CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 133 



Towards the conclusion of his sketches Mr. Monck IMason com- 

 municates a fact which merits much consideration, from its bearing 

 upon an essential principle in Physiology. He affirms that, al- 

 though he and his intelligent companions frequently rose to an ele- 

 vation of above twelve thousand feet, occasionally higher, yet at no 

 time did they experience the slightest effect upon their bodies, pro- 

 ceeding from the diminished pressure of the atmosphere. Nor, from 

 their observations, does he believe that any such effects as are cur- 

 rently attributed to this diminished pressure have any actual exist- 

 ence, at least at any elevation to which any person has hitherto 

 been enabled to arrive. He concludes, also, that the impressions 

 experienced in the ascent of high mountains owe their effect to ano- 

 ther cause, and proceed from the inordinate muscular exertion and 

 its consequences upon the circulating system, and, he might have 

 added, from the great exhaustion of vital energy which every labo- 

 rious effort of this kind must necessarily produce. 



The three intrepid aeronauts started on their adventurous expedi- 

 tion from Vauxhall Gardens, at one o'clock, p.m., of Monday, the 

 7th of November, 1836 ; and having traversed five hundred miles, 

 over the land and the sea, completed an unparalleled journey at 

 Weilburg, in Nassau, after remaining for eighteen hours suspended, 

 in their cloud-compelling flight, between earth and heaven. 



A History of British Birds, indigenous and migratory : including 

 their Organization, Habits, and Relations ; Remarks on Classifi- 

 cation and Nomenclature, &c. Illustrated by Engravings. By 

 Wm. IMacGillivray, AM., F.R.S.E., M.W.S., &c. Vol. I. 

 London: Scott, Webster, and Geary. 1837. 8vo., pp. 631. 



There are not persons wanting, even among the ranks of practi- 

 cal ornithologists, who will view with apathy and even with disgust 

 this new attempt at a history of our native Ornithology ; not that 

 they either distrust the ability of the new candidate to their favour, 

 or believe the subject he treats to be exhausted. True, the works 

 already published on British Ornithology are both numerous and 

 excellent, a proposition which we need only support by mentioning 

 the names of Pennant, Montagu, Selby, and Mudie. Others have 

 also published a host of works on the same subject, as Lewin, 

 Graves, Aibin, Donovan, Atkinson, Meyer ; and various mono- 

 graphs have been issued by Bolton, Syme, Nash, &c. The greater 

 part of these publications are, however, of little or no use ; and al- 

 though the volumes of Montagu and Selby are still classical autho- 

 rities, we consider that as long as our native birds continue to be 

 interesting to the ornithologists of this country, so long new British 

 ornithologies must and will continue to appear at intervals. It is 

 obvious that only a few are able competently to perform such a 

 task. Those authors who engage in the work without being fit to 

 carry it through will soon sink into merited oblivion ; but those, ou 

 the contrary, who ])osscsb the requisite knowledge and ability, can- 



