536 Notices of Books. [October, 



book intended to overthrow received scientific opinions, it is 

 certainly, to say the least, unfair to our great scientific teachers, 

 to dedicate his work to their implicit pupils, the vast mass of 

 general readers. Palmam qui meruit ferat. First, then, why 

 does not the author of this very mediaeval work bring some of 

 the discoveries in Spectrum Analysis, promised on the title- 

 page, to bear upon his subject before he undertakes to render 

 null the labour of those intellects who have annihilated space 

 in the investigation of the planets. Bitter experience will teach 

 Mr. Rollwyn that fact is to be met only by fact. But the hardest 

 knock is left to the final chapter, where in a few lines we are 

 treated to an easy method of squaring the circle. Again, does 

 Mr. Rollwyn know that there is a form of argument commonly 

 called begging the question. It is almost incalculable the amount 

 of harm this work may do in the hands of those to whom it is 

 addressed. With the exception that it is well got up, there is 

 nothing to be said in its favour. 



Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club for 1870. 

 Hereford : The " Times " Office. 1871. 



A more pleasant series of papers it would be difficult to find. 

 Carefully edited, they are interesting, and in some instances 

 valuable, descriptions of the natural history of places at which 

 the members have met, the contributions on Fungi being well 

 worthy of notice. The illustrations are good, especially the series 

 of photographs of the remarkable trees of Herefordshire. 



The Technical History of Commerce; or, Skilled Labour Applied 

 to Production. By John Yeats, LL.D., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., 

 &c, assisted by several scientific gentlemen. London: 

 Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. 1871. 431 pp. 8vo. 



Dr. Yeats, in bringing the second of his three volumes on 

 Commerce before the public, expresses the hope that, as a sketch 

 of Technical History, it will be found useful in assisting to direct 

 the subject-matter of education more to the occupations of the 

 people. And in this particular the work decidedly supplies the 

 want of a manual clearly stating the progress of the various 

 branches of industry, and to whom and to what we owe their 

 origin. A quotation will show the neatness of style and arrange- 

 ment. When treating of food-stuffs, Dr. Yeats says : — " Not- 

 withstanding its great apparent, variety, food, in its ultimate 

 analysis, falls into four classes, viz. — proteids, fats, amyloids, 

 and minerals. The proteids are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, 

 oxygen, and nitrogen, and include such food-stuffs as the albumen 



