34 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[Jan. 9, 1885. 



General abundantly suffice to testify ; and, undoubterily, 

 millious have died, and will continue to die, in middle-age, 

 whom reasonable cire and precaution would have enabled 

 to survive to a period exceeding that prescribed by the 

 Psalmist. By all who wish at once to ]irolong and enjoy 

 their lives, Dr. Davies may be a-^cepted as a thoroughly 

 safe and trust ^rorthy guide. His de-cription of the various 

 disorders incident on advancing years, together with the 

 remedie-i, pharmaceutical and dietetic, for their palliation or 

 cure, leaves nothing to be desired. Notably, we think, is 

 his Inva'id Cookery tj be commended, as showing how 

 dishes may be made appeti>ing, and, at the same time, 

 absolutely therapeutic. The very moderate price at which 

 this volume is issued places it within the reach of all who 

 are interested in its contents : in which category every man 

 or woman who has passed the age of fifty may fairly be 

 included. 



Tiie Inspiral'wn of tltc Bible. By H. L. Hastings. 

 (London : S. Bagster i Sons.)— We must confess our 

 astonishment at seeing the name of so well-known and 

 high-cla-s a firm as that of the Messrs. Bagsters on the 

 title page of such a collection of mere vulgar rant as this 

 tract. 



The Fern Portfolio. By Francis George Heath. 

 (London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

 1885.) — We have from time to time noticed isolated parts 

 of this most beautiful work as they have reached us, and 

 are now glad to find it issued in one volume by the Society 

 for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The publishing 

 committee of that Society may well congratulate itself on 

 having been the means of bringing before the public a book 

 which many persons will be glad to have, if it be only as an 

 ornament to the drawing-room table. Superadded, how- 

 ever, to its merely ornamental characteristics is the meiit it 

 possesses of being the most absolutely lifelike reproduction 

 of all the species of British ferns that has ever been pub- 

 lished. As atlording the means of identifying our Briiish 

 ferns it is quite unsurpassable, and fhould, as it doubtless 

 will, be forthwith procured by every one who delights in 

 the grace and beauty of the Filices of these islands. 



A Dictionary of Xationcl Tiiogrnphij. Edited by Leslie 

 Stephen. Vol.1. (London : Smith, Elder, i- Co. 188.3.) 

 — At once concise and full, containing everything essential 

 to be known, without a superfluous line, the articles which 

 make up Mr. Leslie Stephen's first volume may unhesi- 

 tatingly be pronounced to be models of biographical 

 literature. The most out-of-the-way sources of information 

 appear to have been ransacked to provide the material for 

 this fine work, and it mav sutEce to show the catholic 

 spirit in which it has been undertaken, if we mention that 

 in the present volume (extending from Abbadie to Anne) 

 we find notices of lives of such diversity as those of 

 King JEifred and Bishop Acca side by side with those of 

 Gilbert A'B^ckctt, the famous comic writer, and Jerry 

 Abershaw, the notorious highwayman of the last century. 

 The name of the editor, and the list of contributors pre- 

 fixed to the volume before us, may of themselves be 

 accepted as an earnest of the manner in which ]Mr. Stephen's 

 scheme will be carried out. Assuredly if the future 

 volumes of the series fulfil the promise of the jjresent one, 

 Englishmen will ultimately possess a biographical dictionary 

 which will suffer nothing from comparison with anything 

 that has previously been attempted in any language. 



The Storfi of a Great Delusion. By Willi.am White. 

 (London: E. W.Allen. 188.5) — Forly-five Years of Regis- 

 tration Statistics, proving Vaccination to he both Useless 

 and Danc/erous. By A. Pv. Wallace, LL. D. (London: 

 E. W. Allen. 188.5 ) — We class these works toaether 

 hesause they have a common aim — that of discrediting 



vaccination. It is simplj' pitiable to find a man of Dr. 

 Wallace's intellectual ability in such company. He deals 

 with statistics after the fashion of the small fanatical horde 

 with whom he has thrown in his lot ; and while admitting 

 that it is diflicult or impossible to tell whether a person who 

 has died from small-pox has been vaccinated or not, tacitly 

 assumes that every such person has been vaccinated. Mr. 

 White proceeds on the time-honoured principle, " No case : 

 abuse plaintiff's attorney," and alleges that Jenner was a 

 dishonest hypocrite — in fact, little better than a rascal. 

 This is a species of argument (?) which m:iy satisfy a 

 Leicester mob ; it is hardly one to influence the candid and 

 dispassionate inquirer. 



Scientific Theology. By Thomas Walter Barber. 

 (London': Elliot Stock. 1884.)— Mr. Barber travels, to 

 some extent, along the lines of Professor Drummond's 

 " Natural Law in the Spiritual World," in the work lying 

 before us; but his knowledge of the latest results of 

 scientific research, unfortunately, scarcely equals that of the 

 author of the able essay referred to. For example, he 

 hardly seems to grasp the modern doctrine of energy in its 

 entirety. But his tolerance is admiraVile, and he is very far 

 indeed from condemning the philosophic doubter to ever- 

 lasting fire. Readers may differ from him in some of his 

 conclusions, but they will all admit the large charity with 

 which such conclusions are advanced. 



The Student's Elements of Geology. By Sir Charles 

 Lyell, Birt , F.R.S. Fourth Edition^ Revised, by P. Martin 

 Duncan, F.R.S. (London : John Murray. 188.5).— Tbere 

 is small need to occupy space by any attempted introduc- 

 tion of a work which has long been recognised as absolutely 

 indispensable to every student of geology. The fir.~t edi- 

 tion of the volume lying before us appeared in 1871, and 

 was recast by its great and lamented author from his 

 classical " Manual of Elementary Geology." The second 

 edition appeared in 187-4, the third in 1878, and now the 

 exhaustinn of the last one has rendered the proiluction of 

 this fourth edition imperative, and to Professor Duncan 

 has been entrusted the task of its revision, and the bringing 

 of the information it is intended to imjart down to the 

 latest date. Sir Charles Lyell's pleasantly-written and 

 profusely-illiistiated work has suffered nothing at the hands 

 of its latest editor, who seems to have successfully embodied 

 the latest results of geological investigation in such addi- 

 tions as he has made. This is emphatically a volume which 

 no student of geology can afford to be without. 



Tlie Year-Booh of Photography, and Photographic A'eios 

 Almanac for 1885. Edited by Tnos Bolas, F.O.S. 

 (London: Piper & Carter). — By excellent systematic 

 arrangement, and by the use of small tyi'e, Mr. Bolas has 

 contrived to pack an amount of information between the 

 covers of this year-book which may be fairly described as 

 astonishing. Every improvement which has been made 

 either in apparatus or photographic processes during the 

 past twelve months will be found here recorded. 

 Amateur and professional will alike discover that his 

 wants are supplied. The astronomer will find something 

 about stellar photography ; the very beginner directions 

 how to test a lens. Every possessor of a camera will, 

 merely as a matter of course, buy this book. 



Transit Tables for 1885, &.C. By L.iTiMER Clark, 

 M.I.CE. (London: E. &. F. N. S|)on. 1885.)— Fur- 

 nished with one of Mr. Latimer Clark's excellent and in- 

 expeusive transit instruments, and the little volume of 

 tables whose title heads this notice, the most inexperienced 

 observer may speedily be in a position to determine his 

 time within less than a'half-second. The a'lvanta«e of this 

 in outlying places must be very obvious indeed. Londoners 

 ' have the Great Clock at Westminster to which to a])pea], 



