[ 74 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Devonport, — ay, and the pride, too, with which I 

 carried my treasure in a bundle on my shoulder 

 to my native village home, sixteen miles across the 

 Cornish hills." He tells, too, of the derision of 

 his acquaintances and of the firm opposition of his 

 parents. Even then his influence made itself felt. 

 Some years afterwards he, with a few of the 

 villagers, started an evening reading club in the 

 dame's school. Their practice was for one to 

 read aloud and the rest to listen and occasionally 

 to question or criticise. It was there he met 

 with one of his earliest references to the science 

 that was later to make his name. Among the 

 books to be read out was Dick's " Christian 

 Philosopher," which contained a geological 

 section. When the chapter was reached it was 

 decided that as geology was very likely to be 

 extremely dry, and as many good men thought it 

 dangerous, if not decidedly infidel in its teachings, 

 the chapter should not be read. While still very 

 young he removed to Torquay, then little more 

 than a village, and commenced to teach school 

 in a small way. He introduced the use of chalk 

 and blackboard, then hardly known in this country. 

 The little class he then commenced, grew to one 

 of the largest and most celebrated private schools 

 in the country. It was in those early days of teach- 

 ing that he met with the chapter on geology, which 

 became the turning-point in his life. The casual 

 reading of that chapter was the first step to the 

 systematic study of the science which led to 

 Pengelly's important researches into the cave 

 deposits of Devonshire, such as Kent's Hole and 

 Brixham Cavern, One of the first things which 

 strikes one in studying the life of William Pengelly 

 is his accuracy of his observation. It seems to 

 have come to him largely with his geological 

 studies. In the earlier days of them, he met 

 Professor Jameson, of Edinburgh, who gave 

 Pengelly a hint he never afterwards neglected. 

 Jameson said: "On your return I shall ask you, 

 ' Did you write your notes on the spot, or at the 

 inn at the close of the day?' If you reply 'On 

 the spot,' I shall be glad to hear them; but if 

 not, I am afraid I shall not think them of much 

 value." The following of that plan formed the 

 habit of accuracy in all he undertook, which 

 marked his whole after life. In one of the 

 chapters before us are some amusing instances of 

 his tests of accuracy in others. He used to re- 

 mark, " I want to know what Mr. X fawn's, not 

 what he thinks." Pengelly held, also, that these 

 days are those of Instruction, and not of Educa- 

 tion, the majority of scholars " being taught to be 

 passive recipients of knowledge, rather than active 

 enquirers." We feel sure he was right ; for is not 

 that what we daily see before us, as the result of 

 the competitive examination. It is needless for us 

 to place before the readers of this magazine any 

 detailed account of Pengelly's geological work ; it 

 is far too well known. For those who desire to 

 know more about it, there is at the end of this 

 Memoir a chapter on "The Scientific Work cf 

 William Pengelly, F.R.S.," by the Rev. Professor 

 T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., &c. From that and the 

 list of his papers, which also is given in the 

 Memoir, it is easy to judge how steady was his 

 application and love for his favourite science. 

 The book before us is largely built out of extracts 

 from the private correspondence of Pengelly and 

 that of his second wife, both of whom were de- 

 lightful letter writers. Crisp, terse, and often 

 amusing, one gets from these letters glimpses of 

 the inner lives of men of science whose names are 



now household words among us. Doubtless the 

 passages quoted are by no means the most racy ; 

 and we trust others may find their way into print 

 at some later period. With regard to the book 

 itself, we need only say that it is. produced in 

 Mr. John Murray's best style as a publisher. The 

 portrait which forms the frontispiece is a work of 

 art. The plates are well printed and all interest- 

 ing, and the one we reproduce by permission not 

 the least so, though somewhat gruesome in subject. 

 The memoir of William Pengelly should be read by 

 every geologist, and be in every public library, as 

 an example of England's finest types of men, those 

 who have made her what she is among nations. 



A Critical Period in the Development of the Horse. 

 By J. C. Ewart, M.D., F.R.S. 27 pp. Svo, with 

 4 plates. (London : Adam and Charles Black, 

 1S97.) is. 



This is a very important subject to the breeders 

 of horses, especially those of the higher classes. 

 According to the Royal Commission on Horse 

 Breeding, no less than forty per cent, of mares 

 are liable to fail to produce offspring in any given 

 year. The interruption usually occurs at from 

 the sixth to the ninth week of gestation. Professor 

 Ewart has attacked the problem, and he places the 

 results of his investigations before us in this little 

 book, illustrated by four well-drawn plates and 

 seven elaborate figures of the embryonic conditions 

 during the early stages of the horse. The subject 

 appeals in the first instance to horse breeders, on 

 account of the serious losses to which they are 

 liable on account of their stock failing to produce 

 young. It also appeals to the scientific embryo- 

 logist as an important fact in the early conditions 

 of foetal life. Professor Ewart's summary of 

 causes for this breeding trouble among mares is 

 very instructive, and makes us remember how 

 sensitive an animal a horse really is. 



The Missouri Botanical Garden. Eighth Annual 

 Report. 236 pp. large Svo, illustrated by 74 

 plates. (St. Louis, Mo. : at the Gardens, 1S97.) 



The Report of the Board of Trustees of the 

 Missouri State Botanical Garden for this year is 

 especially interesting to British botanists because 

 of the admirable paper on "The Mosses of the 

 Azores," by J. Cordot, which extends to twenty- 

 five pages and is illustrated by eleven plates. This 

 is followed by a paper on the general botany of 

 those islands, by Professor William Trelease, illus- 

 trated by fifty-four plates. The Azores are a 

 perfect paradise for botanists, on account of their 

 delightful climate, where frost is unknown at the 

 sea-level, though the higher mountains sometimes 

 show that snow showers have fallen. 



The Story of Germ Life. By H. W. Conn. 212 

 pp. small Svo, with 34 illustrations. (London : 

 George Newnes, Limited, 1S97.) is. 



This is another of the "Library of Useful 

 Stories," published by Messrs. Newnes. It deals 

 with bacteria, those important though lowly 

 vegetable organisms which work so much of our 

 "w-eel and our woe." The half-dozen chapters 

 into which the work is divided give a concise 

 history of bacteria, their uses in the arts, in the 

 dairy, in natural processes, their relation to disease, 

 and the modern methods of combating them 

 when troublesome to mankind. This book is by 

 no means the least interesting of the series of 

 stories to which it belongs, and will do much to 

 usefully educate many unthinking people, who will 

 read it because small and cheap. 



