SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
I 
next page soars into high arithmetic, and, it having been previously stated that 
the earth is ninety-two millons of miles from the sun, we are told that the nearest 
fixed star is “calculated to be 500,000 times the distance of the earth from the 
sun.” It is generally held that the nearest fixed star is about twenty millons of 
millions of miles from our sun, but this would be only about 220,000 times the 
distance of the earth from the sun. Finally we are told that the Polar Star is 
“ seen directly overhead at midnight,” which of course it never is. 
There is one sentence in this brief preface with which we cordially agree — 
namely, that “ a little learning is a dangerous thing.” Nevertheless, we do not 
think a good deal of ignorance is in anywise safer. 
W. W. H. 
By Vocal Woods and Wafers: Studies from Nature by Edward Step (Bliss, 
Sands and Foster, 5s, 8vo, pp. 254). This volume is made up of papers which 
have appeared in various popular magazines, and we are inclined to think that 
such collections are in danger of being overdone. The tendency nowadays is 
that literary work shall “ contrive a double debt to pay,” and the author, having 
obtained remuneration for his wares in one form, proceeds to render them lucra- 
tive in another. Perhaps the writers of verse are the most hardened offenders in 
this respect ; one feels that their muse is unduly stimulated by the anxiety to 
produce sufficient for a volume. But essayists are almost as bad, and many of 
them act in this way with far less excuse than Mr. Step, who has brought together 
a sufficiently pleasant “ sheaf of gathered leaves,” and whose volume is rendered 
attractive by the presence of numerous good illustrations. But while many of 
these are instinct with the feeling of “ out-of-doors,” others — that on “ vegetable 
monsters,” for example — are of the kind which can be produced ad injinifiim by 
any one who has access to an ordinary reference library, and these are certainly 
not worth reprinting. “Radicle leaves” (p. 70) should be “radical”; “Dr. 
Beyne” (p. 179) should be “ Breyne ” ; and “ Dr. Seeman ” (p. 185) spelt his 
name “ Seemann.” 
Canon Bell, whose Poems Nei.v and Old we noticed some time since, sends us 
another volume — Diana’s Looking Glass and other Poems (Edward Arnold). 
The fertility of these poets is astonishing, but one is tempted to think that if 
more of them emulated the reticence of Mr. Robert Bridges, they would be 
more likely to achieve lasting results. “Sweet and wholesome” was the judg- 
ment passed by a reviewer on Canon Bell’s previous volume, and the same 
phrase aptly applies to this. There are some pleasant lines “ To the Thrush,” 
and many little touches throughout the book reveal the lover of Nature. “Con- 
fession ” is a poem after — a long way after — D. G. Rossetti’s “ Last Confes- 
sion ” ; and other poems suggest that the author has read a great deal of verse, 
and has been influenced by it more than he knows. 
The Animal World volume for 1894 (Partridge, 2S. fid.) bright in blue and 
gold, is full of excellent pictures and delightful reading, and no doubt formed a 
charming Christmas-box for many young folk. Prose and verse are judiciously 
mingled — we note, by the way, that Mr. Norman Gale’s verses given on page 
123 have no author’s name appended — and matters connected with the work of 
the R.S.P.C.A. find due place. We cannot help expressing our strong disap- 
proval of such stories as “Rescued,” written by a lady. The description of 
barbarities of this kind is productive of no good, even if the statements be 
accurate, which we do not believe to be the case. The R.S. P.C. A. has done and 
is doing excellent work, and the Animal World is an excellent publication ; but 
the cause which they advocate will be hindered rather than helped by advocacy 
of this kind. 
The December number of A Beautiful World (Bale and Sons, fid.) contains a 
full report of the proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Checking 
the Abuses of Public Advertising, with an appeal to members and other useful 
information. 
Mr. E. Sandford’s Manual of Exotic Ferns and Selaginellas (Elliot Stock, 
3s. fid.) is a more distinctly technical work than those which are usually recom- 
mended in these columns, containing as it does the scientific descriptions of over 
a thousand species and varieties, arranged alphabetically under the genera 
