaged in the work, will result in 
failure,” and he adds in a note that, ‘since this was written, I 
have received letters from the greatest master of mathematical 
astronomy this country has produced since Newton’s day, 
strongly confirming my views as to the extreme importance of 
providing many southern stations for applying Halley’s method 
in 1874, and urging me, moreover, to appeal to America to take 
part in this special work, for which she is peculiarly fitted, 
because of the bravery and enterprise of her seamen, the skill 
and ingenuity of her astronomers and physicists, and her 
singular liberality as a nation in all scientific matters.” 
Electricity and Magnetism. By FLEEMING JENKIN, F.R.SS. 
L. & E., M.I.C.E., Professor of Engineering in the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh. (Text-Books of Science.) London: 
Longmans, Green, and Co. 1873. 
Or the great and increasing value of the series of text-books 
published by Messrs. Longmans, there cannot be the remotest 
doubt. Not only are the contents of each little work valuable to 
the student, but it becomes a pleasure to the proficient to see the 
principles of his science advanced so clearly and cleverly by the 
best expounders. Professor Fleeming Jenkin has done ably by 
electrical science in the above volume of the series; and par- 
ticularly does he make clear the difficult subject of contact 
electricity. We commend the work to the notice of our readers 
interested in electrical science. 
Quantitative Chemical Analysis. By T. E. THorpe, Ph., D., 
F.R.S.E. Professer of Chemistry, Andersonian Institution, 
Glasgow. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 
Tuis work forms another of the “series of text-books of science, 
adapted for the use of artisans and students in public and other 
schools.” Its speciality is that the ‘examples chosen” have 
