164 
Analyses of Books . 
[March, 
Germany has far more chemical schools than England. The 
number of her professors and teachers is greater ; yet it is 
doubtful if she produces a tithe of our number of manuals. 
How is this ? Are such works a by-producft of the examination 
system ? 
History of Plastic Art from the most Ancient Times down to the 
Present * Third Edition, enlarged and revised. Vol. I. 
Illustrated with 277 Wood-engravings. By Wilhelm 
Lubke. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann. 
We have here the first volume of a very thorough-going and 
elaborate history of plastic art in the widest sense of the words. 
The author gives, in the first place, a brief survey of art in 
India, Egypt, the empires of the Euphrates, Asia Minor, Syria, 
and Cyprus. His main attention is of course given to classic 
art, which he traces from its origin to the overthrow of the 
Roman empire. Not merely the statues and architectural deco- 
rations are described according to their characters, but the coins, 
medals, gems, and other art-work in metals, ivory, &c., are 
treated in an appreciative manner. 
The last section of the volume is devoted to the Byzantine 
and Mediaeval art down to the twelfth century. In noticing the 
rise of so-called Christian art, the author points out very clearly 
that the asceticism of the times amounted to a formal war against 
beauty alike in art and in nature. Indeed one of the great 
merits of Herr Lubke’s work is that he treats of the successive 
phases of art not as mere isolated phenomena, but as having 
their roots in the moral and social life of the times, and as 
instindl with the spirit of their civilisation. Consequently, while 
this work may be most profitably studied by the artist, and by 
those engaged in art-manufacftures, it is also of high value for 
the historian, the philosopher, and the student of social science. 
The Ramses of Egypt, the Aphrodite of Gnidos, and the Virgin 
of Czenstochowa is each the exponent of its age and country. 
An Examination of the Double-Star Measures of the Bedford 
Catalogue. By S. W. Burnham. 
A reprint from the “ Monthly Notices of the Royal Astrono- 
mical Society” (xl., No. 8). The author criticises the measure- 
Geschichte den Plastik von den eltesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart. 
