364 Scientific Intelligence. 



nomical apothecary of Dessau, whose "imperturbable telescope" 

 drew from the sun the data for the sun spot theory. w. b. 



4. Milton's Astronomy. The Astronomy of Paradise Lost y 

 by Thomas N. Orchard, F.R.S. Pp. viii, 288; 13 illustrations. 

 London and New York (Longmans, Green & Co.). — The number 

 of those who love intelligently both the science of astronomy and 

 the poetry of Milton is not very large but to them this volume 

 will be a source of both pleasure and information, and outside this 

 select number it will do good in reviving an interest in the most 

 sublime conception of the human imagination couched in the 

 noblest forms of human expression. 



Not the least remarkable aspect of Newton's genius was his 

 scientific knowledge and not the least noticeable feature of it was 

 his interest in astronomy. 



Born in the year of the discovery of the principle of the tele- 

 scope, he lived in the transition period when the conflict between 

 the Ptolemaic and Copernican theories was at its bitterest stage 

 and was fully conversant of its merits. His vast erudition sup- 

 plied him with all the lore of the older theory, which he fre- 

 quently used for poetic effect, and perhaps accepted at the time 

 of writing his early poems. 



But at the age of 30, during his tour of France and Italy, he 

 spent four months in Florence and visited, we do not know how 

 often, the aged Galileo, then blind and the object of the hatred 

 and malice of the orthodox in science and of the hierarchy of the 

 church. Milton's acute and liberal mind did not fail to grasp the 

 import of what he saw with his own eyes through the " Tuscan 

 artist's optic glass," and doubtless this is the cause of the pro- 

 found impression that astronomy made upon his imagination. No 

 topic of thought could be more congenial to that noble and exalted 

 mind than the subject matter of this noblest and loftiest of sci- 

 ences; and when 25 years later, himself blind and weary with 

 battles for freedom of thought in England, he withdrew from the 

 world and turned the eyes of his spirit upon the glories of Para- 

 dise, he enriched his portrayal with a glittering wealth of astro- 

 nomical figures and allusions such as is to be found in no other of 

 the masterpieces of literature. w. b. 



5. Trigonometry (Plane and Spherical, with numerous Tables); 

 by A. M. Kentox, Purdue University, and Louis Ingold, Uni- 

 versity of Missouri. Edited by E. R. Hedrick. Pp.134. New 

 York, 1913 (The Macmillan Co.). — The use of graphic methods 

 in trigonometry is the only new feature which we find in any of 

 the multitude of text-books in this subject which issue from the 

 press perennially, furnishing perhaps a justification for publication 

 in the books where it is used. Of the graphic method in trigo- 

 nometry, however, it may be said : first, that the number of text- 

 books presenting it is already so considerable that this excuse 

 will soon be no longer valid, and, second, that these methods to 

 be used comfortably are best studied first in connection with 

 algebra. 



They will be a much greater help in trigonometry if they have 



