Notices of New Boo 1 ™. 



7867 



made by men who consider beer the natural produce of their narratives. 

 This was the case in the celebrated Chesterfield quarries, as recorded 

 in the 1 Zoologist ' by Mr. Plant ; when that gentleman refused to 

 advance a single pint, the tales of toads absolutely ceased, although he 

 offered no less than two pounds sterling for a toad in situ. The fre- 

 quent occurrence of cavities in nodules of flint, and the figure of those 

 cavities, often suggest the idea that they have been occupied by an 

 animal ; and the heedless avidity of wondermongers has often induced 

 a droughty quarry man who has cracked a hollow nodule of flint, to 

 squeeze a toad into what he would feign have us believe its legitimate 

 domicile ; so true it is that demand creates supply. Then, again, as to 

 meteoric iron : that there is a substance so called no one will dispute, 

 and that this substance realises a price little inferior to gold is patent * 

 to every one ; but exactly according to the fluctuation in credulity 

 does the value of meteoric iron fluctuate also. Of late years the depre- 

 ciation has caused an " awful sacrifice on the article," to use the 

 language of dealers, the evidence of the extramundane nature of mete- 

 oric iron having been thoroughly examined and found very faulty. 

 Both sides of every question should be patiently heard, and any object 

 that will not bear the test of inquiry must be abandoned by the truth- 

 seeker, whether it be a sea serpent, a toad, or a thunderbolt. 



After thus generalizing on the romantic in Natural History, we turn 

 to the ' Romance ' itself, and at once pronounce it the most amusing, 

 though the least original, of all Mr. Gosse's labours. To myself it is 

 peculiarly pleasing to observe how extensively the ' Zoologist ' has 

 been quoted, and how admirably the quotations read. The value of 

 this Journal as a repertory of Natural- History facts has long been 

 known, but it is to such volumes as those lately published by Mr. 

 Atkinson and Mr. Gosse that I am indebted for showing how greatly 

 the cause of Natural History has been served by the accumulation and 

 preservation of narratives which would otherwise have been lost to the 

 historian of our Science. 



I feel considerable difficulty in selecting from an acknowledged 

 compilation passages which will be new to my readers, but those I 

 have selected, if not possessed of the engaging quality of novelty, 

 cannot fail to be found interesting. It only remains for me to say that 

 it is impossible to place in the hands of the young, the imaginative and 

 the adventurous, a work more likely to lead them on to discoveries for 

 which Science may hereafter acknowledge how greatly it is indebted 

 to them. 



