364 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 18, 1904 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
Eton Nature Study and Observational Lessons. Part i. 
By M. D. Hill and W. M. Webb. Pp. x + 155. 
(London: Duckworth and Co., 1903.) Price 3s. 6d. 
net. 
THERE is no doubt that nature-study ought to take an 
important place in education, but, if it is to be of use, 
it must be set about in the right way. If the boy is 
merely told certain wonderful facts, he swallows them 
as a whale swallows small fry, and waits open-mouthed 
for more. They are soon forgotten, he acquires no 
good mental habit, and the net result is very small. 
The authors of this book have adopted a different 
plan. The boy has presented to him some natural 
object, such as a plum, a seed-pod, a sea-anemone, a 
crab, a sycamore leaf, mould, a mushroom, a blind- 
worm, a hedgehog, a bulb, a log of wood, a branch, 
a growing bud, a seedling, a leaf. On these he writes 
notes, which are partly answers to definite questions 
put to him and partly other observations which he 
makes unaided. He is being trained to observe for 
himself. The variety of subjects over which the book 
ranges is an excellent feature. Besides those already 
mentioned, there is the sun; by means of a simple 
piece of apparatus he sets about observing its apparent 
movements. 
If the book ended with these observational lessons 
it would be very defective. A boy is by instinct a 
hunter. It is the hunting instinct that leads him to 
chase a butterfly, and he impales it lovingly on a pin 
and sets it and preserves it rather as a trophy than as 
a specimen from which something is to be learnt. 
The thing is to guide this hunting and collecting in- 
stinct. An attempt at this is made by means of the 
suggested outdoor studies which are interspersed 
among the observational lessons. For example, a 
little information is given about the dispersal of seeds 
by means of the plant’s own catapults, or by the help 
of the wind or of animals. Fired by this knowledge 
the young naturalist (or rather boy that is to be con- 
verted into a naturalist) is to go out and collect illus- 
trations of these various methods. He is also taught 
how to make a sundial, on the understanding that he 
is to set to work to make one for himself. He is 
encouraged to keep an aquarium (salt-water or fresh- 
water), to study clouds and spiders’ webs, to collect 
and identify leaves in autumn, to make observations 
on fungi, British mammals, domestic mammals, to 
make a bird calendar, to inspect the bark of trees and 
the characters of timber. Rocks and fossils are not 
left out. Certainly it is his own fault if he becomes 
a narrow specialist before he is out of his teens. 
The observational lessons will benefit all who are 
privileged to be taught in this way. The suggested 
studies will be helpful to those who have more than 
the average keenness. Summing up, we may describe 
it as a book that will teach the teacher how to set 
about his work, and that will thus be highly useful. 
The illustrations, with the exception of the one on p. 
gi, are good and really illustrative. 
Camera-Kunst. Eine internationale Sammlung von 
Kunst-Photographien der Neuzeit. Unter Mitwir- 
kung von Fritz Loescher. Herausgegeben von 
Ernst Juhl. Pp. viii+ 107. (Berlin: Gustav Schmidt, 
1903.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 
In these 107 pages the compilers have brought together 
a series of essays which gives the reader a good idea of 
the camera art as practised in various countries. The 
idea in this work has been to request some photo- 
graphers, well known in their own countries, to con- 
tribute each a chapter dealing with the present state of 
NO. 1790, VOL. 69 | 
photography in their respective countries from the 
point of view of art, and the result is an interesting set 
of opinions. Those who have written for this volume 
are Ernst Juhl, Hamburg; Edward J. Steichen, New 
York; Fritz Loescher, Berlin; Robert Domachy, Paris; 
Otto Scharf, Krefeld; Alfred Stieglitz, New York; Dr. 
Adolf Thiele, Kappel-Chemnitz; W. Bandelow, 
Krackow; and J. C. Warburg, London. With the in- 
creasing development of art-photography such a book 
as the one before us will undoubtedly be of interest to 
the widest circle of photographers whether amateur or 
pro’essional: Not only are the opinions of each con- 
tributor given in words, but in every case a series of 
excellent illustrations is added showing the various 
styles and types of pictures of well-known photo- 
graphers. Thus, to take the case only of those exhibit- 
ing the British types, we have examples of the work of 
Warburg, Horsley-Hinton, W. A. Stewart, Page Croft, 
Archibald Cochrane, Craig Annan and Alexander 
Keighley. 
Enough perhaps has been said to acquaint the reader 
with the kind of book he has here to deal with. When 
it is mentioned that the get-up of the book is, on the 
whole, excellent, although attention may be drawn to 
some of the illustrations which are somewhat spoilt 
by the printing on the back, photographic readers will 
be sure to find it a valuable addition to their literature. 
The Arcadian Calendar. By E. D. Cuming and J. A. 
Shepherd. Pp. xii+215; illustrated. (London: 
G. Newnes, Ltd., 1903.) Price 6s. net. 
From the humorous character of the illustrations it 
would be quite reasonable to suppose that in this enter- 
taining little volume natural history subjects were dis- 
cussed from the comic point of view; and, indeed, this 
was the opinion entertained by the present writer when 
these essays appeared in their original form as articles 
in the Strand Magazine. No greater mistake could 
be made; for, as a matter of fact, the observations on 
the habits and mode of life of the beasts, birds, fishes 
and invertebrates of the British islands recorded in its 
pages are remarkable for their accuracy as well as for 
their general interest. Mr. Cuming, the author of the 
letterpress, is, we believe, chiefly known to the public 
as a writer on sporting subjects; but he is evidently a 
keen and appreciative observer of animated nature, and 
he has our best congratulations on his appearance in a 
| new réle. 
As its title implies, the work treats of the ways of 
animals at different seasons of the year; and in the 
/ section devoted to the winter months we find collected 
certain observations which, to ourselves, at any rate, 
are new. For instance, the fact that both birds and 
mammals may, in exceptional circumstances, be- 
come frozen to the ice on which they are resting is not 
mentioned in any natural history work with which we 
are acquainted; while the observations on the reason 
why many birds roost in company, if not novel, are 
at least interesting. Neither must we omit to refer to 
the author’s explanation of the present relative scarcity 
of swallows and martins in this country; this scarcity 
being attributed partly to the numbers and aggressive 
habits of the British sparrow, and partly to the 
slaughter of swallows, as an article of food, by the in- 
habitants of southern Europe. 
As to the illustrations, which are exceedingly clever 
and excellent of their kind, it is probable that they 
appeal more closely to the popular taste than they do 
to our own. Conjointly, the author and the artist have 
succeeded in producing a dainty and attractive volume, 
which ought to command a large sale as a gift-book. 
RoE 
