9* s. x. NOV. is, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
309
demands to give a life of William Gilbert Grace,
the cricketer, who is still alive, and far from attain-
ing the sixty years which constitute, in the case oi
men still living, the pass into the Walhalla. General
Ulysses Simpson Grant is credited with eminent
qualities as a soldier, but is not accorded a place
among great military commanders, and is held in-
ferior to Lee, his Confederate rival. As this estimate
is framed by an American it will perhaps cause no
offence. ' Grain Trade of the World ' is an all-
important article, with whicfrwe may not concern
ourselves. ' Greece ' is in the hands of Mr. Bour-
cnier, and the 'Greco-Turkish War' in those of
Sir George Sydenham Clarke. The most instruc-
tive portion of this is the history of the Ionian
Isles since their cession by England, though the
lesson to be read is disappointing. Recent Greek
history is a mere account of the struggles after
national unity. Greek literary history is more
interesting than might have been supposed. Com-
paratively little is said by Mr. Fridtjof Nansen of
the recent literature of Greenland. Prof. JBurnside
sends an important contribution on the ' Theory of
Groups.' Under ' Gun,' ' Gun-making,' and 'Gun-
nery or Ballistics' much scientific information is
imparted, and a full account is supplied of recent
improvements in breech mechanism. Mr. Andrew
Lang sends an account of the all-too-brief life of
Edmund Gurney, the investigator of psychical
phenomena, whose work has been more appreciated
abroad than at home. Dr. Chalmers Mitchell treats
of the important subject of heredity. Atavism and
telegony are, of course, included. We hear, not
without surprise, concerning the latter that there
are no certain facts to support the view which is
widely current that offspring of a mother by one
sire may inherit characters from a sire with which
the mother had previously bred. ' Himalaya ' and
' Hindu Kush ' are geographical contributions of
highest value. Sir William IMarkby, whilom reader
in Oxford in Indian law, gives a specially inter-
esting account of Indian marriage laws and the
unhappy condition of child widows. Under ' Hol-
land is found an account which is not wholly
encouraging of recent Dutch literature. There
is little about recent Dutch art. Some consolation
for the absence of this will be found later in the
volume under 'Josef Israels.' Profound interest
attends Mr. Swinburne's highly appreciative and
eulogistic article on Victor Hugo. ' Les Jumeaux,'
an unfinished tragedy, might M'ell, Mr. Swinburne
holds, have been the very greatest of his works, while
' Toute la Lyre,' the latest legacy to the world,
might be enough, without other evidence, to prove
the poet's greatness. Mention should not be
omitted of Mr. Austin Dpbson's 'Hogarth.' Among
painters, ' Frank Holl ' is by Mr. F. G. Stephens
and ' Holman Hunt ' by the late Cosmo Monkhouse.
A specially interesting biography is that of Huxley
by Sir W. T. Thistelton - Dyer. An important
addition to the article by Prof. Romanes in the
'Encyclopaedia' is that of Dr. Chalmers Mitchell
establishing that the obtaining of hybrids is often a
mere matter of pains, and that the successful crossing
of genera is not infrequent. The second article is
greatly influenced by the experiments of Bateson
and De Vries. Much that is new is* added under
' Hygiene,' and Dr. Shadwell shows what is the
value of supposed discoveries in ' Hypnotism.' A
sensible paper on Ibsen is unsigned. The best part
of ' Iceland ' deals with the literature, concerning
which little is known in England. Many articles
in the concluding portion are of such magnitude as
to defy analysis. Such are those on ' India," ' In-
surance,' ' Iron and Steel,' ' Ireland,' ' Italy,' and
'Japan,' the last named being of immediate im-
portance. Mr. D. S. MacColl writes luminously
on ' Impressionism,' giving a bright history of its
development. Students of ethnology, among others,
will read with pleasure, in M. de Lanessan/s ' Indo-
China, French, of the advance that is being made
in the condition of the Annamese and Cambodian
Eopulations. Salutary advice is given under the ead of 'Influenza,' perhaps the severest scourge with which Great Britain is visited. Changes in both the law and treatment of insanity are dealt with. Special attention is given, under 'Insects,' to morphology. ' Irrigation ' is treated under three heads, general, Egypt, and India. Under all great advance has to be chronicled. Under ' Italian Literature ' the place of honour is assigned Gabriele d'Annunzio. Under 'Japan' are several valuable illustrations. Designs, prin- cipally artistic reproductions, constitute an attrac- tive feature in the volume, and are both numerous and well executed. It is obviously impossible to do justice to any of the subjects contained in the volume, and we can but repeat that the work is brought thoroughly u,p to date and does honour to English scholarship.
Boole-Prices Current. Vol. XVI. (Stock.) THE appearance of each succeeding volume of 'Book -Prices Current' is welcome to the book- lover, and the 'work, though imitations have naturally sprung up, remains virtually without a rival. Improvement is, moreover, visible in each suc- cessive volume, and perfection, if not now realized, must be near at hand. The most important advance consists in supplying in the indexes further information concerning the date of editions, and in that respect constant progress is made. In the body of the present volume there is for the first time a running headline supplying the name of the auctioneer and the date of the sale, as " Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, May 26th, &c., 1902." The advantage of this in saving trouble in reference is at once obvious. Mr. Slater, the editor, draws attention to the chief features, which consist in the exceptional assortment of books with coloured plates (a remarkable revival of interest in these is manifest), old English classical works, and the plays of the Tudor and Stuart times. It is a fact for which Mr. Slater is once more our authority that the books and editions which appear in the present volume and are not to be Found in its immediate predecessor constitute nearly fifty per cent, of the number indexed. No explana- tion of the cause of this is furnished, and we are ourselves unable to suggest one. We could, did considerations of time and space permit, supply many interesting comparisons between this and previous volumes. The augmenting prices that are
- iow paid for books have drawn gradually into the
market the collections made by the great aristo- cratic families, and there seems a fair chance that sefore long the great private libraries will be exhausted. The democratization of books will be received with equanimity, if not with pleasure, by
- he scholar, who knows that the more generally
jooks are disseminated the greater will be the gain x> learning. Apart from the initial question of cost, the most valuable books, from the bibliographical standpoint, can never become the property of the
