THE ACTIVE SERVICE POCKET-BOOK4
MB. STEWART is an officer of stupendous energy and industry, and while the first edition of his Pocket-Book, which has already been noticed in our columns, was in itself a mine of information with its four hundred and twenty-five pages, the third edition, which has been increased to nine hundred and thirty-two pages, is a perfect marvel of military lore. The index alone has two thousand four hundred and fifty entries, and the list of contents is divided into no leas than fourteen parts and six appendices. Nevertheless, the whole volume. being printed on India paper, is only one inch thick, and is still qnite accurately described as a "Pocket-Book."
* Natures Moods and Tenses. By Horace G. Hutchinson. With 32 Illustra• tions. 'London: Smith, Elder, and Co. [7s. 64. net.] t Ths Active Service rocket-Book. By Bertrand Stewart, Second Lieutenant West Rent Imperial Yeomanry. Third Edition, Enlarged and Beiised. With 143 Plates. London; W. Clowqa and Bona. [4a. not.] We are not sure, however, whether Mr. Stewart's! colossal industry has not been in some measure thrown away. If his intention was to provide a simple reference- book for non-commissioned officers and men, whether of the Regular or of the Territorial Army, he would probably have done better to condense rather than to expand his original edition; and we cannot help thinking that in hatedbooks of this type the secret of success lies in knowing what to leave out rather than in striving to put everything in. It the book, on the other hand, is intended for officers, a large, number of the subjects dealt with, such as Field Engineering, Transport, and First Aid, are, and should be, under the care of specialist corps—Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, and the like—and cannot usefully be demanded of all officers of all arms. However, the first and second editions having met with so great a success as to create a demand for a third, we can only hope that Ur. Stewart's more optimistic estimate of the requirements, and—may we add ?—the brain-power, of the British soldier is more accurate than that of the present writer.
Ti; fairness to Mr. Stewart, we should add that the cavalry chapters, which have been entirely recast, are quite admirable, and alone make the book one which should be in the hands of all horsemen, Regular or Irregular. Mr. Stewart, who is a Yeoman himself, thus gives the lie to our thesis that in military as well as civil life the " Jack-of-all-trades " is master of none. In any case, the book is one which should be in the field equipment of every officer. If it does not make them all Napoleons, it should certainly enable them to do a great many things right which they would otherwise have done wrong.
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