Dec. 3, 1874] 



NA TURE 



83 



bability ascribe the greater prominence^^'now given in 

 treatises of Physical Geography and Geology to the 

 geological aspects of man's position on the globe. A 

 new edition shows that the eiforts of the author have not 

 been wholly unappreciated here by that general reading 

 public, not of professed savans, but of educated, observing 

 men, to whom they were addressed. He must be gratified 

 also to find that as his materials weie in large measure 

 derived from the observations of foreign writers, his 

 work has met with a special measure of notice and ap- 

 proval on the Continent. It is frequently cited by recent 

 French and German authors in Physical Geography and 

 Geology, and a special Italian edition of it has lately been 

 published under the author's supervision. 



Of a book which has now established its position it is 

 notnecessary to say anything by way of criticism. This new 

 edition has been somewhat enlarged, but the same division 

 of subjects is retained. The author, who, besides being 

 familiar with the characteristics of large tracts of his own 

 country, the United States, has travelled extensively in 

 Europe, brings his work abreast of the most recent disco- 

 veries and conjectures. The extent of his reading, remark- 

 able enough in the first edition, is evinced again in this new 

 issue. He seems to have come across the most out-of- 

 the-way blue-book of the most out-of-the-way kingdom, 

 and it has yielded to him some apposite illustration or 

 suggestive fact. And even though we may be disposed 

 to admire more the wonderful industry of research than 

 the judgment in the selection of evidence, we cannot 

 read even the most doubtful bits of testimony cited and 

 commented upon without being made to think about what 

 we may perhaps have noticed ourselves but never'really 

 reflected upon before. And there could hardly be a 

 greater merit in a book than this. As to the change of 

 title in this new edition, we are inclined to think it a mis- 

 take, for two reasons. In the first place, it is not in itself 

 so good a title as the first ; and in the second, the 

 changes in the present edition are not sufficient to 

 warrant the dropping of the name by which the book is 

 generally known. This, however, is a small matter, and 

 will not, we hope, damage the progress of a treatise which 

 certainly ought to be one of tlie standard works of reference 

 in the library of every well-educated Englishman. 



BRINKLEY'S ASTRONOMY 



Brinkky's Aslronoiny. Revised and partly re-written, 

 with additional chapters, by John William Stubbs, 

 D.D., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, and Francis 

 Briinnow, Ph.D., late Astronomer Royal of Ireland, 

 and Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin. 

 (London : Longmans and Co., 1874.) 



DR. BRINKLEY'S treatise on elementary astronomy^ 

 of which this is a new and revised edition, has been 

 for many years one of the recognised text-books provided 

 for the use of Trinity College, Dublin. We believe, how- 

 ever, that it is a work comparatively little known out of 

 Ireland, and probably many English astronomers were 

 not aware of its existence till its reappearance, in a new 

 dress, under the able guidance and direction of Dr. Stubbs 

 and Dr. Briinnow, by whom the present edition is re- 

 vised, enlarged, and partly re-written. Its popularity as 



a text-book will doubtless be no longer confined to the 

 sister island ; for this treatise, although elementary in its 

 character, contains such clear and concise explanations 

 of some of the principal problems in astronomy, that its 

 intrinsic merit alone will probably find for it a place 

 among the choice volumes of every astronomical student, 

 and also on the shelves of every astronomical library. 

 We do not say that this " Astronomy " is all that can be 

 desired, nor will it obviate the necessity for the employ- 

 ment of a more elaborate work on practical astronomy 

 where extreme] accuracy is required in the reduction ot 

 observations ; but it does on the whole explain the diffe- 

 rent problems in a clear and easy manner and in popular 

 language, without sacrificing those details which are 

 necessary for a proper elucidation of the different 

 problems. We should, however, have been glad if a 

 more detailed account had been given of some of the 

 subjects treated upon, especially in the chapter describing 

 the instruments usually employed in making astronomical 

 observations. The methods of determining the instru- 

 mental adjustments arc sufficiently explained, but it would 

 be of great service to amateur astronomers if examples 

 had been given of the complete reduction of both meri- 

 dional and equatorial observations, a kind of information 

 rarely to be found in detail in astronomical treatises. ' 



The name of Dr. Brinkley involuntarily carries us back 

 so far into the history of modern astronomy that a doubt 

 existed in our mind, before opening the book, that an 

 astronomical treatise originally prepared so many years 

 ago, even by so distinguished an astronomer, must neces- 

 sarily retain much of an antiquated character, either in 

 arrangement or material. Thanks, however, to the great 

 practical knowledge of Dr. Brinkley, and to the editorial 

 labours of Dr. Stubbs and Dr. Briinnow, we find the 

 science is represented as accurately as if the work had 

 been pubhshed now for the first time. In the days ot 

 Dr. Brinkley, directors of observatories did not consider 

 it their duty to reduce their observations with that com- 

 pleteness which we are now accustomed to see. It was 

 not till the present Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, 

 was appointed to the direction of the Royal Observatory 

 that the numerous observations of the moon and planets 

 made at Greenwich since 1750 were reduced upon one 

 uniform system, and of sufficient accuracy to be made 

 available for the correction of the elements of the lunar 

 and planetary orbits. Under these circumstances, many 

 of the principal astronomical constants were not suffi- 

 ciently determined in the early part of the present cen- 

 tury, especially of those relating to observing astronomy, 

 to admit of the production of a practical handbook in so 

 satisfactory a manner as at the present day ; but in all 

 that was essential for the proper comprehension of the 

 general planetary and lunar motions, no one had greater 

 qualifications for such a task than the learned Bishop of 

 Cloyne, who had himself, in addition to other researches 

 on refraction and parallax, investigated the value of the 

 constant of aberration from observations made with the 

 S-ft. circle at the observatory of Trinity College. 



This introductory treatise is founded on a series of 

 annual lectures on astronomy delivered by Dr. Brinkley 

 before the undergraduates of Trinity College during his 

 occupation of the Andrews Chair of Astronomy in the 

 University of Dublin At the request of the College 



