The Bookshelf.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 18, 1 November 1911, Page 48

The Bookshelf.

By

DELTA.

BOOKSHELF FEUILLETON. New Publications Received. ’y'J'T E acknowledge from Messrs. ■ I I George Robertson and Co., 107 to 113 Elizabetb-street, Melbourne, a vopy of “General Physical Culture,'’ by that famous athlele, “Snowy” Bakei.; from Messrs Cassell ami Co., London and Sydney, “An Angel in Ambledon,” by W. A. Bowie (second edition); and from Messrs Wildman and Arey copies of "An Ogre Up-to-Bate,” by Ethel Turner, and “April Girls,” by Lillian Turner; reviews of al! whieh will appear in due course. A Capital Guide to Physical Culture. General Physical Culture. By “Snowy” Baker. George Robertson and Co. Auckland: Wildman and Arey. There was never an age, we think, when it was so generally recognised that of all the gifts bestowed upon mankind by a beneficent Providence that of sound health and all round strength is the greatest, and the least infrequently bestowed. Not that Nature did not and does not stull bestow this greatest of her gifts upon man. But, in the giving she laid down taws for the maintenance of health—laws that her children are continually breaking, with dire results to succeeding generations. That the health »f nations physical and nervous is steadily on the decline in an age when more aids to health than were ever known are used, and when medical science is daily performing wonderful cures, and when the municipal hygienic powers that be are multiplying and enforcing the laws and by laws that tend to the prevention of disease, and the contamination and deleterious adulteration of food stuffs, It gives room for deep thought as to why jll-health should be on the increase. Reams of paper have been and could

still be covered detailing the many causes that have led to this state of things. But the limits of space forbid more than a cursory remark or two here on the subject. Nervous ill-health may bo traced largely and .briefly to the strenuous conditions of modern life, whieh, if a man wishes to live with the swim, tends to the habit of what Is tritely termed “burning the candle at both ends.” And so if man is wise he neglects no natural aids to health. Nature's Antidote—Physical Culture. Of all the aids to physical fitness whieh reacts upon the nerves the most natural and most beneficial is the science known as Physical Culture. Not an organ or a muscle or a limb but is benefitted by its judicious use. But it is just as unwise and as dangerous to praetise physical culture ignorantly-, as it would ba to use dangerous drugs which are beneficial when intelligently prescribed by one who knows their use and abuse and their curative action on the human system, if only taken in proper doses, at proper times, and with due regard to the constitution of the individual about to adopt their use. Hence Mr Baker’s book, which ha.s teen written and compiled at tho urgent and reiterated request of that well-known athlete’s friends and admirers, and which contains an admirably concise preface by Sir Francis Suitor, K.C.M.G. Pages 9 to 13 are editorially introductory. Then follows the author’s introduction. Correct breathing, developmental exercise with diagrams and measuremenlK, are next dilated upon, and then follows a list of sports that in the wire indulgence are beneficial to health. Diet, training, and general hints; Of interest to ladies; Massage, and the account of Mr Baker'a trip to Europe, brings to a close a book which, written mainly for, will be found amazingly useful and as interesting as useful. The

price of Mr Baker's book, to whieh, by the way, Mr. Harold Baker, Mr Cecil Healy, Mr IT. A. Parker, and Mr George Towns have respectively contributed papers on surfing, the crawl-stroke, tennis, and sculling, is 2/0, and may ‘be had at Wildman and Arey's, or almost any bookseller in the Dominion, or from the publishers, George Robertson and Co, from whom we have received our copy. A Novel of Rome. “A Painter of .Souls,” .by Mr David Lisle (Methuen, 2/6 and 3/6), is written In an almost disused style, and, allowing for its infinitely greater literary merit, is strongly reminiscent of Ouida. The book's scenes are laid in the aristocratic quarters of Rome, and its characters are all personages of rank or distinction. The book’s hero, Miles Bering, is an English artist who, with his sister, a spinster of the devoted domesticity type of wo ; man, chooses Rome as a place most conducive to inspiritive art. Unusual in type and character, he attracts many women, amongst whom is Princess Borizoff, an exclusive of the most exclusive aristocracy of Russian origin. But Miles Dering’s heart is set upon Violet Hilliard, daughter of Sir Westen Hilliard, an English baronet of arraien-t lineage, where puraa is totally inadequate to his expenditure and who lived mostly by his wits. Miles Bering knows of this, and more, about Violet’s unfitness as a wife to a struggling ibirt well-born artist of stainless family. And in spite of Princess BorizofFs partiality—she is enormously rich, and though with ‘this and her influence Daring could be easily placed on the highest pinnacle of artistic and social fame —'he prefers to marry Violet, faults'and all. Of course ther e is a villain, who is also enormously ■wealthy and influential, and an aspirant to Violet’s hand. Dering, however, by the aid of a Cardinal., near to the Pope’s person and heart, is entrusted to paint a portrait of his Emiinenca?.. Here the explanation of the book’s title comes in, tea’ Miles Bering paints a portrait of the Pope, in which ths Pope’s son] is mirrored in th® eyes and in the general expression of the face. Thia is of course only a bare outline' of the stery, which is merely an excuse for painting one of the most artistic pictures of aristocratic

and artiste Rome that we have wt, been privileged to read. "A Painter o | Souls,” indeed, is the most fascinatingly subtle novel we have read for a long time. The book, which we have received from Methuen and Co., may be obtained at Wildman and Arey's, cloth 3/6, paper 2/0. The Mauve Library. On September 23 Messrs. George Putnam and Sons liesued the first three books in their Mauve Library, the n ei y series which will contain only stories of happy sentiment. These books are severally entitled “Everybody’s Lonesome ” by Clara Laughlin; “A Melody i’u .Silver,” by Keene Abbot; and “The End of a .Song,” by Jeanette Marks. The first of these stories is described as a sweet human story, with a cheering message to all lonely souls. There is a charming episode, in. which the gracious kindliness of King Edward VII. is poignantly displayed. It adds an exqnisiteness to the story which is unique in current fiction. “A Melody in Silver” is a pretty story tenderly an 1 delicately handled. There is a delightful little boy, around whom gathers a quiet love story of two good people—a fine country doctor, and a kind lovable spinster, ■who has passed the summer of life. “The End of a Song,” surely an attractive title, is a simple tale of life in a little Welsh village, told with humour and sympathy. The heroine is an oli woman, and the hero only a baby boy, but the love between them makes up a story of wonderful charm. From the same firm, we have received their autumn list, which we shall deal with in a future issue. Reshs. Stretton—Obit. About Oct. 9. What English child of decent parentage is living that has not read and levelled in “Jessica’s First Prayer,” “Bede’s Charity,” and "The Highway of Sorrow,” years though it is since they were written? For the're is a depth and a charm about these works that lis not to be found in the more trivial literature of to-day, written, professedly, to combine moral teaching with entertainment, for youth. Hc--.br Btretton, who was the daughter cf a Shropshire bookseller, wrote for Charles Dickens from 1859 to his death. Then she took

♦n religious aml philanthropic atoriea. v. hivh, so highly esteemed was she as a writer for chiklien, have been translated into all the European and several .\»iati<- languages. Ourselves always an admirer and reader of this author’s work, it is with regret that we hoar of this veteran writer’s translation to that Heaven in whose existence she so devoutly believed. For writers of Tlesba Stretton’s high and unswerving moral calibre, arc scarce, and earth has need of them. REVIEWS. Two Notably Popular Works on Zoology : "’The Life of Crustacea,” by W. T. Caiman; and “British Freshwater Fishes.” by G. Tate Regan. (London: Methuen and Co. Auckland: Wildman and Arey. (*/ each.) In “The Life of Crustacea” Mr. Caiman describes his work as an attempt to provide for leaders unfamiliar with the technicalities of zoology, an account of some of the more important scientific problems suggested by a study of the living animals in relation to their environment. Now, the individual with a taste for, but unversed in zoology, is apt to confound Crustacea with mpllusca, who belongs to a totally different class. That the edible crab, lobster, prawn, and shrimp belong to the crustacean order is tolerably well-known, but many will l»e. surprised to learn that the barnacle, the sand hopper of the beach, and the woodlouse of the garden, are members of the same group. Still less is it suspected bv those who have not given .special attention to the subject that the living species of the group number many thousands, presenting strange diversities of structure and habits, and flaying important parts in the general economy of Nature. Other crustacean are the crayfl.-di and the hermit crab. But outside the examples aforementioned, little is known, generally, either of the nomenclature structure, habits, or familiar habitats of the large family of the Crustacea. Hence Mr. Caiman’s popularly educative, and highly interesting book. In the classification of the animal kingdom, the Crustacea form one hf the divisions of a comprehensive group, or phylum, known .as artliropoda. The typical members of this group have a more or Jess firm external skele'.oit, the. body i- divided'into Segments, there are jointed limbs, ami some of these arc modified to serve as joints. The chief divisions of (lasses of the anthropoda are—(ll Insecta, including butterflies, mojhs. bees, wasps, beetles, and the like; (2) chilopmla. or centipede; (3D diplopoda or millipedes; (-1). onych’opoda, including the curious wormlike peripat us (“»)' araclinida. or scorpions," spiders, mitjvs. and their allies; and (G) Crustacea; It is not easy to sumniarjse ip a few voids, says M r..Caiman, the characters common to all/Crustacea .distinguishing thpm from the other groups of anthro-. poila. As a j.QUgh guide to classification. it is useful to remember that an insc't can gcneudly.. be - recognised bby liavitig three pairs of walking' Itgn; |i}i arachnid, by having, jour. pairs; fjnij a cufidipedo or in.illipicd, by having -a’ grtfat many pairs, all nearly alike. Tlie Crustacea, on the other hand, .shows' gneat diversity in the number ‘anil- arrangement of their walking or swimming legs, but they rarely show any special’rcsemblanee to those of • oilier largo groups of anthropoda. Tims for example, a Common species of woodfousy, armadillidium vulgare. is very similar at first sight to the MillepodeCCtlmiieris Marginal a : it ha- only seven pairs of walking legs, while the millipede haS seventeen or nineteen pairs.” For the benefit of the

student Mr. ( alman has drawn up a plan <*f study which will enable-the tyro in zoology to classify any particnlar specimen of Crustacea he mav have selected--I<> make a study of. or which -lias been brought under his notice. Abhor by accident or design. The best way to form a conception of a group of animals, a<t- ' isos Air. ( alman, is no! to attempt, in the first place, to define its limits, imt to •begin by studying the st rue I uro of typical and central species, and then noting the divergencies from this type presented by other members of llte group. •Speaking generally, these divergencies are of two kinds. Sometimes there aro chiiracter- that have no apparent relation to the animal's habits and mode of hfe, an.l sometimes there arc modification* of strn. tlire v hi. h are more or leas plainly of use («» 44m animal T<» the tormxxr we luok for evidences uf an animal's

aflinities. and it i- upon tl.e.e evidences that our Hvalvma of elawiHcalion are based. To the latter we look, in the endeavour to understand how its life is carried on in relation to its surround; •ings. In indicating this course of study, Mr. Caiman lias .divided his book into twelve parts, to which is added an appendix, which gives ‘‘Methods of collecting and .preserving Crustacea," and a bibliology, indicating the literature most likely to ibe of use to the student of zoology. From the introductory chapter we have quoted, with a view to giving a really comprehensive idea of the work, more freely than is t>ur wont. The second chapter deals with the lobster as a type of custacea; chapters three and four deal with “The Metamorphosis of Crustacea”; parts five and six deal with the “Crustacea of the Seashore," and of the “Deep Sea"; chapters seven, eight, nine and ten deal with the Crustacea of the “Open Sea,” of “Fresh Waters,” of the “Land,” as “Parasites and Messmates,” while chapters eleven and twelve discuss Crustacea in “Relation to Man,” and the “Crustacea of the Past.” The book has thirty-two plates, and eightyfive figures, and also a well-arranged index. A lake, unusually rich in Crustacean examples, is Lake Tanganyika, in Africa, while Nyassa and the Victoria Nyanza have as yet yielded only' species of prawn, and that one of the enormously- wide distribution (from the Nile to Queensland), Taganyika contains no fewer than twelve species, all of which are peculiar to the lake, while all except one belong to genera unrepresented elsewhere., More interesting information follows of the zoological wonders of this

lake. The woodlouse, so prolific in New Zealand,-is', according to Prof. Chilton, an authority*quoted by” Mr. Caiman, an inijjortfjd^aaiil not on injligejious pest. So fasenuvung is'this book that, we wotild fain quote further, but Space forbids. Attractively’ presented; and of highly- ediu catiye value-in its seppe and class, this Work' should be- found-' on the • liookshelves of eveyy lover and every student of natural history, and especially those students‘who have singled, out the Crustacea as objects of zoological study with a view to. other and higher scientific study that shall help solve'-a few of the knotty problems that life’presents, lifitli in its highest and lowest forms. . ' ‘ British Freshwater Fishes. In this Dominion, where 'the fascinating pastime of fishing in. some form or other has been, or is being indulged in by eve ry male member of the'community, from his infancy up, and where, in particular, the bait of unlimited sport in trout fishing is before- the dazzled eyes of the tourist lover of the piscatorial art. a book, on British freshwater fislics should not come amiss. The genuine lover of the art of Isaak Walton will think no distance too great, nor (rouble'about expense or inconvenience, So Ibng as- (he prey he is after is there in sufficient r siz.e and ipiantrty to recoup him for his t rouble. And in* a “country like this, where nature has beeiFso profit dal in her gifts of genial cli'tndHie 3conditions, and a suitable habitat in which fib lodge her aquatic creatures, the impltyttition, acclimatisation, and breeding of some of these British freshwater fishes. Other than tlm.se already acclimatised here, is an object that might be pursued

more.largely- by the various acclimatisation societies, with more success than has been hitherto attained, by a more extensive knowledge of the species about to undergo the ordeal of acclimatisation. The British fresh water fish is considered of almost negligible value as an edible. But its value as an object of sport ranks high. Nor are some of the English fresh water fishes at all to be despised from an edible point of view. The overlauded Rotorua trout is, in our opinion, less worthy to be esteemed, as a food than many British fresh water fishes voted insipid. During a visit to the English Lakes, some years ago, we stayed at an hotel, the windows of which overlooked the Windermere Lake. We had ordered char for luncheon, and when it was served, we were informed that less than half-an-hour before our fish had been caught in the, lake almost under our windows. Anything more toothsome than that Windermere char we have never eaten. But revenons a nos moufons. Mr. Regan’s book professes to be, and is “a popular account of the fishes of the British lakes and rivers.” It is not a book about angling, but one for the angler, and for all who wish for reliable information as to British freshwater fishes, their specific characters, geographical distribution, and life history, 't he Sahnonoids peculiar to the British Isles, such as the species of Char, Vendace, and Pollan, are very fully dealt with, and the natural hybrids known to occur in British fresh-waters are described in detail. The book is up-to-date, and the results of the most recent researches, such as those on the growth and migrations of the Salmon,

and on the life history and distribution of the Eel, are included. A notable feaIture of the book is the illustrations vytiieh have been drawn by Mr. Tate Regan himself, who declares that they have’ been drawn more to show the characteristic features of each species rather than to produce an artistic effect. In pf'e’senting what seems to us an altogether adfiiirable work, Mr. Regan Confesses that knowledge of the fishes that live in Biiti-h lakes and rivers has increased of late enormously, but that much yet remains'to be learned. He also, and very modestly'- we think, thinks that this is the most complete work of its kind that has yet appeared. Be this as it may, there can be no doubt but that it is a book of absorbing interest, and that it is also a book which it is impossible to appraise too highly. The appendix to the book gives an account of the great pike of Whittlesea Mere. This pike was taken, at the draining of Whittlesea Mere, and weighed fifty-two pounds. It is interesting to note, says Mr. Regan, that although Whittlesea Mero is in Camhiidgeshire, it is on the borders of Lincolnsliire. and Walton wrote that Lincolnshire boasted to have the biggest Pikes. This Pike is the largest known in England. Both these books have been received tli’rough the courtesy of (he Messrs,’-Methuen and Co.