Nov. 15, 1888] 



NATURE 



53 



and trigonometry, and to whom proof is of secondary 

 importance. 



The exercises given will make both books specially 

 valuable to teachers, for the working of numerous ex- 

 amples is indispensable in the teaching of mathematical 

 subjects. 



Elementary Statics. By the Rev. J. B. Lock, M.A. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., 1888.) 



We gladly welcome another addition to Mr. Lock's 

 excellent series of text-books. To the new terms already 

 introduced by him, another is now added. This is the 

 term " resolute " as a substitution for " resolved part," the 

 argument for the change being that "the idea is so im- 

 portant in the subject that a definite name will be found 

 useful." Those who have already become familiar with 

 the older expressions may not be willing to accept the 

 changes, but there can be no doubt that the new expres- 

 sions are appropriate, and will be of great service to 

 beginners. 



The treatment adopted is based upon Newton's laws 

 of motion, the author's opinion being — and we quite 

 agree with him — that this greatly simplifies the subject. 

 The parallelogram of forces is assumed, the student being 

 recommended to postpone the proof until he commences 

 his study of dynamics. The working of examples, as 

 every teacher knows, is the only way to obtain a thorough 

 knowledge of any subject which requires mathematical 

 treatment, and Mr. Lock has fully recognized the im- 

 portance of this. Typical examples, excellently selected, 

 are worked out at full length, and numerous others are 

 given as exercises. There is also a selection of papers 

 from some of the Oxford and Cambridge examinations. 

 A new departure is the introduction of a short chapter 

 on graphic statics, which we highly approve of. The 

 teaching of this subject has made rapid strides during the 

 last few years, and the methods are so simple, and applic- 

 able in cases which would involve laborious calculations, 

 that the introduction of the subject into text-books is very 

 desirable. 



The whole subject is made interesting from beginning 

 to end, and the proofs of the various propositions are 

 very simple and clear. We have no doubt that the book 

 will be appreciated by all who have an opportunity of 

 judging of its merits. 



Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the 

 British Museum {Natural History). Part I., contain- 

 ing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, 

 Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. By 

 Richard Lydekker, B.A.,F.G.S., &c. (London: Printed 

 by order of the Trustees, 1888.) 



This work forms a very valuable addition to the series of 

 British Museum Catalogues, and will be welcomed by all 

 palaeontologists as giving a full and complete account of 

 the specimens of fossil reptiles in the National Collection, 

 many of which have an especial interest as being the 

 " type-specimens " on which so many classical monographs 

 have been based. 



Mr. Lydekker adopts, with some alterations, the classi- 

 fication proposed in 1885 by Cope, with the modifications 

 recently suggested by Baur. The reasons for the changes 

 he has introduced are fully discussed in the introduction. 



Full descriptions of the orders, families, genera, and 

 species, are given in most cases, and the book is illustrated 

 by sixty-nine woodcuts, many of which are taken from 

 the works of Marsh, Dollo, and others. The introduction 

 of the names of many of the larger groups which are not 

 represented in the British Museum collection renders the 

 work more complete, and the addition of so much de- 

 scriptive matter, and of copious references to the biblio- 

 graphy of the subject, also increases its value far beyond 

 that of an ordinary Catalogue. 



The History of Australian Exploration. By Ernest 



Favenc. (Sydney: Turner and Henderson, 1888.) 

 The author of this volume does not profess to give a com- 

 plete history of the exploration of Australia. Much of 

 the work of exploration has been done by private travel- 

 lers and adventurers ; and it is of course impossible that 

 their labours can ever be adequately recorded. For the 

 fulfilment of such a task the co-operation of hundreds of 

 old colonists would be necessary ; and the work, when 

 completed, would not only fill many volumes, but, as Mr. 

 Favenc says, would prove most monotonous reading. He 

 has therefore confined his attention to pubHc expeditions, 

 dividing his subject into two distinct parts — land explora- 

 tion and maritime exploration. His narrative covers a 

 period of one hundred years — from 1788 to 1888. The 

 book is issued under the auspices of the Governments 

 of the Australian Colonies, and it is in every way worthy 

 of this distinction. Mr. Favenc has invariably gone to 

 the best sources for information, and has produced a 

 record which is not only trustworthy, but full of interest. 

 The value of the book is considerably increased by several 

 maps and facsimiles. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of, 

 rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part 

 of Nature. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations.] 



The Protest in The Nineteenth Century. 



The present age is eminently a sensational one. Everybody 

 deals in superlatives and universals. Morning and evening the 

 newspaper bills vie with each other in appealing to that par- 

 ticular form of curiosity which feeds upon alarms. Our civiliza- 

 tion is declared to be altogether wrong. Dr. Pangloss's doctrine 

 is reversed— nothing that is is right. We are incessantly 

 invited to take stock of our arrangements political and social, 

 and treated to denouncements of almost every detail of them. 

 We are too serious, too frivolous, a prey to panics, stolidly 

 blind to dangers, distrustful, credulous. To crown all, what was 

 fondly supposed to be one of the greatest of modern improve- 

 ments is roundly declared to be a sham ; to be worse — a lure to 

 destruction, mental and physical. Loud were the preans sung 

 some forty years ago over the then new system of competitive 

 examinations which so vexed the soul of the author of " Gryll 

 Grange." Now we are assured that the whole examinational 

 system is utterly stujjid, and, in effect, that it were better at once 

 ended than in any way mended. 



But literary rhetoric, however brilliant, in these days produces 

 but a momentary impression. We have so much of it that 

 we have come to regard it with the contempt bred of over- 

 familiarity. After the first shock of delight or astonishment has 

 passed oft, we begin to look for the facts and criticize the logic. 

 .Sweeping phrases, sounding invective, the vigorous style in 

 general, cease to convince. There is too much of the scientific 

 spirit abroad for the roar of the old lions or of the young lions 

 to cause more than a passing alarm. Denunciation is always 

 easy, though not, of course, of the forcible and brilliant kind 

 with which Prof. Freeman and Prof. Harrison have made us 

 familiar, perhaps a thought too familiar. I shall look forward 

 with interest, and with the certainty of some instruction, to the 

 statement which will, no doubt, be forthcoming of the facts the 

 Niniteinth Century's protest is based upon, but as a competitive 

 examinationist I look forward to it without anxiety. 



Meanwhile, I venture to offer one or two remarks upon a 

 single sentence in the protest, "Again and again," it is said 

 (p. 620), "brilliant young men once full of early promise go 

 down from the Universities as the great prize-winners, and do 

 little or nothing in the after years," The reason, it is added, is 

 that " they have lost their mental life before they are five and- 

 twenty " ; in other words, that the examinational system, qua 

 examinational, has killed in them the love of knowledge by that 

 , age— a sad fact enough, if true. 



