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Analyses of Books . 
[June, 
To the following passage in the opening Ledture some ex- 
ception may perhaps be taken. The author says : — “ There have 
been from the earliest times two classes of speculation on this 
subjedt, — two distindt poles or forms of thought. In the one 
case we have a race of people distindtly imagining to themselves 
a personal Creator of themselves and of the universe ; a tone of 
thought leading to an elevation of man above surrounding 
things, and to a contempt for Nature. In the other case we 
have a belief in blind formative forces animating matter, in- 
volving with it a contempt for man as a miserable unit, as the 
sport of circumstances, and a corresponding high view of the 
dignity of Nature.” We must confess ourselves unable to see 
why the conception of a personal Creator should lead to a 
“ contempt for Nature,” which is His work. Nay, the entire 
antithesis between Man and Nature seems to us not less vicious 
than the old contrast between the earth and the heavenly bodies, 
— which now survives merely as a rhetorical flourish. 
In conclusion we most warmly recommend these Ledtures to 
our readers, and we salute the author as one who, like ourselves, 
recognises in Evolution God’s method of creation. 
The Art of Bookbinding. By Joseph W. Z^ehnsdorf. London: 
George Bell and Sons. 1880. 
The review of a work giving an account of the processes carried 
on in a mechanical trade may seem out of place in a journal 
devoted to a record of scientific progress ; but books are a neces- 
sity to everyone, whatever may be the nature of his pursuits : 
therefore a practical treatise on a subjedt so important as the 
preservation of books must be welcome to a very large number 
of readers. 
In the Introduction the author gives an account of the early 
modes used for preserving and keeping documents together, 
noticing the fastening of inscribed metal plates with rings, the 
joining of strips of vellum into a continuous roll, as in the sacred 
writings of the Jews, a practice continued in the synagogues at 
the present time. Also the most ancient form of book composed 
of separate leaves, — the sacred books of Ceylon, written upon 
palm leaves, and tied together with a silken cord passed through 
one end. The history is continued by describing the various 
ways in which vellum and paper manuscripts were placed in 
libraries : the bindings of some of these, as time progressed; 
were real works of art. 
After the invention of printing books were always bound i n 
volumes, as we are at present accustomed to see them, and in 
