Anglers' Evenings. Papers by Members of the Manchester Angling Association.
(Abel Heywood and Son, Manchester.)—We cannot do better than quote the concluding sentence of the preface. This book "is a souvenir of pleasures enjoyed on the banks of pure streams and in the midst of rural scenery ; and emanating, as it does, from the chief city of a district where aquatic life is being utterly destroyed by river pollution, and where the varied beauties of nature are being too wantonly uprooted and defaced, its very title may serve the pur- pose of an additional protest, and help to stimulate the public to hasten the day when science and the will of mankind will combine to preserve and restore sights and sounds which are essential to mental health." We do not know which out of these twenty or so essays to single out for praise. There is not one which has not merits of its own, and some are quite admirable in their way. The "Manchester Anglers," though they do not neglect their own country (sadly ravaged, but not wholly desolated, by manufactures), go far a-field for their sport and their subjects. They take us with them to Norway (where there is a story of sport that makes one's mouth water), to Sutherland, to the Scotch Lowlands, and to Yorkshire. Everywhere we find them pleasant companions. More closely bearing on the immediate object of the book is Mr. E. Corbett's contribution, "Angling in the Irwell : a Record of Memories and Hopes ;" and a note by Mr. C. Estcourt, which appropriately follows it, "On the Chemical Constitution of Fishing Water, and of the Irwell." Let it suffice to extract from this latter one striking fact. The water of Thirlmere contains 3.10 grains of solid matter, that of the Irwell 4830, per gallon.
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