Chapter XLV: Part II: Chronicle of Events (3)

The reference to Jewish life carries us very naturally to the East and, to Bible Literature. Mr. Claude Montefiore's =Judaism and St. Paul= (Max Goschen) seems to offer a link between the Old Testament and the New, and is a most valuable--if not absolutely convincing--contribution to the Pauline problem. =New Testament Criticism: its History and Results=, by J. A. M'Clymont, D.D. (The Baird Lectures for 1910-11) (Hodder and Stoughton), is but one of a host of Theological publications of importance. On the same subject we also get =The New Testament in the Twentieth Century=, by the Rev. Maurice Jones, B.D. (Macmillan). The Westminster Version of the Sacred Scriptures has now published its third volume of =New Testament= text. This sustains the high level of Scholarship which we have come to expect from its learned editor, the Rev. Cuthbert Lattey, S.J. It is published by Messrs. Longmans.

Among the notable Theological volumes of the year it is only possible to notice one here and there, and among these must be included one or two issues of Texts, such as =The Epistles of St. Paul from the Codex Laudianus=, by E. S. Buchanan (Sacred Latin Texts) (Heath, Cranton & Ouseley). The history of this valuable MS., which dates from the ninth century, is briefly that it was stolen from Wurzburg when it was sacked by the Swedes in 1631, and was purchased by Archbishop Laud, who gave it into the keeping of the Bodleian Library. =Irenæus of Lugdunum= is presented to us by F. P. Montgomery Hitchcock, with Foreword by Professor Swete (Cambridge University Press). =The Religious Philosophy of Plotinus and Some Modern Philosophies of Religion=, by the Dean of St. Paul's (The Lindsay Press), is a book few thoughtful readers will care to miss, also not a few will like to read the late Father Benson's impressions of =Lourdes= (Lond., Herder). Dr. Skinner, Principal of Westminster College, Cambridge, publishes a learned work on the controversy concerning =The Divine Name in Genesis= (Hodder and Stoughton), and Dr. H. J. Wicks traces =The Doctrine of God=, in the Jewish Apocryphal and Apocalyptic Literature during the two centuries before Christ and the first century A.D. (Hunter & Longhurst); Dr. Oesterley, Warden of the Society of the Apocrypha, London Diocese, also edits =The Books of the Apocrypha= (R. Scott). One of the things not to be overlooked is the printing of a Lecture on =The Spiritual Message of Dante=, delivered in Harvard University (1904), by Dr. Boyd Carpenter (Williams & Norgate). =The Canticles of the Christian Church, Eastern and Western, in Early Medieval Times=, by J. Mearns (Cambridge University Press), is attractive to those who care for literary antiquities and survivals. Much of the year's output has again been devoted to the discussion of Mysticism, but exigencies of space will not permit individual reference to books or writers.

Archæological research has been actively pursued during the year, and the various Surveys of India, Ceylon, and Nubia have published monographs, also =The Egyptian Exploration Fund= has launched its new venture--=The Journal of Egyptian Archæology=,--and continues the issue (Part X.) of =The Oxyrhynchus Papyri=. The particular rolls now edited under the learned supervision of Dr. Grenfell and Dr. Hunt are among the most famous of their discoveries--including, as they do, parts of an extra-Canonical Gospel, and fragments of the two famous Lyric Poets, Sappho and Alcæus. This discovery, needless to add perhaps, has provided one of the literary sensations of the year, and goes far to justify the importance of the work of research in that cradle and tomb of almost all Antiquity--Egypt.

The British Museum has done admirable work in cataloguing its collection of =Egyptian Scarabs=, as also in dealing with accounts of the =Egyptian and Assyrian Sculptures= in its possession (British Museum). These last are profusely illustrated, and are edited by Dr. Wallis Budge. The Palestine Exploration Fund issues its Annual for 1912-13. Coming nearer home, we are glad to welcome =The Bronze Age in Ireland=, by Mr. George Coffey, Keeper of the Irish Antiquities in the National Museum, and Mr. E. C. R. Armstrong's =Irish Seal-Matrices and Seals=--both works issued by Messrs. Hodges & Figgis, of Dublin. Professor Haverfield writes on =Roman Britain in 1913= (Brit. Acad. Supp. Paper) (Milford).

Anthropology, likewise, has made great strides throughout the year. Much attention has been given to aboriginal tribes and their customs, both in Northern and Central Africa, in Nigeria, also in =Northern Australia=, where Mr. Baldwin Spencer (Special Commissioner for Aboriginals in the Northern Territory) continues the investigations he formerly pursued with his friend, the late Mr. Gillen, to whose memory the work is dedicated (Macmillan).

As was mentioned last year, the output of Oriental literature grows apace. Much of this is due to the awakening of China, India and the East generally. The part the Chinese are taking in this renaissance of Oriental culture is indicated by the first issue of a Chinese Review (monthly), owned, edited and printed (in London) entirely by Chinamen. Interest, too, in Oriental literature has been fostered largely in English University circles, and under the enlightened and scholarly direction of the British Museum. Oxford, Cambridge and London vie with one another to produce scholarly editions of Eastern Texts or Dissertations on the ancient Religions of India, Assyria, Egypt. Mohammedanism too is not overlooked, or the Literature of Modern Persia. For particular details of the principal Oriental Literature dealt with, the publications of the British Museum, as well as of the before-mentioned Universities, are the surest guide.

Classics are yet, happily for us, under the fine inspiration of Professor Gilbert Murray, who though resting from the arduous labours of previous years, revises the proofs of Mr. R. T. Elliot's edition of =The Acharnians of Aristophanes= (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford), and, in collaboration with Miss Jane Harrison, affords his sympathetic approval to Mr. A. K. Thomson's =Studies in the Odyssey= (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford). Dr. A. S. Way continues his rendering of =Sophocles in English Verse= (Macmillan), and Mr. F. M. Cornford, in his =Origin of Attic Comedy= (Arnold), associates himself with Professor Gilbert Murray in ascribing the beginnings of Greek Comedy to the Ritual Drama. =Zeus; A Study in Ancient Religion=, by Mr. A. B. Cook, Vol. I., comes from the Cambridge University Press, and we welcome the theory of Miss Gladys M. N. Davis, Classical Scholar, late Royal University of Ireland, in her learned volume, =The Asiatic Dionysos=, that the origin of the Dionysos Cult was Asiatic rather than Egyptian (Bell). Coming to Roman Classics, the =Loeb Classical Library= (Heinemann) continues its translations, and Sir Robert Allison translates for us five of the =Plays of Plautus= (Humphreys).

In the department of English Prose Literature an especially fine harvest is to be gathered for 1914, though it is only possible in this brief notice to glean a sheaf or two from among the best-known writers. ex-President Roosevelt gives us =History as Literature=, and other essays (Murray); Mr. H. G. Wells tells us how =An Englishman Looks at the World= (Cassell); Mr. Wilfred Ward writes of =Men and Matters= (Longmans); Mr. A. C. Benson gives us =Where No Fear Was=, a book about Fear (Smith Elder). Then we have Mrs. Meynell's =Essays= (Burns & Oates), Mr. George Moore's =Hail and Farewell= (Heinemann), also =The Towers of the Mirrors= and other Essays upon the Spirit of Places, by Vernon Lee (Lane). Messrs. Dent publish Mr. Austin Dobson's =Eighteenth Century Studies=, and M. Maeterlinck's fine appreciation of so-called Supernatural phenomena in =The Unknown Guest= is rendered into English for us by Mr. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (Methuen).

Much literary work of the year is devoted to the study of the great authors, =The Sonnets of Shakespeare=, by the Countess de Chambrun (Putnam), for example, or the =Lectures on Dryden= of the late Dr. Verrall, published by Mary de G. Verrall through the Cambridge University Press, which is likewise responsible for the issue of an interesting volume compiled with much industry by Mr. G. Waterhouse; =The Literary Relations of England and Germany in the Seventeenth Century=. =The Cambridge History of English Literature=, edited by Sir A. W. Ward and Mr. A. R. Waller, proceeds to its eleventh volume, treating of the Period of the French Revolution. We welcome the publication of Messrs. Batsford's Series of =Fellowship Books= edited by Mary Stratton, some of them being written by such distinguished modern men of Letters as Dr. W. L. Courtney--who contributes =The Meaning of Life=, and by Sir A. Quiller-Couch, who is responsible for the volume on =Poetry=. Lord Haldane publishes his collected addresses, =The Conduct of Life=, with Mr. Murray. =The Life and Genesis of Arlosto= is dealt with very ably by Dr. J. Shield Nicholson, Professor of Political Economy in Edinburgh University (Macmillan); and =Italian Gardens of the Renaissance=, by Julia Cartwright (Smith Elder), should not be missed.

At home Social and Political questions have been, for the time being, shelved. But before the war began, the drift of political interest--apart from Ireland--has tended chiefly towards the great Land Question. Thus we get =The Ownership, Tenure and Taxation of Land=, by the Rt. Hon. Thomas P. Whittaker, P.C., M.P., also Mr. Lennard's =Economic Notes on English Agricultural Wages=, both issued by Messrs. Macmillan, and to the serious student the unfinished but instructive and valuable Essays of the late Professor Seebohm--=Customary Acres and their Historical Importance= (Longmans)--will appeal. At the present moment, too, in view of rising prices and diminishing supplies, the publication by the Manager of the Dalmeny Experimental Farms, on the secret of successful Farming, or =Greater Profits from Land=, should merit attention (Edinburgh, The Edina Pub. Co.). Nor should the interesting Canadian experiences of Miss Binnie Clark, in =Wheat and Women= (Heinemann), be missed, especially in a day when the scarcity of male labour for the land is universally a disquieting factor in the economical situation. We welcome the edition of his father's Speeches given to us by Mr. Austen Chamberlain (Constable).

In Music the attention of writers seems to be more and more concentrated upon the study of technique, and its analysis. Dr. Coward, the famous Director of the Sheffield Choir, publishes =Choral Technique and Interpretation= (Novello); and Mr. Cecil Forsyth gives us a volume on =Orchestration=, contributed to the Musician's Library of Messrs. Macmillan, Stainer & Bell. Mr. W. Wallace also discourses of =The Musical Faculty=: its origins and processes (Macmillan). Two works are published upon =The Music of Hindostan=,--this first by A. H. Fox Strangeway (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford), and =Indian Music= by the Begum Fyzee-Rahamin, with a preface by F. Gilbert Webb (Will. Marchant, the Goupil Gallery).

Of the making of History books there seems no end! Apart from the editing and calendaring of the sources of British History as discoverable from the Rolls cared for in the Public Record Office,--of which a complete list is furnished by Messrs. Wyman,--there are endless enterprises and discursions into all periods of History, Ancient and Modern. In connexion with the mention of original sources, reference should be made to =The Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission= (Wyman) which publishes its seventh volume. The issue of the Great Roll of the Pipe, 31 Hen. II. 1184-1185, under the auspices of the Pipe Roll Society (St. Catherine's Press), is highly important, and we welcome a revised edition of =Magna Charta=, by Mr. W. Sharp McKechnie (Glasgow, MacLehose). =The Reign of Henry V.= is treated by Dr. James Hamilton Wylie, in a first volume (1413-15) issued from the Cambridge University Press. Professor Pollard gives us =The Reign of Henry VII. from Contemporary Sources=, as far as Vol. III. (Longmans). Two or three volumes on the Elizabethan Period call for mention: =A History of England= from the defeat of the Armada to the death of Elizabeth, Vol. I., by E. P. Cheyney, Professor of European History in the University of Pennsylvania (Longmans), and =Elizabeth and Mary Stuart=, by F. A. Mumby (Constable). =New Light on Drake= is offered by the researches of the Hakluyt Society, and we welcome particularly a treatise on =The English Catholic Refugees on the Continent=, 1558-1795, by the Rev. Peter Guilday, being a Thesis offered for a Doctor's degree to the University of Louvain (Longmans).

A study of =Irish Priests in the Penal Times= (1660-1760) is attractive reading (Waterford, Harvey), and also we are glad to follow Mr. G. V. Jourdan's =Movement towards Catholic Reform= in the early sixteenth century (Murray). =The Scottish War of Independence=, by Evan MacLeod Barron, is an admirable critical study of the subject (Nisbet). =The Legislative Union of England and Scotland=, by P. Hume Brown (being the Ford Lectures in Edinburgh University), Fraser Professor of Ancient Scottish History and Palæography in Edinburgh University, cannot be passed over (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford), and the fourth volume of Dr. Keating's =History of Ireland=, compiled and arranged by the Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen (Irish Texts Society: Nutt) has a warm welcome. This valuable edition of the famous seventeenth century MS. has been in progress during the last fourteen years, and its interest for modern readers is incalculable.

There are the usual number of books on Napoleon, whose campaigns and personality are without doubt especially interesting in the light of present events. Two writers deal with the campaigns of 1814--Mr. F. Loraine Petre, in =Napoleon at Bay= (Lane), and a French writer, Mr. H. Houssaye, whose book is translated by Brevet-Major R. S. McClintock (Hugh Rees). In this connexion, too, Mr. W. Alison Phillips' book, =The Confederation of Europe=: A Study in the European Alliance of 1813-23, is strangely apposite (Longmans). Messrs. Longmans are also responsible for the issue of two other important works of History, =The Passing of the Great Reform Bill=, by Mr. J. K. M. Butler, and for the latest volume of Sir George Trevelyan's =History of the American Revolution=. The volume is styled =George the Third and Charles Fox=. Another continuation of an important work issued by this firm is Vol. III., of Mr. Hill's =History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe=, in which the author deals with "The Diplomacy of the Age of Absolutism." This also has an appealing interest for us to-day.

Professor Oman's =History of the Peninsular War= proceeds to its fourth volume, 1811-12 (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford). The year has also produced one or two valuable studies of Greater Britain, chiefly continuations of previous undertakings, such as the sixth volume of Mr. Wyatt Tilby's =The English People Overseas=--South Africa, 1486-1913 (Constable), and Sir Charles Lucas's =Historical Geography of the British Colonies, Vol. III.=, revised by Dr. A. B. Keith (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford). Mr. Milford also publishes =The Oxford Survey of the British Empire=, an invaluable work in six volumes, edited by Mr. A. J. Herbertson and Mr. J. R. Haworth. Several Historical studies of Ancient and Medieval London are issued, and to bring the subject to date we have Sir Laurence Gomme's important work (Williams and Norgate). With regard to Ancient History the year is somewhat a barren one, but we gladly welcome Mr. T. Lloyd's =The Making of the Roman People= (Longmans), and the first volume of Messrs. Hutchinson's =History of the Nations=, edited by Mr. G. W. Hutchinson, and supported by such eminent authorities in their various departments as Professor Flinders Petrie, Sir Richard Temple and Dr. Mahaffy.

The subject of History naturally leads to the more particular consideration of literature which deals with the countries prominently involved in the present European conflict,--France, Russia and Germany.

In addition to the studies of Napoleon already referred to, there is a considerable output of books dealing with the intricacies of the international situation, and with the echoes of 1870, as for example Mr. Vizetelly's =My Days of Adventure=,--treating of "The Fall of France, 1870-71" (Chatto & Windus), also the =Correspondance du Duc D'Aumale et de Cuvillier-Fleury= (1865-71), of which the fourth volume is issued by MM. Plon-Nourrit. Another interesting and important work bearing upon the situation is M. Reynaud's =Histoire Génerale de l'Influence Française en Allemagne= (Hachette), tracing the workings of French civilisation in Germany,--and the debt owed by this last-mentioned country to France.

Associated with the same subject must be mentioned =French Civilisation in the Nineteenth Century= (Fisher Unwin) by A. L. Guerard. It is delightful to greet =Les Comedies-Ballets de Molière=, edited by M. Péllisson (Hachette),--being the Ballets written for the Court of Louis XIV.,--also a =Life of Saint-Säens=, by J. Bonnerot (Durand), before turning to the literature concerning the political and philosophical outlook of Germany.

It may be remembered by occasional readers how much space in our columns the increasing flow of volumes on Germany has in the few last years occupied. This year, as might be expected, the mass of books is greater than ever, and some of the most informing ones come from that country itself. Every one is acquainted, at least by name, with the writings of Treitschke, whose =Life and Works= are now translated into English for the first time, and published by Messrs. Jerrold, and Allen & Unwin. The great Professor's =Political Thought= is further dealt with by H. W. C. Davis (Constable), who gives also extracts from the writer's now world-famous views upon England. Mr. Douglas Sladen also contributes a translation of =The Confessions of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and the Life of Frederick the Great=, by the same notable author (Hutchinson). Two interesting books on German social and political life are given us by Mr. W. H. Dawson,--=Municipal Life and Government in Germany= (Longmans), and =The Evolution of Modern Germany= (Fisher Unwin), this last portraying the change in German thought since the days of Goethe, Kant and Schiller. One of the most amazing books of the time is Professor Morgan's translation of =The German War-Book= (Murray), a work which takes precedence of all other German military publications, being directly issued for the instruction of the German officer by the authority of the German General Staff. Professor Morgan's fine, critical Introduction and discussion of its Machiavellian principles is of great value. Among other important German publications we must take note of Prince Bülow's =Imperial Germany=, as translated by Marie A. Lewenz (Cassell). Other books, not by German authors, are also pressed upon us. Lord Roberts--whose opinion will be hailed and venerated by all right-thinking Britons--advised all who wished to understand the "present crisis" to read =Germany and England=, by Professor Cramb, and having an Introduction by the Hon. Joseph Choate (Murray). _The Times_ likewise assures us that if any one wishes to understand the equity of our cause in the present war, he should read =Pan-Germanism=, by Dr. Roland G. Usher (Professor of History, Washington University, St. Louis) (Constable).

Russia likewise has had her share of attention, and the =Life of Catherine the Great= has again been studied, this time by Mr. E. A. Brayley Hodgetts (Methuen), also Mr. Maurice Baring has been moved to make us better acquainted with =The Mainsprings of Russia= (Nelson) in a popular handbook, as he has also contributed =An Outline of Russian Literature= to "The Home University Library" (Williams & Norgate). =An Economic History of Russia= is attempted by J. Mavor, Ph.D,; Professor of Political Economy in Toronto University (Dent); also Mr. N. O. Winter gives us =The Russian Empire of To-day and Yesterday= (Simpkin Marshall), and Madame N. Jarintzoff offers us papers on Russia as =The Country of Extremes= (Sidgwick & Jackson). Sir Claude Macdonald lends the authority of a Preface to =With the Russians in Mongolia=, by H. G. C. Perry Ayscough, and Captain Otter-Barry (Lane). A highly satisfactory tribute to the accessibility of the Russia of to-day lies in the first issue in England of Baedeker's Guide-book to =Russia. With Teheran, Port Arthur and Peking= (London, Fisher Unwin). Fridtjof Nansen likewise issues his impressions of a journey =Through Siberia: the Land of the Future=, translated by A. C. Chater (Heinemann).

Having thus briefly outlined the books which deal with the aims and characteristics of the countries now at war, it is necessary to glance at the mass of pamphlets to which the present situation has given rise. Naturally first among these come the inquiries and statements as to _How the War Began._ A Monograph on this subject is offered us by Mr. J. M. Kennedy, with an Introduction by Dr. W. L. Courtney (Hodder & Stoughton); then we have =Why Britain Fights=, by Dr. J. Madley (MacLehose); =Why Britain is at War=, by Sir Edward Cook (Macmillan); and, by no means least important, we welcome =Why We are at War=: Great Britain's case, by Members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History (Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Milford). Mr. Austin Harrison also has an opinion to offer on =The Kaiser's War=, introduced by a Foreword from his distinguished relative, Mr. Frederic Harrison (Allen & Unwin), nor can we omit from the innumerable list of Pamphlets to be read Dr. W. L. Courtney's =Armageddon and After= (Chapman & Hall). Mr. Sinclair Kennedy's =The Pan Angles=, with its advocacy of the federation of the seven English-speaking nations (Longmans), seems a suitable reply to the Pan-Germanism of which we hear so much. For those who wish to follow it clearly, =_The Times_ History of the War= (illustrated) will be found useful (=The Times= Publishing Co.).

An important volume, bearing on the international situation, is issued by Messrs. Smith Elder: this is =Italy's Foreign and Colonial Policy=, a selection from the speeches delivered in the Italian Parliament by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Tommaso Tittoni (recently Ambassador at St. James's), disclosing, as the outline of his policy--fidelity to the Triple Alliance, together with friendship both for France and England. The book is translated by Baron Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino.

The war has naturally given a tremendous impetus to Military and Naval publications. These abound, and deal very particularly with such subjects as the possibilities of a German Invasion, Military Tactics, Mobilisation, Voluntary Service, Equipment, and the like. =The War Office, Past and Present= is dealt with by Captain Owen Wheeler (Methuen), and Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton publish a series of studies of the British, French, Russian and German Armies "From Within."

Much attention is given to Aerial Reconnaissance, as in Brigadier-General Henderson's book (Murray), and in Mr. Ledeboer's translation of Commandant Duchene's =Flight without Formulæ= (Longmans). The Despatches of Sir John French are published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall.

Many books are written about the Navy. Two historical studies call for notice: =The Navy Under the Early Stuarts=, by C. D. Penn (The Faith Press, Leighton Buzzard and Manchester), and =The Old Scots Navy=, from 1689-1710, edited for the Navy Records Society by J. Grant, LL.B. The conditions of modern Naval warfare are treated of by many experts both as regards the use of such different units as the Torpedo-Boat, the Cruiser or the Battleship. =The Naval Battle= is discussed by Lieutenant A. Baudry, assisted by Captain G. Laur (of the French Army), and with an Introduction by Admiral Sir Reginald N. Custance, G.C.B. (Hugh Rees).

Opportunities of Travel have necessarily been curtailed since the war began, but up till then a good deal of adventure, chiefly in the South American Continent, has been recorded. =The Upper Reaches of the Amazon=, by J. F. Woodroffe (Methuen), =The Amazing Argentine=, by John Foster Fraser (Cassell), =Bolivia, Its People and Its Resources=, by P. Wallé, translated by B. Miall (Fisher Unwin),--these volumes alone would suffice to show the marked trend of adventurous interest, nor is =Tropical Africa= overlooked, as witness Captain Stigand's book on =Administration= there (Methuen), then Canada is emphasised as =The Land of Open Doors= in a work by Mr. J. Burgon Bickersteth, with a Foreword by Earl Grey (Wells Gardner); Mr. Hamilton Fyfe gives us =The Real Mexico= (Heinemann) and Mr. Lowes Dickinson publishes =Appearances=, being interesting Notes of his Experiences as the holder of the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship (Dent).

It is an interesting coincidence, if nothing more, that a year unhappily marked by the destruction of so many foreign churches of priceless medieval design--Rheims Cathedral, for instance--should have been especially noticeable for its publications on Architecture. First we gladly welcome =Cathedrals and Cloisters of Northern France=, with illustrations from original photographs, by Elise Whitlock Rose and Vida Hunt Francis (Putnams); equally welcome is Mr. Loisel's fine illustrated monograph, =La Cathédrale de Rouen= (Laurens), which includes a list of the succeeding architects who have worked upon it from 1214 to the present day. Here too perhaps ought to be mentioned Mr. A. J. de Havilland's =Storied Windows= (Blackwood)--a study of old church glass, from the twelfth century to the Renaissance, especially in France.

Coming to our own beloved shrines, we read with delight the Dean of Gloucester's =Secrets of a Great Cathedral= (Dent), and appropriately comes Mr. Bumpus's =Guide to Gothic Architecture= (Werner Laurie). To set the seal upon all Mr. Geoffrey Scott presents--through Messrs. Constable--his =Architecture of Humanism=, a brilliant and original work by a gifted author. Some attention has also been given to Domestic Architecture, and particularly to that of the Georgian Period both in England and Ireland. The Count de Soissons enquires into =The Æsthetic Purpose of Byzantine Architecture= (Murray & Evendon), and Dr. Coomaraswamy continues his studies of Indian Architecture, which (=Part VII.=) is issued by Messrs. Luzac.

The Art publications of the year are largely devoted to Decorative Design, and to the Reproduction of Medieval Illumination and Embroidery, as, for example, =The Book of Kells=, described by Sir Edward Sullivan, and illustrated in colour by _The Studio_ Press, or again, The =Book of the Bayeux Tapestry=, issued by Messrs. Chatto & Windus, in coloured facsimile, with an Introduction from Mr. Hilaire Belloc. In this connexion the sumptuous volumes of Messrs. Batsford's =Library of Decorative Art=, being an illustrated survey of English Decoration, Tapestry and Furniture during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, should be noticed, as also a volume on =Grinling Gibbons and the Woodwork of his Age--1648-1720=, by H. Avray Tipping (Newnes). Turning to the study of Art in Painting, many collectors will follow with keen interest Dr. A. P. Laurie's researches into =The Pigments of the Old Masters= (Macmillan), an attempt to ascertain the age of pictures by scientific microscopic investigation, which will earn the gratitude of all genuine art-lovers and collectors. _The Studio_ publishes reproductions of =The Landscapes of Corot=, the Text being contributed by Mr. Croal Thomson, and we give a most hearty welcome to =Art in Flanders=, by Mr. Max Roose, the learned Director of the Plantin Moretus Museum at Antwerp (Heinemann).

Here too might be mentioned the Catalogue of =Italian Book Illustrations and Early Printing= prepared by Mr. A. W. Pollard from the Collection of Mr. C. W. Dyson Perrins, and printed by Mr. Quaritch.

The year has not been great in Poetic Drama. The writers to whom we are already indebted for previous good things continue to provide for us. In this way we have two plays from Mr. Rabindranath Tagore, =Chitra= (The India Society, the Chiswick Press and Macmillan) and =The King of the Dark Chamber= (Macmillan). Lady Gregory writes about =Our Irish Theatre= (Putnam), and perhaps the most arresting play of the year is Mr. Zangwill's =The Melting Pot= (Heinemann). We also welcome =Five Plays= from Lord Dunsany (Grant Richards) and Mr. John Drinkwater's =Rebellion= (Nutt). Mr. Galsworthy publishes =Three Plays= with Messrs. Duckworth, who are also responsible for the issue of a Second Series of Bjornstjerne Bjornson's =Plays=, translated, as before, by Mr. E. Bjorkman. Mr. Martin Seeker continues his edition of Hauptmann's =Dramatic Works= edited by Mr. Ludwig Lewisohn.

Poetry is with us always, and the year is not exceptional for any outstanding inspiration. Mr. Elkin Mathews is, as usual, to the fore in this department of Literature. He publishes Mr. Gibson's =Thoroughfares and Borderlands=, the =Cubist Poems= of Mr. Max Weber, =Sailor Town=, delightfully fresh Sea Songs and Ballads, by Miss Fox-Smith, =Moorland Sanctuary and Other Poems=, by a new singer--Mr. R. H. Law--and also the collection of Mr. Binyon's fine war-poems, styled =The Winnowing Fan=. The war has indeed animated the writers of patriotic verse, and Messrs. Chatto and Windus publish a collection of =Poems of the Great War=--sold for the benefit of the Prince of Wales' Fund--also Mr. Lane prints =Songs and Sonnets for England in War Time=. Needless to say, the best known modern poets are among the contributors to these volumes. The Poetry Bookshop offers Mr. Maurice Hewlett's =Sing-Songs of the War=, and also issues Mr. Harold Monro's =Children of Love=. Some =New Poems= by Robert Browning and Mrs. Browning are edited by Sir Frederick Kenyon (Smith Elder), and Mr. Thomas Hardy gives us =Satires of Circumstance= (Macmillan). From Mr. Masefield we have =Philip the King and Other Poems= (Heinemann), and we welcome more poems from Miss Rose Macaulay: =The Two Blind Countries= (Sidgwick and Jackson).

The year has had two startling poetic sensations: the discovery of a fragment of Sappho, and of Alcæus, already noticed, and of two hitherto unpublished Sonnets of Keats. Deeply interesting, yet weakly characteristic of him as these are, it cannot be said that their publication adds any further lustre to a reputation which in the great genius of sonnet-writing can scarcely be enhanced.

Looking back on the year that has passed we are particularly grateful for two literary gifts we have received: the Address of Mr. Balfour to the British Association on May 8 last, and Mr. Frazer's completed edition of his great life-work, =The Golden Bough= (Macmillan).

With the output of the year's Fiction it is absolutely impossible to cope in this brief article. One of the fascinating literary articles of the year has been Mr. Henry James' _critique_ upon =The Younger Generation=, issued in _The Times' Literary Supplement_ for March and April.

ALICE LAW.

SCIENCE OF THE YEAR.

ASTRONOMY.

A total eclipse of the sun took place on August 21, but owing to the war the observations were much interfered with, the expeditions to Riga and Kieff having to be abandoned. The Greenwich party obtained good results at Minsk, as also the Royal Astronomical Society's party at Hormosand (Sweden). The prominences were numerous and active, and took fantastic forms; the corona was of a slightly modified minimum type, and the solar plexus was very pronounced. In London, 65 per cent. of the surface was obscured, as against 92 per cent. in 1912. The eclipse was one of a long series which began in 1211, and will end in 1986. There will be no total eclipse during the present year, the next two dates being February, 1916, and June, 1918.

The dearth of sunspots, which had not been so marked for over a century, came to an end late in March, when a spot about 25,000 miles in diameter appeared on the N.E. limb, and became doubled shortly afterwards. From August 13 to August 25 a spot was visible to the naked eye.

Dr. St. John, using the 60 feet spectrograph on Mount Wilson, finds that vapours rush outwards radially from the interior of a spot, while the motion of chromospheric matter is inwards.

A transit of Mercury took place on November 7, and lasted about four hours. It was well observed, but was not expected to yield results of importance. The last transit occurred in 1907, the next two are due in 1924 and 1927.

The very small ninth satellite of Jupiter, of the nineteenth magnitude, was photographed for the first time, on July 21, by Mr. Seth B. Robinson. Its orbit is elliptical, and its motion retrograde, with a period of about three years.

Several of the satellites of Saturn have been shown to have equal periods of rotation and revolution, like our moon.

The Astronomer Royal, Dr. F. W. Dyson, lecturing at the Royal Institution, on April 24, said that the solar system was near the middle of a finite group of stars, the limiting distances of which were from 1,000 to 10,000 parsecs. (By "parsec" is meant a parallax of one second, corresponding to a distance equal to 206,265 times that of the sun.) About 88 per cent. of the stars brighter than 10.5 magnitude are from 20,000,000 to 150,000,000 times as far off as the sun, and of these 90 to 95 per cent, are intrinsically brighter, 87 per cent. being fifty times as bright, or more. Red stars are very distant; yellow stars, on the whole, are nearest, and the distance increases as the colour changes to blue or orange. The thinning out in the number of stars at very remote distances is conspicuous.

Professor E. W. Brown, addressing the Cosmical Physics section of the British Association, spoke of his work on the motion of the moon, which had occupied him for twenty years. All gravitational forces have been taken account of, and the improved tables will be made use of in the Nautical Almanac for 1919, the intermediate issues having already been printed. A few residual corrections remain, the origin of which may be due to electrical or other forces.

A selenium photometer for determining stellar magnitudes, devised by Mr. Joel Stebbins, and improved by Rosenberg of Tübingen, enables a magnitude to be determined within about 1-500th, after a couple of minutes' exposure, using a 5-inch refractor. By the ordinary method the process is very much more tedious and less accurate.

The Canadian reflector of 72-inch aperture will be ready in about two years, and will be erected on a hill seven miles north of Victoria, B.C. It is designed for spectrographic work and for photographing star-clusters and nebulæ. Its focal length of 30 feet can be increased to 108 feet by a Cassegrainian combination.

The first comet of the year (1914 _a_) was discovered on March 29, by Kritzinger, in Ophiuchus; the second (1914 _b_) by Zlatinsky, on May 15, in Perseus, and the third (1914 _c_) by Neujmin, on June 29. The thirty-third return of Encke's comet was observed in November; its perihelion is now nine days later than if the motion had continued as in 1848.

An aerolite, one of the largest ever known to have fallen in Great Britain, descended in a field at Appley Bridge, near Wigan, on October 13. The weight of the two principal fragments was 28 lb. 13 oz., and it measured a little over 9 inches in each dimension. It was composed of olivine 63.43 per cent., enstatite 31.5 per cent., pyrites and metallic matter 5.07 per cent., and showed traces of superficial fusion, but presented no exceptional features apart from its size.

C. L. B.

GEOLOGY.

The gases expelled from the volcano of Kilauea, unmixed with air, have been collected on the spot, and examined by Day and Shepherd, who found them to consist chiefly of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, sulphuretted hydrogen, hydrochloric acid, and, of course, water vapour. No argon or other rare gases could be detected.

Mr. A. Brun, who has had the hardihood to descend about 1,000 feet into the crater of Vesuvius, found at that level a floor in which was an aperture some 200 feet deep, from which issued gases, steam, and other concomitants of volcanic action. His results are published in a monograph (1914) wherein he assigns to water vapour a less important part than had hitherto been ascribed to it. Mr. F. Burlingham, on the same occasion, took kinematograph pictures of the interior of the crater, which were exhibited in London early in the year.

At the British Association meeting in Australia a human skull was exhibited which had been found about thirty years previously in a cave near Warwick (north of the Darling range), but not till recently carefully examined. It was associated with Pleistocene animal remains, though the fauna of Australia has changed more rapidly than in most other countries, and the period must not be put too far back. The skull was of a more primitive type than even the Piltdown specimen (A.R., 1913, p. 55), the anterior width being greatest at the level of the nose, and the summit was peak-shaped instead of dome-shaped. Moreover, the facial angle was hardly 45 degrees, instead of being a right angle or more, and the upper canine teeth were disproportionately large, and conical. The race to which it belonged is supposed to have migrated from Western Asia, and to have died out before giving rise to any of the savage tribes inhabiting the continent since the historic period.

Mr. A. D. Hall, of the Development Commission, referred in the Agricultural Section of the Association to the large waste areas on the earth which might be made productive by drainage, manuring, tillage, or other treatment without excessive expenditure. Many of these occur in populous countries, and many more in remoter or uncivilised districts.

The occurrence of coal in Arctic regions is no new discovery, and for eight or nine years it has been exported from Spitzbergen, the amount in 1913 being some 40,000 tons. The coal is of tertiary age, and is of good quality for steam-raising purposes. It is found conveniently near the surface, close to Advent Bay, and the absence of liquid water, of dust and fire-damp, eliminates the ordinary risks of coal-mining. It is a problem still unsolved by geologists how the warm climate necessary for the vegetation of a carboniferous epoch could have been brought about, either in Spitzbergen or the high southern latitudes in which Sir Douglas Mawson (see "The Home of the Blizzard," 1914) discovered samples. Astronomical and geographical changes have both been invoked, but without furnishing a satisfactory demonstration.

Attention has recently been called to the great marble deposits in Spitzbergen, which yield stones of varied and often new colours, and suitable for building or ornamental purposes. As in the case of coal the situation of the quarries--in King's Bay and elsewhere--leaves nothing to be desired from the exporter's point of view.

C. L. B.

GEOGRAPHY.

A gift of 24,000_l._ from Sir James Caird to Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition across the Antarctic placed the enterprise on a sure footing and enabled the leader and his staff to proceed rapidly with their preparations. By July the members of the expedition were chosen; Mr. Frank Wild is second in command of the Weddell Sea party, Lieut. F. A. Worsley is in navigating command of the _Endurance_ on the voyage from London to Buenos Ayres and the Weddell Sea, and Lieutenant A. Mackintosh is leader of the party which sails in the _Aurora_ for the Ross Sea area.

The _Endurance_ left Plymouth for the Antarctic on August 8, and Sir Ernest Shackleton followed from Liverpool on September 19 to overtake her in South America, leaving Buenos Ayres for South Georgia on October 27. It is now intended that the _Endurance_ shall winter in the Antarctic in latitude 77° 30' S.; if this point is reached early enough the trans-Antarctic journey can be begun this season, and in that case Sir Ernest hopes to meet the Ross Sea party in April, 1915, but, if not, then in March, 1916. Wireless telegraphic apparatus is to be installed so that communication can be kept up with the rest of the world.

At the base in the Weddell Sea area the party is to divide into three divisions; the main one under Sir Ernest Shackleton will proceed on the trans-Antarctic journey of 1,700 miles to meet the Ross Sea party; a westerly division will explore the continuation of the Victoria Mountains; and an easterly division will investigate Enderby Land.

The Ross Sea party will send out a division over the Barrier Ice which will follow the route up Beardmore Glacier to meet the leader of the expedition and his comrades. It is intended on the land journeys to use motor sledges and an aeroplane with truncated wings, as well as dogs of which there are one hundred.

Sir Douglas Mawson has communicated to the Royal Geographical Society a complete account of his voyage to Antarctica and his journey inland, the region investigated lying due south of Australia between longitude 90° and 150° east. The expedition sailed from Hobart on December 2, 1911, in the _Aurora_ and made for Macquerie Island, a rocky structure twenty miles long by three and a half broad, where a party was left for purposes of research. Here a wireless telegraph station was established, and by its means communication was kept up with the main contingent in Antarctica and with Australia. On January 6, 1912, an ice tongue of immense size was sighted projecting from continental land, where, after some difficulty, a harbour was found near Cape Denison, and by January 19 a house was erected and the stores had been transferred thither. On this part of the coast the gales blowing from the land seem to be almost continuous and greatly add to the danger of navigation; for example, at Adelie Land, the average wind velocity is fifty miles an hour, average hourly velocities of 100 miles an hour were common, and ninety miles an hour for twenty-four hours has been recorded.

Three inland journeys were undertaken in an easterly direction, the longest being under the leadership of Dr. Mawson; it was on this journey that Lieutenant Ninnis was killed by falling into a crevasse and Dr. Mertz died from exposure, while the leader himself, left alone to struggle to the base, would have succumbed but for the fortunate discovery of a store of provisions. A fourth exploring party was led by Mr. Bage in a southerly direction over the plateau, and a fifth was conducted by Mr. Bickerton over the high lands towards the West. Seven members of the expedition remained on Adelie Land for a second year, and finally Adelaide was reached on February 26, 1914.

A new Anglo-Swedish expedition is under consideration to explore thoroughly the part of the Antarctic continent due south of South America. It will be under the leadership of Professor Nordenskjold.

Dr. Steffansson sailed more than a year ago on the _Karluk_ for the western part of the Northern Archipelago, but the vessel, after being caught in the ice in lat. 70° 47' N., long. 150° 7' W., was wrecked on January 11, 1914, through the ice unexpectedly breaking up. Captain Bartlett and eight others were rescued from Wrangel Island by the U.S. Government ship _Bear_, but eleven members of the expedition, including most of the scientific staff, have been lost. Dr. Steffansson, who had left the _Karluk_ before she was wrecked, travelled northwards until open water was reached; thence in pursuit of his journey he thought he might be driven by wind and currents on to Banks Island, and in that event he would await help there. Whalers who have touched at the island have, however, seen no trace of him and his three companions.

Dr. Bruce returned in September from Spitzbergen, where he has been engaged in hydrographical and other research work.

Mr. Jonas Lied sailed in July for Northern Siberia with the intention of opening up a commercial route over the sea with that country. The venture has been partly successful, but the expedition had to return earlier than expected and a larger one has now been organised.

The Norwegian explorer Sverdrup has been endeavouring to trace the fate of more than one Russian expedition in the polar area north of Europe and Asia.

No news is yet to hand of Professor Macmillan's expedition for the exploration of the region north of Grant Land.

A report on the recent work of Sir A. Stein in Central Asia has been received. Crossing the Tarim he reached Niya where he discovered in a sand-buried settlement documents in the Indian language. Evidence of Chinese occupation and Chinese trade were discovered in the course of his travels, copper coins, arrow-heads and relics of the silk trade being among the articles found. He is now proceeding to Kan-su for further work of exploration.

Dr. Filippi has been engaged in scientific work in Baltistan in Northern Kashmir, his winter base being Skardu, the capital, which is situated at an altitude of nearly 8,000 feet. Observations for establishing longitudinal data have been carried on here and at Dehra Dun, and gravimetrical work was accomplished at Wozul Hardu at an elevation of 14,000 feet.

Captain F. M. Bailey has returned from the exploration of the Tsangpo or Upper Brahmaputra River, having mapped its course for 380 miles. He has discovered a mountain named Gyala Peri, the altitude of which is 24,460 feet, and he has traced the upper waters of the Subansiri, a river which rises north of the Himalayas and breaks through them.

Captains Pemberton and Trenchard have continued their travels in the region of the Plains of Assam; Mr. Kingdon Ward has attempted to penetrate South-East Tibet from China, but had to return on account of political difficulties; and Dr. Legendre is undertaking a new journey to Western China.

In Sumatra Mr. Boden Kloss has made a journey to Mount Indrapura, a volcano with an active crater and the highest point in that country. ex-President Roosevelt, in conjunction with Colonel Rondon, has made an expedition in Brazil down the Rio Duvida, the personnel of the expedition including Mr. Kermit Roosevelt, two biologists, an engineer and a surgeon. After four days' progress along the river cataracts were met with, and the next sixty miles took forty-two days to accomplish. The last cataract was passed about latitude 10° 50' S., and in latitude 5° 20' S. the river joins the Madeira. This is the most important tributary of the Madeira below the junction of the Beni and Mamoré, but hitherto it has not been mapped and the expedition has accomplished a remarkable piece of work.

An account has been published by Dr. Rose, an experienced traveller, of his journeys in the region of the sources of the Uaupeo River as far as the Rio Negro, his object being mainly topographical.

A report of the travels of Dr. Fritz Jaeger in German East Africa has been issued, and is interesting, as it gives a concise account of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa in which is included Lakes Magadi, Manyara, and Balangda.

The French travellers M. Rohan Chabot and Captain Grimaud have returned after exploring the region of Mossamedes and examining the cataracts of Middle Kunene, the journey being continued to the western basin of the Upper Zambesi. Commander Tilho has explored the region around Lake Tehad, and Dr. Abdul Ghani, a member of a Turkish mission, has given an account of the Jarabub oasis in Northern Africa which he had visited.

Miss Lowthian Bell has accomplished an enterprising journey to the south and south-east of Damascus, finally reaching Shammar, and has obtained interesting archæological results; and Captain Shakespear, British Resident at Koweit, has travelled the country from the Persian Gulf to Suez, along a route seldom trodden by Europeans.

J. R. A.

METEOROLOGY.

Some changes have been introduced in the arrangements and work of the Meteorological Office in consequence of an increased grant received from the Treasury. In the reports the Scottish National data are now to be included, so that one publication will contain the whole data of the British Isles; additional instrumental equipment is to be provided at Kew; a weather station is to be established at Falmouth; and several junior professional assistants are to be added to the staff.

Recently published accounts of balloon ascents show that the mean height of the stratosphere is 10 kilometres, the temperature being -54.5° C., the temperature at the maximum height of 14.7 kilometres being -52° C. The average temperature of the air column between 1 and 9 kilometres is -21° C.

Dr. Walker, in the memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Department, emphasises the necessity for the correlation between two quantities to be a high one if it is to express the probability of a physical relation; chance may give a correlation factor which when carefully interpreted has no physical meaning.

In _Terrestrial Magnetism_ reports appear of the work done by the _Carnegie_ in her second cruise round the world. It is stated that along the Gulf Stream to Hammerfest the deviation of the compass west of true north is greater in general, by as much as 1° to 2°, than that given by British and American charts. The potential gradient is much the same over the sea as over the land, but the radio-activity is smaller, and the specific conductivity greater, on water than on land.

At Eskdalemuir Observatory electrical observations of the atmosphere have not been taken over any long period, but what have been recorded differ considerably from the results at Kew. In the north the conditions are much more disturbed than in the south, especially in the summer, the mean potential gradient being higher at Kew than at Eskdalemuir. At the latter station the number of ions between summer and winter is small and uncertain.

Messrs. Stewart and Jörgensen have made observations of the potential gradient of the atmosphere in the industrial district around Leeds, and they find it is exceptionally large, a result attributable to the gases poured into the air from the numerous furnaces in the vicinity.

The relation of annual drainage yield to rainfall has been discussed by D. Halton Thomson, who shows that a rainfall, over say twenty years, of a given frequency produces a yield of the same frequency, and that a simple formula can be obtained connecting these quantities. Thus at Sheffield the yield is equal to the rainfall minus fourteen inches, the evaporation of fourteen inches being quite constant whatever the rainfall. This constancy of evaporation does not hold at all places, for at Torquay the evaporation varies to a small degree with the amount of the rainfall.

An unexpected and curious see-saw between the rainfall of Havana and of the South-West of England and South Wales has been discovered by Mr. A. H. Brown in the course of a study of Cuban rainfall. In Havana during May to October there is a wet season, and an excess of rainfall in this season is very generally associated with a deficient rainfall at the beginning of the next year in the parts of England mentioned; on the other hand a deficiency at Havana is the precursor of excess in the south-westerly parts of England and Wales.

A paper on "Canadian Weather Forecasting," by Mr. B. C. Webber, has been issued by the Meteorological Office of Canada. It covers the period 1874-1904 and supplies a quantity of statistical information on percentages of low pressure areas causing storms, the directions in which depressions move, etc. On the Great Lakes November is the stormiest month, but on the Gulf of St. Lawrence storms are most frequent in January and February. Since January, 1912, the Canadian Meteorological Office has issued a daily meteorological chart of the northern hemisphere, but the advance of forecasting has not been very rapid and further progress will probably not be made until more detailed information of the upper air, especially of the stratosphere, is obtainable, as it is now recognised that the character of the ground weather is much influenced by the condition of this layer of air.

Professor W. R. Blair observes that up to 1-1/2 kilometres above the earth's surface the same type of daily variation of weather elements is found as at ground level, but above this height a second maximum appears after midnight, the time of which alters with increasing altitude.

An interesting paper in _Himmel und Erde_, by Professor G. Hellmann, deals with superstitions relating to weather, and under the head of character and causes of the weather he reminds us of the prevalence of the belief in equinoctial gales, although the evidence of careful observers is not in favour of stormy winds at the equinoxes. Sayings in relation to the colour of the sky in the morning and evening are not without some measure of truth in predicting the weather, but prognostications of the weather from the moon, although persistently found, have very little to support them when tested by reliable observations. Lastly, the making of weather, for example the firing of cannon to produce rain, or the warding off of thunder by the ringing of church bells, still in vogue in parts of Switzerland, is a superstition which dies hard, although completely discredited by science.

Dr. A. E. Douglass has published an account of his investigations on tree growth in relation to rainfall, and from an examination of the growth of rings in trees, involving 10,000 observations, he concludes that definite rainfall information in the past can be obtained from the mode of growth of trees. The average age of the trees examined was 348 years.

Upper air investigations are likely to suffer from the advent of the war. International days were fixed to the end of the year but not after, and meetings of International Committees will probably be suspended. The Manchester station has been closed since the beginning of the year and the station at Pyrton Hill ceased to be available in the spring, but its work is now being carried on at Benson six miles W.S.W. of Pyrton Hill.

In all parts of the British Isles the mean temperature of the year was in excess by as much as 2° in the East and North-East of England and the Midland counties, and by about 1° in other parts of the country. The high temperature of 90° in the shade was touched in the South of England and the lowest temperature of the year, namely 7°, occurred in the East of Scotland. The rainfall was greatest in the North of Scotland, where it reached 49.31 inches, and least in the North-East of England, the fall there being 24.82 inches; in most parts of England and in the south of Ireland the amount was decidedly above the average. Sunshine was normal.

The Terrestrial Magnetic Elements at Greenwich for the year 1913 were:--