Januaby 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



29 



Joseph Thomson, African Explorer. By J. B. Thomson. 

 (Low, Marston, .^- Co.) Illustrated. 7s. Gd. Among the 

 roll of African explorers there is no name more revered 

 than that of the brilliant young scientist, -Joseph Thomson, 

 ■who, alas! passed over to the great majority only too soon. 

 The volume under consideration is a biographical sketch, 

 together with a rrsumeoi the expeditions which this worthy 

 follower in the footsteps of such men as Park, Bruce, 

 Moffat, and Livingstone, led into hitherto unknown regions 

 of the Dark Continent. The reading of his exploits 

 among the savage tribes of the interior, and sometimes 

 amid the semi-bar- 

 baric splendours of 

 powerful states — 

 travelling through 

 lands blasted and 

 barren, where, 

 through the quiver- 

 ing heat-haze, every- 

 thing is seen with 

 a spectral glamour 

 upon it ; wearily 

 tramping for days at 

 one time over great 

 waterless plains, and 

 at another through 

 vast swamps up to 

 the knees in mud :| 

 now engaged in a 

 life-and-death 

 struggle with fever; 

 at another time 

 brought to death's 

 door by misadven- 

 ture with wild 

 beasts ; and ever 

 carrying life in one's 

 hands, so to speak, 

 among the aggres- 

 sive and ferocious 

 warriors : all this 

 reads with as much 

 interest as the 

 exploits of any 

 fabled knight of 

 chivalry in his quest 

 for the Holy Grail. 

 But Thomson's 

 career was some- 

 thing more than a 

 series of Quixotic 

 adventures. He not 

 only pioneered the 

 way into unknown 

 lands and opened 

 up a highway for 

 the worshippers of 



Mammon, but he also made valuable 

 science. He brought with him from 

 Atlas Moiintains, Tanganyika Basin, etc 

 tions of the fauna and flora 

 geologist himself, he was 

 of the formations in 



Tlie Reliquary and Illustrated Archaologist. Vol IL 

 (Bcmrose.) Illustrated. 123. Those whose delight it 

 is to contemplate the conditions of life in bygone ages as 

 it is revealed to the keenly imaginative mind by all 

 manner of interesting objects gathered from diverse 

 sources, and, as regards age, extending backwards into 

 hoary antiquity, will do well to interest themselves in this 

 periodical — a quarterly journal and review. Here " Old 

 Mortality" will find abundant material to satiate the 

 cravings of the most romantic, and the arm-chair antiquary 

 may study excellent presentments of such objects at his 



own fireside. 



The Gate House of 

 (From "The 



contributions to 

 Masailand, the 

 , valuable collec- 

 and, being an accomplished 

 able to render an account 

 the lands which he traversed. But 

 it is fortunate for the reading public that the compiling of 

 these pages should have been entrusted to the care of the 

 Eev. J. B. Thomson, brother of the explorer, for he has a 

 most facile pen, picturesque imagination, and consummate 

 skill in bringing into prominence the humorous as well as 

 the pathetic aspects of the explorer's life. 



The Society for 

 the Protection of 

 Birds is now issuing 

 a very useful series 

 of educational leaf- 

 lets. These leaflets 

 are edited by H. 

 E. Dresser, FIl.S., 

 F.Z.S., and are 

 written for the most 

 part by well-known 

 ornithologists. Two 

 have already been 

 published, one on 

 owls, the other on 

 woodpeckers, and we 

 understand that a 

 number more will 

 be published very 

 shortly. Taking the 

 owl as an example, 

 we find the following 

 points clearly and 

 briefly set out : — 

 Names of owls found 

 in the British Isles ; 

 description of each ; 

 where, when, and in 

 what numbers found ; 

 food , characteristics , 

 protection, and a few 

 remarks on general 

 habits. The plan is 

 excellent, and the 

 leaflets are certain 

 to spread a know- 

 ledge of our birds. 

 In an educational 

 series like this, how- 

 ever, the utmost 

 care should be taken 

 to have every detail 

 correct, and these 

 leaflets have not 

 been very carefully revised. For instance, we are surprised 

 to read that the tawny owl [Symium uluco) is a constant 

 resident in Ireland, when we know that it has never yet been 

 found there. Again, we are told that aU three species of 

 woodpecker " are resident throughout the British Islands, 

 but rare in the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland." 

 Since the green woodpecker has only twice been found in 

 Ireland, and the spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) has 

 never been known to breed there, the statement that all the 

 three woodpeckers are reaident in the British Islands is ob- 

 viously incorrect. In fact, the descriptions of the range of 

 the birds are altogether loose and require careful revision. 



lliornton Abbey. 

 Eelifiuiu'y.") 



