ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, WC 2.

摘要: AT no time in the history of publishing has the number of books devoted to natural history formed so large a percentage of the total output as in the years since the War ended. Some of these are of indifferent quality; but on the whole the standard is good, and in some instances very high. Furthermore, the demand for this type of book shows little sign of slackening. This is surely a thing that would have delighted the heart of Dr. George Johnston, yet, paradoxically, it makes even more necessary the aim for which he worked.Johnston, who died in 1855, lived at Berwick-on-Tweed, a doctor by profession and a naturalist by hobby. Ho realized that with the growing interest in science, and especially in natural history, there was a need for publishing works of merit devoted to the British flora and fauna that were too large for inclusion in the pages of scientific periodicals yet had not sufficient appeal to the commercial …