August 1, 1887.] 



♦ KNOVSTLEDGE 



237 



and of the tail of the Pons-Biooks comet. The second por- 

 tion of the book is occupied with the Warner prize essays ; 

 the first one by Professor Lewis Boss, on comets, forming a 

 really valuable addition to popular knowledge of those 

 mysterious bodies. This is followed by four on the sky- 

 glows of 1883-84, of which the third, by Mr. H. C. Maine, 

 of Rochester, New York, is the only one really' worth the 

 trouble of reading through. The other three are seemingly 

 dependent upon Nature, alike for their "facts" and 

 inferences ; whence their scientific value may be pretty well 

 estimated. 



My First Trigonometrij. By M. H. Senior. (London : 

 Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co. 1887.) — Mr. Senior 

 plunges at once into analytical trigonometry, and, moreover, 

 wastes several pages over the absolutely valueless centesimal 

 measurement of angles ; but, despite this, he has produced 

 a remarkably useful little volume. His chapter on loga- 

 rithms, particularly, is excellent. " Hyp " has apparently 

 dropped out of the first fraction in s. 28 on p. 22. 



Practical Solid Geometry. By Major W. G. Ross, R.E. 

 (London : Cassell &. Co. 1887.) — This is an introduction 

 to geometrical drawing on the orthographic projection, as 

 applied to the delineation of a tract of country in its mili- 

 tary aspect, of the plan of a fortification, &c. The system 

 of vertical indices is also explained, and contouring touched 

 upon ; while the isometric projection and the elementar}' 

 principles of shading are dealt with more or less fully. To 

 military students who have the advantage of a tutor. Major 

 Ross's small volume will be found valuable ; but it will re- 

 quire the most sedulous attention from all who are self- 

 instructed if they are to derive much advantage from it. 



Instantaneims riwtograplu/ for Amateurs. By C. W. 

 (Bath: Charles Steen. 1887.) — ThLs pamphlet contains 

 a description of the " diaphragmatic shutter," in whicli 

 exposure is effected by the crossing of two apertures between 

 the two members of a camera lens. Its author claims for 

 his arrangement that it admits of the time of exposure 

 being accurately regulated between '01 second and several 

 minutes. 



An Elementary French Grammar. By Dr. V". dk Fi\'as, 

 M.A., kc. (London : Crosby Lockwood & Co. 1887.) — 

 Familiar as is the name of Dr. de Fivas in connection wilh 

 the study of the French language, we naturally expected 

 that an elementary work on that subject from his pen would 

 be well and conscientiously done. Nor have we been dis- 

 appointed in the peiusal of the one before us, inasmuch as 

 the student who thoroughly master.s its contents will have 

 laid a very sound foundation for the acquisition of a perfect 

 knowledge of French. 



The Bible and the A(/e. By Cuthbert Collingwood, 

 M.A. and M.B. Oxon. (London : T. Fisher Unwin. 1886.) 

 — Yet another specimen of wasted labour and misdirected 

 ingenuitv. In writing we convert, so to speak, our im- 

 material ideas into material signs — signs which possess, and 

 can possess, no identity with those ide^s, but in a familiar 

 sense " correspond " with them. Here, then, is the whole 

 mystery of Mr. Collingwood's biblical exegesis. The science 

 of the Bible is no science at all, and its history (where it has 

 any historical basis) is only ancillary to the spiritual lessons 

 taught by it. The man who reads the first chapter of 

 Genesis, in the belief that he is perusing an account of a 

 series of objective facts which really happened, is simply 

 deceiving himself, as the story of the Creation, of the 

 material universe, the appearance of Adam and Eve, and all 

 the rest of it, is myth and allegory pure and simple. Some 

 of the Bible is in.spired and some is not. The Gospels and 

 Apocalypse, for example, are in the former category ; the 

 Epistles have no claim to inspiration whatever. All this Ls 



modestly described on the title-page as " An elucidation of 

 the principles of a consistent and verifiable interpretation ol 

 Scripture"! — apparently in the most sublime unconscious- 

 ness that the same system might be applied with equal 

 success to demonstrate the Divine origin of the Veda, the 

 Koran, or even of the "Gold Plates" of that lamented 

 prophet the late Joe Smith himself. Of Mr. Collingwood's 

 quasi-Papal dogmatism, and of his curious want of a])precia- 

 tion of the real difficulties which beset men of science in 

 connection with the perfectly definite statements contained 

 in the Bible, it is needless to speak at length. Save for a 

 horrible dread that it would lead to the publication of 

 reams more of such stuff, we would suggest that Mr. Kinns 

 and he should discuss the question of the interpretation of 

 the account of the Creation with which the Bible opens. 

 Who would convert whom would be a matter of very curious 

 speculation indeed. 



CasselFs Latin-English Dictionary. Revised, enlarged, 

 and partly re-written. By J. R. V. Marchast, M.A. 

 (London: Cassell & Co. 1886.) — When we contrast the 

 volume whose title heads this notice with the Dymock's 

 " Ainsworth " to which lads were condemned in the days of 

 our fathers, we cannot help congratulating the present race 

 of schoolboys upon the appearance of so valuable an aid to 

 an intelligent study of classical Latin as this. Amon» the 

 excellent features which distinguish Mr. Marchant's book 

 may be mentioned the very numerous quotations from the 

 most familiar Latin authors, illu.«trative of the different 

 meanings and use of words, the etymologies, and the his- 

 torical and geographical explanations introduced into so 

 many of the various articles. As a dictionary to aid a 

 middle-form boy at a public school in construing, it would 

 not be very easy to improve upon the one before us. 



British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, aiid Sjdders. By F. A. A. 

 Skuse. (London : Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, ife Co. 

 1887.) — Yet another volume of the delightful "Youuf 

 Collector " series, in which Mr. Skuse discourses in an in- 

 teresting way of those two popularly ill- understood classes of 

 the Arthropoda, the Crustacea and the Arachnida of the 

 British Islands. Surely no intelligent lad or youno man 

 can read this little book through without being inspired 

 with a burning zeal to study and collect lobsters, crabs, 

 prawns and spiders straightway. Within its 128 pages will 

 be found a description of the structure, habitat, ami manners 

 and customs generally of all the well-established British 

 species of the creatures treated of, with explicit directions 

 for capturing and preserving them for study. No less than 

 thirty-seven well-executed wood-engravings (one containing 

 twelve or fourteen separate figures) illustrate the text, and 

 render easy the identification of any specimen the col- 

 lector may secure. We neither know, nor pretend to know, 

 anything of publishing in its strictly commercial aspect, but 

 we fail to see how such a work as this can yield a profit at 

 the singularly low price charged for it. 



Yussuf the Guide. By Geo. Maxville Fenn. (London: 

 Blackie & Son. 1887.)— Albeit Mr. Fenn is scarcely at his 

 best in the work before us, he has given us a sufliciently 

 stirring story of the adventures of a sick lad restored to 

 health and strength by a journey in Asia Minor, in company 

 with his two guardians, IMr. Preston, a University professoi-, 

 and an altogether impossible lawyer, Mr. Burns. In 

 Smyrna they pick up Yussuf, who subsequently acts as 

 their guide through the wild country which they explore : 

 a Turk so grave, patient, brave, resourceful, and gentleman- 

 like that he may well have been drawn from the life. The 

 account of the escajie of the party, together with another 

 Englishman and his wife from the mountain fastness of the 

 brigands, who are holding them for ransom, will be read 



