September 2, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



203 



after man has become extinct on an earth at a much less 

 distance from the sun than now, does not lose interest 

 from the beginning to the end. 



A Chapter on Birds. By K. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., 

 F.L.S., etc. (S. P. C. K.) This elegant, and at the same 

 time most useful, little book certainly deserves a more 

 elaborate title. It is indeed a series of short essays, 

 written in a lucid and pleasantly popular style, on eighteen 

 species of birds, ■which visit these islands on but very rare 

 occasions. Dr. Bharpe is well known as an authority and 

 writer on birds, and he has been ably assisted in the 

 present work by Mr. Keulemans, who has depicted, in a 

 aeries of beautifully coloured plates, each species about 

 which the author writes. " A Chapter on Birds " un- 

 doubtedly fills a want in ornithological literature, for 

 we have here collected from large and expensive works, 

 which few possess, a great deal of interesting information 

 about the habits and life-history of birds, in which 

 every ornithologist must take the greatest interest, even 

 if it is only the lucky few who cast eyes on them in 

 this country. It is a significant fact that almost every 

 one of the birds mentioned in this book is richly- 

 coloured and beautiful. Why is it then, that these lovely 

 birds do not increase in this country, and thus enrich and 

 add brightness to our more or less dully-coloured avifauna '? 

 The reason is obvious. Any one of these birds, in common 

 with the kingfisher and a few other gorgeous species still 

 left to us, forms an attractive and conspicuous prize, not so 

 much to the genuine and scientific collector, but to the 

 man who loves to have a " pretty thing in a glass case," as 

 Mr. Hudson so drastically puts it in " Lost British Birds," 

 wherewith to adorn his hall. For this reason the golden 

 oriole, " which," as Dr. Sharpe says, " might be a regular 

 summer resident, has to be classed among our rare 

 visitors." The beautiful bee-eater, too, "might possibly 

 nest in England, as it has been observed in the British 

 Islands on upwards of thirty occasions." As the nesting 

 habits of this bird are so little known to the English 

 naturalist, it may be worth while to give here what Dr. 

 Sharpe has to say about them. " Like their relations, the 

 kingfishers," he writes, "the bee-eaters adopt the method of 



burrowing out a tunnel in a friable sandbank In 



the nest-chamber, at the end of the long tunnel, the eggs are 

 laid on the bare soil ; while gradually there accumulates a 

 foitid mass of fish-bones and pallets in the case of the 

 kingfishers, and in that of the bee-eaters a conglomeration 

 of wing-cases of beetles and the indigestible portions of the 

 bees and wasps on which the birds feed." 



The book is teeming with interesting facts, and should 

 be added to every bird-lover's hbrary, as an inexpensive 

 but thoroughly reliable work. 



Chemical Analysis of Oils, Fats, Waxes, and of the 

 Commercial Products derived tlierefrom. From the German 

 of Prof. K. Benedikt, revised and enlarged by Dr. 

 J. Lewkowitsch, F.I.C., F.C.S. (Macmillan.) The 

 German edition of this book is the best work on the 

 chemical analysis of oils, fats, and waxes. Hitherto, no 

 English work specially devoted to this branch of technical 

 chemistry has been published, so the volume for which 

 Dr. Lewkowitsch is responsible will be welcome. The 

 opening chapters of the work deal with the constituents 

 and the physical and chemical properties of fats and 

 waxes, and with general methods of analysis. After- 

 wards follow full descriptions of all the natural fats 

 and waxes, with methods of examining these substances 

 and detecting adulteration, and an important section 

 upon the technical and commercial analysis of the raw 

 material and products of the fat and oil industries. 

 In translating Prof. Benedikt's work, Dr. Lewkowitsch has 



omitted many of the tiresome details, and has introduced 

 a large number of valuable additions, especially in the latter 

 half of the work. As with most German text-books, 

 little attention was given to the work of English and 

 American chemists in the original. This defect, however, 

 is now remedied, and every important observation made 

 up to the time of going to press has been included. Ana- 

 lytical and technical chemists will not be slow in adding 

 the work to their reference libraries, and the teacher of 

 chemistry will find the volume a useful aid to the study of 

 technical organic analysis. 



First Prineijdes of C/iemistri/. By Prof. Samuel Cooke, 

 M.A.,etc. Pp.260.' Sixth Edition. (George Bell & Sons.) 

 First Principles of Astronomy. Pp. 88. Fifth Edition. 

 (Same author and publishers.) There is nothing to dis- 

 tinguish either of these books from the many others of 

 their kind. The books appear to be intended for students 

 at the College of Science, Poona, of which Mr. Cooke is 

 principal and professor of chemistry and geology. The 

 illustrations are few, and what there are of them are 

 coarse, and the text is behind the times. Lord Kelvin 

 is named Sir William Thom//son, and Prof. Lockyer is 

 described as Sir Norman Lockyer. It seems almost a pity 

 that Prof. Cooke did not limit the circulation of his books 

 to the students of the Poona College of Science, for they 

 will certainly not improve the science instruction in our 

 schools and colleges. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



studies ill the Eeohtion of Animals. Bj E. Bonavia, M.D. 

 Illustrated. (Constable it Co.) 2l8.net. 



Ice-hound on Kidguee. By Aubyn Trevor Battje, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 

 &c. Illustrated by J T. Neltlerhip, Charles Whjmper, and the Author. 

 (Co! stiible k Co.) 2l3. net. 



British Birds. By W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S. Illustrated by 

 A. Tliorburn aud G-. K. Lodge. (Longmans.) 123. 6d. 



Popular Readings in Science. By John Gall^ M.A., LL.B., B..Sc. 

 (Constable & Co.) ii. 



John Dalton and the Rise of Modern Chemistry. By Sir Henry 

 E. Roscoe, D C.L., LL.D., F.E.S., ka. The Century Science Series. 

 (Cassell & Co.) 



Major James Sennell and the Rise of Modern English Geography/. 

 By Clements R. Markham, C.B., E.R.S. The Century Science 

 Series. (Cassell & Co.) 



Results of the Spectroscopic and Vhotogi aphic Observations made 

 at the Roi/al Oliserratori/, 6-reenmich, in the year 1892. Under the 

 direction of W. H. M. Christie, M.A., F.R.S. 



A Text Book of the Principles of Physics. By Alfred Daniell, 

 M.A., LL.B., D.Sc, &c. Third edition, illustrated. (Maciuillrtn.) 



2l8. 



Analytical Chemistry. By N. Menschutkiu. Translated from 

 the third German edition by James Locke. (Macmillan.) 17s. 



Biological Lectures delicercd at the Marine Biulogicat Lai/oratory 

 of Wood's Holt in 189-1. Illustrated. (Boston : tj-inn it Co.) 



Pan- Gnosticism : a Suggestion in Philosophy. By Noel Winter. 

 (New York and London : The Transatlantic Publishing Co.) 



London Birds and Beasts. By .J. T. Tristram-Valentine, with a 

 preface by Frank E Beddard, F.R.S. (Horace Cox.) 



British Fungus-Flora. By Geo. Massoe. Vol. IV. Illustrated. 

 (Bell & Sons.) 7s. tjd. 



Elementary Trigonometry. By Charles Pendlebury. (Bell & Sons.) 



Solution and Electrolysis. By \V. C. D. Whetham, M.A. (Cam- 

 bridge University Press.) 



All Elementary Text-Book of Mechanics. By William Briggs 

 aud G. H. Bryan. (University Correspondence College Press.) 3s 6d. 



An Analysis of .istrottomical Motion. By Henry Pratt. (Norman 

 it Sou ) 



Easii Pieces fur Translation into Latin Prose. By Geo. Carter, 

 M.A. ■ (Relfe Bros.) 



Geographical Terms, their Derivations and Meanings. By A. W. 

 Piatt. (Rclfe Bros) -Id. 



Hints on Refecting and Refracting Telescopes. By W. 

 Thoruthwaite. Illustrated. (Ilorne & Thornthwaite.) Is. 



The Reality of Two il'orlds. By H. I. S. QuiverfuU. (Wood & 

 Palmer.) Od. 



Catalogue of Astronomical and Scientific Apparatus. (Bolton : 

 Banks & Co.) Post free on application. 



