526 Notices respecting New Books. 



Having mentioned 61 Cygni as the only other star for which a 

 sensible parallax can at the present time be regarded as established 

 with reasonable certainty, we may transcribe the following note : — 

 " It is impossible not to be struck with the parallel which obtains, 

 in a great many physical particulars, between the two double stars 

 a Centauri and 61 Cygni. Both consist of nearly equal stars, which 

 in both cases are of a colour strongly verging to red. Both have 

 very unusually large proper motions. Both have measurable amounts 

 of parallax ; and both are clearly binary systems of unusually large 

 apparent angular dimensions." — P. 302. 



POPULAR SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



1. Elements of Plane Geometry, according to Euclid; with several new 

 improvements and additions. i?y A. Bell. r2mo. Edinb. : Cham- 

 bers. 



2. Principles of Geometry, Mensuration, Trigonometry , Land-surveying, 

 and Levelling. 7iy Thomas Tate. r2mo. London: Longman 

 and Co. 



It is probable that few of our readers take the trouble of looking 

 closely into the elementary works that are annually issued for popular 

 instruction. It is not an inviting occupation ; and men who read 

 chiefly for the purpose of adding to their previous knowledge, do not 

 expect to derive advantage from compositions of this class. Neither 

 have we the least intention to urge such a practice ; and it is with 

 some reluctance that we have entered upon our present task of calling 

 attention to one or two of them. As long as the public reads for 

 mere amusement, whether the fictions that please them be literary 

 or scientific, we should consider it beyond our province to discuss 

 the character of the works which furnish that amusement. It 

 appears to us pretty much the same whether a concourse of well- 

 dressed people frequent the opera-house, the legitimate theatre, or 

 the lecture-theatre of the Polytechnic Institution : — they are pleased, 

 and thereby better prepai-ed for the next day's contest with the re- 

 alities of life. 



With works relative to the subjects of our very early studies 

 (viewing our studies as a portion of real education) we are brought 

 into somewhat closer contact ; yet still there is a limit to our func- 

 tions, even under this aspect. From this limit we now depart, viz. 

 from the commencement of Geometry as a science. Even in this case 

 it is only under peculiar circumstances that we should interfere : — 

 when, in fact, a work comes before us that appears calculated to faci- 

 litate the study by means of some real improvement in the develop- 

 ment ; or else when works are obtruded on the public of a pernicious 

 tendency, and supported by social influences that are likely to gain 

 for them a diffusion to which their intrinsic qualities do not entitle 

 them. 



Since "general education" has become a political stalking-horse, 

 and the Government has laid the foundation for carrying out the 

 principle of "centralisation" in educating the peojjle, there have 



