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NATURE 
| dugust 27, 1885 
correct name, nor for where to refer to for information 
about it. 
It can thus be well understood, even by those who 
never had the good fortune to know Forbes, that the loss 
of such a man was keenly felt by his numerous friends 
and fellow-workers. Soon after his death, in 1883, it was 
resolved, at a meeting of the Zoological Club, that some 
sort of memorial of him should be carried out. After 
due consideration of the question it was unanimously 
determined by the Committee to whom the subject was 
referred that the best scheme would be the republication 
of Forbes’s numerous papers in a connected form. This 
had been the course adopted in the case of Garrod, who 
had preceded Forbes in the Prosectorship of the Zoo- 
logical Society of London. It was found that Forbes’s 
contributions to science would make a volume of about 
the same size as the scientific papers of Garrod, and 
would not, it was believed, be of inferior interest. 
The memorial volume, prepared and issued under these 
circumstances, contains sixty-seven papers published by 
Forbes in different periodicals from 1875 to 1882. The 
original illustrations have been in every case reproduced, 
and to increase the usefulness of the reprint, exact 
references to the paging of the original articles are added 
in the margin. At the end of the volume is given Forbes’ 
last journal, reprinted from the /ézs for 1883, and contain- 
ing a most interesting account of his observations during 
his fatal expedition up the Niger. Forbes died at Shonga, 
one of the stations of the United African Company on 
that malarious river, on January 14, 1883. Up to two 
days before his death the entries in the journal are in his 
own writing. The fatal termination of his illness, recorded 
by another hand, concludes the volume. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Elementary Algebra for Schools. By H.S. Hall, B.A., 
and S. R. Knight, B.A. (Macmillan, 1885.) 
THIS is, in our opinion, the best e/ementary Algebra for 
school use. It is the combined work of two teachers who 
have had considerable experience of actual school teach- 
ing, aided by the advice of such men as the present Head 
of Clifton College, and so successfully grapples with 
difficulties which our present text-books in use, from their 
authors lacking such experience, ignore or slightly touch 
upon. Up to the point to which the subject is carried in 
this volume, it is treated with sufficient completeness for 
ordinary school purposes: the last four chapters present 
a somewhat concise account of ratio, proportion, and the 
progressions, which, however, covers enough ground for 
the ordinary examinations which schoolboys have to 
encounter. The authors propose to treat these parts in 
fuller detailin a Higher Algebra, which they are preparing. 
We do not propose to examine the book at any length, but 
confidently recommend it to mathematical teachers, who, 
we feel sure, will find it the best book of its kind for 
teaching purposes. Many subjects of interest are also 
treated of, and a vast collection of (3500) examples will 
furnish ample exercise for the boys, and save the teacher 
the trouble of concocting illustrations of the best methods. 
Answers are furnished at the end, so that those teachers 
who do not care that their pupils should have them handy, 
may have them sewn up. 
Key to the Elements of Euclid. 
(W. and R. Chambers, 1885.) 
THIS is a most valuable pendant to the edition of the 
“Elements” which we recently had occasion to notice so 
By J. S. Mackay, M.A. 
favourably. It is a book of nearly the same size as the 
“Elements” and yet contains, in consequence of the 
general omission of diagrams, solutions of the very large 
collection of admirable deductions which Mr. Mackay 
collected for the student in that work. De Morgan’s 
words, quoted in the short preface, furnish ample ground 
for the omission of figures: “I am satisfied, from 
sufficient trial, that when proper description of the dia- 
gram is given in the text, the person who draws his own 
diagram from the text will arrive at the author’s meaning 
in half the time which is employed by another to whom 
the successive appearance of the parts is prevented by 
his seeing the whole from the beginning.” 
The Essentials of Histology. By E. A. Schafer. 
(London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1885.) 
Tus will prove a useful book for students. It is 
arranged in forty-two lessons and appendix. Each 
lesson commences with a short statement of methods for 
the microscopic examination of the tissue described in 
the lesson. All simple tissues and organs are thus 
passed in review, and their most essential characters are 
succinctly described and illustrated. It is to be regretted 
that Prof. Schafer has deviated from the customary plan 
of giving some kind of reference both for the text and 
the illustrations. The latter are mostly taken from 
Prof. Schafer’s portion of Quain’s Anatomy, and their 
original source, although mentioned in Quain’s, is here 
omitted. 
An index at the end of the book would be a desirable 
addition. 
E. KLEIN 
An Atlas of Practical Elementary Biology. By G. B. 
Howes. (London: Macmillan, 1885.) 
THE anatomical drawings of Mr. Howes have fo. some 
years been well known in all laboratories where animal 
morphology is taught. In his “Atlas of Elementary 
Biology” he has now published a very complete series of 
figures illustrating the chief of those animal and vegetable 
types which are generally given to students in their first 
session. The need for such a work as this is well known 
to every one who has any experience of biological teach- 
ing ; and the name of its author is a sufficient guarantee 
of the careful accuracy and artistic excellence of the 
drawings it contains. The low price at which a student’s 
text-book must necessarily be sold has precluded the use 
of colour, which might in a few cases have given some 
additional clearness to the figures ; but all that could be 
done with black and white has been done, and every 
figure is evidently a faithful copy of an actual dissection, 
such as a student may reasonably hope to repeat for 
himself. 
In the case of every animal chosen, a series of 
drawings showing the gross anatomy of the adult 
is followed by a few illustrations of the minute 
structure of its tissues, and of its main developmental 
features. 
Thedrawings of adult anatomy are throughout excellent ; 
the others, though the size of the work has somewhat 
restricted their number, will probably suffice for most of 
the needs of commencing students. It is however to be 
regretted that there is no figure showing the minute struc- 
ture of the gill in Anodon, and also that Mr. Howes has 
not been able to accept Spencer’s statement as to the 
conversion of the frog’s blastopore into the permanent 
anus. 
The botanical portion of the Atlas contains an admir- 
able series of figures, showing the structure of the plants 
described in Huxley and Martin’s well-known text-book, 
and completes a work which cannot fail to be of the~ 
greatest service both to teachers and to students of 
biology. 
Wis FIRE Me 
