vhs) 
NATURE 
[ Mov. 18, 1869 
stone-celts are considered to be thunderbolts—a belief so 
universal in historic times that it may be said to have 
been held semper, ubigue, et ab omnibus. There is, in fact, 
no difference of opinion between the old Greek Sotacus and 
the Chinese Emperor Kang-hi’s encyclopzedist (A.D. 1662). 
The former informs us, through Pliny, as translated by 
Philemon Holland, that “there be two kinds of Cerauniz, to 
wit, the black and the red,” and, “that they doe resemble 
halberds or axe-heads.” The latter that “some of the light- 
ning-stones have the shape of a hatchet, others that of a 
knife, and some are made like mallets. They are of 
different colours; there are blackish ones, others are 
greenish.” 
The curious similarity observed among Megalithic 
monuments in different parts of the world may possibly 
be due to some analogous development of thought and 
feeling rather than to any intimate connection between 
the races who erected them. The Dolmens of Algeria, 
described by Mr. Flower, those of Brittany by Mr. Lukis, 
those of the Aveyron by M. Cartailhac, are all, more or 
less, closely allied to the ancient sepulchres and Pandu- 
kulis of the Nilagiri Mountains in Southern India, de- 
scribed by Sir Walter Elliot. 
We cannot close this brief notice without mentioning 
one of the most carefully illustrated and important con- 
tributions to the volume,—the account of the caves of 
Gibraltar, in which human remains and works of art have 
been found, by Mr. George Busk, who, in company with 
the late Dr. Falconer, visited the scene of the explorations 
of Captain Brome, which are now unfortunately suspended, 
but of which the record drawn up by himself is here pre- 
served, and additional value given to it by the commentary 
of Mr. Busk. 
We have, we hope, said enough to show the interesting 
character of this volume of the Transactions of the Con- 
gress, and the reports of the meeting at Copenhagen lead 
us to hope that it may next year be productive of another 
volume of at least equal value. 
JoHN EVANS 
THE WORLD OF THE SEA 
The World of the Sea. Translated and enlarged by the 
Rey. H. Martyn Hart, M.A., from “Le Monde de la 
Mer,” by M. Moquin Tandon, Membre de l'Institut, 
&c. Demy 8vo. pp. 500, with coloured and tinted 
plates and numerous woodcuts, price 21s. (London : 
Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.) 
HERE are two methods of reviewing a book, the 
ungracious and the gracious. One, and the easier, 
is to find all possible fault with it; to prove, at least to 
the critic’s own satisfaction, how much better he could have 
written the book, if he too had had the time, and the 
money, and the will. As for the talent, the critic has 
that, as a matter of course ; for is not a critic one who 
judges other men, and is therefore wiser than they? And 
as for the knowledge, that is not needed. He may 
acquire that in the very process of reviewing, from the 
book which he reviews. Thus, following nature in econo- 
mising force as much as possible, he is at once learner and 
teacher ; judge and—parasite? Taking another man’s 
materials, he shows the world how much better a house 
he could have built with them; and so has the clear profit 
of all the author’s work, his carrying of the bricks and 
mortar, even his planning the house, beside all the ex- 
penses incident thereto, at the cost on his own part of 
a few suggestions which he is not even at the trouble of 
seeing carried out. Thus he leaves the hapless man, who 
has tried to do something, instead of sitting still like the 
reviewer, and seeing others do it, tocry Sze vos non vobis; 
and after a few more attempts to write books, to give 
up in despair, and take to the more easy and profitable 
employment (at which every lad can now earn an honest 
penny), of showing how books should have been written. 
But the other, or gracious method of reviewing a book, is 
to ascertain what the book is really worth, at least to the 
class for whom it is written; and if it be worth any- 
thing, to recommend it to them heartily; being sure that 
attractiveness is no test of value, and that there is no 
more utter fallacy than that good wine needs no bush. 
Unfortunately, this gracious and hearty method of re- 
viewing a book is not only difficult, being contrary to the 
affections and lusts of the animal within, who delights to 
bite and devour his kin, while he is indignant at the very 
notion of his ancestors having been cannibals: but it is 
also morally dangerous; for if the reviewer begins by 
being gracious and hearty, he may descend to kindness, 
even to indulgence. He may be to the author’s “ faults a 
little blind, and to his virtues very kind ;” and so fall alto- 
gether from that boasted impartiality which surely portends 
detraction. 
For the sake, therefore, of preserving the virtue of im- 
partiality, it is most prudent for the reviewer to begin by 
complaining, and to say that this very beautiful book has 
certain defects, which he hopes may be amended in future 
editions (for he must be allowed to be gracious enough 
to hope for future editions); that several of the most 
important and novel illustrations have no authority ap- 
pended ; that the very clever drawing of the sea-lions 
has not only no authority, but no description or notice in 
the text ; that some chapters are meagre, and some of 
the illustrations bad—for instance, the Holothurians, of 
which only two very poor and inaccurate cuts occur; that 
the large drawing of Cuttle-fish is also very bad and 
wrong; and that there are many misprints and misspell- 
ings (possibly mere faults of the printers, but still faults), 
such as vostro for rostrum, O¢tary for Otary, a Poritide, 
an Alcyonidez, &c., which must be corrected ; and that, 
as a whole, the latter part of the book is inferior to the 
beginning. It may be, of course, that this is owing to the 
simple fact, too common among other classes besides 
publishers, that the money did not hold out; or that the 
book, if finished in the style in which it was.begun, would 
have grown too big to be published at a paying price. 
But what has a reviewer to do with excuses and with mercy? 
Having thus fulfilled his duty, he has something of a 
right to take his pleasure; and to say—Here is a really 
beautiful book. It is a pleasure to turn over the pictures ; 
a pleasure to think that it will lie on many tables, teaching 
folk, especially young folk, a thousand things which those 
of the last generation did not learn, hard as they worked, 
each for himself alone, simply because the works which 
could teach them were not yet written; nay, the micro- 
scopes which could show the facts not yet made. The 
text is, as is to be expected from M. Moquin Tandon, 
brilliant, interesting, full of feeling for that wonderful and 
poetic element which runs through nature, and should 
