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REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 
From the author, Mr. Jno. Lee (Darlington : Bailey and Co.,) we have 
received a pamphlet entitled Gender and Nature’s Law (101 pp.). It begins 
with a quotation from the late William Fowler’s Presidential.Address to the 
Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, and throughout contains a remarkable ~ 
series of quotations from The Naturalist, the Bible, Carlyle, Haeckel, Sir 
Oliver Lodge, T. P. O’Connor, The Archbishop of Canterbury, W. T. Stead, 
Gladstone, etc. In fact the author quotes so much from these authorities 
that it is difficult to ascertain what his own views really are. 
Secrets of the Hills. by Sterling Craig (Harrop and Co., 320 pp., 3s. 6d. 
net.). This book is evidently written for-young school children, and the 
author attempts to make his subject interesting by putting his information 
in the form of a story respecting one Ronald, in up-to-date boy scout 
costume, who wishes to know something of the structure of the earth. 
All sorts of subjects are dealt with, such as lead mining, the ‘ seraphis,’ 
the gold fields, ‘contortions’; the work of the sea; glaciers; classifi- 
cation of rocks ; evolution of the horse’s foot, etc. The book would make 
a suitable prize for a scholar. 
The Sea Shore: A book for Boys and Girls, by F. Martin Duncan 
(Grant Richards, London, x+ 255 pp., price 6s.).. In this book the author 
endeavours to popularise the study of marine zoology among young people, 
and there can be no question that the wealth of beautiful illustrations from 
his own photographs will go a long way towards this. These cover almost 
everything from the cliffs and shore, to seaweeds, worms, starfish, sea 
urchins, shells, anemones, corals, crabs, etc., etc. These are described in 
suitable letterpress, though we much prefer the photographs. There is 
a magnificent coloured plate as frontispiece. 
British Birds’ Nests, by RK. Kearton (Cassell & Co., 520 pages, 14s. net). 
In this excellent volume Messrs. Cassell have brought together the various 
parts of their serial, ‘British Birds’ Nests,’ brought ont by them 
a little while ago, and to which reference has already been made in these 
columns. As regards the descriptive matter it is characteristically 
Keartonish, but the illustrations, including’a fair number of plates by the 
three-colour process, representing birds’ nests and eggs, as well as some 
of the Rembrandt plates, are as near perfection as is possible. Several of 
the illustrations are old friends, but we can confidently recommend the 
work as'a most suitable gift to anyone, young or old, having a taste for 
natural history. 
The Lost World, by A. Conan Doyle (Hodder and Stoughton, 319 pp. 
6s. net). In this remarkable story, Sir Arthur-narrates the extraordinary 
performances of a characteristically eccentric scientist known as Professor 
Challenger. The story refers to the adventures of a little party who reached 
the top of a mysterious plateau in South America, which apparently had 
been isolated from the rest of the world since Liassic times. Upon this 
plateau Pterodacty!s and other monsters of the past were still living, 
together with a very primitive race of man-like apes or ape-like men, and 
on the same limited plateau was a colony of more modern savages. Of 
course from the scientific point of view there are many defects in the 
narrative, and some incidents, such as the Professor’s cartwheel perform- 
ance down the stairs into the street locked in the arms of a reporter, 
and in his would-be-dramatic appearance among the exploration party in 
South America at the very moment a guide was required, seem rather 
weak ; but as the book is to ‘give one hour of joy to the boy whois halfa 
man, or the man who is half a boy,’ we can only say that his object has 
been achieved. 
Naturalist, 
