April 30, 1908] 



NA TURE 



60: 



can be compared with the corresponding dimensions of 

 the specimens figured. 



As the entire work is practically an atlas (the text, 

 which is almost solely concerned with the methods of 

 measurement, occupying only fifty pages), there is 

 really no field for criticism. The figures, though per- 

 haps a trifle crude, appear to be very accurate, and 

 even in the case of the smaller teeth the details of 

 structure are fairly well apparent. Practicallv the only 

 criticism we have to make is that in plates 33 and 35 

 the last two upper molars of the jackal and Arctic fox 

 are placed in positions different from those they occupy 

 in the jaw, whereas in the case of the dog (plate 

 32) and fox (plate 34) they are correctly orientated. 

 The work must have involved an enormous amount 

 of labour, and the author is to be congratulated on 

 the manner in which he has carried out what could 

 scarcely have been anvthing else hut a wearisome task 



R. L. 



T/ic Children's Book of Stars. By G. E. Mitton. 



Pp. xii + 207; illustrated. (London: .'^dam and 



Charles Black, 1907.) Price 6s. 

 As a book for the instructors of small children, this 

 volume should prove useful. As a book for the un- 

 aided juvenile, we fear that the " conventional 

 phraseology " which the author deplores in ordinary 

 text-books has not, even here, been sufficiently 

 eliminated. It is, indeed, a very difficult matter to 

 escape wholly from this evil' when instructing 

 juveniles, but, on the whole, the writer of the work 

 under notice has succeeded admirably. 



The arrangement of the matter is on familiar lines. 

 The earth, the moon, the planets, the sun, comets, 

 meteors, constellations, stars, and nebute are suc- 

 cessively treated, concisely and clearly. The analogies 

 by which the different' points are illustrated are 

 generally well chosen and apt, and are likelv to be 

 easily understood by the young people to whom thev 

 are expounded. The chapter (xii.) on " What th'e 

 Stajs are made of " appears to us, despite the relative 

 difficulty of the subject of spectrum analvsis, to be 

 one of the simplest in the whole book. The volume 

 contains but very few mistakes, though it is curious 

 that the one in this chapter, on p. 169, should have been 

 overlooked. In describing the preceding plate, which 

 shows the coloured spectra of the sun and Sirius, the 

 latter is called Arcturus, although on the plate and 

 later in the same paragraph it is correctly named. 



The illustrations are striking, the major'itv of them 

 being printed in colours, but we fear that the juveniles 

 to whom some of them would appeal would be hope- 

 lessly at sea if given the book to read bv themselves. 

 Whilst we are doubtful as to the value' of the book 

 if used in this way, there can be no doubt that to 

 children of older growth who have voung minds to 

 train it will fill a gap, enabling them— with a few 

 hoiirs' start — to answer clearly all those questions 

 which are bound to be asked if the previous instruc- 

 tion has been at all successful. W. E. R. 



Cradle Tales of Hinduism. Bv Sister Nivedita (Mar- 

 .garet E. Noble). Pp. xv + 343. (London : Long- 

 mans. Green and Co., 1907.) Price 5^. net. 

 Miss Noble, urged by an enthusiasm for modern 

 Hinduism as preached in Bengal which is shared by 

 few of her countrywomen, has edited a pleasant selec- 

 tion of the classical religious talcs of India. .She 

 divides them into several cycles — snake tales; the 

 story of Siva ; Indian wifehood, including the famous 

 tale of Nala and Damayanti ; selections from the 

 Mahabharata and Ramayana epics ; the adventures 

 of Krishna ; tales of the devotees and of great kings. 

 I he tales, of course, are derived from a literature 

 XO. 2009, VOL. 77] 



familiar to all scholars, and Miss Noble would perhaps 

 have done more useful ser\'ice to folk-lore by collect- 

 ing some of the great mass of folk-tales hitherto un- 

 recorded. Her version is pleasant and interesting, 

 but we are doubtful of the prospects of its success in 

 English nurseries. 



These stories exhibit too much of the dreamy mysti- 

 cism of the East, and while largely occupied with 

 phases of religious feeling, possess too little of that 

 spirit of pure adventure which our children in theii 

 fairy-tale books are accustomed to expect. To those; 

 unfamiliar with classical Hindu religious literature 

 they will form a useful introduction. The reader, 

 however, will be well advised to accept these versions 

 with some reservation, for a double reason. In the 

 first place, there is too much of the Bengali spirit 

 in them ; secondly, all the eroticism and coarseness 

 which are unhappily so prominent in this literature, 

 and especially in that characteristic of Bengal, have 

 necessarily been rigidly suppressed, and the student 

 who reads these stories for the first time may be led 

 to form an impression of their delicacy and purity of 

 sentiment which will soon be dissipated on acquaint- 

 ance with the originals. 



The author, again, has hardly kept herself in touch 

 with recent folk-tale study in India. In discussing the 

 Krishna cycle, she appeals to native scholars for the 

 dissection of the varied elements out of which it has 

 obviously been composed. Here she is likely to be 

 disappointed, because critical analysis of a sacred 

 literature of this kind is hardly to be expected from 

 faithful believers. If she had been aware of recent 

 contributions to this subject, such as Mr. J. Kennedy's 

 essay in a recent number of the Journal of the 

 .\siatic Society, and other earlier studies of the same 

 kind, she would probably have modified the rather 

 crude suggestions contained in her preface. Hinduism 

 possesses many merits of its own, but its claim to the 

 attention of the West will not be advanced by care- 

 fully ignoring its most prominent characteristics. 



Lehrbuch der mikroskopischen Technik. By Dr. Bern- 

 hard Rawitz. Pp. viii + 438. (Leipzig: W. Engel- 

 mann, 1907.) Price 12 marks. 

 This book gives a very complete summary of modern 

 methods employed in microscopical research as applied 

 to animal tissues. The introductory chapter on the 

 microscope is very brief ; probably the author con- 

 sidered this part of the subject hardly came within the 

 scope of his compilation. On the other hand, the pre- 

 paration of material, hardening, embedding, and 

 staining are dealt with at considerable length, and in 

 the second part of the work the application of the 

 methods to particular tissues and organs is detailed 

 in a complete and thorough manner. When treating 

 of apparatus, the author has avoided anything which 

 simulates a list from instrument makers' catalogues, 

 often a difficult matter in a work of this kind. 



General staining methods occupy some sixty-five 

 pages, and here we find an extremely useful sum- 

 mary of the uses and application of a large number 

 of stains. Naturally German methods occupy the fore- 

 front, and the British reader misses references to such 

 ivell-known modifications of the Romanowsky stain as 

 the Leishman and the Wright. 



In the second part every tissue and organ is sepa- 

 rately considered, and the particular methods applicable 

 in each case are detailed at greater or less length. 

 Thus the nervous system has some seventy pages 

 allotted to it. Little or nothing of importance seems 

 to have been omitted from the book, which is ad(^ 

 juately indexed, and should form a very useful com- 

 lendium for the laboratory. 



R. T. Hewlett. 



