May 23, 1872] 



MATURE 



59 



ment, and from this or some other cause, has not noticed 

 a passage in that writer which seems to have been singu- 

 larly overlooked, but which nevertheless p )ssesses a cer- 

 tain degjree of interest. It has been invariably asserted 

 that Hipparchus was incited to the formation of his cele- 

 brated catalogue by the appearance of a new star, leaving 

 it to be inferred that it was an object similar to the Great 

 Star of 1572 (the possible return of which, by the way. 

 Baron von Madler refers to 1885, instead of the present 

 year, as has been sometimes thought), or that of 1604. 

 But it seems to have altogether escaped notice that the 

 words of Pliny in reference to it expressly describe a 

 movement which must have placed it in another class of 

 bodies : — " Novam stellam et aliam in asvo suo genitam 

 deprehendit : ejusque motu, qua die fulsit, ad dubita- 

 tionem est adductus, anne hoc SKpius fieret, moveren- 

 turque et ea;, quas putamus affixas." Such is his state- 

 ment ; where he obtained it of course cannot now be 

 ascertained ; but from its explicitness it certainly carries 

 at least a show of authority. 



In adopting a more favourable idea of Ptolemy than 

 has been admitted by many opponents of his system, the 

 author has expressed an opinion well deserving of atten- 

 tion : — " When criticising the literary proceedings of 

 Ptolemy, we should not forget how extremely different, as 

 compared with our own, w^as the form which the mutual 

 relation of authors took in those days. Instead of the 

 hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of books which 

 fill our libraries and catalogues, their number at that time 

 might hardly amount to a thousand ; the principal works 

 especially were so few in number that every one, generally 

 speaking, who read and wrote was acquainted with them. 

 Ptolemy wrote for his own time. When he alleged any- 

 thing which was the property of another without mention- 

 ing his name, nobody could then have been well deceived 

 by it, and there could be no reasonable question of a 

 design of plagiarism." And as an incidental parallel he 

 remarks the use made in a similar manner by St. Paul of 

 the expressions of Archias and Epimenides. 



.Some interesting, but perhaps not generally known, 

 facts may find a suitable place in the present brief notice ; 

 such as the discovery on the site of what is conjectured to 

 have been Cicero's house at Rome of a sun-dial, which 

 may have been the identical one mentioned in one of his 

 letters ; the employment, in Seneca's time, of hollow 

 glasses filled with oil to protect the eye in observing soL'r 

 eclipses ; the grandeur of speculation which led Cleomedes, 

 some fifteen centuries ago, to assert that the earth would 

 show but as a point to the sun, and from the fixed stars, 

 even if it possessed intrinsic light, would be impercep- 

 tible ; the discovery in Egypt, in 1854, of four wooden 

 tablets covered with plaster, containing astronomical cal- 

 culations — the almanac, in fact, of the great school of 

 Alexandria in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian ; the 

 recognition of Uranus by the ancient inhabitants of 

 Tahiti. Relations such as these lend an additional interest 

 to a narrative which, even without them, would not be 

 felt as dry or tedious. 



One more passnge may be cited, as giving full evidence 

 of that soundness of thought and feeling which thus (.but 

 not thus only) are shown to be united in the Baron von 

 Miidler with the other qualifications of a historian : — 



" If in those times a comet appeared, writings appeared 

 immediately, especially in the form of religious exhorta- 



tions, taking occasion from it to recommend repentance 

 and amendment. Let no one suspect that we have even 

 the slightest objection to offer to these admonitions. 

 Much rather could we wi-h that at other times also, 

 whether a comet were visible or not, they were employed 

 with equal earnestness, and that the inscription on a 

 comet medal of that date (1472) — 



God grant us from this comet-blaze 

 To leani amendment of our ways — 



were more laid to heart, especially as regards the second 

 line. If cometary prediction had brought nothing worse 

 to light than exhortations to amendment, we might with 

 respect to this fancy (though tlie fancy itself, as such, 

 would always remain objectionable) have been able to 

 contemplate the whole with greater satisfaction." 



T. W. Webb 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Botany for Beginners : an Introduction to the Study of 

 Plants. By Ma.xwellT. Masters, IVI.D.jF.R.S. (London: 

 Bradbury, Evans, & Co., 1872.) 



This is in no sense a cram-book. To take the trouble 

 of learning it by heart, page for page, would not 

 suffice for any botanical examination with which we are 

 acquainted. This is a great advantage in an elementary 

 scientific work. Not only does it enable the author to be 

 entirely independent of the favourite points of particular 

 examiners ; but it permits him to pursue his own method 

 of developing the subject in the learner's mind. In no 

 science is this freedom of greater value than in botany. 

 The text-books used and recommended by many teachers 

 of botany would appear to have been especially designed 

 to deter the intending student from the study of the 

 science. Bristling at the outset with a formidable array 

 of technical terms, which should never be introduced till 

 a later stage of the instruction, they give a superficial 

 countenance to the idea which is prevalent even 

 with m my who ought to know better, that Botany is a 

 mere science of terms, unworthy to be placed by the side 

 of Comparative Anatomy or Animal Physiology. Each 

 teacher will no doubt have his own idea of the arrangement 

 of his subject best calculated to interest the beginner, and 

 to lead hmi on step by step to sec the true dignity of the 

 science. Dr. Masters's is recommended by his own 

 experience as a lecturer for many years to one of our 

 Metropolitan hospitals. He commences by taking in 

 succession a series of flowers in the order in which they 

 are tobe met with as the spring unfolds — willow, poplar, 

 ash, elm, tulip, hyacinth, apple, lilac, and so forth ; and 

 in plain and attractive language, bringing in technical 

 terms at the outset only when necessary for the sake of 

 accuracy, he explains the structure of their different 

 parts, and the points in which they resemble or difter from 

 one another. The more important phenomena of the 

 physiology of plants are also brought under review as the 

 descriptions of structure naturally lead up to ihem, though 

 we think that more space might with advantage have 

 been bestowed on this portion of the subject. A single 

 page devoted to the decomposition of carbonic acid by 

 the leaves, and twelve lines to the process of fertilisation 

 of the ovule, are hardly sufficient to introduce the reader to 

 these branches of physiology, which are not only of the 

 highest importance themselves, but also of far greater 

 interest to the student, if simply and intelligently brought 

 before him, than the details of morphology or ot' classifi- 

 cation. The substance of this little book has already 

 appeared in the columns of the Gardener's C/tro?iicle,axiA 

 it is well illustrated with capital wood cuts. We heartily 

 recommend " Botany for Beginners" to teachers or parents 

 who are desirous of interesting young persons in this 

 science, and who can appreciate the value of a clearly- 

 written, simple, and yet accurate elementary treatise. 



A. W. B. 



