21 JANUARY 1911, Page 24

The Night - Skies of a Year. By Joseph H. Elgie. (Chorley

and Pickersgill. 6s. net.)—This "Journal of a Stargazer" will furnish its readers with much useful information. It is in the form of a diary, made last year, but serving, of course, for any year, for though there is a change, it is so minute as to be negligible. " I am convinced," writes the author, " that the difficulty of recognising the main outlines of the constellations at any hour from the charts accessible to them has damped the enthusiasm of thousands of beginners in the study of astronomy." This diffi- culty he sets himself to overcome, using explanations suggested by personal experience, and illustrating by diagrams, &c.