208 
NATURE 
[Fuly 14, 1870 
contains the maps folded, and will suit either a 
school-boy or a family of small geographical require- 
ments. The Complete Atlas differs from the Family one 
in having classical maps and a large number of plans of 
cities ; the modern maps being pretty much the same in 
both ; both also contain maps of the stars. Sir Roderick 
Murchison’s geological map of England and Wales, how- 
ever, is to be found in the Family Atlas only. All of them 
contain a most valuable index of places, so that we have 
on the whole a very practical gradation to suit all require- 
ments, the gwadity being the same but the gwuantity 
varying. 
There is one very admirable point in the arrangement 
of the Complete Atlas which at the same time reminds us 
that it is not so complete as we are sure Mr. Stanford will 
make some edition of it in the more or less remote future. 
Side by side with the modern (politically divided) map we 
have the ancient (politically divided) map of the same 
area, and in this point the Complete Atlas will commend 
itself to all scholars ; but we miss very much indeed the 
physical maps of the larger areas, and in the interests of 
physical geography we feel bound to insist strongly on 
this point, because we are convinced that the importance 
of such maps to those who want a large atlas is becoming 
so great that it will not be borne that they shall be rele- 
gated to a separate volume. 
By many, and those especially who are content with 
the modern world, the Family Atlas will commen¢ itself by 
its index-like arrangement, by which the names of all the 
maps are visible down the side, and the sides of the fore- 
most maps being cut away, any map may be at once 
turned to. 
This much premised, we may state that we have 
examined the maps and plans very carefully, and find them 
as arule as good as any English maps extant, and honestly 
brought down*to date. Mr. Stanford deserves great 
credit for the admirable and careful way in which this 
has been done, and we say this the more strongly be- 
cause we know the immense labour and expense involved 
in altering map plates from time to time. Of course, in 
some cases, it has been simply impossible to alter the 
plates, the alterations have been too great. Take for 
instance the plans of New York, extending to Forty-second 
Street only, and Boston, in which the waste space shown 
in the map, west of the public garden, is now covered 
with houses. In other cases all the care has been dis- 
played in the detail map, the general map having escaped 
revision, or véce versa; é.g.,in the map of British North 
America, Russian America is retained, while in the 
general map it is correctly omitted ; in the general map of 
Canada and the United States the chief town of Iowa 
is shown as Iowa City, while, in the detail map, Des 
Moines is correctly given. We could have wished too to 
see Patagonia, a time-honoured name, divided, as it really 
is, between the Argentine Republic and Chili; and we 
have an idea, too, that by an Order in Council, or some 
such terrible enactment, the “improper” name of Van 
Dieman’s Land has been altered to Tasmania! We 
notice these points, not as blemishes by any means, but 
as indications of a more or less minute revision which 
we are sure Mr. Stanford would have otherwise under- 
taken, of a collection of maps of which English geo- 
graphy may be proud, 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Birds of Marlborough, being a Contribution to the Ornt- 
thology of the District. By Everard F. im Thurn. 
(12mo, pp. 117. Marlborough and London, 1870.) 
THIS unpretending little book affords an additional piece 
of evidence, if more were needed, that science in some 
form or other is making its way into our schools. A few 
years ago it was well remarked by one who had given no 
small attention to the matter, that the relations of the 
universities and public schools, as regarded science, 
formed a “vicious circle”—on the one hand the public 
schools demurred to its encouragement because it did not 
“pay” their pupils when they reached the university, and 
on the other the universities hesitated about rewarding 
scientific studies because they were pursued by intellects 
comparatively inferior to those which were devoted to the 
older branches of learning. This state of things clearly 
admitted of a remedy ; either great power of itself could 
make the first step ; but it was certainly the duty of the 
universities to take the lead in moving. It must depend 
on them, and on them alone, to alter and improve the 
whole higher education of our countrymen, for the curri- 
culum of any public school is almost exclusively prepared 
with reference to the requirements of the universities and 
the rewards for proficiency that they offer.* They have 
but to declare that their emoluments and privileges are 
accessible to excellence in every branch of human know- 
ledge, instead of confining these encouragements to some 
very few alone, and leave the public schools to respond to 
the call. With skilful gardeners these nurseries will 
speedily grow the plants required ; the germs are already 
there, and under the sunny smiles of pedagogic favour 
and the golden rain of prizes, vigorous saplings will be 
transplanted to the Groves of Academe, there to hold their 
heads as high as their rivals from the primzeval forests of 
classics and mathematics, and (may we say?) to be 
finally of greater utility. 
If Mr. im Thurn’s book, as might be expected from the 
performance of so youthful an author, does not contain 
any addition to science, it will, of course, be interesting to 
Marlburians as the work of one who has just ceased from 
being a schoolboy ; but its chief value lies in the fact of 
its indicating the presence of the promising germs we 
have mentioned above, of the excellent forcing pit found 
in the Marlborough College Natural History Society, and 
of the skilful gardener, Mr. T. A. Preston. 
Gymnastics for Ladies, Madame Brenner. 
ALTHOUGH many of our large towns are now provided 
with gymnasiums at which ladies’ classes have been estab- 
lished, the subject is but little appreciated, especially, 
in some more important cases, among the ladies them- 
selves. There can be no doubt that for growing girls a 
large airy room, provided with suitable apparatus, and 
where a loose easy dress is a necessary condition, must 
be advantageous, if the exercises performed are such as to 
induce emulation without over-exertion. When we consider 
at how much earlier an age “romping” is prohibited to 
girls than to boys, and how little there is in the routine of a 
girl’s life to correspond to the cricket and rowing which 
form the best part of her brother’s recreations, we think 
the fact offers a very probable explanation of the in- 
creasing languor and delicacy of the ladies of the period. 
Breadmaking and other manual duties are being super- 
seded by reading and preparing for examinations, and we 
must, therefore, look to artificial means to preserve a 
just balance between mental and physical development. 
Madame Brenner’s book is little more than an adver- 
tisement of her class in Bruton Street, being a description 
of those exercises which she teaches, enlivened by rather 
severe criticisms of those which others teach. Still we 
hope her book will find many readers, as the graceful 
* Sce Rep. Brit, Assoc, Dundee, p, xliy. 
