Miracles of Nature and Marvels of Art. (Dean and Son.) — We
are inclined to think that this is one of the most trumpery books we have ever met with. It is, we presume, designed for the use of boys ; and it professes to give an account of such matters as steam engines, rail- ways, the electric telegraph, the Falls of Niagara, the mountains in the Moon, and so on. On not one of the numerous topics which it handles does it afford anything at all approaching to satisfactory information. It is, in fact, a mere compilation of incoherent and frequently irrele- vant facts, heaped together without the smallest attempt at methodical arrangement. As a specimen at once of the judgment displayed by the author in the selection of his illustrations, and of his skill in telling a story, we may take the following marvellous fact, which he puta prominently forward among the miracles that have been wrought by the electric telegraph :—" Mr. Joseph Birkitt, of Howden, attended the York fortnight fair, and proceeded to the railway station about 3 p.m., applying for a ticket, and giving the clerk half a sovereign, but omitting to receive his change. When he arrived at the railway station, he in- formed the clerk of the circumstance, who immediately communicated by the electric telegraph with the clerk of the York railway office, and the money was sent to Mr. Birkitt by the next train to the Howden station."
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