4 NATURE 
(3) Mr. M’Lachlan’s book is mainly a collection 
of exercises in geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and 
trigonometry. They are all good, natural 
questions, straight from the workshop and other 
human sources. For the engineering student (for 
whom they are designed) they are ideal, while 
other students also will find much of value. The 
text is inferior in value, as if the writing of it 
had been a perfunctory task; but there is not much 
text, and the exercises alone are well worth the 
half-crown at which the price is fixed. 
(4) M. book of exercises in 
algebra might have been written for the express 
purpose of enabling English mathematicians to 
thank God that they are not as other men. 
There are 1300 questions, drawn mainly from 
French examination papers. The book contains 
all the old artificial questions which England is in 
process of discarding, and among the whole 
thirteen hundred we have been unable to find one 
natural problem taken straight from human life. 
In one particular, however, it is for the English 
mathematician to drop the réle of Pharisee and 
take up that of Publican. We have nothing but 
praise for the clearness and exactness of the lan- 
guage of M. Fitz-Patrick’s book, while in the first 
and third of the English books now under review 
we find carelessness of language that often pro- 
duces ambiguities, and amounts to 
misstatement. In language we have much to 
learn from France. DBs M. 
Fitzpatrick’s 
sometimes 
OUR BOOKSHELF, 
The Child: Its Care, Diet, and Common IIls. 
By Dr. E. Mather Sill. Pp. viii+207. (New 
York: Henry Holt and Co.) Price 1 doilar net. 
In the modern nursery the mother requires in- 
formation on many questions which used to be 
disregarded or left entirely to the discretion of the 
doctor. She now realises that in her kingdom 
of the nursery, preventive medicine depends to a 
large extent upon her care and foresight. If she 
provides her children with the conditions they 
require for healthy development, they tend to 
remain well and happy, and the services of the 
physician will be required seldom. 
Dr. Sill has had a large experience of children’s 
medicine, and, in this small volume, he has con- 
trived to present, in simple language, much valu- 
able information on the clothing, feeding, general 
hygiene, and minor ailments of children. It is 
an unpretentious book, admirably adapted to its 
purpose as a handbook for young mothers. It 
is well printed, and is supplied with attractive 
illustrations and an index. 
Some useful tables are included, and a few 
recipes for invalid dishes, together with clear 
directions for the preparation of simple domestic 
NO. 2314, VOL. 93] 
[Marcu 5, 1914 
remedies, such as the various kinds of medicated 
baths. The common slight ailments of childhood 
are described, and a list is given of the poisons 
most liable to invade the nursery, together with 
their domestic remedies. 
In every treatise on infant care, the instructions 
for the modification of cow’s milk for bottle-fed 
babies are apt to be involved and lengthy, and 
perhaps in the little volume under review the 
author has not been entirely successful in avoid- 
ing this fault. 
The book closes with advice to parents to tell 
their children some elementary physiological facts | 
about the phenomenon of reproduction and the 
care that they should take of their bodies. This 
wise advice is strengthened by suggestions as to 
the best way of explaining these matters to 
children. 
Dr. Sill’s book is one to recommend cordially, 
as it is certain to be appreciated by those for 
whom it is intended. 
An Account of the Morisonian Herbarium in the 
possession of the University of Oxford. By 
Prof: .S. H. -Vines,) hoRIS;, and Ga @ lances 
Druce.. Pp.. Ixvili+350+plates. (Oxford: 
Clarendon Press, 19147) Price 25s fone 
Aut who take an interest in the history of botany, 
and especially the history of botany in Britain, 
will be glad to see the second work on the 
Oxford Collections, which has just been issued 
under the joint authorship of Prof. Vines and Mr. 
Druce. . These names are a guarantee both of 
accuracy and of erudition, nor will the reader fail 
to discover on every page of the interesting and 
valuable introduction a breadth of acquaintance 
with the old literature, as well as with sources of 
information by no means readily accessible. The 
position of the Bobarts, father and son, in re- 
lation to the carrying out of Morison’s great 
work, is made very clear, and, incidentally, the 
earlier history of the Oxford Botanic Garden is 
well told in the letters and remarks of those who 
were interested in its inception and early progress. 
The bulk of the work is occupied by the 
“Plantarum Historie universalis Oxoniensis, pars 
secunda et pars tertia.”” The second part of the 
‘“Historia”” was issued by Morison, while the 
younger Bobart was entrusted with the com- 
pletion of the third part. In the. present work, 
in which the plants are enumerated, the modern 
reader will find the critical notes incorporated by 
the authors of great service in identifying the 
older names and descriptions. The book is a 
scholarly one, and well worthy of the reputation 
of its authors. 
A Gypsy Bibliography. By Dr. G. F. Black. 
Pp vii+226. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 
1914.) Price’ 15s." (Gypsy), Lore™ “Soctenys, 
Monograph No. 1.) 
For the first time, Dr. G. F. Black, of the New 
York Public Library, has undertaken the difficult 
' task of compiling a comprehensive bibliography 
