378 Notices of Books. [July, 
to be said that the teaching follows the experiment, the young 
pupils accompanying the teacher as assistants in the exploration 
of the truths concealed by Nature. Chemistry and Physics in 
the Science Primers are taught, certainly as they ought to be, 
not as mathematical demonstrations, but as experimental sciences. 
We do not hesitate to say that a Science Primer will soon be 
found in every satchel. But these little books can be viewed in 
another light: they show that the method of instruction, scientific 
more particularly, pursued by a Continental nation celebrated 
for its technical training, is being followed and improved upon by 
our own schools. We may thus regard them as signs of pro- 
longed national success. 
An Elementary Treatise on Curve Tracing. By Percivat Frost, 
M.A., Formerly Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge ; 
Mathematical Lecturer of King’s College. London: Mac- 
millan and Co. 1872. 
Tus treatise requires, for its successful reading, only a slight 
familiarity with the higher branches of algebra, and is, indeed, an 
intellectual pleasure-ground for the student of moderate mathe- 
matical attainments. The arrangement is in well-ordered 
sequence. 
A Treatise on the Theory of Friction. By Joun H. JELLeETT, 
B.D., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; President 
of the Royal Irish Academy. London: Macmillan and Co. 
Dublin: Hodges and Co. 1872. 
Mr. JELLETT has been the first to remove the theory of friction 
from the trammels to which it was subject as a department of 
applied mechanics, and to give it a new standing purely mathe- 
matical. Such an endeavour is worthy of the highest encomium, 
because we derive not only a subject rich in material for mental 
labour, but are likely to arrive at improved construction of 
mechanical appliances. It might be said to be an ascent from 
rule to principle. To the mathematician, as well as to the 
engineer, this work will be of the highest interest. 
A New Star Atlas for the Library, the School, and the 
Observatory. By RicHarp A. Proctor, B.A. Camb., 
F.R.A.S.; Author of “The Sun,” ‘“ Other Worlds than 
Ours,” &c. London: Longmans and Co. 1872. 
Mr. Procror quotes on his title-page the exclamation of Carlyle, 
‘‘ Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, and make 
me at home in the starry heavens, which are always overhead, 
and which I don’t half know to this day?” How many before 
