124 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 



Approving in the main of this volume, we gather that 

 the reviewer differs from the author on some points. 

 M. Hoiiel's views we have lately come across in "Re- 

 marques sur I'enseignementdelaTrigonome'trie" (a paper 

 originally printed in the Giornale di Matematiche, t. xiii., 

 1875, and reproduced in the Mdmoires de la Sorietd des 

 Sciences Physiques ct Naturelles de Bordeaux, 2" serie, 

 tome v., 1882, pp. 197-209). He altogether approves of 

 M. Schlegel's appendix, containing a table of rational 

 right- and oblique-angled triangles "oil Ton puiser d'ex- 

 cellents exercices de calcul numeriques." 



The fourth volume, devoted to Solid Geometry, is pre- 

 faced by an introduction in which the author discusses 

 the most convenient methods for getting clear ideas of 

 figures in space, viz., by the use of models in relief and 

 by stereoscopic images (at the end are plates, corre- 

 sponding, we presume, to Clerk Maxwell's stereograms, 

 of polyhedra). 



" Un auteur se disposant a ecrire un traite classique ne 

 saurait trouver une meilleure preparation que la lecture 

 du livre de M. Schlegel, ou il apercevrait tant d' horizons 

 nouveaux, inconnus a la routine, et qui eux-memes peuvent 

 conduire a des ddcouvertes ulterieuses." 



We must not omit to state that M. Hoiiel objects to 

 some of the ideas put forward ; but the grounds on which 

 he commends the " Lehrbuch " (in addition to others 

 adduced above) are thus summed up: — "Ouoi qu'ilen soit, 

 nous sommes si peu accoutumes a rencontrer dans les 

 manuels de geome"trie des idees neuves et hardies, que 

 nous n'heVitons pas a saluer comme un heureux eVene- 

 ment dans la litteYature ge"ome"trique l'apparition de ce 

 traite, oil le disciple fidele de Gra^smann s'est fait le 

 sagace interprete des ide"es du maitre sur l'enseignement 

 elementaire." 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 The Edible Mollusca of Ore, it Britain and Ireland. With 



Recipes for ■ Cooking Them. By M. S. Lovell. (London: 



L. Reeve and Co., 1SS4.) 

 We have received the second edition of this interesting, 

 useful, and in some respects most amusing book. The 

 primary object of the author is to call attention to the 

 qualities and merits of many kinds of shell-fish which are 

 as nutritious as others which are generally known, but 

 which are rarely met with in our markets, or are only 

 used locally for food, while the proper modes of cooking 

 them are scarcely known. Accordingly all the known 

 species of edible shell-fish on our coasts are here described 

 in succession, with the various modes of cooking them. 

 This alone would make the volume of great use at a time 

 when we are going to the uttermost ends of the earth for 

 the sources of our food-supply, and when public attention 

 has been so powerfully drawn to our fisheries by the Ex- 

 hibition of last year at Kensington. But when we add 

 that the writer has collected from the most varying 

 sources — from an "old M.S. " to the Bridgewater Trea- 

 tises, and from Athenaeus to the latest book of travels 

 that is having its little day, — a mass of curious lore about 

 shell-fish, their uses, and the mode of catching them in 

 various parts of the globe, their medicinal properties, the 

 popular superstitions about them, &c, it will be perceived 

 that this is much more than a work on natural history 

 plus a cookery-book. If the title were not too suggestive 

 of dulness for such an amusing volume, one would feel 

 inclined to say that " Encyclopaedia of the Edible Mol- 

 lusks" would be a suitable title. And when we examine 

 the formidable list of works " referred to or consulted" 



at the end, filling with mere titles thirteen pages, we 

 cease to wonder at the out-of-the-way information con- 

 tained in the volume. Of the nineteen sections in which 

 the subject is treated, that on the Ostreadce is, as might 

 be expected, the longest, although that on the Helicidce, 

 which is also comparatively long, appears to us the most 

 amusing. We hear of many infallible corn solvents, corn- 

 destroyers, and the like, but the prescription of Master 

 Ralph Blower, who wrote a certain " Rich Storehouse or 

 Treasurie for the Diseased," possesses at least the merit of 

 originality. Here it is. " Take black sope and snailes, of 

 each a like quantitie, stampe them togither, and make 

 plaister thereof, and spread it upon a piece of fine linnen 

 cloth, or else upon a piece of white leather, and lay it 

 upon the corne, and it will take it cleane away within 

 seven dayes space." Master Blower who, by the way, 

 wrote " for the benefit of the poorer sorts of people that 

 are not of abilitie to goe to the Physicians," supplies the 

 recipes for other cunning decoctions of snails, as do 

 several other physicians who are quoted. Snail-water 

 appears to have been considered a sovereign cure for 

 consumption ; but it may not be generally known that a 

 large trade in snails is carried on for Covent Garden 

 Market in the Lincolnshire Fens. They are sold at bd. 

 per quart, and it appears that they are still much used 

 for consumptive patients and weakly children. Of all the 

 many uses of snails in various parts of the globe, the 

 strangest perhaps is that discovered by the London 

 adulterator. They are much employed, the author 

 assures us, in the manufacture of cream, being bruised 

 in milk and boiled, and a retired milkman pronounced it 

 the most successful imitation known ! There are, we 

 should say in conclusion, many beautifully coloured 

 illustrations. 



Forestry in the Mining Districts of the Ural Mountains 

 in Eastern Russia. Compiled by John Croumbie 

 Brown, LL.D., &c. (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd; 

 London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1884.) 

 Still another book on forestry by Dr. Brown, uniform 

 in size and binding with those that have preceded it. We 

 have before alluded to the readable character of Dr. 

 Brown's books, and the one before us is no exception to 

 those on " The Forests of England " and the " French 

 Forest Ordinance of 1669" ; indeed it is perhaps more 

 popular in its style, which Dr. Brown is not entirely 

 responsible for, as he states on his title-page that it is a 

 compilation, and the free use of inverted commas shows 

 it to be so to a great extent. Though the book may con- 

 tain a very good description of the country under con- 

 sideration and accounts of the several journeys made in 

 Russia, we are bound to say that not more than half 

 deals with forestry matters. Thus we have one chapter 

 devoted to the journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, 

 including a description of the Nijni Novgorod Fair. 

 Another chapter describes the " Mishaps and Difficulties 

 Experienced in Travelling"; another "Metallurgy"; 

 and another " Depressed Condition of Mining, Smelting, 

 and Manufacturing Establishments." The chapters that 

 deal with forestry in some form or another are on 

 "Forest Exploitation in the Government of Ufa"; 

 " Abuses in Connection with the Exploitation of Forests " ; 

 a short one on " Forests," &c. 



It may be stated that Dr. Brown's several works on 

 " Forestal Literature" were awarded a silver medal at 

 the recent Forestry Exhibition in Edinburgh, a fact to 

 which he draws attention at the commencement of the 

 present volume. 



Die pyrendische Halbinsel. Von Dr. Moritz Willkomm. 

 II. Abteilung: " Spanien." (Leipzig: G. Freytag, 1SS4.) 

 This forms one of a series of volumes on the coun- 

 tries of the world, and appears to be part of a Ger- 

 man " Universal-Bibliothek " entitled "Das Wissen der 



