744 Analyses of Books. [December, 
We should recommend those who have the inclination and the 
aptitude — including, of course, a quick eye and a good memory 
for forms — for physiognomic observation to apply and test the 
author’s rules in studying the features of their acquaintances,. 
The Science of Home Life : a Text-Book of Domestic Economy . 
By W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. First Year’s Course. 
London, Edinburgh, and New York: T. Nelson and Sons. 
We have here the substance of lessons which have been given 
in the girls’ schools belonging to the Birmingham School Board. 
The experiment of such teaching in elementary schools is, we 
believe, somewhat novel, and may possibly in certain quarters 
be looked upon with suspicion. We see no reason for any such 
feeling. There is nothing here but the plainest exposition of 
facfts which every girl, and boy too, of whatever rank in life, decidedly 
ought to know. Unfortunately a large part even of our adult 
population are ignorant of much which is here set forth, and has 
to suffer in consequence both in the pocket and in health. 
The treatise before us in some respedls will remind the reader 
of Johnston’s “ Chemistry of Daily Life,” and of Lewes’s “ Physi- 
ology of Common Life.” But the information given is neces- 
sarily much more concise and simple in its form than that which 
is afforded by the favourite works above mentioned. 
To a few passages exception may, perhaps, be taken. Thus, 
it is scarcely proved that diamond would result from the fusion 
of carbon. Nor has it ever been demonstrated that the propor- 
tion of carbonic acid contained in the air is absolutely constant 
and does not increase. This point, indeed, can scarcely be 
decided for some centuries to come. 
In the paragraph on ventilation (p. 37) it would have been 
useful to add that air which has been breathed contains other 
matters besides an increased amount of watery vapour and car- 
bonic acid. On p. 64 we read : “ As the finely-divided fat passes 
down the small intestines it is squeezed through their sides into 
certain small tubes, which carry it to the blood vessels.” 
“ Squeezed ” is here by no means a happy expression for the 
process which takes place. We find the same word used on 
p. 76. 
Exception may, perhaps, be taken to the statement that milk 
is a natural beverage. It seems scarcely natural for a non- 
ruminant animal like man to drink a secretion elaborated for the 
nurture of calves. The remarks on the adulteration of milk 
contain an unfortunate omission. It is stated, justly, that milk 
is heavier than water, but the author has overlooked the equally 
