308 Notices respecting New Books. 



in a systematic manner, we make the following quotation from 

 Mr. Malet's preface : — 



" A book full of this tentative science might be written, but 

 enough has been said to show the confusion of present schooling. 

 The one word missing is Light ; its results on gases or on their 

 products is therefore wanting. The persistent or fickle forces of 

 wind and water flow from the action of light ; they Jeave the produc- 

 tions of ocean and of dry land along our shores. All the plateaus 

 of our present continents are built from these products by these 

 actions, resulting in more land by a longer light in the northern 

 hemisphere. In these buildings gases and combustibles with their 

 heating chemical causes are buried ; from these burials we get 

 volcanic eruptions ; and from the sapping of these burials at varied 

 depths by fire and water we get our earthquakes. The similarity 

 of volcanic action is due to the burials being chiefly of similar 

 materials, but the late earth actions in New Zealand tell of different 

 constituents. In whichever way we look at these actions and 

 materials, there is no difficulty in tracing all to Light, acting on 

 matter sensitive to it : that matter absorbed sunlight to maintain 

 its own light of life ; caskets of earth material retained that light 

 and give it back as fire from those materials. The whole process 

 tells of a God of Light, of a creation by the Light of Life. By 

 this light we get our expansion of gases as evaporation ; on this 

 follows the condensation and fall of the liquid gases as they meet 

 the colder air ; then follows the rarefaction of our air by cold 

 pressure, getting rid of all earthy particles till the upper air meets 

 the impalpable cold ether of space without friction. From these 

 pressed-out earthy particles Laplace thought our meteors came, a 

 much more likely theory than from comets, as Professor Newton 

 taught the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 

 August last." 



Having thus presented some of the writer's facts and views in 

 his own words, we confidently leave this book to the judgment of 

 the reader. 



Companion to the Weekly Problem-papers. By the Eev. J. J. Milne, 

 M.A. Macmillan. 1888. 



The titlepage further sets forth that this work is "intended for the 

 use of students preparing for Mathematical Scholarships, and for 

 the junior members of the Universities who are reading for Mathe- 

 matical Honours." Even now it is possible for a reader of the title 

 to be totally unaware of the contents of the useful book before us. 

 We first glance at the headings. The theory of Maximum and 

 Minimum is handled by the Editor under the heads of Algebraical 

 and Geometrical, and many valuable results are arrived at in the 

 course of the 43 pages given to it. The same gentleman also dis- 

 cusses the theory of Envelopes under the same two heads, with 

 illustrations, and there is a Note appended by Mr. E. E. Davis. 

 This last writer follows with a JNote on " 'Centroid' applied to 

 Geometry;" and Prof. Genese adds one on "Force applied to 



