Literary Notices. 379 



culated to aid both beginners and more advanced students ; but we 

 should recommend the former not to trouble themselves with the 

 nebulas, or with stars of smaller size or greater approximation than 

 about three seconds, until they have acquired considerable practice 

 with easy objects. 



Lecture on the Education of Girls, considered in connection 

 with the University Local Examination, by W. B. Hodgson, LL.D., 

 E.C.P. (Emily Faithfull.) — This is an admirable paper, which we 

 cannot too strongly commend. Those who wish to promote that 

 most desirable object of encouraging a sound education for the 

 usually neglected half of human kind, will not easily discover a 

 better mode of action than by purchasing a few copies of Dr. 

 Hodgson's lecture to lend amongst their friends. It is not a flatter- 

 ing illustration of what we are pleased to call our stage of " civili- 

 zation," that a man of Dr. Hodgson's attainments should be 

 obliged to labour in defence of what ought to be a self-evident 

 truism — namely, that girls as well as boys are entitled to a training 

 calculated to develope all their faculties. We know, however, that 

 this task is really necessary, and it will require a strong effort on 

 the part of sound thinkers and vigorous writers to popularize 

 rational ideas on the subject, and make them prevail. 



British and Garden Botany ; comprising Descriptions of the 

 Flowering Plants, Eerns, and Trees indigenous to Great Britain, 

 with notices of all the Plants commonly cultivated in this country 

 for Use and Ornament, preceded by an Introduction to Structural 

 and Physiological Botany, by Leo H. Grindon, Lecturer on Botany 

 "at the Royal School of Medicine, Manchester, Author of the " Man- 

 chester Elora," " Life, its Nature, Varieties, Phenomena," etc., etc. 

 (Routledge.) — This is a very handsomely got up octavo volume of 

 869 pages, illustrated with a considerable number of well-executed 

 woodcuts. It must be admitted that Mr. Grindon has produced a 

 book that ought to be popular, as it is sure to be useful. We think 

 he has attempted too much, but he has performed a great deal very 

 well, and in an interesting manner. He has a clear perception of 

 the difficulties students feel in commencing the study of botany, and 

 endeavours to meet them by a simple, intelligible mode of treating 

 his subject. With a very moderate amount of pains any one may learn 

 from his pages to recognize the characters of the principal families 

 into which plants are divided, and also to distinguish many genera 

 and species ; but we doubt whether the mere mention of hundreds 

 of names and localities will prove of much use. We are glad to 

 observe that the book is bound with considerable elegance and good 

 taste. 



The Astronomical Register. (Adams and Francis.) — Successive 

 numbers of this monthly periodical show that its editors are sup- 

 plying a want felt by the cultivators of observational astronomy, 

 and at the same time furnishing a useful channel of intercommu- 

 nication. We are glad to see that it is supported by many of our 

 ablest observers. 



