Genre:

Regular Feature, Review

Publications reviewed:

Burroughs 1884a Burroughs 1884b Jeans 1884 [Chilton-Young], ed. 1881[–91] McCormick 1884

Subjects:

Natural History, Ornithology, Publishing, Metallurgy, Industry, Invention, Progress, Amateurism, Mechanics, Encyclopaedias, Exploration

    Notes that 'Mr. David Douglas has added to his dainty series of cheap American reprints two new volumes by Mr. John Burroughs' which 'English readers have not till now had the benefit of' (967). Reviews William T Jeans's biographical account of the 'men who have perhaps contributed more than any others now living to England's wealth and greatness'. In telling the story of men such as Henry Bessemer, Charles W Siemens and Joseph Whitworth, Jeans also gives an account of an age 'which has witnessed unparalleled progress in the development of iron and steel manufacture and been the birth-time of the greatest inventions in metallurgy the world has known'. (969) Notices the second volume of a 'book now in the process of publication for the use of amateur mechanics' whose 'plan is that of a popular encyclopædia of mechanics, made up of articles written by practical men engaged in the art they describe' (971). Also remarks that Robert M McCormick's 'notes on natural history and geology, and admirable sketches, add greatly to the value' of his account of his Arctic and Antarctic explorations, 'for he was an accomplished draughtsman as well as a scientific man of high attainments' (972).