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NARORE 
[ FEBRuARY 18, 1897 
the first chapter. But in this historical section the 
reference to the Sea Fisheries Committees round the 
coasts of England and Wales is too brief, and their work 
is practically ignored. 
Even though the book is written not for the spe- 
cialist, but for the general public, we think too obvious 
and elaborate an attempt has. been made to avoid 
technical terms. Some of the “English” substitutes 
are no improvement from any one’s point of view, and 
are wanting in precision and sense—for example, we 
find mammals referred to as ‘“‘the tribe of beasts,” and, 
curiously enough, after using the term “pectoral fin” at 
the beginning, the author discards it during the remainder 
of the book in favour of “breast fin.” Then again, when 
such atechnical term as ‘‘micropyle” is used, there seems 
no reason for calling the oviduct “egg-tube”; while to 
label an unfortunate little blenny “ the Gattorugine” is 
quite as bad as to use its proper scientific name. We 
should have been glad to have seen the scientific names 
of the species associated with the English names 
throughout the book, and especially under the useful out- 
line figures. It is easy to pick up the scientific names, 
and the sooner those of the public who are concerned 
with fishery matters do so the better. On p. 40, when 
defining species, genera, and families, the names of a few 
well-known genera, such as Gadus, and C/upea, and their 
more important species, might have been introduced with 
advantage. 
Although we quite agree with Mr. Cunningham’s 
remark, that at present it must be held that artificial 
propagation of sea-fish is in its experimental stage, still 
we think that throughout that discussion on practical 
methods he does not, in stating the case for hatching, 
allow sufficiently for the fact that the embryos are pro- 
tected in the hatchery during a period of their existence 
when, if at large, they are liable to become the prey of 
nearly everything in the sea that has a mouth. 
There are some misprints in the book, which should 
have been corrected in proof: e.g. on p. 87, Lota 
vulgaris is called the turbot ; Prof. M‘Intosh’s name is 
misspelled throughout the book, as is also Wydrall/mania, 
which should have only one “n.” 
There are some other points one might take exception 
to, but we have criticised enough; and most of the 
blemishes we have alluded to above are of minor import- 
ance, and leave the book a really valuable work and a 
record of much research and long-continued industry on 
the part of the author. We hope that the book will 
prove useful in the hands of superintendents of fishery 
districts and members of our Sea Fisheries Committees. 
The numerous illustrations are most of them excellent, 
and the general “get-up” is all that could be desired. 
W. A. HERDMAN. 
THE LIFE OF JAMES CROLL. 
Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, with Memoir of 
his Life and Work, By J.C. Irons. Pp. 553. (London: 
Stanford, 1896.) 
HE life of James Croll is very remarkable. That a 
mason’s son, who in youth laboured on the few 
acres of his father’s homestead ; who then, having a 
mind disposed to mechanics, became apprentice to a 
NO. 1425, VOL. 55] 
millwright ; who, having served his four years’ time, got 
employment at eight shillings a week, having sometimes 
to walk thirty or forty miles a day to his work, and to 
sleep in the barn ; who, not becoming inured to such 
hardships, turned carpenter, and met with some measure 
of success, till disease in the elbow set in; who then, 
not having sufficient education for a clerkship, found 
employment in the tea trade, and was after a time helped 
by his employer to open a shop for his own profit—in 
which venture he might have succeeded, even in spite of 
reading “Edwards on the Will,’ had not the elbow 
caused a long and painful illness which ruined the busi- 
ness, and left him with an ossified joint ; who then sup- 
ported himself for a twelvemonth by making electrical 
instruments wherewith the neighbours might cure them- 
selves of all the ills the flesh was heir to ; who, when 
the demand for the panacea was exhausted, “ after due 
consideration,” set up a temperance hotel in a town, 
Blairgowrie, of 3500 inhabitants, with sixteen inns and 
public-houses there already, and far from any railway ; 
who, after a year and a half of failure as innkeeper, took 
to canvassing for various insurance companies, where, 
as usual, everything went contrariwise with him—that a 
man, who thus spent nearly the first forty years of his life, 
should have become so successful a student of meta- 
physics as to write a work of decided merit on “The 
Philosophy of Theism,” is perhaps not a matter of sur- 
prise, seeing that he was a Scotchman. But we may 
surely indulge our faculty of wonder when we learn that 
a London publisher was found ready to undertake the 
whole risk of publishing his work, by an unknown Scotch 
tradesman or agent, on the terms of half profits, and that 
the result justified the publisher’s enterprise. 
But at length, in 1859, these difficulties were over- 
come, and Croll obtained a situation as janitor at the 
Andersonian College, Glasgow. The salary was small, 
but he had ample time to read, and some excellent 
libraries to consult ; and here he may be said to have 
begun his scientific career. After eight years he was 
appointed to the Geological Survey of Scotland, where he 
remained thirteen years. Through ill-health he then 
retired, expecting to have received a pension calculated 
on age as well as length of service ; but in this he was 
disappointed. The Treasury refused to pay more than 
75/. 16s. 8d. a year. The circumstances of the refusal, as 
set forth in the correspondence, render the transaction 
a lasting disgrace to the Treasury. Ten years later 
he died. , 
There is here a striking record of difficulties over- 
come. Yet these, the external difficulties, were the least 
with which Croll had to struggle. His head, always a 
bad servant to his mind, became, in 1865, so seriously 
affected, that never afterwards could he persist for any 
length of time in mental work, or concentrate his energy 
on a difficulty until it was overcome. If he attempted to 
do too much, not only did the pain become unbearable, 
but he was disabled for several days afterwards. How 
terribly this affliction influenced his life may be judged 
from the fact, mentioned in Croll’s simple, modest way, 
that he had to take a by-path in the morning, lest con- 
versing with a friend on the way should unfit him for his 
office work. 
Even from this bare outline it may be judged that the 
