236 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[August 1, 1887. 



the last few days, not two hundred yards from three members 

 of mv own famil}' — two sons and my father-in-law. Such 

 degi-ading " mock modesty " must be admitted as a I'eality 

 in this case, anyhow. 



« * * 

 Two j'ouug men, one the only support of his mother, the 

 other but recently mirried, were bathing in Lake Contraiy — 

 five miles from St. Joseph. One or other got some injury 

 in diving, or was seized with cramps — whatever was the 

 trouble, one sank, and the other, the younger, was five times 

 drawn down, each time coming back to the surftice, and in 

 his .struggles rising above it almost to his waist. Each time 

 he rose he called lustily for help, but there was only one boat 

 near enough to have rendered help in time. In that boat 

 were two young men and two — no, one would rather not say 

 they were women — two persons of the female sex. Though 

 the young men were close by, and cannot but have heard the 

 cries of the swimmer, and the shouts of those near enough 

 to see but not, like them, near enough to help — they took 

 no notice, but rowed away from the drowning men, who both 

 consequently perished. 



* * * 



This was witnessed by dozens, and there was so intense a 

 feeling of disgust and horror that one rather wonders the 

 young men were not tarred and feathered or otherwise mal- 

 treated. Yet the shameful fact was concealed, at the insti- 

 gation doubtless of some of the persons concerned — and one 

 of the St. Joseph papers did not hesitate to accuse of folse- 

 hood the editor of a Missouri pajjer who called attention to 

 the murderous mock modesty of the female occupants of the 

 boat. But, despite this denial, the event really took place as 

 described above. The denial shows, however, that the com- 

 munity is very properly ashamed of the wrongdoing of some 

 who still disgrace it by their presence. 



Philip's naiuhj-Yolume Atlas of the World : mth complete 

 Index and Statistical Xotes. By J. Feancon Williams, 

 F.R.G.S. (London : Geo. Philip & Son. 1887. 3s. U. 

 cloth.) — This work is something of a novelty; for with all 

 the good points of an ordinary atlas, together with many 

 more than are usually supplied at the price, the size of the 

 volume (18mo.) gives it its chief utility. The cumbersome 

 quarto is dispensed with, and the book may stand among 

 volumes of oidinary size, or even be carried in the pocket 

 where necessary. This will decidedly recommend it for 

 school uses. There are sixty-four plates containing a 

 hundred and ten maps and plans, and where greater detail 

 is needed a country is mapped in sections. Thus England 

 is shown on five scales — (1) in connection with the world; 

 (2) in Europe ; (3) in relation to Scotland, Wales, and Ire- 

 land ; (4) alone; (5) in three sections. No further detail 

 can be possibly needed in a general waj'. Plans of chief 

 towns and their environs are given to the number of about 

 forty, and the distinct marking of the railways is much to 

 be commended. At the end of the book is a reference 

 index of about 12,000 names. One of the best features of 

 the book, however, is the table, clearly printed on the back 

 of each map, of the chief features of the district depicted, 

 giving all the particulars as to physical, political, and topo- 

 graphical geography that need be taught or learnt in schools. 

 These tables have been compiled with great intelligence, 

 and, what is rarer, limited by sound discretion. The book 

 is well suited to schools, besides being adapted for private 

 use. 



Absolute Relativism. By Wm. Bell McTaggart, late 

 Captain Mth Hussars. Vol. I. (London : W. Stewart & 

 Co.) — Captain McTaggart apparenti}' aims at the production 

 of an eclectic .system of philosophy, and occupies his fir.-t 

 volume with the destruction of the bases on which material- 

 ism and idealism are respectively founded. His dissection 

 of the fundamental propositions of these systems is marked 

 by considerable acuteness, and his success in showing how 

 and where they are respectively unsound is indisputable. 

 Of his constructive capacity we have yet to learn, as the 

 edifice which he is to raise from what he regards as meta- 

 physically unassailable is to be elaborated in a future 

 volume or volumes. Meanwhile he has produced a work of 

 value to the thoughtful student. By the way, either his 

 printer or himself is chargeable with some odd spelling in 

 places. To take a single instance : he heads his preliminary 

 remarks " Prolegomena," instead of " Prolegomena," the 

 word being derived from the Greek verb irpoXiytu ; I speak 

 beforehand ; and not, as he seems to fancy, from 7rpdA.oyos. 



llie Wood-turner's Handyhooh. By Paul N. Hasluck. 

 A.I.M.E. (London : Crosby Lockwood & Co. 1887.)— 

 This is the .second of the valuable series of mechanical hand- 

 books by Mr. Hasluck now in the course of publication by 

 Messrs. Crosby Lockwood k Co., the- first of which (" The 

 Metal-turner's Handybook ") we noticed on p. 212. Written 

 by a man personally familiar with the tools he describes, it 

 may be cordially recommended as a most useful work to all 

 beginners in the fascinating art of turning. Explicit and 

 well-illustrated directions are given for making a consider- 

 able variety of articles, both useful and ornamental, and the 

 possessor of a lathe will find in its pages material to keep 

 him pleasantly and profitably employed for .some time to 

 come. 



Screw Threads. By Paul N. Hasluck. (London : 

 Crosby Lockwood ik Co. 1887.) — Addressing a somewhat 

 more limited public than the volume reviewed above, this 

 little book, constructed to go into the waistcoat pocket, 

 pretty exhaustively discusses the question of screw threads 

 and screw-cutting generally. It should be in the po,=session 

 of every metal-turner, engineer, and machinist. 



School H>jgiene. By Arthur Newsholme, M.D. 

 (London : Swan Sonnensehein, Lowrey, k Co. 1887.) — 

 In nineteen chapters. Dr. Newsholme treats elaborately of 

 school architecture in its sanitary aspect ; of mental and 

 physical exercise, diet, dress, rest, and bathing as affecting 

 the health of children ; of their eyesight ; of the commu- 

 nicable diseases which arise in, or are brought to, schools ; 

 and of school accidents and their immediate treatment. 

 Both parents and schoolmasters will find much in the 

 volume before us which is worthy of their most serious 

 consideration. 



The Mystery of Gravity, dx. By J. Eraser, C.A. 

 (London : Wyman ife Sons. 1887.) — The mystery of gravity 

 is that it is — heat ! Last September we reviewed a book in 

 these columns (Kxowledoe, vol. ix., p. 342) by Mr. 

 Kedzie, in which Mr. Eraser's theory of bodies shielding 

 each other, and so being, as it were, pushed together, was 

 anticipated. Mr. Eraser, alike with Mr. Kedzie, quite 

 ignores the fixct that, were his hypothesis true, bodies would 

 attract each other in the pioportiou of their sectional areas, 

 and not of their masses at all. 



History and Work of the Warner Observatory. (Rochester, 

 New York. 1887.) — In the first part of this work Mr. 

 Lewis Swift gives a general description of the observatory 

 and its contained instruments ; a list of the winners of the 

 prizes offered for the discovery of comets ; a catalogue of 

 nebula; discovered by the author, and miscellaneous observa- 

 tions of the physical structure of two well-known nebulae, 



