December 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



273 



been left altogether to the imagination of the children, or, 

 at least, relegated to the legenda. The "scenery on the 

 moon," on page 52, rather mystifies children, as the craters 

 are shown from a lunar standpoint, and they fail to see 

 " how the photographer got there. " But all these belong 

 to the first part of the book. The second part, telling the 

 stories of the summer and winter stars, are extremely good 

 — well written and well illustrated — and should lead many 

 of the children of this generation to consider the heavens. 



tieoliiijy far })c<iinturs. By W. W. Watts, m.a., etc. 

 (Macmillaii.) Illustrated. 23. 6d. As Secretary of the 

 IJritish Association Committee on Photographs of 

 Geological Interest, Prof. Watts has had exceptional 

 opportunities of obtaining good pictures for his work on 

 geology. A glance through this charming little volume 

 aft'ords the fullest evidence that he has availed himself of 

 his position. No book on the market, at the modest price 

 at which the publishers have issued this introduction to a 

 most fascinating subject, compares with it in its profusion 

 of beautifully reproduced original illustrations. In the 

 three hundred and thirty-nine pages, there are no fewer 

 than three hundred and nine illustrations. Each chapter 

 is provided with a concise summary and a carefully 

 graduated set of questions which should prove of great 

 service to teachers. Beginning with the familiar and 

 easily observed aspects of the earth, Prof. Watts takes the 

 pupil along pleasant roads, by easy stages, to those more 

 dilficult subjects which are best studied in the laboratory. 

 But, with the instincts of a true teacher, each difficulty is 

 cleared up as it is encountered ; and we have no hesitation 

 in saying that the student who works conscientiously 

 through this book will find himself equipped with a working 

 knowledge of geology which will not only help him in 

 understanding the problems of Nature but will provide him 

 with a new pleasure in life. The index is more complete 

 than any we have seen in an elementary work. 



The Studio. This magazine, devoted to art, abounds in 

 illustrations so excellent that they alone render it a 

 remarkable shilling's-worth. The art enlarged on and 

 illustrated embraces a wide area. We are charmed 

 with designs of pots and book-covers, or instructed in all 

 varieties of brush and pencil work, while artists of Japan, 

 as well as samples of the schools of the Continent and of 

 England, are before us. It may be to this breadth of 

 purpose that a lack of definite instruction is to be traced. 

 We should certainly like to see a vigorous dealing with 

 some of the art absurdities of our day, but whether 

 mediipvalism outdone, as in " Decoration for a Library," 

 or truly classic beauty, the " Studio" loves all art, and all 

 who are called artists, in its pages. 



English National Education : a Sketch of the Rise of 

 Public Elementary Schools in England. By H. Holman. 

 (The Victorian Era Series : Blackie & Son.) 2s. 6d. This 

 is an admirable sketch of the history of a great subject, 

 and its author is to be congratulated upon the skill in 

 compilation which has enabled him to present a vast mass 

 of detail without submerging the main purpose of the book. 

 That it is yet overweighted with much ineffective detail in 

 the shape of a long array of projects unfulfilled must be 

 admitted, yet it is an interesting and instructive study to 

 follow the main lines of the case against popular edu- 

 cation, which remained practically the same throughout, 

 but which crumbled steadily away so soon as its sup- 

 porters were forced to give their reasons, and it was 

 reserved for Sir Charles Adderley to furnish the most 

 insane argument in defence of the lost cause. Mr. Holman 

 has paid an eloquent tribute to the services of Sir James 

 r. Kay- Shuttle worth, the first secretary of the Committee 

 of Council for Education, " a post for which he was pro- 



bably by far the best qualified man in the country " ; and 

 he has also generously commended the labours of Mr. 

 Arthur H. Dyke Acland, a recent Vice-President of the 

 CouncU. " Of the work of Mr. Acland it would be difficult 

 to speak too highly, for he has probably studied more, 

 worked more, and suffered more for the cause of education 

 than any other non-educationist (in the technical sense)." 

 This testimony will only confirm the widespread regret 

 among the friends of education at the impending retirement 

 of Mr. Acland from the House of Commons. It is in the 

 main a sorry story which Mr. Holman has to tell of wasted 

 time, wasted money, and wasted opportunities, which will 

 not bear reflection in its relation to the present day keen- 

 ness of the struggle for the world's markets. A supreme 

 Council of Education was set up in Prussia in ITS'?, and 

 an elementary school law was adopted in Upper Canada in 

 1816; while in the mother country it was shown in the 

 Report of a Royal Commission rather more than thirty 

 years ago, that more than eight hundred thousand children, 

 out of a total of one and a half million scholars, were 

 attending schools which were notoriously inefficient. What 

 might not Britain's position have been now if a little 

 common sense had entered into the solution of the education 

 problem a hundred years ago. Mr. Holman's book is 

 certainly disfigured by ungenerous references to Matthew 

 Arnold and to Owen, as well as by an imperfect index ; 

 but for directness of aim as a continuous narrative of the 

 facts it is a valuable addition to the series. 



Outlines of Vertebrate Palaontoloijij for Stude)tts of Zoology. 

 By Arthur Smith Woodward. (Cambridge University 

 Press.) Illustrated, lis. To rightly understand the 

 varied problems which the study of zoology presents, the 

 student who has mastered the elementary parts of his 

 subject must not only acquaint himself with the facts of 

 embryology but should also enter somewhat minutely into 

 the past history of life on the globe. Hitherto this has 

 not been an easy task, necessitating as it did references 

 to, and a search among, many books and serials dealing 

 with other subjects as well, but Mr. Smith Woodward, 

 by the publication of his book, has abolished these 

 trying and time-occupying experiences. He has brought 

 together, in rather more than four hundred pages, all 

 the facts which the student is likely to require. The more 

 important points and generalizations are alone printed 

 in large type; purely technical and descriptive information 

 is set forth in small type. The classification adopted is 

 mainly that of the British Museum Catalogues of Fossil 

 Vertebrata, but where the recent progress of research 

 has made it desirable, certain modifications have been 

 adopted. The text is accompanied by two hundred and 

 twenty-eight illustrations, a fair proportion of which are 

 original. The final chapter of the book is given to a 

 general sketch of the whole subject from the geologist's 

 point of view, and in it Mr. Woodward rightly insists 

 that, " owing to the imperfection of the geological record 

 and the incomplete exploration of most formations, any 

 statement now formulated may eventually prove to be 

 quite a partial account of the facts, and every conclusion 

 must be more or leas provisional and tentative." Several 

 other limitations are clearly set forth and deserve to be 

 widely known. Mr. Woodward's book will be of real 

 service to students of zoology and geology. 



SHORT NOTICES. 



FouUrii for the Table and Market rersii's Fauci/ FoipIs. Third 

 Edition. i5_v W. ±i. Tegetmeier, J.z s. (Horace Cox.) Illustrateil. 

 2s. 6d. Mr. Tegetmeier is a veteran in the art of poultry rearing. 

 If early forty years ago lie published a book on profitable as distin- 

 guished from fancy or ornamental poultry. The County Coxmcila 

 hare availed themselves of reprints from pages of this work for in< 



