2Q6 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BOOK S TO READ r< 



NOTICES BY JOHN" T. CARRIXGTON. 



B\ Tangled Paths : Stray Leaves from Nature's 

 Byeways. By H. Mead Briggs, 203 pp. crown 8vo., 

 illustrated by a frontispiece. (London and New 

 York : Frederick Warne and Co. 1896.) Price 3s. 6d. 



After reading a few chapters of this charmingly 

 printed book, one is apt to put it down with the 



and ended as scientific biologists — men who 

 have left an impress on human civilization ; 

 but with all their later erudition, the love of 

 the beautiful in nature was never lost. These 

 are the true " naturalists," not the type created 

 by the Board School examiner and Civil Service 

 tests. These tangled paths of Mr. Briggs are 

 pleasant enough, though at times intricate, but 

 there are among his stray leaves those which 

 promise good work in future. Here is the descrip- 

 tion of a common enough place, to be seen in the 

 outer suburbs of many a city besides Canterbury, 

 but our enthusiast lights it into a spot full of 

 interest. "A bank that but a short time since 

 was all in its pride. Rich at Eastertide with the 

 delicate beauty of soft sallow bloom, noisy with 

 ceaseless hum of bees. A rare sight, no less 



{Fro 



igled Paths," by H. Mead Briggs. 

 tograph by Mr. Frederick H. Evans.) 



remark " Jefferiesque." By that we do not mean 

 Mr. Briggs to be a plagiarist, nor that he has 

 even unconsciously acquired the style of Richard 

 Jefferies by persistent reading of that author's 

 works. A true love of the country, and familiarity 

 with its denizens tend to enthusiasm in expression, 

 as a contrast to the urban and scientific writer 

 who coldly describes things as he thinks they 

 ought to appear. In the course of education 

 it is with the enthusiast we should start. Our 

 later reading of the critical writer may then be 

 safely left to a judgment protected from cynicism 

 by the love of the beautiful which has come 

 to abide with us. Gilbert "White taught many 

 a boy to love the country, long years after he 

 slept in Selborne Church-yard. Boys who began 

 as lovers of nature, progressed into naturalists 



beautiful then in its softer tone of colour than the 

 gorse opposite it to-daj-." These chapters are not 

 all word painting, for we find on most pages, stores 

 of information on the habits of our wild birds and 

 beasts. Facts, they usually are, for our author is 

 an observer, and we find him far more accurate in 

 his statements than many prose poets with greater 

 reputation. Altogether it is a book to recommend, 

 and will make a delightful present for bright boys 

 and girls as well as for some elder people. 



Ice-Work, Present and Past. Bv T. G. Bonney, 



D.Sc. LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. 305 pp. 

 8vo, illustrated by 25 drawings and maps. (London : 

 Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd. 1896.) Price 5s. 



This is one of the volumes of the admirable 

 "International Scientific Series" issued by this 



