LITERARY NOTICES. 



277 



The Playtime Naturalist. By Dr. J. E. 

 Taylor, F. L. S., Editor of "Science- 

 Gossip." With 366 Illustrations. New 

 York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 287. 

 Price, $1.50. 



No better statement of the scope and 

 spirit of the " Playtime Naturalist " can be 

 given than by quoting its preface entire. It 

 is as follows : " The writer of this book has 

 a liking for intelligent English lads, just as 

 some people have for blue china and etch- 

 ings. He ventures to think the former are 

 even more interesting objects. And, as the 

 writer was once a boy himself, and vividly 

 remembers the never-to-be-forgotten rambles 

 and observations of the objects in the coun- 

 try ; and, moreover, as he treasures up such 

 reminiscences as the most pleasant and in- 

 nocent of an active man's life, he thought he 

 could not do better than enlist this younger 

 generation in the same loves and the same 

 pleasures. He has endeavored to do his 

 best for his human hobbies, and hopes their 

 lives may be richer and sweeter and more 

 manly for what he has introduced them to 

 in the following pages." 



The book is a story of the collecting done 

 by the boys of " Mugby School," and its 

 style may be seen in the section relating to 

 fish-scales, published in the May number of 

 this magazine. There is a delightful chapter 

 early in the volume entitled " Among the 

 Birds," and this is followed by a fascinating 

 account of moth and butterfly collecting. A 

 variety of insects of land and water, land 

 shells, frogs, newts, etc., and microscopic 

 animals and plants, receive attention in turn. 

 The descriptions are accompanied by an 

 abundance of illustrations, which aid in 

 identifying the creatures described, and add 

 much to the attractiveness of the volume. 

 No book better adapted to arouse a love of 

 nature in the young has been published in a 

 long time. 



An Elementary Text-Book op Chemistry. 

 By William G. Mixter, Professor of 

 Chemistry ' in Yale University. New 

 York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 459. 

 Price, $2.50. 



The author states as the aim of this book, 

 to enable the student to grasp the funda- 

 mental principles of the science, and at the 

 same time to learn something of the chem- 

 istry of common things. The work is adapt- 



ed to students of college age. The "peri- 

 odic classification " has been made the basis 

 of arrangement. The acidic and basic groups 

 are treated alternately in order to discuss 

 bases and salts early in the course, as well 

 as to give constant variety to the character 

 of the experiments performed. Compounds 

 of the rare elements are described, to make 

 evident the reasons for the classification, 

 and also to serve as a basis for the summa- 

 ries of the groups. Graphic and constitu- 

 tional formulas are much used. The rea- 

 sons for a number of constitutional formu- 

 las are given, and, in case of compounds 

 whose constitution is not understood, care is 

 generally taken to state that the constitu- 

 tional formulas employed are assumed from 

 analogy. Considerable matter intended for 

 reading rather than recitation is distinguished 

 by small type. The volume is introduced 

 by a short chapter on the physics of chem- 

 istry, which includes an account of crystal- 

 lography and of the laws of gases. De- 

 tailed directions for experiments, and a large 

 number of figures of apparatus, are given. 

 Much pains is taken to show the relation- 

 ship between the members of each group 

 by means of summaries. Presentations of 

 chemical principles are scattered at inter- 

 vals through the book. 



Nature and Man. Essays Scientific and 

 Philosophical. By William B. Car- 

 penter, with an Introductory Memoir by 

 J. Estlin Carpenter. New York : D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. Pp. 483. Price, $2.25. 



The fifteen essays contained in this vol- 

 ume represent chiefly the latter phases of 

 Dr. Carpenter's thoughts on the problems 

 concerned with the interpretation of nature 

 and man. He believed some of the conclu- 

 sions which they embody to be of high im- 

 portance in the guidance of life. They were 

 the result of long observation, and in some 

 cases differed widely from the ideas which 

 his early education and his first studies had 

 led him to adopt. Mr. J. Estlin Carpenter 

 undertakes in the " Memorial Sketch " to 

 indicate some of the processes which con- 

 tributed to this change, and to present briefly 

 the connection between Dr. Carpenter's va- 

 ried work and the personality from which 

 his many-sided energy flowed out. An in- 

 teresting and instructive delineation is given 

 of the various phases which Dr. Carpen- 



