July 25, 1884.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



75 



iKtblfttJS* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



TextBook of Descriptive JRneralor/i/. By Hilary Bauer- 

 man, F.G.S. (London: Longman?, Green, &: Co. 1884.) — 

 In his volume on " Systematic Minei'alogy," in Messr.s. 

 Longmans' admirable series of " Text-books of Science," 

 which preceded the one whose title heads this notice, 

 Mr. Bauerman considered the methods followed in the 

 systematic determination of the form, structiire, and com- 

 position of minerals, and he now proceeds to apply such 

 determination to the description of every important species 

 known. This is done in a way as convenient aud intel- 

 ligible to the student as it well can be, and no less 

 than 203 woodcuts of crystalline forms illustrate the 

 text. It is curiously illustrative of the advance of 

 mineralogical science that the capital index (of the names 

 of minerals alone) with which ^h: Bauerman's work con- 

 cludes occupies twenty closely printed columns. 



Simjile Lessons in Water-Colour : Jlariue. By Edward 

 Duncan. (London : Blackie it Son.) — In no more agree- 

 able form can reminiscences be secured of a holiday tour 

 than in that of water-colour sketches, made by the tourist 

 himself, of the localities which he has visited ; and the sea- 

 coast will always supply him with a boundless variety of 

 subjects for his pencil. Mr. Duncan's book will furnish 

 him with all needful infoi'mation as to the best method of 

 reproducing the various forms which he will meet with, 

 and the atmospheric effects which add so much to their 

 charm and beauty. The pos.session of a box of moist water- 

 colours, a sketch-block, and this volume of" Simple Lessons" 

 will add a new and very real pleasure indeed to a visit to 

 the sea-side. 



Tea and Tea-Drinking. By Arthur Reade. (London : 

 Sampson Low, Marston, A- Co.) — Mr. Reade, who is very 

 keen and enthusiastic indeed about tea, does his best, and 

 far from unsuccessfully, to interest the general reader in 

 the same subject. Beginning with its introduction into 

 this country in 1610, and tracing the gradual spread of its 

 use, he goes on to describe its growth and preparation, 

 teaches us how to make it, discourses on its effects on 

 physical endurance, its employment as a stimulant, and 

 winds up with some details of the extent to which it is a 

 source of revenue. The book is both chatty and amusing, 

 and will while away an idle half-hour pleasantly enough. 



Jolin Bull's Neiglthour in her True Light. By a 

 "Brutal Saxon." (London : Wyman i Sons. 1884.)— 

 How far what may be termed an International " Slanging- 

 match " is a seemly or edifying spectacle, must be left to 

 the judgment of individual readers. Within a comparatively 

 recent period, however, certain French writers have taken 

 upon themselves to revile and vituperate England and the 

 Enelish in a manner which was certain sooner or later to 



o 



provoke reprisals. That the inhabitants of these islands are 

 faultless, either morally or socially, it would be idle to con- 

 tend ; that, however, on the other hand, we are the besotted, 

 debauched, ignorant poltroons depicted by some of our 

 highly-imaginative neighbours across the Channel, it would 

 be equally idle not to deny. Stung, then, apparently by 

 taunts as baseless as they are brutal, our author, who seems 

 to be an English resident in Paris, has set himself to let a 

 little light in upon Fi-eneh life, social and official ; and a 

 most melancholy expose he gives us of ghastly immorality, 

 filthiness, bragging, cowardice, and venality on the part of 

 our critics. The " Brutal Saxon " is, at any rate, both 

 eadable and amusing, and probably liy this time MM. 

 Max O'Kell," Hector France, et Cie, are (like Lord 

 S haftesbury's parrot) "sorry they spoke." 



The Straight Line and Circle. With a Chapter on the 

 other Conies. By A. Le Sueur, B.A. Cantab. (London: 

 Bailliere, Tindall, i Cox.) — This handy little rudimentary 

 book on Analytical Geometry and the Conic Sections will 

 be found useful to the student preparing for examination. 

 A very excellent feature in ]Mr. Le Sueur's work is the 

 insertion after the proof of the various formulae, of exer- 

 cises, in the shape of numerical applications of them. 

 Nothing, in our experience, appeals so immediately to the 

 mind of the beginner as a concrete numerical example of a 

 merely literal equation, and such examples are supplied in 

 abundance in the book before us. General ones are also 

 given at the ends of the chapters on the line and circle, as 

 well as the questions set at the London University Exami- 

 nations for the B.A. and B.Sc. degrees from 1840 to 1883. 

 The author has done his unpretentious work well. 



The Blonplpe in Chemistry, 21ineralogg, and Geology. 

 By Lieut.-Colonel W. A. Ross, R.A., F.G.S. (London : 

 Crosby Lockwood <fc Co. 1884.) — This is apparently a 

 reprint of a series of articles which originally appeared in 

 our contemporary, the Englisli Mechanic. Be their origin, 

 however, what it may, there can be no doubt of the value 

 and utility of these lessons in what their author appro- 

 priately calls " Poor Man's Chemistry." No one can read 

 Colonel Ross's book without recognising the power and 

 usefulness of the method of anhydrous analysis which he 

 so lucidly explains ; and we have little doubt that the 

 perusal of his book will tend to bring into fashion a mode 

 of recognising mineral substances at once so simple, cheap, 

 and efficacious as to render it remarkable that it should 

 e\er have been suflered to fall into desuetude. Nothing can 

 be plainer or more perspicuous than our author's description 

 of the apparatus employed and the method of using it. 



Calculating Scales. Designed and patented by Lala 

 Ganga R.«i. (London : W. F. Stanley.) — A week or two 

 ago we reviewed (p. 36) a tract of General Hannyngton's 

 in which he gave a description of an extension of the slide 

 rule for the purpose of executing logarithmic computations ; 

 and now there lies before us an illustrated description of 

 another form of the same instrument, devised by a weU- 

 known Indian Civil Engineer for finding the scantlings of 

 timber, strains on girders and trusses, the thickness of re- 

 taining walls or by inspection. These scales ought to be 

 useful to the working civil engineer. 



In the Watches of the Night. Poems (in eighteen 

 volumes). By Mrs. Horace Dobell. Vol. II. (London : 

 Remington k Co., 1884.) — As an example of moderately bad 

 poetry it would be hard to find anything more illustrative 

 than this series. Take one at random, " Sea Shells and 

 their Tenants " : — 



And the little fish slip in and out, 



In the still calm hours of the June moonlight ; 



And the wild winds rock them oft about 

 In the tempest rude of a summer night. 



And so on through 96 pages. Mrs. Dobell's " Watches " 

 should be wound up forthwith. 



We have also before us Moffat's Test-papers (London : 

 Moffat k Page) ; Part IS of The Franco-German War, 

 Part 18 of The Library of English Literature, Part 3 of 

 European Butterflies and Moths, all published by CasseU & 

 Co., London ; The Subsidence Theory of Earthquakes, by 

 Dr. Keeland ; Compulsory Unijormity of Weight in the 

 Sale of Corn, by T. H. Chatterton ; The Journal of Botany, 

 (London : West, Newman, i Co.) ; Suggestions for Popular 

 and Educational 2fuseums, by Thos. Laurie (London : the 

 Author); The Tricyclist : The South American .Journal; 

 The Railway Review : The Boot and Shoe Trades Journal; 

 and the The Hindu Excelsior Magazine (Madras). 



