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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Rhymes of Science : Wise and Otherwise. New York: Indus- 
trial Publication Company. 
We have here a collection of poems referring to Science chiefly 
from a sarcastic point of view. There is “ Sir Thomas the 
Good,” extracted from the “ Ingoldsby Legends there is the 
well-known “ Society upon the Stanislow,” and various other 
effusions of a kindred stamp. There is not, however, Peter 
Pindar’s account of the inseCt-hunting adventures of Sir Joseph 
Banks, which we should strongly recommend to the compilers 
if they feel disposed to produce a companion-volume. The weak 
side of such verses is that their point, and even their very intel- 
ligibility, depend on allusions which are soon forgotten. Thus 
we can understand that the “ De Sauty ” of Dr. O. W. Holmes 
treats of the first laying of the Atlantic telegraph-cable. But 
what “ Cyano-Rhinal ” or “ Ceruleo-Nasal ” can mean is a mys- 
tery. We should take them to be “ pet names ” for that most 
disreputable of Primates known as Cynocephalus mormon. 
Again, we have the translation of a song given at the concluding 
dinner of the convention of German physicians and naturalists, 
headed “ Science on a Bender.” The allusion here escapes us. 
“Jim Green ” is a rhyme of finance rather than of science. 
Notes on Building Construction, arranged to meet the Require- 
ments of the Syllabus of the Science and Art Department of 
the Committtee of Council on Education, South Kensington. 
Part III. Materials. — Advanced Course and Course for 
Honours. London, Oxford, and Cambridge : Rivingtons. 
We have here a wonderful collection of information, — geolo- 
gical, chemical, physical, and even to some extent botanical and 
zoological, — together with much lore not falling within the 
boundary-lines of any of the sciences, the whole having a bond 
of unity in the faCt of its being necessary for builders and archi- 
tects. The author, whoever he may be, and the publishers must 
be congratulated, at least as far as we are able to judge, on the 
general accuracy of the work. The only questionable statement 
we have found is in the chapter on Pigments, where Persian red 
is stated to be a “ chromate of lead, produced by boiling white 
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