3i6 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



press purpose of placing difficulties in 

 the way of anyone who applies to them 

 for assistance, and they are invariably 

 the worst-informed as to what is pass- 

 ing in the country to which chey are 

 accredited." All the correspondents 

 agree that the great fault of the Turks 



was the undervaluing of their enemies 

 and the want of proper preparation for 

 the war, those in authorit}- seeming to 

 suppose that the raw fighting material 

 of a nation could be reduced to dis- 

 cipline in a day or two. 



THE CHILDREN'S ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



Some time ago ^h. Arthur Mee con- 

 ceived the idea of producing an encyclo- 

 paedia for children, something which 

 would interest them and tell of the 

 thousand and one things that they 

 ought to know about. Others have had 

 the same idea, but they have not had 

 Mr. Mee's wonderful gift of conveying 

 information to children without boring 

 them. Though truly an encx'clopaedia, 

 it is not arranged as are similar works 

 intended for adult use. It is made up 

 in sections which present the simplest 

 scheme of knowledge ever devised, and 

 tell the story of everything that can 

 reasonably or prohtabh' be brought 

 within the purview of a child. It is the 

 first attempt, which has succeeded, to 

 tell the whole sum of human knowledge 

 so that a child may understand. 



There is no doubt that the Children's 

 Encyclopaedia hel]:)s the parent and the 

 teacher and the busy man and woman 

 as no other book has ever done. It is 

 education almost without effort. Thou- 

 sands of fathers who are puzzled every- 

 day by questions asked by children will 

 find the answers here, with the simplest 

 explanation that can be put into words 

 The governess, baffled ever}' da)- by the 

 multiplicity of things that children must 

 be told, will find this book a new factor 

 in her life. The school-teacher, strug- 

 gling to express to boys and girls the 

 facts of life and their meaning, to de- 

 scribe a countr\-, to relate a histor}-, to 

 explain a natural law, will find here a 

 tool ready to his hand. The teacher in 

 the infant school, struggling to impress 

 the beginnings of knowledge upon a 

 mind hardly yet formed, will find this 

 book a guide such as infant teacher? 

 have not handled since schools began. 



It is a perpetual pleasure, and an indis- 

 pensable friend to young and old alike. 

 The Enc\-clopa?dia is easil}- the most 

 beautifully illustrated set of books for 

 children that has ever been issued. Over 

 8000 illustrations make the text attrac- 

 tive and instructive, and give the child 

 two chances instead of one to remember 

 every important fact. 



A brief summary of their contents 

 gives some slight idea of the scope of 

 the remarkable volumes : — The Book of 

 Poetr\' gives 494 jjoems, 484 nursery 

 rhymes, and 33 pieces of music. The 

 419 Stories given in the section of that 

 name include 92 fables. 90 fairy tales, 

 81 legends, 67 historical tales, 89 mis- 

 cellaneous, with 406 illustrations. The 

 Book of Familiar Things treats of 65 

 subjects, with 1247 illustrations; while 

 the Book of Countries tells about 85 

 different parts of the world, with 623 

 illustrations. The life stories of 834 

 peojjle are treated in the Men and 

 \\'omen section ; while 16 plays of 

 Shakespeare and ^J other books are 

 treated in that devoted to Books, The 

 Book of Xature is ver\- strong on the 

 pictorial side, containing no fewer than 

 1465 pictures (79 in colour), including 

 188 animals, ^2 reptiles, 209 birds, 106 

 fish, 202 insects, 728 flowers. The IBook 

 of Wonder, which in some resjjects is 

 one of the most remarkable sections in 

 the book, gives the answer to 1097 

 puzzling questions commonly asked by 

 young folks. The great index of 25,000 

 entries makes ever\- important fact easy 

 to find. 



The Encyclopadia has proved im- 

 mensely popular in Great Britain. The 

 eight volumes are now available in Aus- 

 tralasia, price 75/-, carriage paid to any 

 address. 



