they cannot strictly be thus described, take a general interest in
astronomy.

The increasing number of those who possess astronomical telescopes, and
devote more or less of their leisure in following some particular line of
research, is shown by the great success in recent years of societies,
such as the British Astronomical Association with its several branches,
the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and similar institutions in
various parts of the world. These societies are not only doing much in
popularising the sublimest of the sciences, but are the means of
developing and organising the capabilities of their members by
discouraging aimless and desultory observations, and by pointing out how
individual effort may be utilised and made of permanent value in almost
every department of astronomy.

The work of the astronomer, like that of the votary of almost every other
science, is becoming every year more and more specialised; and among its
manifold subdivisions, the study of the physical features of the moon is
undoubtedly increasing in popularity and importance. To those who are
pursuing such observations, it is believed that this book will be a
useful companion to the telescope, and convenient for reference.

Great care has been taken in the preparation of the map, which, so far as
the positions of the various objects represented are concerned, is based
on the last edition of Beer and Madler's chart, and on the more recent
and much larger and elaborate map of Schmidt; while as regards the shape
and details of most of the formations, the author's drawings and a large
number of photographs have been utilised. Even on so small a scale as
eighteen inches to the moon's diameter, more detail might have been
inserted, but this, at the expense of distinctness, would have detracted