BOOK REVIEWS. 



75 



thereof, from a standpoint so high in air as to admit of taking in at a 

 glance entire provinces." We cannot say that he has succeeded in his 

 effort, for he does not appear to have worked on any definite plan. Many 

 of his pages contain innumerable short sentences and disjointed expres- 

 sions in note form, making the reading very monotonous and even painful. 

 The opening chapter on the British Isles covers thirteen pages, and deals 

 entirely with physical features, no mention being made of our large towns 

 and industrial centres. In some other chapters the method is reversed, 

 for we find descriptions of towns but much less physical geography. 

 India is treated in this way, and this forms one of the most interesting 

 chapters, but the great range of the Himalayas is practically ignored. 

 The description of the United States of America covers forty-two pages, 

 and contains much useful information, but the vast Dominion of Canada 

 is dismissed in six pages. The admirable set of maps would have better 

 served their purpose had they been accompanied by some explanation in 

 the text. 



The feeling of disappointment with which one closes the first volume 

 is speedily dissipated on opening the second, and one soon finds that here 

 the author has succeeded in producing a book which should prove of the 

 greatest use to both teachers and students. 



"Ruskin Nature Reader." Senior Book. Small 8vo., 236 pp., 20 

 illustrations. (Dent, London, 1908.) Is. Gd. net. 



This is described as " a collection of literary extracts to accompany a 

 course of Nature Study ; selected and edited by G. R. Bennett, B.Sc. 

 (London)." Of the many so-called Nature Readers which have been pro- 

 duced in the last few years this is one of the most readable. An effort has 

 been made to show " how Nature has appealed to men, and how men have 

 expressed the influence which the observation of Nature has had upon 

 their thoughts and their actions." How successfully this effort has been 

 achieved is evident from even a cursory glance through the selected 

 passages. We say a cursory glance, but we doubt whether any sensible 

 scholar opening these pages will be satisfied till he has perused them all, 

 and at the close he cannot but feel that he has been abroad with Dame 

 Nature indeed. 



The Editor has drawn largely on the friend of our youth, Gilbert 

 White's " N.itural History of Selborne," and has given us six charming 

 extracts dealing with bird-life. The language is, of course, somewhat 

 quaint, having an old-world ring about it, a certain charm of its own ; but we 

 would suggest that it might be worth while to conform to modern usages 

 and modify such expressions as "an hundred pieces" (p. 13), "an 

 hawk appears" (p. 36), "an hot stifled inn-yard (p. 41), &c. We also 

 note a slight typographical error on p. 35. Gilbert White certainly did 

 not write " the motion of the mandibles are too quick for the eye." The 

 choice of selections has been admirable, and we can heartily join with the 

 Editor in his wish that, having been given a glimpse of the emotions and 

 expressions of such men as John Ruskin, Professor Tyndall, Richard 

 Jeffries, Louis Stevenson and Sir Martin Conway, boys and girls may 

 be helped " to observe for themselves the things around them, and also to 

 read and enjoy the beautiful thoughts of others concerning them." The 



