REVIEWS. 
187 
tions, he does much to unravel the difficulties which this class presents, and 
he furnishes an admirable account of the series upon which he means to 
continue his researches. 
Hints and Facts on the Origin of Man and of his Intellectual Faculties , by 
Pius Melia, D.D. London : Longmans. — This little book — less than 100 
pages — is the offshoot of a fearful amount of ignorance and self-conceit. 
There is nothing in it worthy of a moment’s notice from the scientific man. 
It is full of typographical errors, especially in names, which shows the 
author to be ignorant of the works referred to. Thus, we hear occasionally 
of Lemarck, a naturalist. Who is he— will anyone tell us P 
Practical Physiology ; being a School Manual of Health, for the use of 
Classes and General Reading, by Edwin Lankester, M.D., F.R.S. j 5th 
edition. London : Hardwicke, 1872. — In this new edition of his work Dr. 
Lankester has somewhat modified the title, making it more physiological 
than it was before. We think the change is a wise one, for the book is 
essentially a popular manual of physiology. So far as we have seen, the 
work is a good one. Of course it only touches on functions of life in the 
most general manner possible, but then its style is peculiarly happy, and 
is calculated to lead one on from page to page from the interest it creates. 
Besides the text, there are a number of plates which are new to this edition, 
and which contain fifty capital drawings illustrative of physiological facts ; 
and there are also a number of questions upon each chapter, which appear 
to us clear and well arranged. The classification of the animal kingdom, 
with which the work concludes, contains some typographical errors which 
it is a pity were not seen before the sheets went to press. Otherwise, the 
work is a good one, and calculated to serve the ends in a view. 
A Synonomic Catalogue of the Diurnal Lepidoptera, by W. F. Kirby. 
London: Van Voorst, 1871. — We regret that owing to pressure on our space 
we were obliged to omit a notice of this work from our last number. It is 
a marvellous essay, covering nearly 700 pages of print. It is, of course, a 
special work in which few of our readers will be interested, but it is essen- 
tially a treatise which must be regarded as an authority on that branch 
of the butterfly order on which it treats. It may give the uninitiated some 
glimpse of the vastness of the subject of zoology, when they see a large 
book like the present one, filled with little more than the names of species 
of a branch of a particular order of the class of insects. The index alone 
covers more than thirty pages of small type. The names of the genus and 
species are first given, then reference is made by page, &c., to the book re- 
ferred to, and then follows the country in which it has been observed. It 
is to the entomologist a most invaluable work, and one which must have 
cost Mr. Kirby many years’ earnest labour. 
Pemarks on the Prevailing Epidemic of Small-pox : its Cure and Preven- 
tion, 8fc. London : Longmans. —This pamphlet bears no date on the title- 
page, but from the date of the preface we take it to have been written 
last year. It is an anonymous and able essay on the general sanitary con- 
dition of society and the remedies which offer themselves. It will be read 
with advantage by all who are in any way connected with public sanitary 
matters. 
