NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 199 



educational value of the science is not, by the means adopted, 

 lost. The facts which have provoked us to this expression 

 of opinion appear to have weighed with the author in the 

 limitation of his new chapter, but this is so sketchy and 

 insufficient, and in part so erroneous, that it might well have 

 been left over until recast and extended. The " biological " 

 discipline, as understood south of the Tweed, appears to us 

 unquestionably the right one for the medical student, so over- 

 crammed and under-educated. So long, however, as this 

 remains insufficiently recognized on the northern side of the 

 border, it is better that the student should obtain a knowledge 

 of facts concerning things that are and have been, such as he 

 will find treated in a sound and uniform manner in the book 

 before us, than that he should be led astray by profitless specu- 

 lation concerning possibilities which may (or may not) have 

 occurred, in the fashion of certain other " text-books " which 

 might perchance fall in his way. The system upon which we 

 have commented is bad ; the book, written up to it, although in 

 many respects antiquated and by no means free from error, is 

 withal sound and well-balanced, so far as it goes. 



The Partridge. Natural History by the Eev. H. A. Macpherson; 

 Shooting by A. J. Stuart Wortley ; Cookery by George 

 Saintsbury. 8vo, pp. 276, with Illustrations. London : 

 Longmans, Green & Co. 1893. 

 This is the first volume of a new series treating of the furred 

 and feathered game of Great Britain, and edited by Mr. A. E. 

 Watson. The title above quoted shows the divisions of the 

 subject, the novel feature being the section on Cookery; and 

 after all, when we consider the enormous quantity of game 

 which is killed annually throughout the United Kingdom, it is 

 as well to have some authoritative advice as to the best means 

 of utilising it. Under the guidance, then, of the above-named 

 writers, we are made pretty well acquainted with almost all 

 there is to be learnt concerning this most popular of game-birds. 

 Finding him at early dawn in his proper haunts, we follow him, 

 with Mr. Macpherson, throughout the day, watch where he rests 

 and feeds, ascertain the nature of his food, listen to his well- 

 known call, see the covey pairing off for the breeding season, 

 find the nest and note the materials of which it is composed, 



