Evenings at the Microscope ; or, Researches among the Minuter Organs and Forms of Animal, Life

It is always a pleasant thing to meet Mr. Gosse in print, whether he ushers himself into the world from the Red Lion press in Pæternoster Row, or obtains the sanction of “the Committee of General Literature and Education appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.” Why Mr. Gosse publishes his books under the direction of a Society for promoting Christian knowledge at all we are at a loss to perceive, for we find nothing in this book that might not have been published by Mr. Van Voorst, or the most sceptical publisher in the Row. We are, in fact, a little jealous of religious societies publishing books of this sort, both on the grounds that such books are not strictly Christian, and that funds are appropriated to their production to the injury of the regular publisher which were not intended for this object. It is true that this does not in any’ way interfere with the quality of the work, and this is with what we have more particularly to do. As its name would imply, Mr. Gosse’s book is a popular introduction to working with the microscope. It differs, however, from other introductions to the microscope, that it contains no account of the structure of the microscope at all. This is really a feature, albeit a negative one, in the book. As reviewers bound to read every word of every book we notice, we are glad for once to deal with one on the microscope without anything about the microscope at all.