Ji-.VE 23, 



B2.] 



• KNOWLEDGE 



57 



WEATHER CHARTS FOR WEEK ENDING SUNDAY, JUNE 18. 

 Sunday, 11th. Mo.vday, 12tu. Tlesday, 13th. Wednesday, Uto. 



^^ -^I, 





Thcksday, 15th. 



Friday, IGth. 



Saturday, 17th. 



Sunday, 18tu. 



In the above charts the dotted lines are " isobars," or lines of equal barometrical pressure, the values which they indicate being 

 given in figures at the end, thus— 30-4. The shade temperature is given in figures for several places on the coast, and the weather is 

 recorded in words. The arrows fly with the wind, the force of which is shown by the number of barbs and feathers, thus:— * , 



light ; >-, fresh or strong ; > > , a gale ; j» »- , a violent gale ; © signifies calm. The state of the sea is notcil in Mpital 



letters. The • denotes the various stations. The hour for which each chart is drawn is G p.m. 



jRrbi>U)£{. 



"CURIOSITIES OF VECiETATION."* 



IN this work Mr. Cooke coquets witli the Darwinian 

 theories. The book is interesting, and in parts instruc- 

 tive ; but it is undeniably thin, and it wants plan and pur- 

 pose. The author's object has been to summarise the results 

 of the researches made by Darwin and otliers into the 

 peculiarities of plant life, and to present their teachings 

 in as succinct a manner as tlie subjects ju-rmit ; but he 

 makes scarcely any attempt at classification ; nor does the 

 reader, as he passes from chapter to chapter, recognise 

 duly the scientific bearing of the evidence. The work 

 reads like a note-book, rather tlian like a treatise on a 

 scientific subject ; and, even as a note-book, portions are 

 scrappy and valueless. The book is more likely to be 



• " Freaks and Marvels of Plant Life ; or. Curiosities of Vegeta- 

 tion." By M.C. Cooke, M.A.. LL.D. (Published by the Society for what it taught us 

 Promoting Christian Knowledge. London.) 



dipped into than read ; and, viewing it in tltis way, we 

 can recommend it as one which can hardly l>e opened any- 

 where without something of interest turning up. Kut if 

 the book had been reduced to two-thirds of its present size 

 (by tlio omission of such comparatively unscientific state- 

 ments as that rattans are the terror of schoolboys, and that 

 Krishna gamlwlled with the milkmaids of Brindabun, under 

 the Kedainba tree), and its subject-m.attor duly arranged 

 and sy.stematised, it would have had greatly-increased 

 value. Still, tlie book is one well worth reading. 



"STORY OF A MUSEUM.'' 



This is a capital l>ook for young people, but also 



conUiins much excellent and amusing reading for older 



folk. The author shows what can bo done in the 



niatti-r of collecting objects of inten-st for a museum, when 



The Story of our Museum; shuwing how wo forme<l it and 

 what it taught iis." By the Rev. H. Himsman. (Published by tho 

 Society for Promoting Chri.itian Kno»Tledgi'. London.) 



