EEVIEYfi. 
75 
plienomenon referred to in tlie text is deserted in limine, and tliat the author 
thrusts it aside to tell us of his own thoughts or of some other equally 
uninteresting or unprofltahle subject. By the way, we would suggest it 
as a metaphysical problem for those curious in these matters, why it is that 
when a man makes a voyage, and writes a book describing it, he fancies 
that the dreary recital of his breakfasts and his suppers, his emotions ex- 
cited by the beautiful, and wordy sentimentality that he would under other 
circumstances ridicule, prove a fascination suf&cieut to induce one to wade 
through some hundred pages of prolonged weariness ? If anyone could solve 
this, and propose a remedy, he ought to have a statue. To Mr. Murray 
our thanks are due for nearly forty handsome plates, which delineate numerous 
interesting, though hardly novel objects. 
POPULAK OPTICS.* 
I^OT WITHSTANDING the very high opinion that we hold and that 
Tl we have frequently expressed concerning scientific investigation in 
America, we must confess that the handbooks published by our brethren at 
the other side of the Atlantic are anything but representative of the present 
state of science. W^e find that is the case in nearly every department of 
science, so much so that it might be said that the best scientific treatises 
used by the Americans are reprints of English works. Is it not then a 
question whether the absence of an international copyright law is not the 
cause of this ? American publishers find it cheaper to print good English 
books for which they pay nothing, than to add an author’s to a printer’s bill. 
These reflections are suggested by Mr. Nugent’s “Treatise on Optics,” a 
book of which we can only say, that if it represents the knowledge of the 
laws of light in America, American science must be at a very low ebb. We 
have never in the whole course of our career of criticism met with so 
imperfect a work as this it is elementary without being clear, diffuse 
without being comprehensive. It contains no reference to the more modern 
applications of optics, and its account of the physiology of vision is simply 
ridiculous. The author alleges that such a treatise as his “ has long been a 
desideratum ” for schools and colleges. This alone shows how little he 
knows of the literature of the subject. With such excellent works as Gal- 
braith and Haughton’s “Manual,” and Ganot’s Physics, Golding Bird’s, 
Arnott’s, and Lardner’s general treatises, we think our schools have been 
very much better cared for than Mr. Nugent suspects. Such books as those 
named are in every respect superior both in clearness of style, appropriateness 
of illustration, and reference to recent progress, than the work upon our table. 
Mr. Nugent’s diagrams are in many cases quite antique, and, save in the 
photographic section, are insufficient. The following paragraph, containing 
the author’s hypothesis of “adaptation,” is a sample of this work, and is 
a Treatise on Optics ; or. Light and Sight Theoretically and Prac- 
tically treated.” By E. Nugent, O.E., ex-Principal of Commercial, Nautical, 
and Engineering College, New York. London : Virtue. 
