86 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the occupation is so amusing and instructive ? The volume now under 
notice is in great measure a report of a lecture delivered at the Royal 
Institution on the 17th of April last, and, like the original, is couched in 
the language and is full to overflowing with the sotto voce comments, which 
produced such bursts of laughter in Albemarle Street. No one who 
has read this little volume can be dissatisfied with the information it con- 
tains. It is calculated to make many converts, and in a practical and 
utilitarian point of view will doubtless effect good service. It is a book 
above all others to be worshipped by the disciples of Izaak Walton. 
With this admission, we proceed to investigate its character as a scientific 
work, and we regret to have to take the author to task on one or two 
points where he has stepped beyond his own province. He points out to 
his readers that in the young fish the lower jaw is but feebly developed, 
because it is not required for some time ; the little creature being nourished 
by the supply of yolk in the umbilical bag. He is not, however, content 
with this explanation, but proceeds to draw a most blundering conclusion 
respecting the development of the human jaw. He says, u In the human 
baby the first portion of the body developed is the lower jaw , because the 
most material want of the baby is to obtain the mother’s milk by suction. 
Now, if the lower jaw were not solid and firm, in vain would it try to 
suck.” What, in the name of all laws of development does Mr. Bucldand 
mean ? Can he be ignorant of the beautiful researches of Reichert and 
others, showing that the jaw is formed at a much later period than other 
structures, and that it results from a modification of one of the visceral 
arches? No : far be it from us to suppose so. He means that it is one of 
the first cartilages in which lime-matter is deposited. But what has that 
to do with suction ? Surely the suctorial muscles are not so much con- 
nected with the lower jaw as he implies ; and, furthermore, the cartilages 
would, even in their un-calcareous form, sufficiently resist the muscular 
contractions. We think also that the author’s teratology is slightly at 
fault. When, however, Mr. Buckland confines himself to fish-hatching 
his statements are most valuable. The appendix, containing descriptions 
of the experiments conducted, to determine how long ova preserve their 
vitality when buried in ice, and the report by M. Coumes on the fisheries 
of France, deserve perusal. A list is given of the works already pub- 
lished on the subject, thus rendering this volume a useful handbook to all 
those who are not disposed to accept Dr. Johnson’s definition of an angler. 
ZOOLOGY FOR SCHOOLS* 
W E say it advisedly, few men have done more to encourage the 
study of Zoology than Mr. Robert Patterson of Belfast. A dis- 
tinguished naturalist himself, and one of whom Ireland may well feel 
proud, he was the first who really gave an impetus to the study of Natural 
* “ Introduction to Zoology for the Use of Schools.” By Robert 
Patterson, F.It.S. Belfast : Sims & M’lntyre. New edition. 1863. 
“ First Steps to Zoology.” By the same author. Third edition. 186L 
