November 1, 1887.] 



♦ KNOW^LKDGK ♦ 



21 



savour of Noah's sacrifice (Genesis viii. 21), and Indra eats 

 the flesh of bulls (" Rig-Yeda x. 28, 3) : A^ahweh-Elohim 

 creates man out of moist earth (Genesis ii. 6, 7), and the 

 Australian Pund-jeh makes two claj' images of men and 

 breathes his breath into them. 



We can only conclude this inadequate notice by saying 

 to the solar mythologists that if, after honestly weighing 

 the arguments advanced in this important work, they be- 

 lieve not Mr. Lang and his cloud of witnesses, " neither will 

 they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." 



In Cheviots Glens. By Jane T. Stoddart. (Oli- 

 phant.) — This is a very pleasantly written story of modern 

 life on the Scottish Border. The scenes and characters 

 are not ostensibly sketched from life ; but, presuming 

 that they are, none of the originals would, we think, have 

 any good reason to complain that Miss Stoddart had not 

 done them justice. It is a little odd to find the shepherd's 

 son marrying the squire's daughter, even though he was 

 a " meenister " ; but we suppose '• they do these things 

 better " in Scotland, or oftener, at any rate, than we do 

 here. We have spent a very pleasant hour " In Cheviots 

 Glens," and hope to meet Miss Stoddart in the neighbour- 

 hood again. 



My 3Iicroscope ; and Some Objects from my Cabinet. 

 By a QuEKETT Club-man. (Eoper &. Drowley, Ludgate 

 Hill. Is. 6d.)— The Quekett Club, to which this'little work 

 is dedicated, is not Ukely to increase its credit largely by the 

 connection. We are totally unable to see the raison d'etre 

 of the book. Gosse's " Evenings at the Micro-scope " has 

 been cheaply reprinted. Houghton's " Microscope and the 

 Wonders it Reveals " is selling at less than a shilling, and 

 there are a dozen other little works which will each tell the 

 beginner twenty times as much as he can learn from the 

 pages before us. It is an elegantly got-up little book, thick 

 paper, large type. The binding is good. The printing is 

 well done. But that is all we can say of prai.se. The illus- 

 trations are few and poor. One roughly depicting a hydra 

 is suggestively labelled on the back " a monster." There is 

 a group of diatoms fairly well drawn in the chapter on "A 

 Skeleton." But the text, instead of giving even their 

 names, indulges in a few generalities on Auhicodiscus orien- 

 talis, which is not figured. The other chapters treat on 

 "An Eye," "A Wing," "A Slice of Rock," &c., and make 

 a few remarks on a spider, a butterfly, and so forth. The 

 work contains 78 pages. Eighteen are absolutely blank ; 

 eleven more, including tlie dedication and table of contents, 

 share seventy-five words among them. In conclusion we 

 can only regret that any one professing to love the micro- 

 scope can say so little for it at the price. 



t 



A Junior Course of Practical Zoology. By A. Milner 

 Marshall, M.D., D.Sc, M.A., F.E.S., assisted by C. 

 Herbert Hurst. (London : Smith, Elder, & Co. 1887.) 

 As an introductoiy text-book for the student of zoology, 

 the work of Dr. Marshall and INlr. Hurst leaves httle or 

 nothing to be desii-ed. Written with scrupulous care by 

 men peraonally thoroughly familiar with the objects and 

 processes they describe, and illustrated by woodcuts which, 

 if few, are excellent, the student who will sedulously work 

 through the graduated series of dissections so carefully and 

 minutely treated of in it, will have attained a very con- 

 siderable knowledge indeed of animal morphology. Our 

 authors begin with the most rudimenfairy forms of life, 

 the amoeba, paramecium, vorticella, (fee. (the so-called 



" infusoria ") ; and then ascend throvigh the hydra, the liver- 

 fluke of the sheep, the leech, earthworms, and the like ; the 

 crayfish, cockroach, lancelet, and dogfish, to the rabbit, fowl, 

 and pigeon. An immense araouut of honest work is embodied 

 in the volume before us, which will doubtless speedily 

 attain high rank as a handbook in schools of anatomy and 

 physiology. 



Lessons in Elementary Mechanics. By W. H. Grieve, 

 P.S.A., late R.N. (London : Longmans, Green, & Co. 

 1887.) — In simple language, and with an abundant supply 

 of illustrative woodcuts, Mr. Grieve treats of the six 

 •' mechanical powers " of the old books on Natural Philo- 

 sophy : the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulle}', the in- 

 clined plane, the wedge, and the screw ; as also of liquid 

 pressure, the hydrostatic press, liquids under the action of 

 gravity, and the parallelograms of forces and of velocities. 

 The examples selected are derived from objects in familiar 

 use, and the pupil must be abnormally stupid or idle who 

 foils to understand Mr. Grieve's very plain exposition of 

 them. He has done his work well. 



Handbook of Practical Botany. By E. Strasbueger. 

 Edited from the German by W. Hillhouse, M.A., F.L.S. 



(London: Swan Sonnenscheiu, Lowrey, & Co. 1887.) — 

 We are glad to welcome Professor Strasburger's admirable 

 manual of structural and physiological botany in its English 

 dress, supplying, as it does, a want in our microscopical 

 literature. Nor has our examination of the work seemed 

 to furnish much, if any, justification for the apologetic tone 

 in which Mr. HUlhouse speaks of his translation, since this 

 appears, as far as we can judge, to render the sense, and 

 even in some sort the diction, of the original very well 

 indeed. Famed as Herr Strasburger is as a microscopical 

 manipulator and observer, the exhaustive mass of detailed 

 description of the dissection and preparation of plants for 

 examination which this volume contains cannot fail to be of 

 the greatest interest and use to the vegetable histologist and 

 physiologist. Nothing is omitted which can facilitate the 

 processes described, and profuse illustration supjjlements 

 directions themselves of the most explicit character. There 

 are careful tables of the plants used for study, the re-agents 

 employed in their examination, preparations for mounting 

 them, ifcc. In short, this is a book which every microscojjist 

 ought to have, and every botanist must have. 



An Introduction to Machine Drawing and Design. By 

 David Allan Low. (London : Longmans, Green & Co. 

 1887.) — This very practical little book is the work of a man 

 thoroughly familiar with the subject of his descriptions, and 

 who further possesses the faculty of impax-ting his own 

 knowledge easily and pleasantly. It should be studied not 

 only by the young engineer but by the fitter, turner, and, 

 in "fact, everybody who has to make drawings of machinery 

 or work from them. 



The Problem of Ecil. By DakielGreesleaf Thompson. 

 (London : Longmans, Green, <fe Co. 1887.) — Mr. Thomp- 

 son, in the very able and important work before us, investi- 

 gates the nature and origin of evil, and essays to point out 

 the most hopeful means for its elimination. In doing this, 

 he perforce discusses what he calls " the Great Theological 

 Superstition," and paints in vivid colours the horrible im- 

 morality of the doctrme weekly taught from thousands of 

 pulpits. He discusses at length the suggested methods 

 (social, political, and ecclesiastical) for reducing evil to a 

 minimum, which have been and are still advanced, and 

 .shows trenchantly the fallacies which underlie them all. 

 The conclusion at which he arrives is that the eliminatitmof 

 evil, and consequent amelioration of mankind, can only be 

 effected by — first, aiming at the minimum of extrinsic 

 restraint and the maximum of Uberty for the individual ; 



