Nov. 18, 1869 | 
NATURE 
19 
therefore run through sound physical science. The illus- 
trations are, on the whole, very good indeed ; the large 
tinted plates altogether exquisite ; notably one of the 
development of corals ; and many of the cuts are not only 
accurate, but real works of art ; for instance, a drawing 
THE BEAUTIFUL-HAIRED MepusA (Cyanea euplocamia) 
seemingly from a photograph, of sponges, &c., on laminaria 
stems, and three drawings of meduse, pp. 132-4, in which 
the grace and grandeur of the natural outlines has been 
excellently preserved. 
Especially do the author, translator, and publishers 
deserve thanks for the mere number of the illustrations, 
Tue Cross Mepusa (RAzzostoma cruciata) 
If the wonder of nature is ever to be got into the heads 
of the uneducated (rich or poor) it must be done, in the 
long run, through the eye. “ Pictures,” said certain men 
of old, “are the books of the unlearned ;” and they used 
them with effect during the middle ages, to get into the 
heads of men wonders which—nineteen twentieths of 
them—never happened at all. Let Science, now her turn 
is come, use to the utmost of her resources, the same 
engine, to get into the heads of men—and of children 
from their earliest years—some of the wonders which are 
actually happening round them all daylong. Let scientific 
men, therefore, welcome graciously this book, and all 
books of the kind, in spite of a few defects of haste or 
of insufficient knowledge. Let them recommend it to 
their friends—especially to those who have children. And 
if any shall raise the cry of “ book-making,” let them 
answer, “What else would you have?” In this age of 
“specialisation,” when each minute branch of physical 
science requires a life-time of research, how are the many 
unscientific to be taught the vastness and beauty of 
Nature, save by book-makers ; by those who take the 
results of other men’s labour, and cast them together into 
a shape which the many will care to look at? Provided 
Tue Mepusa or GaupicHauD (Chrysaora Gaudichaudti) 
they do not actually steal, allow them to borrow as freely 
as they will. What they borrow from the scientific writer, 
they will repay him a hundred-fold, in the form of pupils 
readers, and enlightened public opinion. Meanwhile, 
those who wish well to the cause of Truth, may trust 
that by every book of this kind one more human being 
will be awakened to the magnificence, as well as the 
importance, of facts; one more will be saved from the 
ancient empire of unreason; one more will be inclined 
to give rational glory to God, as he discovers how glorious 
His works are, even in the minutest polype ; one more 
artist will discover, in his search for the beautiful, 
that the world contains a few objects quite as worthy of 
his pencil, as a Scotch fir-tree, or a country lane ; and 
one school-boy, it may be, or even undergraduate, seeing 
this book in his sister’s hands while he is at home for 
the vacation, will be led to inquire (not without reason) 
