1876 .] Notices of Books, 397 
claims to a wide circulation as the present, a classification of the 
animal kingdom in which the Cuvierian order of “ Bimana ” is 
still recognised, whilst the following order, “ Quadrumana,” is 
made to embrace forms differing from each other structurally 
much more widely than do some of them from man. Were 
these passages modified in accordance with the teachings of 
philosophic zoology, and were certain doubtful passages in the 
Introduction withdrawn, we should think ourselves justified in 
speaking of this book in terms of almost unqualified approbation. 
Handbook of Astronomy. By Dionysius Lardner. Fourth 
Edition, Revised and Edited by E. Dunkin, F.R.A.S., of 
the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and Secretary of the 
Royal Astronomical Society. London : Lockwood and Co. 
We once heard tell of an amateur gas-manager in a northern 
town who could not make good gas, but who accomplished a 
feat far more difficult. He prevailed upon his townsmen to burn 
bad gas, to pay for it at a high price, and to believe most de- 
voutly in its excellence. Something similar occurs in the scien- 
tific world. We meet from time to time with men who do not 
shine in original research. They neither reveal to us new phe- 
nomena, nor do they make any important step in theory ; but 
they contrive to outshine and almost eclipse the modest scientific 
worker. They become members — and leading members — of 
learned societies. Professorial chairs, commissionerships, deco- 
rations fall to their lot, and it is generally not till their death that 
the plain question “ But what has he really done ? ” is frankly 
asked, and receives no answer. Of such men the Rev. Dionysius 
Lardner was at one time the type. He was LL.D, F.R.S. 
L. and E., M.R.I.A., F.R.A.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., Hon. F.C.P.S., 
not to speak of minor honours. He was Professor of Natural 
Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, but in popular 
belief he was supposed to be a transcendant authority in every 
department of Science. True, when he went to towns in the 
North and ledtured to mechanics on the steam-engine, some of 
his audience were rude enough to remark that if they knew no 
more about the steam-engine than did the petit-maitre on the 
platform they would soon have to “ shut up shop.” But these 
critical utterances were lost in the general applause, and it was 
not till the Professor’s moral fall that his claims as a man of 
science were formally re-considered. 
Among the many works which he wrote or edited, il with the 
assistance of men eminent in certain departments,” was the 
treatise before us. 
It must not be inferred from these remarks that we are dis- 
satisfied with its character. On its first appearance it came to 
