424 



NA TURE 



[March 30, 1876 



is slightly observable. The Shan face is usually short, 

 broad, and flat, with prominent malars, a faint obliquity 

 and contraction of the outer angle of the eye, which is 

 much more marked in the true Chinese, The nose is 

 well formed, the bridge being prominent, almost aquiline, 

 without that breadth and depression characteristic of the 

 Burman feature. The lower jaw is broad and well deve- 

 loped ; but pointed chins below heavy, protruding lips 

 are not infrequent. Oval faces laterally compressed, 

 with retreating foreheads, high cheek-bones, and sharp 

 retreating chins, are not infrequent ; and the majority of 

 the higher classes seemed to be distinguished from the 

 common people by more elongated oval faces and a de- 

 cidedly Tartar type of countenance. The features of the 

 women are proportionately broader and rounder than 

 those of the men, but they are more finely chiselled, and 

 wear a good-natured expression, while their large brown 

 eyes are very scantily adorned with eyebrows and eye- 

 lashes. They become much wrinkled by age, and, 

 judging from the numbers of old people, appear to be a 

 long-lived race. They are by no means a tall people, 

 the average height for men scarcely reaching five feet 

 eight, while the women fire shorter and more squat in 

 figure. 



A minute account of these people, their manners, cus- 

 toms, dress, &c., is given by Dr. Anderson. Some of the 

 ornaments worn by the women are of most artistic work- 

 manship. 



The latter part of the volume contains a clear account 

 of the second expedition undertaken to open a trade 

 route between Burmah and China, but which, as we 

 have said, came to an untimely and sad end about 

 a year ago in the murder of Mr. A. R. Margary. Dr. 

 Anderson sets fprth the whole circumstances with evi- 

 dent fairness, and yet it is difficult to say exactly who 

 was to blame in the matter. That such a trade-route 

 as it was attempted to establish would be of great ad- 

 vantage to all concerned, there is no doubt ; and no 

 doubt also it only requires time to establish it. There 

 is yet a very great deal to be learned both with regard to 

 the^natural history of that part of the world, and with regard 

 to the several interesting races of people which form its 

 population. Dr. Anderson's work is a valuable contribu- 

 tion to such a knowledge, and the clear and straightfor- 

 ward manner in which he writes adds greatly to the 

 intrinsic interest of the information with which his pages 

 teem. The illustrations of the country and the people 

 are charming, and the two maps enable the reader to 

 follow satisfactorily the footsteps of the explorers. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



A Class-book of Chemistry. By Edward L. Youmans, 



M.D. (London : Henry S. King and Co., 1876.) 

 " This book is not designed as a manual for special chemi- 

 cal students. It aims to meet the wants of that considerable 

 class, both in and out of school, who would like to know 

 something of the science, but who are without the oppor- 

 tunity or the desire to pursue it in a thoroughly experi- 

 mental way. Such a class-book as the present • • • • 

 must be but a brief compendium of general principles 

 and descriptions of the most important substances, and 

 is not to be judged of by the fulness of its details." This 

 extract from the author's preface sufficiently explains the 

 objects which he has had in view in compiling the book 

 before us. Certainly the work has no claims as a text- 

 book for students ; for the general reader we are afraid it 

 will prove of little interest. Within the compass of about 

 350 pages we have an account of Gravity, Heat, Molecu- 

 lar Attraction, Electricity and Light, besides Chemistry 



proper. Surely the day has passed when this kind of 

 thing could be tolerated in a book which professes to 

 teach science. People cry out against the teaching of 

 science as a regular part of educational discipline. It is 

 all very well in its own place, they say, but the (Jnly true 

 mental training is to be derived from a study of classics. 



If boys and youths devote years to the careful study 

 of ancient languages, they can scarcely fail to receive at 

 least some benefit. If, on the other hand, they pass rapidly 

 through a course of training (?) in science, with the aid 

 perhaps, of such a book as that before us, they quickly 

 forget what they have learned, and, so far as mental train- 

 ing is concerned, they had better have left science alone 

 altogether. Our chief objection to the present work is 

 that it seems calculated, probably unconsciously calcu- 

 lated, to further the delusion that science is a thing 

 to be taken up in a leisure hour, but not a thing 

 the study of which requires, while at the same time 

 it increases, every activity of the mind. If the study 

 of science is to be made a discipline, that study must 

 not be pursued in the spirit of Dr. Youmans' book. 

 The student must not content himself with a superficial 

 knowledge of a few facts, nor even with gaining one or 

 two generalisations ; he must be taught to amass facts on 

 the basis of his own observation, to separate the more 

 important from the less important facts, to classify these 

 facts and at last to rise to a generalisation which shall enable 

 him to group together and so explain what had appeared 

 to be isolated phenomena. Dr. Youmans' book can afford 

 the student little help in such a process as this. 



Of course it must be admitted that there is a large class 

 of people who have neither leisure nor inclination to make 

 science a study, but who are nevertheless desirous, and 

 properly desirous, of knowing something oi what science 

 has done and of the way in which she has accompHshed 

 her work. Such people will, we are afraid, receive but 

 little enlightenment from the work we are noticing. There 

 is just sufficiency of detail to make the whole subject 

 appear uninviting, but not enough to make the book 

 valuable to the student. The mass of isolated facts is 

 too great for the ordinary reader ; he would soon, if not 

 bewildered, become fatigued. 



A book designed for the purposes stated^in the preface 

 to the present work requires to be written more from the 

 standpoint of some central idea, round which is grouped 

 together such a number of facts as may serve to illustrate 

 and enforce that idea. The relation of the facts to the 

 general theory and of the theory to the facts may then be 

 made the means of inculcating a certain amount of true 

 scientific training. 



While we thus complain of the general scope of Dr, 

 Youmans' book, we must give the author praise for the 

 manner in which some parts of his work are written, more 

 especially the chapter on theoretical chemistry. The 

 chapters on descriptive chemistry are exceedingly meagre 

 in details, but pretentious in the ground which they 

 appear to cover. M. M. Pattison Muir 



Injurious Insects of Michigan. By A. J. Cook, of the 

 Michigan State Agricultural College. Fourth Report 

 of State Board of Agriculture for 1874. 

 This useful and instructive pamphlet is to a great extent 

 compiled from the writings of Messrs. Riley, Fitch, Le 

 Baron, Walsh, Harris, Curtis, and Packard. It is illus- 

 trated by numerous woodcuts from the able pencil of the 

 justly celebrated Prof. Riley, of Missouri. Its object is 

 to enlighten farmers, gardeners, and fruit-growers of the 

 State of Michigan, as to the general appearance, structure,- 

 and habits of noxious insects ; at the same time suggest- 

 ing means by which the increase of these pests to agricul- 

 ture may be arrested. The " Colorado Beetle " and the 

 " Grape Phylloxera " occupy a conspicuous place among 

 these enemies of man. 



The pamphlet winds up with a valuable hint to hous»- 



