May 



1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



397 



and his examination into the cansos of commercial crises 

 ■will also be found worthy of perusal, while a very feasible 

 snjgestion for the reform of the Peerage is made in a 

 " Note on the House of Irtirds." The solitary really weak 

 essay of the whole ten which make up the volume before 

 us is the concluding one, on " War ; " which " Hibernicus " 

 ■would apparently confine to a species of duel between two 

 limited bodies of men. If his ideas could be carried out 

 in their integrity, warfare must assuredly never cea.se from 

 the face of the earth so long as the sun and moim endureth. 

 There is no more oflensive and transparent cant than the 

 tallc about " conducting war ou Christian principles," and, if 

 fighting be defensible at all, it should be so prosecuted as to 

 cause the maximum amount of injurj' and pecuniary loss to 

 the enemy. At any rate, though, the aRonymous author of 

 "Essays on Economical Subjects" has given us an amusing, 

 readable, and at the same time thouglitful contribution to 

 the discussion of matters gravely afiecting our national 

 prosperity. 



Stiidifs in Jficroscopical Science. Edited bv Aetuuu C. 

 Cole, F.R.M.S. (London : Bailliere, Tindalf, A- Co.x.)— 

 Here are four more sections, forming together part three of 

 Mr. Cole's valuable and beautiful work. Both engravings 

 and letterpress are up to the high standard of the previous 

 part of the book. The admirable lithograph of the jaws of 

 a spider will delight the young microscopist. 



Outlines of the World's History. By Edgar Sander- 

 sox, M.A. (London : Blackie & Son. 1885.) — Into 6 (6 

 (or, including a copious and excellent index, into GG4) 

 pages Mr. Sanderson has contrived to compress a mass of 

 historical information which is really astonishing. To 

 epitomise, or to attempt to criticise in detail, such a -nork 

 as this would be simply impossible. Suffice it to say here 

 that the author appears to have availed himself of the 

 latest researches in connection with every branch of his 

 subject, and that while necessarily succinct, he has never 

 sacrificed clearness and needful detail to brevity. Maps 

 and illustrations are plentiful throughout the volume, 

 which must prove not only of value in an educational 

 point of view, but also useful as a handy book of reference 

 for the general reader. We may safely recommend it in 

 both of these aspects. 



Ballooning. By G. Mat. "The Specialists' Series." 

 (London : Symons it Co. 1885.) — Free from anything in 

 the shape of "padding" or fine writing, Mr. May's little 

 book contains a fair, candid, and, for all practical purposes, 

 exhaustive history of the balloon from the first tentative 

 attempts of the brothers Montgolfier, just over 100 years 

 ago, down to the Renard and Krcb.s' machine, which did 

 not sail against the wind last year, and to the subsequently 

 described, albeit as yet practically untried, inventions of 

 De Bruignac, Stapfer, and Kock. The application of the 

 balloon to scientific research and to the military art form 

 the subject of two chapters ; while the risks rim by the 

 aeronaut are well illustrated by the awful stories of Pilatre 

 de Rozier, Croce-SpineUi, Sivel, and Tissandier, and to a 

 slightly less extent of Coxwell and Glaisher, in their 

 memorable ascent in September, 18G2. Every one who 

 wishes to be au courant of the existing ai-t of aiJrosta- 

 tion should buy !Mr. May's small volume. By the way, it 

 was Col. Noble (and not "Nobel") of the Royal Engineers, 

 who was at the head of the Military Balloon department. 



International Inventions Exhibition Railvxxy Guide and 

 EotUe-book for May. (London : Wm. Clowes <Sb Son.) — 

 If the poEse.-sor of this volume, situated anywhere within 

 the bills of mortility (or, more rigidly, within a radius of 

 twenty-five miles from the Metropolis), should be s-mitten 

 ■with a sudden desire to visit the Exhibition of Inventions, 

 it will be wholly his own fault if he does not proceed 



straightway to that destination by the most direct possible 

 route. Seriously speaking, though, Jlr. Somcra Nine has 

 succeeded in supplying directions regarding the means of 

 transit to South Kensington which furnish every possible 

 kind of information needed. 



The Lorjic nf Dffnition Explained and Applied. By 

 William L. Davidson, M.A. (London : I^ongmans, 

 Green, ifc Co. 1885.) — Under the not particularly attrac- 

 tive title which heads this notice, Mr. Davidson has pro- 

 duced a work of very considerable interest and importance 

 to all who are concerned that thinking should be at once 

 sound and accurate. For, to say nothing of the value of 

 a habit of precision in logical definition as a means of intel- 

 lectual discipline, there can be no doubt that no inconsider- 

 able portion of the polemics of science, philosophy, and 

 theology, has its origin in a slip-shod use of words, and in 

 the employment of those whose connotations are vague 

 and ill-determined, or which are of a more or less equivocal 

 character. Our author commences the exposition of his 

 subject by a chapter (in words and tlieir meanings, in which 

 the reader will llnd much that is curious as to the changes 

 of signification which many of our familiar words have 

 undergone. We are, though, sorry to find him lending the 

 weight of his authority to the formation of new designa- 

 tions by the addition of the syllable " ist " to the root-form 

 of the substantive or verb standing for an art or science, 

 e.g., " scien<is< " itself may be a compact form of expres- 

 sion for man of science, or natural philosopher, but — 

 at all events at present — it has a cacophonous sound. 

 We all remember the use of this sutHx by poor Artemus 

 Ward in his description of having his bust executed by a 

 " Sculpist." In his second and third chapter, Mr. David- 

 son deals with definition generally, and in the fourth, on 

 Lexical Defining, shows conclusively enough, the grave 

 faults of our English dictionaries. Chapter V., too, on 

 School-book Definitions, is sufficiently severe upon the 

 shortcomings of the ordinary .school reading-book. To 

 Chapters VI., VII., VIIL, and IX. we would refer those 

 readers who favour us with such quires of philosophical 

 and metaphysical disquisition ; inasmuch as from them 

 they may learn what pure logomachy the larger part of 

 metaphysical argument really is. The tenth and conclud- 

 ing division of the volume deals with Biological Defini- 

 tion, and here the author is again most legitimately and 

 justifiably severe upon existing botanical terminology. 

 Nor does he spare the zoologists in his bill of indictment ; 

 in fact, he shows conclusively in how unsatisfactory a state 

 scientific definition is generally. An appendix containing 

 a sketch of the life and doctrine of that remarkable 

 thinker Boethius, and a well-arranged and copious index, 

 conclude the work. We have no doubt that Mr. David- 

 son's volume will meet with that appreciation which it well 

 deserves from philologists, metaphysicians, and men of 

 science generally. 



Handbook of Translation. Latin. (London : E. Stan- 

 ford. 1885.) — This is a well selected series of short 

 passages from Latin author.", both in poetry and prose, for 

 translation at sight into English. It seems well adapted 

 for the use of those who have to face the ordeal of an 

 examination. 



We have also on our table from Messrs. Cassell & Co. : — 

 Our Own Cumitry, CasseWs Popular Gardenirty, Cassell's 

 Household Guide, The Hook of Health, The Countries of the 

 World, European Ijutlerjlies and Moths, and the Library if 

 English Literature. Also 7'A« Afedical Press and Circular, 

 I'he Tricyclist, Wheeliny, liradstreefs, Le Franklin, The 

 Sanitary Nev^s, The Gazette of the Travelling-Tax Abolition 

 Committee, Unworthy Tactics, and Temperancce v. Tee- 

 lolalism. 



