88 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Apkil 2, 1900. 



his criticism of the practice of questioning ministers in Parliament, 

 a practice -n-hich has been found of the very greatest utility by 

 ministers themselves, and which the writer thinks should be 

 stopped. Wherever this jiractice is abused the remedy is clearly in 

 the minister's own hands, and, further, is frequently applied. But 

 what is to be said for a teacher in parliamentary practice who 

 appears to be labouring under the de'usion that ministers are in the 

 h.'bit of putting down questions addressed to their own colleagues 

 (page 288). Here he has been relying, as Sheridan said, on his 

 imagination for his facts. Then, again, the statement that Peel 

 was enabled to carrj- his measure for the repeal of the Corn Laws 

 because he was supported by a sufficient number of his own fol- 

 lowers is quite at variance with the fact that some 250 of them 

 voted against him. And the compiler of the Peel papers is surely 

 Mr. C. S. Parker, sometime and a long time member for Perth, 

 end not Mr. J. S. Parker. The book may be commended to those 

 who are able to apply the necessary corrective, but it will not 

 further the knowledge of the student in history, or the understand- 

 ing of the citizen in the form and practice of the Constitution. 



"The C4rammar of Science." By Karl Pearson, m.a., j.r.s. 

 (A. & C. Black.) 7s. 6d. net. This is a second edition of a most 

 important work which has been thoroughly revised and much en- 

 larged. Two entirely new chapters on Xatural Selection ana 

 Heredity, embracing a jjopular account of Prof. Pearson's ow i 

 more recent work in this direction, have been added. There is a 

 jieculiar opportuneness about the appearance of a new edition of 

 this clear exposition of the scientific method and the claims of 

 science to be regarded as the educational instrument, par excellence, 

 for a training in citizenship. The inauguration of the new Board 

 of Education which is to be immediately effected will focus attention 

 upon the claims of the different schools of thought to be regardel 

 as the final courts of appeal in questions of pedagogic expediency. 

 We can conceive of no more convincing advocacy of the peculiar 

 fitness of a training in the methods of science as a preparation for 

 active life than is accorded by this volume. The function of science 

 is, to use Prof. Pearson's words, " the classification of facts, the 

 recognition of their sequence and relative significance." And, 

 again, " modern science, as training the mind to an exac" and 

 irrpartial analj'sis of facts, is an education specially fitted to pro 

 mote sound citizenship." Other claims of science are set forth in 

 the same luminous manner. The light science brings to bear on 

 many important social problems, the increased comfort it adds to 

 practical life, and the permanent gratification it yields to the 

 aesthetic judgment, are all reviewed in an equally masterly fashion. 

 The imjiortant part which science must take in human development 

 makes it an imperative necessity to have the fundamental concepts 

 of modern science enunciated with logical clearness, and Prof. 

 Pearson's criticisms of eight years ago, with the additions of to-day, 

 can have nothing but a salutaiy effect in making men of science 

 themselves more rigidly scientific. We have been again and again 

 impressed in examining " The Grammar " with the remarkable 

 lucidity of Prof. Pearson's explanations. The educated peison, 

 \' hatever the particular branch of knowledge with which le is 

 familiar may be, will have no great difficulty in following the 

 arguments here set forth, provided only that he commences his 

 study with an open mind and a teachable spirit. We sincerely 

 hope that another eight years will not elapse before the third 

 edition is called for. 



" Experimental Physics." By Eugene Lommel. Translated from 

 the C4crman by G". W. Myers. (Kegau Paid.) 15s. net. Tlie reader 

 who is familiar with modern British books on cxperinu'ntal jjliysics 

 will be disappointed if he expects to find in Prof. Lommcl's treatise 

 what is now considered to be an experimental treatment of the subject. 

 The book is descriptive ratlier than experimental, and it contains no 

 specific instructions to the student for enabUng him to perform the 

 expei'imcnts on whidi our knowledge of physical forces depends. For 

 other reasons, too, the translation of the German volume seems 

 superfluous. The same subjects arc explained, and, we are bound to 

 confess, better explained, in several other books already familiar to 

 teachers. Jfor is the volume better illustrated and more up-to-date 

 tlian those we have in mind. There is, moreover, a growing disposi- 

 tion to discourage the use of these general reviews of the whole domain 

 of physics, and to substitute more specialised accounts of the main 

 branches, so that wc are compelled t« say that the book is unnecessary, 

 and cannot be recommended either to teachers or students. 



"Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation." Editei 

 by John Macdonell and Edward Manson. New Series. No. 3. 

 (.John Murr,ay.) 5s. The third volume of this invalu,able work is 

 distinguished by a full and detailed review of the legislation of the 

 British Empire in 1898, to which Sir Courtenay Ilbert contributes 

 an introduction. Among the subjects dealt with by experts on 

 constitutional law and general legal topics will be found an articla 

 by Mr. A. Wood Renton on " Indian and Colonial Appeals to the 

 Privy Council " ; a paper on Suzerainty," by Mr. W. P. B. 



Shepheard ; and an instructive comparison of Truck Legislation 

 in England and on the Continent, by Miss A. M. Anderson, one of 

 Her Majesty's Inspectors of Factories. The writer of the valuable 

 notes at the end of this volume makes an interesting comparison 

 of the legislative procedure in our House of Commons and in the 

 French Chamber of Deputies, not always to the advantage of 

 our method. In the French Chamber, however, it is undeniable 

 that the House itself does not enjoy the same control of legislative 

 projects that is possessed by the House of Commons. 



For the accommodation of persons wishing to view the Eclipse 

 of the Sun, which takes place on Monday, May 2Btli next. Messrs. 

 Cook have arriinged a conducted tour, leaving London May 21st. 

 visiting Paris, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Madrid, and Talavera, wher« 

 the total phase of the eclipse will be visible. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Jtecent and Coiiiinjj Eclipses. Second edition. By Sir Norman 

 Lockyer. (Macmillan.) 6s. 



Wireless Telegraphif. Fourth edition. By Richard Kerr. 

 (Seeley.) Is. 



Boms of Honour. By Frederick Thomas Ehvorthy. (Miu'ray.) 

 Illustrated. lOs. 6d. net. , 



Ohjeci Lessons in Botany. By E. Suelgrove. f Jarrold.) Ss. 6d. 



Pract'cal Zoology. By T. J. Parker and W. N. Parker. (Mac- 

 millan.) Illustrated, ids. 6d 



Semarkable Eclipses and Remarkable Comets. By AY. T. Lynn. 

 (Stanford ) 6d. each. 



The Natiirah.it's Directory for 1900. (L. Upcott Gill.) Is. 6d. net. 



Eife of Dr. Arnold. By Dean Stauley. (Ward, Lock.) 28. 



Tie Story of the Nations — Modern Italy. By Pietro Orsi. 

 (I'nwin.) 5s. 



The Floirerinfl Plant. Bv J- R. Ainsworth Davis. (Griffin.) 

 Illustrated. 3s." 6d. 



Ferric and Heliographic Processes. h\ George E. Brown. (Daw- 

 barn and Ward.) 2s. 



Flowers of the Field. By Rev. C. A. Johns. (3. P.C. K.) illus- 

 trated. 7s. 6d. 



Chatty Object Lessons in Nature Knowledge. By F. W. Hackwood. 

 (Longmans.) 3s. 6d. 



Technical Education Returns in England, Wales, and Ireland. 

 (Eyre & Spottiswoode) Is. 



The Studio : an Ilhistrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art, 

 March, 1900. Is. 



Tools and their Uses, Sepoussc' and Metal- Chasing, Turning 

 Lathes. " Useful Arts and Handicrafts Series." Dawbarn & Ward.) 

 6d. each. 



The Norwegian North Polar Expedition, 1S9.3 — 1896, Scientific 

 Results. Edited by Fridtjof Nansen. Vol. 1. (London : Longmans, 

 Green & Co.) 4Us. 



BRITISH 



' ^ 



ORNiTHOLOGiCAP^ ',*.. 



-s^L^^JS NOTES;: ,„ 



Conducted by Harry F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.c. 



Bittern in Devonshire. — This neighbourhood par- 

 ticipated iu the flight of Bitterns which seems to have 

 visited Eughuid this winter. Ou January 18th, when 

 walking on our marsh bank, a Bittern rose within a 

 few yards of me. It appeared in a very weak state, 

 and after flying a short distance plumped into the tall 

 reeds fringing the bank. I left him undisturbed, and 

 as some days afterwards a Bittern was seen flying 

 across the river here, I hoj)e he has escaped destruc- 

 tion. I learn that one was killed in the marsh just 

 outside Exmouth, on January 23rd. The last great 



