124 



NA TURE 



[June 7, 1906 



velopnients of University activity in America whichi 

 Dr. Oilman selects for commendation are the growth 

 of scientific laboratories (including observatories and 

 surveys), the expansion of libraries, the adjustment 

 of the claims of science and letters, the " clarifica- 

 tion " of the idea of the University, the admission of 

 women to the advantages of higher education, and 

 the advancement of professional schools, especially 

 schools of medicine and law. Dr. Oilman also notes 

 with satisfaction the mutual growth of " sweet 

 reasonableness " among the leaders of religious and 

 of scientific thought. The remaining addresses on 

 such miscellaneous subjects as " Hand-craft and Rede- 

 craft," "Greek Art in a Manufacturing Town," 

 " Civil Service Reform and Education in Philan- 

 thropy," do not seem to call for special notice. They 

 are all, however, animated by the same lofty en- 

 thusiasm and the same large outlook that character- 

 ise the author's " idea of the University," and of the 

 future which it has before it in the general life of 

 the nation. 



A RAMBLE IN THJL WEST. 

 Highways and Byivays in Oxford and the Cotswolds. 

 By Herbert A. Evans. Illustrated by Frederick L. 

 Origgs. Pp. viii + 407. (London; Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd.. 1905.) Price 6s. 



OXFORD and its colleges are always before the 

 world. Early Oxford, Medieval Oxford, Stuart 

 Oxford, Modern Oxford, it has been described over 

 and over again in all its phases and all its moods. It 

 has furnished the artist with unfailing inspiration, it 

 has been the excuse for endless reminiscences, we have 

 seen it approach " the cross-roads," and recently it has 

 been held to account in the columns of The Westminster 

 Gazette. 



The author of this volume may well be pardoned if 

 he does not write of the city at length. The few pages 

 which he spares to it are given up for the most part to 

 the archaeology of the less visited portion to the west 

 of the north and south artery, the quarter which 

 centred round the castle still in existence, and the 

 magnificent foundations of Osney and Rewley long 

 since levelled with the dust. He does not attempt 

 anything in the nature of a general survey. If Oxford 

 has a place in his book it is mainh- because, situated 

 as it is, at a point where the hills from east and west 

 most nearly meet, it is, as it were, the gate into the 

 country whither he would lead us, the country that 

 is bounded by the fringe of the Cotsvvold on the west 

 and the Cherwell on the east, in other words the 

 northern half of the basin of the Upper Thames. He 

 does not claim to have described this exhaustively — 

 hr- has merely tried to point out what struck him as 

 attractive in its history and scenery, in the hope of 

 making it seem attractive to others. That he has 

 succeeded in so doing is certain. Whether he takes 

 us in thought to the Cotswolds proper, to Painswick 

 or Winchcombe or .Stow on the Wold, whether he 

 writes ot the escarpment of Edgehill, or the Vale of 

 Evesham, of the Forest of Wvchwood, or of regions 

 still nearer the city, he inspires us with the same feeling 

 NO. I9IO, VOL. 74] 



of interest, the same desire to set out and see for 

 ourselves. 



If we have any complaint to make it is that the 

 author has not told us more about the natural features 

 of the district. To the fauna and flora we find only 

 scattered allusions, e.g., to the Arion and the .Acis 

 on the hills near Barton, or the .Salvia Pratensis in 

 the Forest of W'ychwood. Of the geology and hydro- 

 graphy he writes as little as possible. Like most other 

 nations, the British are surprisingly ill acquainted with 

 the land in which they live, but it does not follow 

 that they are past educating. 



For our own part we should have liked more than 

 a mention of the botany of Tadmarton Heath, \ve 

 should have been glad to have a general idea of the 

 course of the Upper Thames, or the formation and lie 

 of the Cotswolds, the more westerly portion of the 

 great oolite sheet, which starts from the borders of 

 Dorset and runs north-east across England to find its 

 termination in the Yorkshire moors. On the other 

 hand the author is generous with historical and 

 antiquarian details. His pages are full of memories 

 of the Civil War, of which this region was one of 

 the chief theatres; the battles, Edgehill, Cropredy, &c., 

 are brought clearly before our minds. He is a good 

 raconteur, and his notes on the old families and local 

 worthies are very good reading. The great houses 

 (Broughton, Sudeley, Compton Wynyatts, &c.) receive 

 full justice at his hands, while his descriptions of the 

 churches, not onlv of the great wool-churches of Ciren- 

 cester, Chipping Campden, &:c. , but of the humbler 

 village types, are instructive, and all things considered 

 wonderfully free from monotony. 



We have no hesitation in recommending the book. 

 It is not only attractive, but taking it as a whole it is 

 accurate and valuable ; between its covers is store 

 both of pleasure and of profit. Like others of this 

 series it has been illustrated by Mr. Frederick L. 

 Origgs. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 A Manual of Geometry. By W. D. Eggar. Pp. 



xxiii + 325. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 



1906.) Price 3i\ 6d. 

 A NEW text-book of elementary geometry by the 

 author of the well-known " Practical Exercises in 

 Oeometry " will be eagerly welcomed. The " Manual 

 of Geometry " is based on the earlier treatise, but 

 the subject has been extended by the introduction of 

 theorems side by side with the practical work. In 

 deciding on the ground to be covered the author has 

 been largely guided by the revised syllabuses of 

 various examining bodies, and the manual will be 

 found specially suited to students preparing for 

 the Oxford and Cambridge Locals, London Matricula- 

 tion, Littlego, Army and Navy Qualifying, and 

 similar examinations. 



After a short preliminary course of practical and 

 experimental work, practice and theory proceed 

 together. The experimental method is always pro- 

 minent, being continually used in leading up induc- 

 tively to the theorems. As each theorem is reached 

 a strict deductive proof is informally and partially 

 outlined, and the student keeps a note-book in which 

 the theorems are entered, accompanied by a complete 

 formal proof written out in his own words. Sets of 



