1889.] MICROSCOPICAL JOUKNAL. 167 



mended. That people generally are beginning to appreciate the im- 

 portance of the microscope was fully demonstrated by the large attend- 

 ance at this exhibition, and, although many people are most attracted 

 by the popular displays and by specimens illuminated by polarized 

 light, and though there are some of the guests who cannot refrain from 

 fingering the apparatus, notwithstanding the sign, "Please do not touch 

 the microscopes," yet, after all, they perform a vast deal of good in 

 helping to educate and elevate the public taste. — R. W. S. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Two Great Retreats. Grote and Segur. 12 , 318 pp., two maps. 

 Girin & Co. Boston. (Price, 60 cents.) 



Designed for use in the school-room, as well as for general reading, 

 and to present standard literature in a form both instructive and inter- 

 esting to young readers, this well-known firm has, for the past few 

 years, been issuing a series of books entitled " Classics for Children." 

 The volume before us is one of these. 



Xenophon's Anabasis, or the retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks, as 

 narrated by Grote in his history, is given entire with some slight changes, 

 in order to better adapt the book for school use. The second great re- 

 treat is that of Napoleon from Moscow, it being an abridgment of Count 

 Segur's narrative. 



Considering the motives which actuated both Cyrus and Napoleon, 

 namely, a desire to acquire despotic rule, their invasions were failures ; 

 yet, from a military standpoint, they were of intense interest, and will 

 continue to attract notice because of the great suffering endured. 



No more thrilling recitals of soldierly effort and disaster could be 

 selected. The character of Xenophon stands out in marked contrast to 

 that of Napoleon when confronted with defeat. 



A short sketch of Cyrus the Younger, the originator of the attempt 

 to overthrow the Persian Empire, is included, as is also a brief review 

 of Napoleon's career. 



Numerous notes are given at the bottom of many pages for the pur- 

 pose of eliminating the obscurity from certain passages. — R. W. S. 



English, Past and Present. By Richard Chenevix Trench, D. D., 

 Archbishop of Dublin. The Humboldt Pub. Co., 28 Lafayette 

 Place, New York. 

 This is another standard work added to the Humboldt Library Series 

 — a work that has had a sale second only to " The Study of Words "by 

 the same distinguished author. Twenty editions of the latter and thir- 

 teen of the former are the best evidences of the popularity of the works. 

 The English language is spoken in almost every country of the globe, 

 and seems destined to be the -universal language of the next century. 

 It was the language used at the late conference in Berlin, supplanting 

 French, until now the language of diplomacy. A most interesting 

 study, therefore, is the history of the English language, past and present. 



Force and Energy; a Theory of Dynamics. By Grant Allen. 

 Number 106, Humboldt Library of Science. Published by Hum- 

 boldt Publishing Company, 24 East 4th street, New York. 

 This is a work in two pai - ts enclosed within one cover. The first 



