 
"Deserves to take a permanent place in the literature of youth."—London Times. "So interesting that, having once opened the book, we do not know how to leave off reading."—Saturday Review.
"The work forms a charming introduction to the study of zoÖlogy—the science of living things—which, we trust, will find its way into many hands."—Nature.
"We can conceive no better gift-book than this volume. Miss Buckley has spared no pains to incorporate in her book the latest results of scientific research. The illustrations in the book deserve the highest praise—they are numerous, accurate, and striking."—Spectator.
"The work, though mainly intended for children and young persons, may be most advantageously read by many persons of riper age, and may serve to implant in their minds a fuller and clearer conception of 'the promises, the achievements, and claims of science.'"—Journal of Science.
CONTENTS.—Wonders of Marine Life; Curiosities of Vegetable Life; Curiosities of the Insect and Reptile World; Marvels of Bird and Beast Life; Phenomenal Forces of Nature.
No former traveler has made so comprehensive and thorough a tour of Spanish and Portuguese America as did Mr. Vincent. He visited every capital, chief city, and important seaport, made several expeditions into the interior of Brazil and the Argentine Republic, and ascended the ParanÁ, Paraguay, Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena Rivers; he visited the crater of Pichinchas, 16,000 feet above the sea-level; he explored falls in the center of the continent, which, though meriting the title of "Niagara of South America," are all but unknown to the outside world; he spent months in the picturesque capital of Rio Janeiro; he visited the coffee districts, studied the slaves, descended the gold-mines, viewed the greatest rapids of the globe, entered the isolated Guianas, and so on.
"I hope I may be able to present some facts in respect to the present situation of Brazil which will be both instructive and entertaining to general readers. My means of acquaintance with that empire are principally derived from a residence of three years at Rio de Janeiro, its capital, while employed in the service of the United States Government, during which period I made a few journeys into the interior."—From the Preface.
"The book is most certainly one to be read, and will be welcomed as an addition to the scant literature on a singularly interesting country."—Courier.
"The book presents China and Japan in all these aspects; the manners and customs of the people; the institutions, tendencies, and social ideas; the government and leading men."—Boston Traveller.
"Mr. Ellwanger's instinct rarely errs in matters of taste. He writes out of the fullness of experimental knowledge, but his knowledge differs from that of many a trained cultivator in that his skill in garden practice is guided by a refined Æsthetic sensibility, and his appreciation of what is beautiful in nature is healthy, hearty, and catholic. His record of the garden year, as we have said, begins with the earliest violet, and it follows the season through until the witch-hazel is blossoming on the border of the wintry woods.... This little book can not fail to give pleasure to all who take a genuine interest in rural life. They will sympathize with most of the author's robust and positive judgments, and with his strong aversions as well as his tender attachments."—The Tribune, New York.
"The Folk-Lore of Plants" traces the superstitions and fancies connected with plants in fairy-lore, in witchcraft and demonology, in religion, in charms, in medicine, in plant language, etc. The author is an eminent English botanist, and superintendent of the gardens at Kew. "A handsome and deeply interesting volume.... In all respects the book is excellent. Its arrangement is simple and intelligible, its style bright and alluring; authorities are cited at the foot of the page, and a full index is appended.... To all who seek an introduction to one of the most attractive branches of folk-lore, this delightful volume may be warmly commended."—Notes and Queries.
No writer treats scientific subjects with so much ease and charm of style as Mr. Grant Allen. His sketches in the magazines have well been called fascinating, and the present volume, being a collection of various papers, will fully sustain his reputation as an eminently entertaining and suggestive writer. "'Flowers and their Pedigrees,' by Grant Allen, with many illustrations, is not merely a description of British wild flowers, but a discussion of why they are, what they are, and how they come to be so; in other words, a scientific study of the migration and transformation of plants, illustrated by the daisy, the strawberry, the cleavers, wheat, the mountain tulip, the cuckoo-pint, and a few others. The study is a delightful one, and the book is fascinating to any one who has either love for flowers or curiosity about them."—Hartford Courant.
"With M. Ducoudray's work as a basis, many additions having been made, derived from special writers, Mr. Verschoyle has produced an excellent work, which gives a comprehensive view of early civilization.... As to the world of the past, the volume under notice treats of Egypt, Assyria, the Far East, of Greece and Rome in the most comprehensive manner. It is not the arts alone which are fully illustrated, but the literature, laws, manners, and customs, the beliefs of all these countries are contrasted. If the book gave alone the history of the monuments of the past it would be valuable, but it is its all-around character which renders it so useful. A great many volumes have been produced treating of a past civilization, but we have seen none which in the same space gives such varied information."—The New York Times.
The Historic Portraits of this work are eighty in number, drawn from the writings of Plutarch, Grote, Gibbon, Curtius, Mommsen, Froude, Hume, Macaulay, Lecky, Green, Thiers, Taine, Prescott, Motley, and other historians. The subjects extend from Themistocles to Wellington. "Every one perusing the pages of the historians must have been impressed with the graphic and singularly penetrative character of many of the sketches of the distinguished persons whose doings form the staple of history. These pen-portraits often stand out from the narrative with luminous and vivid effect, the writers seeming to have concentrated upon them all their powers of penetration and all their skill in graphic delineation. Few things in literature are marked by analysis so close, discernment so keen, or effects so brilliant and dramatic."—From the Preface.
"The result of careful and unwearied research in every nook and cranny of ancient learning. Nowhere else can the student find so many facts in illustration of Greek and Roman methods and manners."—Dr. C. K. Adams's Manual of Historical Literature. New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed. |
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