Sbptembkk 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



209 



many other notable objects of interest. For such a collection 

 of illustrations, exquisitely reproduced, too much praise can- 

 not be accorded. There are, again, drawings or photographs 

 of what may be called the terrestrial or laboratory analogies 

 of celestial objects. Of such, we may mention a bird's- 

 eye view of the Colorado Cauon and the Yosemite Valley, 

 to illustrate lunar rills ; of the volcano Kilauea, to compare 

 with Jupiter's great red spot ; and of some artificial elec- 

 trical coronfe which bear a remarkably strong resemblance 

 to the solar ones. The third class of illustration is most 

 peculiar : it consists of highly coloured landscapes in 

 some of which the artist purports to be situated on the 

 planet Mars or Saturn, whence he views the setting sun 

 or the globe shadow thrown on the rings. In others he 

 views the giant Jupiter from one of its moons, or from our 

 satellite observes an eclipse of the sun. We are not pre- 

 pared to criticize the scientific accuracy of these observa- 

 tions, never having occupied these standpoints, though we 

 have grave doubts as to whether the sun appears so large to 

 an inhabitant of Mars, or whether Jupiter is so very like a 

 Dutch cheese cut in two, in the eyes of its satellites. Cer- 

 tainly it does not seem obvious why the scenery on the 

 moon, viewed in the light of its eclipsed sun, should present 

 such delicacies of shade and colour, even in its shadows, 

 when the moon in full sunlight is but black and white. 

 There are also two landscapes of the earth seen under the 

 illumination of the echpsed sun and of the eclipsed moon. 

 Here, indeed, there is a grave error, for in both cases the 

 diameter of the luminary is made to measure fully ten 

 degrees, and thus an utterly false idea of the magnitude of 

 the corona is given. 



A Text-Book of Botantj. By Dr. E. Strasburger, Dr. 

 Fritz Noll, Dr. H. Schenck, and Dr. A. F. W. Schimper. 

 Translated from the German by H. C. Porter, Ph.D. 

 (London : Macmillan \ Co.) 18s. net. This handsome 

 volume is a complete treatise on botany, including as it 

 does sections on external morphology, histology, physio- 

 logy, and systematic botany. The translator has had the 

 good fortune to see his work undergo a general revision 

 at the hands of Mr. A. C. Seward, m.a., the Cambridge 

 University Lecturer in Botany, so that its suitability for 

 English students is quite assured. The whole style of the 

 book is admirable ; the type, illustrations, and general 

 arrangement leave nothing to be desired, while the coloured 

 pictures of typical cryptogams and phanerogams, which are 

 scattered throughout the text, are lifelike in their beauty. 

 Such plates, which are, we believe, a new feature in ordinary 

 test-books of botany, do more than any amount of verbal 

 explanation to supply the reader with information which 

 makes the recognition of the species in the field quite 

 easy. Though it is perhaps too much to hope, yet we 

 cannot but wish that somehow the introduction to the 

 volume could get into the hands of that omnivorous per- 

 son, the general reader. Showing as it does the relation 

 which exists between animal and plant life ; and making 

 clear that as the line of development of animals and plants 

 is traced back, through lowly and more lowly forms, the 

 points of difference between them gradually vanish, until 

 eventually it is found that they assimilate to one another's 

 characteristics, and it becomes impossible to say whether 

 the primitive organism is plant or animal ; it is difficult 

 to imagine a more fascinating piece of reading. In the 

 same interesting way the work of Darwin, Muller, Schwann, 

 and Pasteur is briefly reviewed , the part they each took in the 

 elaboration of thewhole subject being made quite simple and 

 clear. We have not the slightest doubt that this text-book, 

 like the German fA-hrbuch from which it has been trans- 

 lated, will be long regarded as a standard work, and we 

 wish it all the popularity it deserves. 



SHORT NOTICES, 



0)1 Laborafori/ Arts. By Ricliard Tlirelfall, m.a. (Macmillan.) 

 Illustrated. 6s. The student who desires to gain a practical knowledge 

 of mechanical work in the chemical and physical laboratory will find 

 in Mr. Threlfall's book a valuable auxiliary. The author aptly 

 remarks : '' It often happens that young physicists are to be found 

 whose mathematical attainments are adequate, whose observational 

 powers are correctly trained, and whose general capacity is un- 

 questioned. l>nt who are quite un:ible to design or construct tlie 

 simplest apparatus with due regard to the facility with which it ought 

 to be constructed." To such, this book forms a plank, so to speak, which 

 will carry tlu'm safely across the dilliculties generally encountered by 

 the indifferent manipidator. Glass blowing, the making of vacuum 

 tubes, glass grinding, and many other indispensable operations are 

 described in detail, and helpful diagrams are interpolated here and 

 there to illumine the text. 



General Elementari/ Science. Edited by Wm. Briggs, M.A. (Clive.) 

 Illustrated. 3a. 6d. Designed to meet the requirements of the 

 modiBed syllabus of the I'niversity of London, this book is intended 

 as a giude to general elementary science for the matriculation course. 

 All aspirants for University honours, whether scientific or not, should 

 at least acquire a knowledge of the fundamental principles of natural 

 philosophy. Cramming, however, has attained the culminating 

 meridian, when an editor endeavours to compress the sciences of 

 mechanics, heat, light, electricity, and chemistry within the compass 

 of a single volume scarcely large enough to convey a fair notion of 

 any one of these sciences ; and, keeping in view this flimsy ground- 

 work, a smile might be tolerated when one reads that this meagre 

 introduction is '• to provide them (the matriculation candidates) with 

 the means of recording observations with some degree of exactness." 

 '* Some,** of course, is one of those elastic words which may represent 

 any magnitude between zero and the infinitely great. 



The Sfori/ of Life in (he Seas. By Sydney .J. Hickson. f.b.s. 

 (Xewnes.) Illustrat«l. Is. With a thoughtful endeavour to in- 

 struct those who have not been trained in the alphabet of zoological 

 technicalities, Prof. Hickson has, in this little book, avoided all the 

 more intricate branches of marine zoology which, though of the 

 highest importance tD some, would not tend to encourage the general 

 reader. Xever losing sight of the goal he has set himself to reach, 

 he conducts the reader through the trackless sea, so to speak, and by 

 the help of a rich vocabulary — very slightly atllicted with unavoidable 

 long words — conjures up a wonderful picture of the inhabitants of 

 the great deep, including shallo^v-water fauna, surface-swimming 

 fauna, and deep-sea fauna, as well as chapters on oceanography, 

 commensalism and parasitism, and the origin of the marine fauna. 



A Simple Guide to the Choice of a Photographic Lens. Is. 

 T. R. Dallmeyer, p. r.a.s. This booklet, written as it is in a clear 

 and concise style, forms, with its explanatory diagrams, an excellent 

 and trustworthy guide to photographers who wish to buy and use 

 their lenses »ith greatest satisfaction. 



The Sfori/ of Photoqraphtf, by Alfred T. Story, is one of Messrs. 

 Xewnes' series of " Useful Stories." It answere its purposes very 

 satisfactorily. The infonnation given is plentiful and accurate. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Astronomti for the Young. By W. T. Lynn, B.A., r.E.A.s. 

 (Stoneman.) Illustrated. 6d. net. 



A Dictionarg of Bird Notes. By Chas. Louis Hett. (Jacksons', 

 Market Place. Bngg.) 2s. 6d. 



A Classification of Vertehrata, Recent and E.vtinct. By Dr. 

 Hans Gadow-. (Black.) 3s. 6d, net. 



The Plaq of Animals. Bv Prof. Karl Gross. Translated by 

 E. L. Baldwin. (Chapman i Hall.) 10s. 6d. 



Outlines of Vertebrate Paltsontologii. By Arthur Smith Woodward. 

 (Cambridge University Press.) Illustrated. 14s. 



Fortii-fifth Beport of the Department of Science and Art of the 

 Committee of Council on ]£di<cation. (Spottiswoode.) Is. lOd. 



Chemical Analysis. By W. Briggs and R. W. Stewart. (Clive.) 

 3s. tid. 



"INSECT MINERS."-II. 



By Fred. Knock, k.l.s., f.e.s., etc. 



A NUMBER of very interesting miners, together 

 with their parasites, may be observed in leaves 

 of sunflowers, carnations, columbine, etc., etc.; 

 and in the shoots of black currant bushes, the 

 larva of the pretty currant clear-wing moth, 

 Sesla tipuliformia, is found, but more frequently by 



