IAterary Notices. 459 



and the prodigious quantity of compound words that make up the 

 nomenclature of natural history, render it physically impossible that 

 the whole of them could be comprised within the limits of a volume 

 which many students could afford to buy, and therefore dictionaries 

 compiled upon the principle of selection are to be commended. Dr. 

 M'Mcholl has given as many words as can be printed in 584 fair- 

 sized pages, in moderately small type. His collection is therefore 

 very large, and his derivations will afford the clue to a great many 

 analogous words not included in his list. We should be sorry to 

 make an ungracious remark when an author has produced a really 

 useful work at an immense cost of labour ; but we should have 

 thought it better for Dr. M'Mcholl to have omitted the botany 

 altogether, as it has been already well done by Prof. Henslow, in 

 his well-known Dictionary of Botanical Terms, and to have devoted 

 all his space to zoology, which he could thus have rendered more 

 complete. We are, however, bound to say that the work is a 

 very valuable aid to the natural history student, who is continually 

 perplexed by difficulties which it would instantly remove. 



The Wars of Wapsburg, by the author of the " Heir of Red- 

 cliffe," etc., etc. Groombridge and Sons. — The great popularity of the 

 " Heir of Redcliffe" will ensure a welcome for this very pretty volume, 

 in which the manners and customs of wasps are pleasantly described 

 under the guise of a romantic story, of which the Princess Yespa is 

 the heroine. The illustrations are numerous and elegant, and the 

 binding is an admirable specimen of the way in which the rich, soft 

 appearance of morocco can be imitated in cloth. 



The Desk-Book of English Synonymes, by John Sherer. — 

 Groombridge and Sons. In this work, which the author avows to be 

 based upon the labours of Crabbe, Richardson, and Webster, a very 

 ingenious plan is followed, by which an unusual quantity of informa- 

 tion is compressed in a very small space. Every word contained in 

 the book as a " synonym" is placed in an alphabetical index 

 referring to the page in which it will be found. By this means a 

 great deal of repetition is avoided, and a very large body of 

 synonyms, with the author's explanations, are given in a quarter of 

 the space that must be devoted to them on the ordinary plan. The 

 way to use the work is to refer to the index for the word required, 

 and then by casting the eye down the page indicated, it will be 

 found either as the initial word of a paragraph, or as one of its so- 

 called synonyms. This process does not take so long as turning 

 over the pages of a more bulky book, and will augment the utility 

 of Mr. Sherer's labours. It is of great importance to correct 

 writing and speaking, that the various shades of meaning embodied 

 in what are popularly, but often incorrectly, termed synonymous 

 words, should be accurately appreciated, and dictionaries like the 

 "Desk-Book" will materially assist in diffusing the requisite 

 information. We should have recommended a little more attention 

 to primitive and derivative meanings ; but the book bears evidence 

 of much thought and reading, and the authorities followed by 

 Mr. Sherer are in good repute. 



