June 5, 1685.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



485 



informed us that (acoording to Jlr. B. Whitwortli) there 

 are oG abstainers in the House — i.t'., 30 out of (>r)'J, or 

 •Obj of the whole number ! " Consensus of opinion ! " If 

 there be anything approaching to it, it is out of all pro- 

 portion in favour of moderate drinkinj;. Moreover, we 

 should like to know whether men like Mr. Passmore 

 Edwards, who traf a total abstainer, but has now roturueil 

 to a more rational frame of mind, are to be included among 

 the 3G ] As for Mr. John Bright, he may, for aught we 

 know, not drink alcoholic liquors; but his smoking is a 

 notorious fact ; while in the majority of cases adduced by 

 Mr. Eeade, his shining examples range from respectable 

 mediocrity to the verie.st dummyism. As adding weight to 

 his argument, they remind us of nothing so much as the 

 inclusion of the name of the man who keeps the " Food of 

 Health " shop among those of " eminent men who have 

 embraced vegetarianism ! '' Because our author is virtuous, 

 it is a little hard upon the overwhelming majority of 

 Englishmen that there are to be no more cakes and ale. 

 " The pump, the whole pump, and nothing but the pump " 

 is not a sentiment that will ever commend itself to the 

 inhabitants of the United Kingdom. 



Think .' A Reply to Lor.l Biamwell'.s Plea for " Drink." 

 By D.\wsox Burns, D.D (London : National Temperance 

 Publication Depot). — We have most carefully read Dr. 

 Burns's pamphlet through from beginning to end, with the 

 result, however, of wholly failing to find that it touches 

 Lord Bramwell's argument at all. Diink is productive of 

 evil, say the total abstainers. Undoubtedly it is ; but so 

 are fire and other things, which are also of the greatest 

 po.ssible value to mankind. That a relatively small pro- 

 portion of the population of this country is led into want 

 and crime by intemperance is unhappily true, but is that 

 any reason why the moderate man should deny himself his 

 couple of glasses of champagne, his pint of claret, or his glass 

 of "Bassl" It would be as logical and consistent to con- 

 tend that because some one over-insure.s his house and then 

 bums it down, no one else is ever to light a fire 

 during the entire winter ! IMoreover, evil as is the effect 

 of alcohol on individuals, the alcohol-drinking races have 

 been the conquerors of the world ; and wherever they have 

 come into contact with a jiurely water-drinking people, like 

 the degraded Tasmanians, the latter have disappeared from 

 the face of the earth. The ancient Athenians were at the very 

 summit of intellectual power, and, according to Aristotle, 

 they were notorious drunkards. If a man is such a weak 

 and fatuous creature that he cannot take sufficient drink 

 without taking too much, l>y all means let him (like the 

 girl in the ballad), get " a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up" 

 his erring body with, and take all the pledges that can be 

 administered to him. But that another, who was never 

 drunk in his life, should be deprived of the power and rittht 

 to take what he feels to be at once pleasant and beneficial 

 to him, because there happens to be ever so small a majority 

 of abstainers in any particular district, appears to us to be 

 the grossest pos.sible infringement of the liberty of the 

 subject. 



The Making of the Ilome : a Reading-book of Domestic 

 Economy. By Mrs. S. A. Barxf.tt. (London : Cassell ife 

 Co.) — This is a book which we should lie glad to see in the 

 hands of the wife of every artificer, labourer, and even little 

 tradesman in the kingdom. Writing in the plainest lan- 

 guage and with the most studious regard to the wants and 

 capaVjili ies of those whom she addresses, Mrs. Barnett has 

 contrived to pack an amount of information into the sixty 

 short chapters or readings which make up her book that is 

 really wonderful. The choice, structure, furnishing, decora- 

 tion, and cleansing of the house occupy the first eight 

 chapters. Then food and drink, their cost, preparation, and 



nutrient qualities form the subject of the succeeding 

 thirteen. Cleaning, washing, and clothing (with an inci- 

 dental dissertation on tallymen and ))awnbrokers) bring us 

 U]) to chapter 34, after which live art^ devoted to cookery 

 proper. Chapters 11 to ."M deal with hygiene; the suc- 

 ceeding two contain hints on taking pleasure ; while educa- 

 tion, thrift, the choice of friends, Ac, are treated of in 

 the concluding essays. l'hilaiithro|>i8ts who wish to confer 

 real and lasting benefit ujion the working iiopulation of 

 Great Britain may take an ell'ectual step in that direction 

 by sowing Mrs. Barnett's comitendious little Domestic Kn- 

 cyclop;i'dia broadcast among them — and seeing that thoy 

 rend it. 



I'ractical rrohlems and Lines for Working Draviwp. 

 (Manchester : Abel Heywood it Son. London : Sinijjkin, 

 Marshall, k Co. 188.^.)— 'J'he vakw^ of the possession of 

 the power of mechanical drawing to artificers of every kind 

 is enormous, and the craftsman who can employ a T-squan;, 

 a pair of compasses, scales, and a parallel-ruh'r to make a 

 working-drawing of any job in hand has an advantage over 

 his fellows which it would Im^ difficult to over estimate. It 

 is to impart the practical knowledge needful for this pur- 

 pose that the capital little work before us is written. 

 Nothing can be plainer or more perspicuous than the 

 language of its descriptions, which are illustrated by no 

 less than 130 figures. This is a book to be obtained by 

 every one, be he mechanic or amateur, who has to work 

 to scale. 



Kotaka. A Japanese Tale. By J. Monitis. (London : 

 Wyman A Sons. 1S8.3.) — Told in simple language, and 

 destitute altogether of the sensational element, Mr. Morris's 

 story is at once interesting and valuable as giving a faith- 

 ful portraiture of the inner life of the Japanese. The 

 loves of the old Samurai Hashimoto's daughter Kotaka 

 and the young cadet (and eventually distinguished ofiicer) 

 Genjiro form the thread on which are strung picturesque 

 descriptions of the physical geography, manners, and 

 customs of Japan. To all who may wish to enter upon 

 comparatively untrodden ground, and to learn something 

 of the progress of a strange Eastern civilisation, in an 

 agreeable and readable form, we can confidently recommend 

 "Kotaka." 



Tin; Little One's Oim Colonrrd J'iHure J'tiper. Edited 

 by Mrs. ELiz.\BETn Day. (London: Dean <fe Son. 188.5.) 

 — Yet another candidate for nursery favour; and, judging 

 from No. I., likely to secure the suffrages of the tiny folk. 

 The coloured pictures are capital, the letterpress well 

 adapted 10 the juvenile public it addresses, and the price 

 very moderate indeed. 



CasseU's Readable Readers : First Infant Reader, Second 

 Infant Reader, First Reading Book for Standard /., and 

 Second Reading Book for Standard II. (London : Cassell 

 & Co.) — This series of readers, issued Vjy the Messrs. Cassell 

 ,fe Co., seems well adapted to its purpose. The successive 

 little volumes are of slightly increasing difficulty, the 

 subjects are well chosen, and, joy of joys ! there are no 

 depressing attempts to be funny. Their compiler or com- 

 pilers has (or have) certainly succeeded in making a selection 

 which will intere.st the little ones. 



We have also on our table from Messr.s. Cassell k Co. 

 European Butterflies (ivd Mothx, The Library of L'liglish 

 Literature, CasseU's I/ousehvld Guide, The Book of J/ealth, 

 The Countries of the World, and CasseU's Popular Gar- 

 dening : also The Trieyclist, Wheeling, The Medical Press 

 and Circular, The Dyer, Bradstreet's, The Sanitary News, 

 The Season, The Science of Sanitation, (by Sharp it Co.), 

 Naturen, Night and Day, Society, and Tlie Cooperative 

 Index to Periodicals. 



