10 DECEMBER 1892, Page 22

Science Stories. By Andrew Wilson. (Osgood, Mcllvaine, and Co.)—These stories

are another instalment of the essays on science by which Dr. Andrew Wilson has gained so high a repu- tation. He disposes incidentally of not a few popular delusions, as, for instance, that of supposing that the sea rises or recedes on this or that part of the coast. The sea-level must always remain the same ; it is the land that rises or falls. The argument against Vegetarianism is peculiarly closely reasoned and effective. The high-flying Vegetarians who object to milk are met by the obvious argument that it is the one food which Nature prescribes with certainty. That Vegetarianism has special diseases—e.g., de- generation of the arteries from excess of mineral substances, that it is not conducive to strength, that experience is against it, that the internal structure of man does not favour it—are considera- tions put with much force. "Stories from the Sky" is another interesting paper ; but this is a characteristic of all.