SOME REFERENCE BOOKS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Mn. FOWLER is cruel—no doubt, only to be kind—to the inversions of the poor literary paragraphist, who, in a pathetic attempt at brightness, writes such stuff as this : " Most racily written, with an easy conversational style about it is Mr. So-and-so's latest book—&e." No doubt that Mr. Fowler is right; and that a careful reading of his suggestions would save many of us from alipshod English. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage compresses into 750 well-printed pages a vast array of learning and information for the user of English—for everybody indeed, not professional writers alone. Such a compact and instructive volume has long been needed. This manual is indispensable to everyone who would make the best use, according to his powers, of the sharp and splendid sword of our language. (Oxford, Clarendon Press. 7s. (id.) Messrs. Truman and Knightley, of 61 Conduit Street, have sent us Schools, 1926. The preface truly says that a gener- ation ago choosing a school .for a boy and girl was a com- paratively simple matter, pit that now the choice is far wider, and a matter for weighty consideration. A classified list of schools in Great Britain, by counties, is provided, also a good map : 'there is also a list of Continental schools. The volume is good value for half a crown.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel have puh-
fished their Annual Report for 1925 (The King's Business. Is. net). It tells the story of a great work greatly done in the far corners of the earth, and is more interesting than many a novel and many a volume of literary tittle-tattle at six times the price.
We have examined the revised fifth edition of Philips' Record Atlas (10s. 6d.), and have nothing but praise for the excellent and up-to-date maps it contains. The section on Northern India demarcates the North-West Frontier with singular clearness, and the same may be said of the maps showing the new frontiers in Ireland and the Balkans.
The Advertiser's A.B.C. (T. B. Browne, 21s.) is published by one of the best-known advertising firms in London, and in its fortieth edition this valuable directory maintains its reputation. There is a general and classified list of newspapers, country newspapers and complete sections on the Colonial, foreign and American Press ; also a good selection of specimen advertisements at the beginning of the volume. Although it is regrettable that the polo player whose picture advertises a certain whisky should be holding his stick all wrong, this is a trifle after all, and a glance at these compelling pages will de- monstrate how much more truthful and useful advertisements have become in the last decade. The American and the Indian Press sections, which we have been able to check with some exactness, are thoroughly up to date.
Good Housekeeping has issued an excellent Invalid Cookery Book. The Duke of Wellington said it was difficult to find a cook who could poach an egg properly, for he was generally thinking about something else. In Chapter II. of this valuable work we find the requisite directions clearly set forth, also instructions for making a " coddled egg," which is really a boiled egg, but with what a difference i—for the coddled variety is steeped in hot and not boiling water for ten minutes instead of the usual five so that the white sets without becoming tough. This little tip alone is worth half a crown, the price of the book, but there are many other good things, of course, to make con- valescence, or, indeed, normal life, a pleasure.
The Importance of Diet in Relation to Health (Routledge, 3s. 6d.) has an introductory article by Professor Leonard Hill, in which he repeats what we have so often been told (and so often forget) that bacon and eggs for breakfast, a meat lunch, afternoon tea with sweet cakes and then a three or four course dinner in the evening is over-feeding and a direct invi- tation to ill-health. Sir D'Arcy Power contributes a very interesting article on the meals of our ancestors, and the vexed question of vitamins is clearly explained by Professor Halliburton. We welcome this addition to the growing library of dietetics, for it is the work of experts, not " cranks."
Country Life has republished in book form, at the price of 'is. 6d., the excellent articles which appeared last winter on Petworth House, Sussex. Lord Leconfield's house is one of the most beautiful in England and Country Life's description of it, both as regards text and illustrations, is worthy of the subject.
Messrs. Walter Judd have published as usual The Royal Academy Illustrated (2s. 6d.). It is an intelligent plan to buy this book before a visit to the Academy, in order to learn what to look for and what to avoid.
A book that solves the- problem of the fresh egg for the town-dweller is Suburban Poultry Keeping, by Mr. E. T. Brown (Country Life. 3s. 6d.). There must be thousands of householders with sufficient space in their back-yards for keeping fowls or ducks, to whom this practical little book will give precisely the information they desire. There are eight illustrations and twenty-six figures which will enable a handy man to make some of the necessary equipment. The contents are well arranged, and an index has not been forgotten.
That excellent quarterly Bird Notes and News published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 82 Victoria Street, S.W. 1, has just been enlarged. Articles include a good paper on the Little Owl, bird protection in Switzerland, the Starling in the U.S.A., Bird Life in the Balkans, &c. We note that a question was asked in the House of Commons recently on the importation of larks for eating.
The Women's Guild of Empire Bulletin, 24 Buckingham Palace Road, publishes a full account of the recent procession and mass meeting of women in the Albert Hall. The aims of the Society are laudable ; their chief present aim may be summarized as " sanity in industrial disputes." The Central Employment Bureau for Women and Students' Careers Association (54 Russell Square) send us their twenty- eighth annual report, which is very encouraging reading. The Bureau helps those women who want to help themselves to earn a living. Here is a fine record of progress and a business-like balance sheet, showing competent direction and much unselfish, enlightened work.
The Income Tar Payer (2 Victoria Street) contains interesting information on income-tax cases from Parliament and the Law Courts.
The Animals' Advocate (14 Clifford Street, W. 1) price 2d., describes itself frankly as a propagandist paper. Its pro- paganda is directed against such things as the worn-out horse traffic, ill treatment of pit' ponies, over-loading of horses, idiotic exhibitions of performing animals, unsupervised slaughter-houses, caged birds, chained dogs and all the miseries that we unthinkingly—sometimes also for profit—inflict upon dumb creation. We would mention also to readers of the Spectator who may be able to help a worthy cause, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals of the Poor, whose head office is at the same address and whose patron is the Prince of Wales.
Mr. St. John Ervine has written a little handbook on Ulster with a charm rare in guide books. It is obtainable from the Ulster Tourist Association, Belfast.
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