REVIEWS. 
75 
much, and that we think he has been doing of late. We should infinitely 
prefer to see Mr. Proctor engaged in' original researches than in the 
popularising of science. Good men cannot he spared, and he is too clever a 
man for the kind of labour which the production of such hooks as these 
involve. The chapters in these two hooks — which ought really to have been 
published under one title— are very interesting reading, hut they are 
extremely unequal ; some show great cleverness of style and thought, while 
it must he confessed that there are others which we should have wished to 
see removed from the volumes. In the second book, that entitled the 
u Borderland of Science,’ 7 there is, besides astronomical papers, a few very 
interesting and sketchy papers on ghosts, flying machines, coincidences, &c. 
Further, it contains a capital portrait of the author, which has been 
excellently engraved by Mr. F. Holl, and which is an admirable likeness of 
Mr. Proctor. 
STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS OF SCIENCE.* 
L IKE all the others of this excellent series which Messrs. Longmans are 
bringing out is this one, the subject of Quantitative Chemical Analysis. 
It is clear, full, and to the point. If there is any objection to be raised, it is as to 
the illustrations, which we do not consider quite ample. But then of course 
a person who takes up a book of this kind is certain to have pursued 
chemistry already, and must have a familiarity with the subject. The 
discussion of the balance appears to us an excellent one, and it is too often 
either defective or absent from works of this kind. 
Mr. Bigg’s book is a very popular one, but its good type and the number 
of illustrations will render it useful to the very beginners at chemical 
science, a class for whom it must have been intended. 
We cannot say anything in favour of either of the next two books — that 
on Animal Physiology by Mr. T. A. Bullock, or that on Astronomy by Mr. 
F. Bullock. "We assuredly shall not recommend them to anyone. They are 
simply barbarous in style, illustration, and matter. They really appear 
as though some one who wrote books of the kind some thirty years ago fell 
asleep and suddenly awakened, and, like Bip "V an Winkle, commenced his 
work anew. 
There has been no book since Patterson’s well-known “Zoology for 
Schools” that has so completely provided for the class to which it is 
addressed as the capital little volume by Dr. Alleyne Nicholson. We 
think, however, that the modesty of the author has been really excessive, 
and we think it a pity that for u obvious reasons the reproductive system 
* “ Quantitative Chemical Analysis.” By T. E. Thorpe, Ph.D., F.B.S.E., 
Professor of Chemistry in the Andersonian University, Glasgow. London : 
Longmans, 1873. “ An Easy Introduction to Chemistry.” Edited by the 
Bev. A. Bigg, M.A. London : Bivingtons. u Students’ Class-book of 
Animal Physiology.” By T. A. Bullock, LL.D. London : Belfe. “ Stu- 
dents’ Class-book of Astronomy.” By F. Bullock, LL.D. London: Belfe. 
“ Outline of Natural History for Beginners ; being descriptions of a pro- 
gressive series of Zoological Types.” By H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D., 
D.Sc., Ph.D., Professor of Natural History in the University College, 
Toronto. London : Blackwood & Co., 1873. 
