488 



♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



[Dec. 12, 1884. 



niture as may suffer from direct sunlight. To the naturalist 

 a northern window ia a boon, for, in studying the struc- 

 tural details of organic and inorganic nature, especially 

 with the microscope, nothing can be more disagreeable than 

 a strong glare of sunlight, nor can anything be more 

 delightful than a clear diffused northern light. The pre- 

 vailing winds ought also to be taken into account, but that 

 is a subject which is more nearly related to the s-pecial 

 design of the house, and each case must therefore be left to 

 the discretion of the architect. 



The isolation of apartments and their efficient ventilation 

 having been provided for, their convenient relative positions 

 next demand a careful study. The lavatories, bath-rooms, 

 and closets, when included within the principal structure, 

 ought to be so situated as in each instance to afford not 

 only ready but unobtrusive acces?. In every case, the 

 free admission of fresh air and light ought to be secured. 

 The compartments allotted to closets should be most care- 

 fully guarded from the other rooms of the house. They 

 should, moreover, be floored with an impervious material, 

 to insure against the evil effects of accident to the pipes, 

 and occupy such a position as to ])ermit of the direct exit 

 of the soil-pipe through the external wall of the building. 



The spaces set aside for housemaids' and scullery sinks 

 ought also to be well lighted, ventilated, and sub-externally 

 placed, so as to prevent unnecessary sources of damp. 

 Lastly, the cisterns for water-supply call for special atten- 

 tion in the less expensive houses, since they are almost 

 uniformly neglected. They are not only fastened in in- 

 accessible places, but often in positions which favour the 

 accumulation of filth of every description, not the least 

 harmful among these being that which accrues from the 

 ■connection of its pipes with, or its contiguity to and beneath, 

 the waste drainage-system of the household. We are thus 

 led to the irresistible conclusion that each individual section 

 •of a house, before it can be regarded as thoroughly whole- 

 some, ought to be well ventilated and lighted, free from 

 liability to damp and dirt, conveniently situated, and 

 ■capable at all times of the most searching scrutiny. 



SRtfaiftoS* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



A Systematic List of the J>utlcrJ!irs of Europe. By 

 H. C. Lang, M.D., F.L.S. (London : L. Reeve & Co.)— 

 This is simply indispensable to the Lepidopterist. An 

 ■edition is published in which the names are printed on 

 one side of the paper only, to serve as labels for a 

 ■collection. 



Food. Edited by Percy Russell. (London : D. Bain.) 

 — Food is here treated of in its hygienic, historical, 

 culinary, and social aspects. This is a serial which, 

 ■considering the enormous public it addresses, should have 

 a very wide circulation indeed. 



Vere Foster's Painting for Beginners ■■ Studies of Trees 

 in Pencil and in Water-Colours. By J. Needham. 

 < London : Blackie & Son.) — These constitute four volumes 

 of the series known as Vere Foster's Drawing Books. They 

 are all excellently got up, and should prove of inestimable 

 value in the hands of the rising generation. 



The Fuhlisher and Booltbuyers Jourmd. (London : 

 Wyman i Sons). — The publisher has probably already dis- 

 covered the value of this serial for himself. It remains for 

 lis to point out such value to the bookbuyer, who will find 

 in it a mass of informatioti with reference to works 

 recently published or immediately about to appear. Short 

 reviews of books of the week form one feature of the 



new serial, while no less than seventeen columns of literary 

 chit-chat present book news in an attractive and readable 

 form. 



The Printer s Devil. By " Anglo ScoTUS." (London : -3, 

 York-street, Covent-garden.) — At a recent Sunday school ex- 

 amination, a like girl, asked to define " an unclean spirit," 

 promptly replied : " Please, teacher, a dirty devil ! " Were 

 we ourselves required to furnish an impromptu definition 

 of the author of this brochure, we should probably describe 

 him as being (like the historical demon of Edmonton) — a 

 very merry Devil indeed. Certainly any one who wants an 

 innocent and hearty laugh (or rather succession of laughs) 

 should straightway invest the very few pence needed to 

 render him the possessor of this amusing collection of typo- 

 graphical blunders and curiosities. Moreover, if unre- 

 strained by ethical considerations, the reader may earn a 

 cheap reputation for wit by retailing as his own some of the 

 good stories with which the " Devil's " little pamphlet is 

 filled. 



ILindhooh for Xeedlevoork Prize Associations. (London : 

 Griffith, Farran, Okeden, k Welsh.) — This little book is 

 issued under the direction of the Executive Committje of 

 the London Institute for the Advancement of Plain Needle- 

 work, and contains the fullest and most explicit directions 

 for the management of local associations, with details as to 

 the nature of the work to be done in the various com- 

 petitions, the cost of materials, kc. All who think that it 

 is at least as important that a labourer's wife should be able 

 to make a shift for herself, or knit a pair of socks for 

 her husband, as that she should repeat bits of "Paradise 

 Lost " by rote, and parse sentences from " Rasselais," may 

 read it with advantage. 



Rabbits, for Exhibition, Pleasure, and Market. By R. O. 

 Edwards. (London : W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 

 1884 ) — Obviously the work of a thoroughly practical man, 

 and an enthusiast to boot. Mr. Edwards's well-written 

 and capitally illustrated volume may be unhesitatingly re- 

 commended to the incipient rabbit-fancier. Whether 

 rabbits are to be kept to show or to eat, our author may be 

 regarded as an absolutely trustworthy guide. His chapters 

 on hutches will interest the amateur mechanic ; while his 

 directions for feeding, breeding, and the treatment of dis- 

 eases, leave nothing to be desired. His details of the 

 various "points" of the rabbit which are noted in com- 

 peting from prizes, will be found very useful by the exhibitor 

 unused to the manners and customs of rabbit shows. 



Museums of Natural History. By the Rev. H. H. 

 HiGGiNS, M.A. (Liverpool : D. Murphy k Co. 1884.) — 

 As Chairman of the Museum and Mayer Collection Sub- 

 Committee of the Liverpool Free Public Museum, Mr. 

 Higgins speaks with authority and weight as to the arrange- 

 ment, classification, exhibition, and care of the objects 

 exhibited in that and allied institutions. His pamphlet 

 may safely be commended to those who are either about 

 to establish a Natural History Museum di> novo or who 

 may be engaged in an ineffectual attempt to render an 

 existing one popular and profitable in an educational point 

 of view. 



Tobacco Talk and Smokers' Gossip. (London : George 

 Redway. 1884.) — A prettily-got-up little pocket-volume, 

 brimful of anecdotes concerning the " weed," which will 

 furnish the smoker with a store-house of arguments for his 

 favourite practice. 



We have also on our table Andrew Marvel and his 

 Friends (Fourth Edition), by Marie Hall (London : 

 Hodder k Stoughton) ; the Christmas Number (excellently 

 illustrated) of the Christian Million, The Medical Press 

 and Circular, T/ie Tricyclist, Bradstreet's, and The Season 

 (with a host of fashion-plates, kc ) 



