32 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Jauuaey 1, 1897. 



A Concise Handbook of British Birds. By H. Kirke 

 Swann. (Wheldon.) 3s. 6d. This little book well bears 

 out its title. It is concise and compressed ; but too 

 much so to be of much value. The descriptions are 

 confined almost exclusively to the habitat and plumage of 

 the British birds ; but so little space can be devoted to 

 each that it would indeed be difficult to identify a species 

 that was at all confusing, or like another species, by the 

 help of this book. A brief description of the nest and eggs 

 is usually added to each species ; but why, in some cases, 

 as in the moorhen, this is omitted, when it is inserted in 

 even more well-known cases, we cannot understand. And 

 equally incomprehensible is the omission of a description 

 of the important seasonal changes of plumage in certain 

 birds, as the turnstone and knot, when these are inserted 

 in the description of other birds. Mr. Swann is, too, 

 inclined to make many birds appear more common than 

 they are. The book is in a very handy form and is cheap, 

 but it is not complete enough to be of any very practical 

 use. 



Elements of Astronomy. By Sir Robert Ball. (Long- 

 mans.) Illustrated. 6s. 6d. By this time the little hand- 

 book by the Loundean Professor of Astronomy is too well 

 known to need more than a passing notice. The new 

 edition before us, suffice it to say, has been thoroughly 

 revised, according to the statement on the title page. As 

 far as the text is concerned, this is true ; but, curious to 

 relate, while the text changes its aspect from time to time 

 to meet the demands of new and well-authenticated facts, 

 the pictorial part, which is about as attractive as most 

 works on geometry, still retains its antique character. 

 There is no adequate representation of those interesting 

 objects, the sunspots ; and, while Venus and Saturn are 

 diagrammatically figured, the planets .lupiter and Mars 

 are altogether ignored. If illustration in the " sublime 

 science " counts for anything, it seems to us only a rational 

 inference to assume that the " thorouiildy revised " would 

 extend to the figures, for they constitute an integral part 

 of the book. 



SHOET NOTICES. 



-T/Vjrt'f? Di-airing and Shading from Casts. By T. C. Bai-field. 

 (Chapman & Hall, Limited.) Illustrated. 2s. 6d. The rules and 

 theories usually found in books dealing with practical subjects are, at 

 the best, inadequate tuition for the student. But if it were possible 

 to train a child by theorr alone, then this boot should accomplish it. 

 It contains some excellent ideas, and unusually correct information 

 about art examinations The student should be instructed to turn 

 his drawmg upside down, and also to view it by reflection from a mirror. 



Wood Carving. By Joseph Phillips. (Chapman & Hall, Limited.) 

 Illustrated. The eai-nest young student cannot fad to obtain the 

 greatest assistance from a careful study of the clear method laid down 

 in this little book. The illustrations hare been selected with that 

 judgment which comes of experience ; and the graduated examples 

 of ornament — recalling the early English in style — are particularly 

 good. But why are the Olustrations of Figures xsxTiii., xxxix., 

 and XL. omitted ? 



Photo-Trichromatic Printing. By C. G. Zander. (De Montfort 

 Press, Leicester.) Illustrated. 2s. 6d. This is a technical boot, 

 and, as such, is most raluable. Its author is to be congratiUated 

 on the clear and lucid manner of his wort, which, we trust, wUl 

 further the practical use of a process which, he rightly describes as 

 one of the most int«restiug acliievements of modern science. 



A Child's Historg of Scotland. By Mrs. Oliphant. (T. Fisher 

 tJnwin.) 28. 6d. If the gifted writer of this little book had not depre- 

 cated criticism, we should certainly have dissented from its title. It is, 

 iu the main, a history of the kings and crimes of Scottish history, and 

 we hold it to be at once unnecessary and undesirable to demonstrate 

 their close association. On behalf of her young readers, we would 

 plead with Mrs. Oliphant for some insight at least into the art, the 

 literature, and the poetry of her country, and, more than all, for the 

 story of the lives and loves of the common people. 



" From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs. 

 That makes her loved at home, revered abroad." 



WhitaTcer's Almanack, 1897. Tills almost indispensable handy 

 wort of reference has again been enlarged and now extends to seven 

 hundred and sixty pages. Among the miscellaneous subjects specially 

 treated are London water companies, tramways, the postal wort 

 of the world, and the food supply of the tingdom. An index to 

 former issues (1869-1896) has been added to facilitate refei-ence to in- 

 fonuation therein which pressure of space now renders it imprrative 

 to omit in order to make way for new topics. 



Thj Model Locomotive Engineer. By Michael Beynolds. (Crosby, 

 Loctwood, & Son.) Illustrated. 3s. 6d. John Briglit's famous 

 interrogttion to the House of Commons as to the greatest men of 

 the present age is capable only of the answer he gave it himself -. 

 "They are your engineers." And the story of the struggle of 

 Murdoch, Trcvithick, Hedley, and Stephenson in es'ablishing the 

 locomotive must always form a deep incentive to wort, to persevere, 

 to conquer. This new and revised edition of Mr. Keyuolds' bor-t 

 again tells the marvellous story that leads up to the triumph of 

 Rainhill. 



Elementarg Decoration as applied to the Decoration of Divelling 

 Houses. By James William Facey. (Crosby, Loctwood, « Son.) 

 Illustrated. 2s. This is a reprint of one of the familiar Weale's 

 Scientific and Technical Series, and is the third edition of Mr. 

 Facey's excellent little maniial. The work is intended to he a guide 

 to the simpler forms of art iu the decoration of both interiors and 

 exteriors, and we know of no subject which so well deserves attention 

 as the grim and murty sameness of the exteriors of our buildings, 

 unless it be the unspeatable contrasts of their interiors. 



l^ritish Gtiiana and itt Besources. With ^lap. (George Philip 

 & Son.) An interesting and lucid account of the history and 

 resources of Demerara, its physical features, geological formation, 

 and fauna and flora. Its political constitution and economic condition 

 is also fully described, as is its relation to and interest in the now 

 famous Venezuelan frontier question. 



Astronomical Chart. (G. W. Bacon i Co.) On one sheet, suitable 

 for the schoolroom, are figured day and night, phases of the moon, 

 eclipses, the seasons, sun's apparent path, the tides, etc. Indeed, so 

 miieh is attempted on a sheet of about forty inches by thirty inches 

 tint the chart can only be useful in small classes on account of the 

 sniallness of the several objects. 



A Manual of Mendina anil Sepairiiig. With Diagrams. By 

 Charles Godfrey Leland. (Cliatto & Windus.) 5s. Sir. Leland is 

 for nending, not ending. With an enthiisiasm that is contagious 

 and information that is encyclopffidic. he boldly advances the wort 

 of the humble repairer to the dignity of ai art. From this high 

 ground our author surveys mantind at large with a sorrowful eye, 

 because our ignorance of his art re-ults in an undue proportion cf 

 ending rather than mending. Ai'med with his faithful adhesive, Mr. 

 Leland screw~ our courage to the sticting place, and opens up to 

 every reader of his boot a n^ost enticing vista of artistic restoration. 

 He is equally at home with felt hats or mosaics, domestic croctery 

 or works of art ; while those who love their boots will find a 

 perfect magazine of arts fi r their restoration and preservation. We 

 congratulate Mr. Leland on producing an eminently useful bo t, and 

 trust it may further the practice of the art he love? so well. 



The Lilrarg. December, 1896. The ofRcial organ of the Library 

 Association (The Library Bureau.) Is. This most interesting 

 magazine continues to devote itself to the admirable tast of making our 

 libraries, both public and private, of the utmost possible utility. 



The Studio. December, 1896. Illustrated. Is. Contains an 

 interesting reproduction of Lord Leighton's last study ; and an appre- 

 ciative article on the work of Henry Herbert La Thangue, beautifully 

 illustrated with many examples of his style. 



The Arch of Titus. By William Knight, M.A. (Religious Tract 

 Society.) An admirable and tasteful reprint, well illustrated, of 

 Canon Knight's scholarly work on the Arch of Titus. 



To Winnipeg, Maiiitoha, and Back. By Stephen Marriott. 

 (Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.) An interesting description by an observant 

 traveller. 



The Art of Extempore Speaking. By Harold Ford, M.A., LL.B. 

 (Elliot Stock.) An interesting and instructive treatise on the principles 

 and practice of pulpit and platform oratory. 



The bound volume of Knowledge for the year 1896 is now 

 ready. Among the contents may be mentioned a complete study of 

 the Face of the Sky for the year, by Herbert Sadler : an entire series 

 of articles on Waves, by A'aughan Cornish : a number of contributions 

 on the most interesting and newest departiu-es in Astronomy for the 

 year, by E. Walter Maunder; a series of six articles on " Our Fur 

 Producers," by Eichard Lydekker; several articles on Coins and 

 Medals, by G. F. Hill : a large number of problems and solutions in 

 Chess, together with information on all matters relating to this fasci- 

 nating game, by C. D. Locock. There are in the volume twenty-seven 

 fidl-page illustrations, many of which depict the latest achievements 

 in astronomical research. 



