THE FOUNDATIONS OF EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY By HENRY GEORGE FORDER, B.A. With a frontispiece. Demy 8vo. 258 net. THE THEORY OF By L. C. YOUNG. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics, No. 21. INTEGRAL BASES By W. E. H. BERWICK, Sc.D. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics and Mathematical DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY OF THREE DIMENSIONS By C. E. WEATHERBURN, M.A., D.Sc. With 27 text-figures. Demy 8vo. 12s 6d net. AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON THE DYNAMICS OF A PARTICLE AND OF RIGID BODIES By S. L. LONEY, M.A. Second edition (fifth impression). Demy 8vo. 14s. SOLUTIONS OF THE EXAMPLES IN AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON DYNAMICS OF A PARTICLE AND OF RIGID BODIES By S. L. LONEY, M.A. Demy 8vo. 178 6d. THE THEORY OF ELECTRICITY By G. H. LIVENS, M.A. Second edition. Demy 8vo. 16s net. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: Fetter Lane, E.C. 4 HISTORY A Selection of CAMBRIDGE BOOKS READINGS IN ENGLISH SOCIAL HISTORY From contemporary literature. Edited by R. B. MORGAN, M.Litt. 5 vols. Crown 8vo. I (from pre-Roman days to A.D. 1272). With 14 plates. II (A.D. 1272-1485). With 12 plates. III (A.D. 1485-1603). With 15 plates. IV (A.D. 1603-1688). With 12 plates. V (A.D. 1688-1837). With 14 plates. 4s each. (Library edition, in 1 vol., Demy 8vo. 16s net.) ENGLISH HISTORY NOTES From the earliest times to the outbreak of the Great War. By W. J. R. GIBBS, M.A. This book is also issued in two parts. Part I, to EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS IN ENGLISH HISTORY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: Fetter Lane, E.C. 4 know Andersen's Märchen," or fairy tales, but he was poet and dramatist as well; and like Dickens, he had wide fame as a reader of his own works. He was the friend of Hugo, Heine, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Thorwaldsen-to name but a few; and he was one of the first to induce Jenny Lind to sing in public. Mary Howitt, whose translation first made the autobiography known in this country, fittingly dedicated it to Jenny Lind. And so delicate and Hans Andersen. The True Story of My Life. Translated by precise was her English, so truly did it convey the flavour, MARY HOWITT. (7s. 6d. net. Routledge.) Like the dramatist, the biographer should keep behind the curtain; in the latter, success depends very largely on the suppression of the writer's own personality and the prominence given to his subject. Such is the measure adopted by Mr. Chesterton in his acceptable but all too brief editorial introduction to Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens." In this biography, which Carlyle ranked only below Boswell's great work, "the Dickens impression remains while Forster is forgotten." Can this be said of Johnson and Boswell? At all events, in Forster's book Dickens stands revealed, a sunny, healthy nature, the embodiment of largeness, spontaneity, and manliness," to use his biographer's words. The two volumes are a welcome addition to Everyman's Library.” Nor does Mr. Chesterton's standard quite apply in the case of Vasari's "Lives of the Painters," a really great book. Himself an artist, Vasari's aim was not to make a collection of dry details, but by an inquiry into the motives and methods of artists to further the cause of art to the utmost of his power. But granted his sympathy and insight, the critic must to some extent show his own hand. Vasari's survey ranges from the thirteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, and embraces the great painters, sculptors, and architects of Italy and Flanders. He was a contemporary of Michael Angelo. "I thank God," he exclaims, that I have had him for a master and a friend." writes with much shrewdness yet with an artlessness that lends fascination to his book. The story of Cimabue's discovery of genius in Giotto, then a shepherd lad, and of his carrying him off to training and fame, is a specimen of the quaint stories that are frequent in his pages. The "Temple translation, long out of print, has been carefully revised and annotated. Each volume contains a portrait, successively those of Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Vasari himself, and Michael Angelo. He Mr. Binns believed his work to be "the first serious attempt made by an Englishman to portray on any fullsized canvas the greatest of the popular statesmen of last century." Mr. Drinkwater's canvas may be smaller, but few will doubt the truth and vividness of his portraiture. Comparison between a biography and a drama is unfair, if detail is to be taken into account; but the unity of impression that in this case both biography and drama convey, is remarkable. Shakespeare was not for an age but for all time; of Lincoln it was said as he was laid to rest, "Now he belongs to the ages." Each was an international possession. Mr. Binns's biography is not unworthy of its great subject, which is sufficient praise. It is certainly sufficient justification for its inclusion in the "Everyman series. In autobiography self-revelation is, of course, essential; and no better example could be had than Hans Andersen's "True Story of My Life." There may be not a few to whom the author of his fairy tales seems, like Melchisedek, to have been without father and mother, and the tales themselves to be ageless as those of the " Arabian Nights." To such his autobiography will be a revelation. They will read how the son of the poorest parents, in spite of self-depreciation and jealous opposition, won his way upwards, and how success enriched instead of rendering vain a noble nature. In his case, as in Lincoln's, they will see the poor peasant lad over whom a royal mantle was thrown." Most, of course, freshness, and naïve simplicity of the original, that the American Editorial Committee responsible for this edition have wisely decided to adopt in the main her pioneer work. GIFTED CHILDREN Genetic Studies of Genius. Vol. I. Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted Children. By L. M. TERMAN, Assisted by B. T. BALDWIN, EDITH BRONSON, J. C. DEVOSS, FLORENCE FULLER, FLORENCE L. GOODENOUGH, T. L. KELLEY, MARGARET LIMA, HELEN MARSHALL, A. H. MOORE, A. S. RAUBENHEIMER, G. M. RUCH, R. L. WILLOUGHBY, JENNIE B. Wyman, DOROTHY H. YATES. Second Edition. Vol. II. The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses. By CATHARINE M. Cox, assisted by LELA O. GILLAN, RUTH H. LIVESAY, L. M. TERMAN. (21s. net. each. California Stanford University Press. London: Harrap.) That a second edition of Volume I of these studies has already been issued is evidence of the growing interest in the subject of human talent. The chief changes in this edition concern the interpretation of data on the size of the families from which the gifted children of California come; the conclusion now arrived at is disquieting; the average number of offspring in these families is only 7, i.e., fifty per cent lower than that for the preceding generation, and far too low to maintain the stock; fortunately infant mortality in these families is extremely low. The other conclusions are unchanged; it can now be taken as established facts that in physical growth and in general health gifted children are on the whole above the average; that the alleged "one-sidedness of precocious children is mythical; that though they read more than average children they also play more games; that in spite of noteworthy exceptions, the gifted children are superior in moral and emotional traits. It is interesting to note that the gifted group contains a significant preponderance of boys, but that within the group sex differences are almost non-existent for intellectual interests and attainments. Volume II is perhaps still more interesting to the general reader. Dr. Catharine Cox selected for this study 300 geniuses from Cattell's list of the thousand most eminent individuals of history, and collected from their biographies all the available evidence bearing on the comparison of their mental performances with those of average children of corresponding age. The "Intelligence Quotient" of each genius was then estimated in accordance with the recorded facts, by the rating of three persons, Dr. Terman, Dr. Cox, and Dr. Merrill, all experts in mental-testing. Each subject was rated twice, first on the evidence concerning the first seventeen years of his life, and secondly with regard to the years between 17 and 26. The rating was done on the same lines as in Terman's study of the Intelligence Quotient of Francis Galton (reported in the "American Journal of Psychology," Vol. XXVIII, 1917), and the conclusion reached, after a very careful statistical analysis of the ratings, is that the true Intelligence Quotients of the subjects of the study average above 160, the highest being that of John Stuart Mill, which is estimated to have been 190. The book is mainly occupied with the evidence for the ratings both for intelligence and character, and the three main generalizations from the data are as follows: (1) Youths who achieve eminence have in general (a) an heredity above the average, and (b) superior advantages in early environment. (2) They are distinguished in childhood by behaviour which indicates an unusually high intelligence. (3) They are also characterized by persistence of motive and effort, confidence in their abilities, and great force of character. This study in the psychological aspects of biography should go far to realize Dr. Terman's hope that prevalent false opinions regarding the childhood of genius may be destroyed, and that biographers may be enabled to interpret more correctly the facts which they record concerning the early years of their subjects. LITERARY CRITICISM God, Man, and Epic Poetry: a study in Camparative The confession of faith, or rather of doubts, with which this able and important study opens well deserves to be pondered by teachers of literature. Why is it-the author asks himself after many years spent in teaching English literature-that I do not feel satisfied with literature as providing in itself the ideal education? His dissatisfaction is not removed when the Greek and Latin classics are substituted for English masterpieces. Two centuries ago, he knows, even to so powerful an intellect as Swift's, the ancients seemed to have provided all we needed to ask. Now, in a sense, we know too much archaeology has brought the classics nearer, but it has also materialized them. Meanwhile science has oppressed us all with a new feeling of the greatness and the littleness of man. In each of us there is some touch of infinity that refuses to be satisfied with the limited outlook of the ancients, to whom man was the measure of all things." We know that man is not so important in the universe as that, and the selfcomplacency of the old heroes of epic is not for us. The old education would confine us in a nutshell, whilst flattering us that we are kings of infinite space; but, like Hamlet, we have bad dreams." From these "bad dreams" Mr. Routh has sought for himself, and for other teachers, a way of escape through the comparative study of the great poets of different ages and countries. As specialization increases, we continually erect fresh earthworks round the products of genius that we study-investigation of matters of technique and style, of metre and diction, of biographical and bibliographical detail. This trend of study is probably inevitable, and assuredly all who pursue it do not miss the spiritual significance of literature; but for some students these investigations form a material barrier beyond which they never penetrate. Suppose that instead, or in addition, we find in literature the record of the spiritual history of the race. Suppose that we compare the "Iliad "" and the Odyssey," and observe how in the earlier work man is contented with himself and the perfection of the heroes he has imagined, whilst the later poem testifies to the lessons of suffering and defeat and the emergence of a new type of intellectual hero triumphing by craft. pass to Virgil, and note how man is learning to console himself for the ills of this life by visions of redress behind the veil. We pass to Dante, and it is still more evident that another world has been called in to redress the balance of this. We Much of the ground covered by Mr. Routh will be familiar to those who have valued literature as the record of man's profoundest thoughts about life. If they do not stress these things much in their teaching, it is perhaps because they feel that youth cannot assimilate the lessons as yet, but that literature will instil them quietly. Life must first illuminate literature that literature may illuminate life. But we may be sure that any teacher who peruses Mr. Routh's fascinating volumes, with their wealth of illustrations from the ancient and medieval epics, will have his own thoughts on literature and life deepened and widened, and be the better teacher accordingly. Minor Notices and Books of the Month The Art and Craft of Drawing: a Study both of the Practice of | Sketching from Nature: a Practical Treatise on the Principles of How to Paint the Sea. By KATE WILCOX. (4s. net. Simpkin, Ornamental Homecrafts: a Practical Description of Various The Approach to Painting. By T. BODKIN. (7s. 6d. net. Bell.) The Oldest Biography of Spinoza. Edited, with Translation, The Life of Gladstone. By J. MORLEY. Popular Edition, Ludwig van Beethoven. By H. GRACE. (7s. 6d. net. Kegan The True Story of My Life. Translated by The Autobiography of Kingsley Fairbridge. (6s. net. Oxford Duncan Dewar, a Student of St. Andrews 100 Years Ago: His The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By H. B. BINNS. (2s. net. Dent.) The Life of Charles Dickens. By J. FORSTER. 2 Vols. (2s. net. Emily Davies and Girton College. By BARBARA STEPHEN. (218. net. Constable.) Cape.) The Reverend Richard Baxter Under the Cross (1662-1691). (16s. net. Constable.) Introduction to the Diary By MURIEL MASEFIELD Cambridge University Sir Isaac Newton: a Brief Account of His Life and Work. By ENGLISH, POETRY AND DRAMA Carducci: The Taylorian Lecture, 1926. By J. BAILEY. (2s. 6d. net. Clarendon Press.) In selecting Carducci as the subject of his Taylorian lecture at Oxford, in 1926, Mr. John Bailey disclaims with a modesty characteristic but needless, as his learned discourse abundantly shows, his ability to rise to the height of the great argument of some of his predecessors. He chooses the poetry of Carducci as something he has himself enjoyed, and because that poet's reputation is far below his desert. Mr. Bailey doubtless conveyed much of his enjoyment to his audience and assuredly will do so to his readers, especially to those who know Italian. Usually his quotations are given in Carducci's tongue, but occasionally, and with much acceptance, Mr. Bailey translates them in finished verse of his own. A New Theory of Dante's Matelda. By RACHel B. Harrower. (2s. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.) Was the Matelda of Dante a person, or a symbol, or both? Many and diverse have been the interpretations, and Dante himself invited his readers to look for not a single, but a double, triple, or even fourfold meaning in his great poem." For Miss Harrower, Matelda symbolizes man's intellectual activity, or understanding, as it existed in man's state of innocence. Virgil, the Reason of fallen Man, brings Dante to Matelda, and she leads him to Beatrice, the personification of the Human Will made one with the Divine Will; and this union of Understanding and will causes the soul to ascend to the Beatific Vision. This interpretation is a matter for experts to discuss; but the ordinary reader will appreciate the clearness of argument and the delicacy of language with which the view is stated, and the thorough study which has been devoted to the subject. Plutarch's Lives of Greek Heroes. From the Translation of J. and W. LANGHORNE. With an Historical Introduction and an Appendix of Biography, Geography, Literature, and Classical Antiquities, contributed by D. FREW. (25. Blackie.) This is a cheap and handy edition of Plutarch's Greek Heroes. The great events in Greek history from the Persian Wars to Alexander the Great are so grouped in the brief introduction as to give a setting to the lives portrayed by Plutarch. In a useful appendix the names of the chief persons and places that figure in the text are annotated to save reference to a classical dictionary. It seems a pity that the volume should not have been furnished with a good map. Essays by Divers Hands: being the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom. New Series. Vol. VI. Edited by G. K. CHESTERTON. (7s. net. Oxford University Press.) The essays here printed, with a characteristically lively introduction by Mr. Chesterton, are naturally of a somewhat miscellaneous kind. The Marquis of Crewe contributes an interesting outline of the history of the Society. Mrs. Margaret Woods discourses on ballads, Miss Underhill on a neglected Franciscan poet-Jacopone da Todi, Mr. Walter de la Mare on Christina Rossetti, and Mr. Harold Nicholson on Swinburne and Baudelaire. A paper on the Art of the Biographer, by the late Dr. A. C. Benson, concludes the series. The volume is a worthy introduction to the second century of the Society's existence. Betler Writing. By H. S. CANBY. (3s. 6d. net. Cape.) Written originally for an American audience, this book may well have a wider appeal. The chapter on Diseases and Disabilities and their suitable remedies deals humorously and helpfully with many of the problems which face those anxious to express themselves clearly and concisely. " The "Happy Hours' Primers and Readers for Infants. By EVA HARRIS. (Reader I-IS. 3d.; Reader II-1s. 6d. ; Primer I-10d.; Primer II-Is. Pitman.) 100 Best Books. Chosen by C. L. HIND. (2s. 6d. net.; Cloth, 3s. 6d. net. Philpot.) St. Mary's. By PAMELA HINKSON. (5s. net. Longmans.) Mrs. Mason's Daughters. By MATHILDE EIKER. (7s. 6d. net. Werner Laurie.) Humour of To-day: an Anthology. Selected by F. H. PRITCHARD. (2s. 6d. Harrap.) English Oral Practice. By C. H. LEATHER. (Is. 9d. Dent.) When the Bough Breaks and Other Stories. By NAOMI MITCHISON. (3s. 6d. net. Cape.) Young 'Un. By H. DE SELINCOURT. (7s. 6d. net. Methuen.) The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Vol. I-Tales. Vol. II-The A Silent Handicap. By ANN DENMAN. (7s. 6d. net. Arnold.) Bushy-tail and Bright-eye: a Squirrel Story. By KATE SEXTY. (Ppr. 6d.; Cloth, 9d. Chambers.) The Owls. By KATE SEXTY. (Ppr. 4d.; Cloth, 7d. Chambers.) Heroes of Fiction. By J. C. STOBART and MARY SOMERVILLE. Alpha of the Plough (Second Series). Chosen by the AUTHOR. Adventures Among Birds. By W. H. HUDSON. Gulliver's Travels. Edited by W. HADLEY. An Introduction to Byron. Edited by G. N. Pocock. Kinglake's Eothen. Edited by H. G. SMITH. (IS. 4d. net each. Dent.) For Repetition: Prose and Poetry for Learning by Heart. Chosen English Lyrical Verse. Selected and Edited by A. BURRell. (IS. 4d. net. Dent.) The format of the books of the Kings Treasuries series leaves nothing to be desired, and these are three welcome additions. The" English Lyrical Verse " is an admirable selection, and while it may be doubted whether all the passages in " For Repetition are worth memorizing, no such question can arise in connexion with the majority. The Carfax Books of English Verse. Edited by Dr. R. JONES and FLORENCE JONES. (Books I and II, 10d. each; Books III and IV, Is. each; Book V., Is. 3d.; Book VI, 1s. 6d. ; Book VII, Is. 9d.; Book VIII, 2s. Sidgwick & Jackson.) Handbook to the Carfax Books of English Verse; the Approach to Poetry. Edited by Dr. JONES and FLORENCE JONES. (1s. Sidgwick & Jackson.) This is a carefully-graded series, and the poems in the separate volumes have been skilfully arranged in such a way as to help in the development of taste and appreciation at each stage. Among the 640 items are a number which would not appear in an anthology prepared for the adult reader, but which have earned their places in this collection through the immediate appeal which they have been found to make to children. There are no notes or comments, but teachers and pupils are left free to form their own opinions. There is, however, an interesting companion volume in which the compilers discuss the principles by which they have been guided and provide a glossary and a series of notes. The books are well printed, well bound, and altogether attractive. The slight departure from uniformity caused by the colour variation will provide no doubt an added charm to the eyes of any proud possessor of this library of poetry. A Handefull of Pleasant Delites. By C. ROBINSON and DIVERS OTHERS. Edited by Dr. A. KERSHAW. (7s. 6d. net. Werner Laurie.) The Poems of William Canton. (5s. net. Harrap.) The Bookman Treasury of Living Poets. Edited by ST. J. ADCOCK. School Edition-Parts I and II. (3s. 6d. each. University of London Press.) The Golden Treasury of Modern Lyrics. Book II. Selected and Arranged by L. BINYON. With Notes by J. H. Fowler. (2s. 3d. Macmillan.) The Snake Bite: a Play, based on a Story Told by Dr. R. J. Ashton of Kachwa, North India. By Amy E. BROCKWAY. (3d. net. Livingstone Press.) Bao San Finds Out: a Missionary Play in Three Scenes. By The Lifting: a Play in Three Acts. The Glen is Mine: a Comedy in Three Acts. By J. BRANDANE. (3s. 6d. net each. Constable.) |