I go 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON. 



Round the Year : A Serks of Short Nature-Studies. 

 By Professor L. C. Miall, F.R.S. 295 pp. 8vo, 

 and 72 illustrations. (London and New York : 

 Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1896.) Price 5s. 



The satisfaction of taking up any work by 

 Professor Miall lies in the feeling that whatever 

 therein may be contained will be not only popu- 

 larh' written, but also %vith accuracy. So much 

 book-maJiing nowadays exists that it is really 

 difficult for the uninitiated to select the grain from 

 the chaff, among the " embarrassment of riches" 

 displayed on the counter in a good book-shop, for 

 readers with a taste for science. Still there is 

 safety in names of authors, and among them we 

 may count the writer of "Round the Year." In 

 this book we find the most commonplace subjects 

 treated as an entertaining story. These subjects 



C'L.KV;S OF NlGHTJ.^R .\XD HeRON. 



(From Professor Miall's ''Round tin Year") 



are selected with a seasonableness which is 

 attractive, and show how easy it is to find food for 

 speculative thought, even in the cold and desola- 

 tion of wet or snowy wintry days. Take, for 

 instance, the thoughts expressed in the chapter on 

 " Animals with and without combs," from which 

 we reproduce a couple of illustrations, one being 

 the claw of a nightjar, magnified, and the other a 

 claw of a heron, also magnified. Professor Miall 

 says, "I sit by the fire and lazily watch Theta 

 cleaning and smoothing her fur. She not only 

 washes, but combs her fur with her tongue. We 

 have all allowed some pet cat to lick our hands, 

 and know very well that she has a rough tongue. 

 Cuvier tells us that the lion's tongue is so rough 

 that it can be used to rasp the flesh from bones, 

 and it has been said that the cat's tongue is 

 used in the same way. In the case of the lion, 

 the horny, recurved claw-like papillae are nearly 

 a quarter of an inch long, but I doubt whether the 

 cat's tongue is an efficient rasp. What, then, is 

 the use of the horny papillae which the cat too 

 possesses ? I think they are chiefly serviceable as 

 a comb, and that it is because the cat bears fur and 

 not because she devours flesh that she has a 



prickly tongue. Are then all fur-bearing animals 

 provided with a prickly tongue ? By no means." 

 He proceeds to discuss many animals and their 

 various methods of trimming their fur or feathers. 

 There are about forty subjects treated, generally 

 from simple incidents that form texts upon 

 which much valuable information is based, as in 

 the case of Theta and her rough tongue. Some of 

 these titles include " White of Selborne," " Snow- 

 flakes," "Buried in the Snow," "Which are the 

 Wettest Months?" "Catkins," "The Botany of a 

 Railway Station," " Duckv.eed," " Tennyson as a 

 Naturalist," all of which may be read with 

 pleasure and instruction. In this work there is 

 not a dry page, but if one finds less interest in 

 some of the subjects than others, there is ample 

 variety to select from. 



Elementary Geology. By G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., 

 F.G.S., 180 pp. Svo, illustrated by 132 figures. 

 (London and Glasgow : William Collins, Sons and 

 Co., Limited.) Price is. 6d. 



This handy little book forms one of Collins' 

 Elementary Science Series, and is founded on " The 

 First Book of Geology," by the late Dr. W. S. 

 Davies. Professor Boulger has re-written and 

 re^dsed that work, and brought his subjects up to 

 present knowledge. His mode of treating the 

 various items is concise, and after the manner of 

 the modern text-book, which seems to be all that 

 is desired by the class of gentlemen to whom the 

 author dedicates his work. This system of cram- 

 ming with just enough knowledge of various 

 subjects seems to be a necessity of these times of 

 competitive examinations, but we seriously doubt if 

 it is one which v;ill find favour with generations to 

 to come. The only hope is that the youth of the 

 present time, if not well-nigh nauseated during the 

 process of cramming, may learn sufficient to create 

 a taste for more deliberate study. These remarks 

 are not by any means directed against the book 

 before us, for it is one of the best of its class, and 

 we congratulate Professor Boulger on so far 

 succeeding in the uncongenial task of whittling 

 down the information to such narrow limits, and 

 yet lucidly stating in a few words what should 

 require whole volumes. At the end of the book are 

 printed the questions given in the years 1889-1896, 

 in the Science and Art Department first stage or 

 elementary examinations. These should be useful 

 to many students as examples of what they may 

 expect when their turn comes around. 



The Theory of Perspective. By C. H. Swinstead. 

 (London : Simpkin, Marshall and Co.) Price 2s. 



This is a technical work especially prepared for 

 candidates of the Science and Art Departments. 

 The problems are carefully prepared and explained. 



In the Green Leaf and the Sere. By " A Son of the 

 Marshes." 288 pp. large Svo. Edited by J. A. 

 Owen. With illustrations by G. C. Haite and 

 D. C. NiCHOLL. (London : Kegan Paul, Trench, 

 Triibner, and Co., Limited, 1896.) Price 7s. 6d. 



Another book on country lore is before us. We 

 welcome it with all its faults ; for do not these 

 books turn men's minds from the sordid city to the 

 beauties of rural life ? Handsomely produced by 

 the publishers, it is a tempting treasure for the 

 naturalist and country lover "who has not yet 

 reached the ascetic stage of speciahsm. To him, 

 and her also, will this book appeal, with its 

 word pictures of common objects. Not always 

 is the style of these pictures v.hat one would write 

 down as elegant, nor, indeed, expressive. For 



