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BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

A Manual of Scientific Inquiry, prepared for the Use of her Majesty's Navy; and adapted for Travellers in General. Edited by Sir J. F. W. Herschel, Bart. John Murray.─ The treatises contained in this volume were, it appears, drawn up at the request of the late Lord Auckland, in accordance with a memorandum by the Lords of the Admiralty.

In this memorandum their lordships express their opinion that it would be to the honour and advantage of the navy, and conduce to the general interests of science, if new facilities and encouragement were given to the collection of information upon scientific subjects by the officers, and more particularly by the medical officers, of her Majesty's navy, when upon foreign service; and their lordships further desire that for this purpose a manual should be compiled, giving general instructions for observation and for record in various branches of science, but they do not deem it necessary that this manual should be one of a very deep and abstruse research. The subjects treated of in the present volume are─ Astronomy, by G. B. Airy, Esq.; magnetism, by Lieut. Colonel Sabine, R.A.; Hydrography, by Captain Beechey, R.N.; Tides, by the Rev. Dr. Whewell; Geography, by W. J. Hamilton, Esq.;

Geology, by Charles Darwin, Esq.; Earthquakes, by R. Mallet, Esq.; Mineralogy, by Sir H. T. De la Beche; Meteorology, by the Editor; Atmospheric Waves, by William R. Birt, Esq.; Zoology, by Richard Owen, Esq.; Botany, by Sir W. Hooker; Ethnology, by Dr. Pritchard; Medicine and Medical Statistics, by Dr. Bryson; and Statistics, by G. R. Porter, Esq.

The enumeration of the names of the above distinguished writers will show that the work is of a high character; indeed, it seems to have been compiled with a very great care and ability. It may be added that the volume is printed in a very portable form, and in a clear and elegant type.