ApftiL 2, 1888.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



141 



Lord Palmerston was utterly wrong in the matter of the 

 Suez C'anal, therefore M. de Lesseps must, ex necessitate, 

 be right in his views as to the practicabiUty of the Panama 

 one and of the Channel Tunnel. Wo may well render all 

 honour to the man through whose energy and perseverance 

 so easy and admirable a highway to our own Indian Empire 

 has been opened, without regarding him as infallible. One 

 section of the work (which takes the form of a curiously 

 loose and inconsequent series of chapters, partly autobio- 

 graphical) has reference to the inception of the Panama 

 Canal, and the glorification of all, and notably of tho French- 

 men, engaged in it. The opening portion of volume i. is 

 devoted to a kind of narrative, mainly documentiry, of its 

 author's early diplomatic experiences. His account of the 

 scandalous and treacherous assault of the French army upon 

 Rome in 18-19 is peculiarly instructive, as showing that la 

 grande nation can be guilty of conduct at least as mean, con- 

 temptible, and cowardly as that of any of the countries at 

 who.se e.xpense he is always so e.ager to exalt her. The 

 miscellaneous chapters of M. de Lessepa call but for little 

 notice. Essays on Algeria and Tunis and on Abyssinia 

 read like extracts from guide-books, while one on steam 

 seems written to show that to Frenchmen alone are we 

 indebted for its application to machinery and locomotion — 

 a contention which can only excite ridicvilc and derision in 

 all familiar with the true history of the subject. A chapter 

 on the origin and duties of consuls is the merest '•' padding." 

 The speech of M. de Lesseps himself and that of M. Renin 

 on the occasion of the admission of the former to the French 

 Academy in 1885 (in which "the butter-boat" was ]iassed 

 in a manner worthy of the concluding meeting of the British 

 Association itself) finish a work which, mahjre the childish 

 vanity it betrays, forms a real addition to the liistory of tho 

 pre.sent century. We began by speikiug of its essentially 

 French character. Perhaps no better illustration of this 

 could be found than that of its author's delicate excuse for 

 the lady he calls "Madame Potiphar" (the heroine of 

 Genesis xxxix.) on p. 222. 



Tlic Dictionary of National BiograjiJii/. Vol. XIII. 

 Craik-Damer. (Smith, Elder, it Co.) — The publication of 

 this magnificent work is now being accelerated, and wo 

 may hope to witness its completion within .a few years. 

 We are not surprised to find that its spirited publishers 

 have been compelled to make a moderate increase in the 

 price ; even with this, we fear that their enterprise will 

 have to wait for substantial reward. They are undertaking 

 a task worthy of State subvention, only that subventions 

 are as miasmas upon individual energy. 



Afancfjemeiit of Accumulators. By Sir D.wid Salomons, 

 Bart., M.A., &e. (Lmdon : Whittaker A- Co. 18S8-)— 

 Most people have heard of the perfect electric light instal- 

 lation at Broomhill, Sir David S.ilomons's seat, near Tun- 

 bridge Wells, and will hence recognise his authority to speak 

 ex calhedrd upon the subject. His practical experience 

 has enabled him to produce a work of real value to those 

 who may be about to introduce electric lighting into their 

 own establishments. His per.spicuity of treatment, plain- 

 ness of Language, and abundance of illustration will com- 

 mend themselves to all .seaking aid in their incipient elTorts 

 in home lighting by electricity. 



A Critique of Kant. By Ku\o Fischer. Tran.slated 

 from the German by W. S. Hough. (London : Swan 

 Sonnenschein, Lowrey, cfeCo. 1888.) — For more than 2. -500 

 years the metaphysic.il minJ, disdaining that verification 

 which lies at the very foundation of scientific method, has 

 beaten the air in vain. Foremost among the self-deceived 

 may be classed the immortal Kant, whose speculations have 

 exercised so preponderating an influence on sub.sequent 



German thought. To all who may be interested in watching 

 the process bj' which a mighty intellect could juggle with 

 words in an a'tempt to arrive at "the thing ai it is" 

 {Ding an sick) we would commend the perusal of Mr. 

 Hough's admirable rendering of Fischer's familiar work. 

 The intelligent reader, approaching the subject from the 

 scientific standpoint, will not be long in detecting how and 

 where Kant's exposition of the connection between the 

 noumena he postulates, and the perception of the pheno. 

 mena he seeks to explain by thjm, is fallaciou->. No more 

 instructive example of the emptinesi of metaphysicil 

 siJeculation could well be found. 



Insect Wai/s on Summer Days. By Jen.mett Humphreys. 

 (London : Blackie &, Son. 1888). — Flower-Land. By 

 Robert Fisher, M.A. (London and Manchester: John 

 Hc3'wood. 1SS7). — We have classed these two books 

 together as affording, each in its way, an excellent introduc- 

 tion to natural history for children. Miss Humphreys 

 makes each insect tell its own story, and has devised a 

 system of inemoria technica of the generic and specific 

 names of those so described in the shape of nonsense verses. 

 As for Mr. Fisher's book, no child resident in the country, 

 or who ever has the chance of spending twenty-four hours 

 among heath, field, wood, or hedgerow, ought to be without 

 it. It is a very long time since so admirable a little book 

 for the ver}^ beginner in botany has appeared. 



Dottinjs of a Dosssr : Revelalioni of t/i; Innv Life oj 

 Low London Ijodging - liousjs, by Howard J. Goldsmid 

 (T. Fisher XJnwin, 20 Paternoster Square), is a little book 

 calculated to be of tho greatest possible value in attracting 

 the eye of the public to the wrongs of an unfortunate class, 

 which has hitherto been neglected by phil.inthropists. Tho 

 dosser is a person too poor to afi'ord a settled habitation, 

 who, when he oi' she can scrape together tho necessarj^ four- 

 pence, hires with it a bad for the night in .some low lodging- 

 house, and, when the money is not forthcoming, promenades 

 the streets all night, or finds a resting-place on a seat on 

 the embankment or on a doorstop, if the policeman on the 

 beat will permit it. The doiser is below the class of jnc- 

 turesque poor for whom so much has been done of late ; ho 

 would need a bath and a new suit before ho could enter tli! 

 " People's Palace " at the East End i ho and his rags and 

 his dirt have been hitherto beyond the pale of fashionable 

 benevolence. INIr. (Juldsmid writes boldly of the wretched 

 squalor into which these jioor unfortunates ai'e thrust by 

 the inefEciency of the law respecting common lodging- 

 hous.'s. The quotation on his title-pige is from the Common 

 Lodging-houses Act of 1851 : '• Wiiereas it would tend 

 greatly to the comfort and welfare of many of Her Majesty's 

 poorer subjects if provision were made for the well orderino 

 OF COMMON LODGING HOUSES," but his wholo experienc3 shows 

 that no such jirovision has been made. With an admirable 

 courage Mr. Goldsmid has obtained person.al evidence of 

 the state of affairs by himself becoming an inmate of a 

 large number of these houses, which may fairly be taken as 

 ■samples of the rest. He has found them in a rickety ami 

 broken-down condition, with improper sanitary arrange- 

 ments; the kitchens, in which the lodgers sit and 

 cook their .saxnty meals, filthy in the extreme ; tho 

 bedrooms still more loathsome, invariably overcrowded, 

 and the beds full of vermin. In some rooms, which 

 can hardl}' accommodate thrca parsons, the law p^rmits 

 eight to be huddled. Yet these places are periodically 

 inspected, and " we must suppose, therefore, thac it is per- 

 missible for the proprietors of the ' doss house ' to half 

 poison their lodgers, and compel them to inhale an atmo- 

 sphere which would be regarded as intolerable at any well- 

 regulated sewage wharf." In almost all these houses men 

 and women are herded together without any regard to 



