"Scarcely broke from school," young Mr. John Bradstreet has written
some pleasant Repton Sketches (Benn, 5s.). He will be heard of again, we think, for these essays, although outwardly so literary that they are almost demure, have high spirits and a ranging mind behind them. Mr. Norris's pen- and-ink illustrations are delightful—especially "School Matches." Renton' is worthy of .skilled portrayal : the old school has been well drawn here in line and text. Some twinges of conscience may be aroused in many of us by This Smoking World by Mr. A. E. Hamilton (Methuen, Os.), Wine and tobacco, as Sir Montague Shearman says in his introductory essay, present much the same social problems. and the use of either tends to promote sociability. But the use of alcohol, we would add, involves far graver issues than the other. However, "The incense to St. Nicotine costs more in one year of American smoking than all the church incense burned since the dawn of history, and the money devoted to the worship of the demon god is more than that contributed to all other gods, pagan or Christian, in this land of multiple religious faiths." This extract is a fair sample of the style ; arresting, but sometimes irritating. Nicotine and prussic acid are both absorbed in small quantities by the smoker, and carbon monoxide to a larger extent. However, a Russian experimenter who forced sonic rabbits to inhale tobacco smoke for six to eight hours a day, found they estab- lished a tolerance for the deadly weed and only showed slight symptoms of arteriosclerosis after smoking steadily for live months. Horrible as this test was, it showed that the moderate smoker has little to fear. If a rabbit can indulge in such orgies, our pipe need not go unlit.
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