192 



KNOWLEDGE 



[August 2, 1897. 



bright yellow." We have never seen a little auk in this 

 curious plumage. The winter plumage of the little auk is 

 a brilliant black above, save for a few white streaks on the 

 scapulars, and white underneath ; and if "leggings" imply 

 legs, the colour of these in the little auk could by no 

 stretch of an ordinary imagination be called bright yellow. 

 The stormy petrel is not known to breed in England east 

 of Lundy Island (to ornithologists, at all events), but we are 

 told by the authoress of this book that the bird is 

 found all round our coasts in the breeding season. Beyond 

 inaccuracies, a number of statements, which no ornitho- 

 logist could verify, are put down as positive facts. This 

 is a book written to teach young people, and as such 

 it should before all things be accurate in every particular. 

 The only safeguard against such books is in the criticism 

 of the press ; but when a book like this has been favourably 

 reviewed in journals which are acknowledged authorities 

 in science, what can we suggest but that there should be a 

 law to recall and destroy such productions as the one before 

 us, and that some such means as those adopted in the 

 Merchandise Marks Act should be devised for branding 

 all future goods from the same market ? 



Higher Mathenuttics. Edited by Prof. Mansfield Merriman 

 and Prof. Robert S. Woodward. (New York : Wiley & 

 Son. London : Chapman & Hall.) 21s. net. This is the 

 best textbook of higher mathematics that we have seen 

 for a long time ; and it is suitable alike for classical and 

 engineering colleges. From the bewildering mass of 

 mathematical knowledge now existing, the essentials have 

 been extracted, and in the present volume they are 

 brought together, added to them being numerous problems 

 for solution and examples of the application of theory to 

 physical science. There are eleven chapters, each by a 

 different author, and the subjects of them are : the 

 solution of equations ; determinants ; projective geometry ; 

 hyperbolic functions ; harmonic functions ; functions of a 

 complex variable ; differential equations ; Grassmann's 

 space analysis'; vector analysis and quaternions; probability 

 and theory of errors ; history of modern mathematics. 

 This list is sufficient to convey to students of mathematics 

 an idea of the extreme value of the work, the only note- 

 worthy omission being a chapter on elliptic integrals and 

 functions. The editors recognize that such a chapter is 

 required to complete their collection, but it was found 

 impracticable to obtain the manuscript of it in time for 

 publication. However, armed with this volume, students 

 and teachers will be able to put themselves in touch with 

 the essence of mathematical knowledge. They will find 

 therein the best methods of attacking problems covering a 

 wide range in mathematics and mathematical physics, and 

 will easily discover how to arrive at solutions of equations 

 to satisfy almost any conditions. The whole work is so 

 well done that it would be creating an unnecessary, as well 

 as an invidious, distinction to single any particular sections 

 of it for praise. Suffice it to say that each section has 

 been entrusted to a distinguished American professor of 

 mathematics, mechanics, or engineering, and that some of 

 the subjects — for example, that on Grassmann's space 

 analysis — contain the substance of very rare treatises. 

 Only students of higher mathematics can give full appre- 

 ciation to this admirable and serviceable work ; but they 

 will award it a prominent place in their bookshelves. 



Phijdography for Beginners. By A. T. Simmons, B.Sc. 

 (Macmillan.) Illustrated. 23. Gd. An introduction to 

 the sciences, such as the one under notice, has long been 

 a desideratum. So far as we know, the subject has not 

 heretofore been adequately treated as regards the experi- 

 mental illustration of the text. Mr. Simmons, taking 



advantage of the opportunity presented by the issue of a 

 new syllabus by the Science and Art Department, has 

 with admirable courage faced the by no means easy task 

 of bringing together numerous suggestions for experiments 

 which may readily be performed by teachers with the 

 slightest pretensions to familiarity with manipulative 

 efficiency. There can, therefore, be no further excuse for 

 those preceptors who content themselves with telling the 

 students to read about the instructions and exercise their 

 imagination ! The literary element also is not of the 

 stereotyped character so familiar in such books, but a free 

 and untrammelled diction pervades the whole, which can 

 only be expected from one who has a thorough knowledge 

 of the theme. 



Metals. By A. K. Huntington and W. G. McMOlan. 

 (Longmans.) Illustrated. 7s. 6d. " Bloxam's Metals" 

 was formerly a book known to most students of metallurgy, 

 but, like Pat's knife which had had three new blades and two 

 new handles, it has been so transformed by emendations 

 and additions, to keep pace with the innovations of the 

 metallurgical arts and industries, that it may be almost 

 regarded as a new work— the task of revision. Prof. 

 Huntington assures us, having been more difficult than 

 writing a new book. However this may be, the late Prof. 

 Bloxam's name is removed from the title page and is but 

 barely mentioned in the preface. There is, nevertheless, 

 still enough in the general disposition of material to 

 remind one, by association, of the original author, and we 

 cannot suppress a feeling of regret that publishers should 

 practically assign to oblivion authors whose names have 

 long been an inspiration. The work was originally a 

 very good one for its purpose, and in its present aspect it 

 is still well adapted lor the student, by the sustaining 

 power which Prof. Huntington and Mr. McMillan have 

 imparted to it. 



The Genesis <ind Matrix of the Piamond. By Henry 

 Carvill Lewis. (Longmans.) Illustrated. 7s. 6d. The 

 philosopher Steffans is accredited with the dictum ; — 

 " Diamond is quartz which has arrived at self-conscious- 

 ness ! " And an eminent geologist has parodied this 

 metaphysical definition thus : — " Quartz is diamond 

 which has become insane ! " As a matter of fact the 

 diamond is one of the riddles of nature — a perennial 

 puzzle. What it is, chemically, we do know ; but how in 

 nature's laboratory it became what it is, still remains 

 a mystery. It would appear that the late Mr. Lewis was 

 a firm believer in the volcanic origin of diamonds, and that 

 the diamonds belong to and are part of the matrix in 

 which they lie. This view is supported by many facts 

 gleaned from much careful study of the diamond-bearing 

 pipes in the Kimberley mines. Side by side with this 

 theory there is, however, still some room for the meteoric 

 theory of the origin of the diamond. The splendid mineral- 

 ogical dissection of the matrix, and the suggestive side- 

 lights cast by Mr. Lewis on the genesis, invest the work 

 with real intrinsic value, and the many references to the 

 titles of similar works by other writers contribute largely 

 to its worth. The editing has been done with that literary 

 skill which characterizes all Prof. Bonney's work. 



SHORT NOTICE. 



Italian Highways. By E. Augusta King. (Bentley.) Those 

 fireside travellers who see foreign lands only through the eyes of 

 others, and who themselves have never traversed the Italian high- 

 ways, will find here a most entertaining cicerone — a guide full of all 

 kinds of information, culled from the best writers of all the ages, and 

 projected like suashine on all manner of objects indiicriminately, 

 from a statue of Daute and the gods of Olympus, to the vine- 

 destroying insects. 



