Abstract
THE increasing demand for works of a semi-scientific character similar to that now under consideration, is in itself the most satisfactory proof that a desire for acquiring a more extended and accurate knowledge of the phenomena of Nature is gradually taking root within a class of society, which, until of comparatively late years, had always contented itself with a very opposite style of literature. When it is observed, in many of the so-called popular scientific books, that accuracy has evidently been less carefully studied than what is termed sensational effect—a feature so characteristic of the period we live in—it is refreshing to find that Dr. Hartwig, in his description of the various phenomena of the subterranean world, has, without any such aid, succeeded admirably in conveying a vast amount of solid information, in so lucid and easy a style as to make even his unscientific readers quite interested, and likely to forget that he is treating of subjects illustrated; many of the woodcuts being of very superior character and execution, whilst the plates are, in general, good, and with one exception—that of the ideal view of the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1775—they are free from that objectionable sensational or exaggerated character so observable in the illustrations of French works usually considered as pertaining to the domain of dry Science. In so doing he seems also to have been assisted by having adopted a system of classification, or rather grouping, of the subjects which form his separate chapters, which, although not strictly scientific, is preferable in the present instance, as being more in accordance with popular notions.
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F., D. Hartwig's Subterranean World * . Nature 5, 305–307 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005305b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005305b0