BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

;v LETTERS FROM SOLITUDE. • '.Tilsp'n Young'is one of the cleverest o£ the young English. essayists of the . day, and has also written more than ono novel much above the average, not only'in originality of• plot, but in its litsrary."quality.";''His : "Sands of Pleasure," with its peculiarly .picturesque .and realistic descriptions. of. certain phases of Parisian life, will doubtless be remembered. Mr. Young is a frequent; contributor .to the "Saturday Keview," and a volurtie of essays..and travel sketches, originally appearing, as."middle.articles" in that periodical, is now before me. The i fitle is "letters from Solitude" (George Bell and Sons; per. Whitcombe and Tombs). The, travel •sketches are arranged in three groups, entitled respectively "Ireland," "France," and "A Tropical Island.". The Irish and' French sketches, though agreeably enough .writteu, present no specially outstanding feature, bilt in the author's description of a' few months' residence, in l'rinidad; he gives us, a series of pictures of quite striking .interest; indeed, it is doubtful ' whether West Indian' scenery hix3 ever been more eloquently described, u'nless, "perhaps;. by ' tile.' late Charles Kiiigsley "in that too little-kn6,wn ■ but delightful book, "A 'Christmas in the West Indies:!' . Mr, vTonng. does 'not .confine his attention. to the natural', beauties ; of Trinidad, but discusses .the people of the island, the ".industries in which thev are engaged, their social. conditions, etc.

Cocoa Growing,' .'The author gives, a detailed and most interesting .account' of .the cocoa industry, which is.still the mainstay of the island. After'stating that .it .is now considered question whether, after all, the bois, imniortel, or "m.idre de/cacao." as the Spanish call it—(Erythiria umbrosa is the correct' botanical expression)—is really the best shade for cocoa, Mr. Young declares,'it is to him the'glory of. tin island so naturally rich iu/beautiful vegetation. ' You see nothing of it. as you walk amongst the ' cocoa,'..but the .long, straight stems, like those''of an ash tree,.planted some thirty yards apart;,with the cocoa trees looking like nut trees in between. But go away tg an-other-hillside, or travel some long glaring miles-on .the white road, and " then look back,at the. place yoii have left, and you behold a sea-of tree-tops . billowing ; away to the. skv--line,'; and. ..'covered .' with a ■/- glory. 'of orange and.,-vermilion flowers. . This • to'vely; mother of tlie-cocoa, shades its children all day long in the .fierce heat of the-sun, 'collects:in its broad leaves, .. ' 'the. morning and evening dew which keeps the ground moist; about them, and, when it dies itsy'ernal death, dies in a . glorious shower of: Annie-colour-ed petals that : enrich\the : soil, and are' the life of-the young' cocoa to be. . .". And what can ba-mort lovely ,than tho ; cocoa -itself P . -.;* Its - fri-iit" "is'. ' a spheroid -' pod as big;-as.:a;.large pe'arjthat grows, ■each straight . out- of 4he?H^M , . , pr^t)>fe'>-tire?V , ~' s Tlie3r ... look, like frail Chinese lanterns light--lug'the, dim grove,, but if you try ta cut one open witlv-'a, 'pocket-knife you ' wiU. bo.reminded"that .all .beauty is : ' .iipt nece^arily-frai 1 .,.::.The-shell is .hard • '"and" tough,- and: ; it-taltcs a sharp blow of the cntlass to;, split it open'and .reveal the milky : interior wherein nestlo the beans, , the wealth of. the cocoa .tree. 'But there are no mora processes except to collect and dry the , beans and to spread i:hem in the sun onvthe roof of a:hou:-e, to be stirred and turn?d bv the lazy feet of ape' coolie with-his rhythmical sentry-go; .then there is nothing more .to do but to pnt.vthem into bags and send them . : .to the market. ..

A Pitch Lake. 'Other sources of wealth Trinidad pos- : cesses in its rubber plantations and its . famous . natural pitch supply.' Of the latter, Mr. Young says: .• And there is the pitch, iaice—of all the means., of getting wealth for nothing,- assuredly the most absurdly 6imple in, the world. It is a great -bottomless deposit in. the south-west-ern corner of tile island, consisting of ■ nothing more .nor'.less than- the asphalt with which streets are paved. .The lake is inexhaustible; if you set a thousand men to dig. a hole in it to-day; the hole would ba filled up there is an-endless railway . of buckets from the lake to the wharf two miles away; and hour after hour, .day after day', tho pitch pours into the . .holds of steamers,- to be sold at a great ,price—a process which can apparently . igo on for .centuries without interrup- ( ■ 1 itioil. . ' •', ; Besides .tis" .travel experiences, Mr. Young-discourses upon.'.a variety of.subjects, social customs, fashions, frivolities, and follies of -the day. His touch is alagreeably light, and underlying, his : satirical' humour is often to be found a basis of. sound common-sense. (Price, 2i. Gd.)

DOCTOR AND PHILOSOPHER. . Stephen Paget,• the author of : a book of reprinted essays',' lectures, and addresses entitled. "Another, Device" (Holder and Stoughto'n,' per S. .W.'Mackuy), is, J understand, tlie ; same - gentleman whose thought-provoking' ' . "Conies.sio Medici" eariied, when it w;as published, two or tjireo years ago, such warm commendation. : -Mr.- PagetMs, a son of the late Sir James Paget, . Jho famous .physician, of whose "Memoirs 'and.Letters" he was the and is himself.-a'well known, au-. thdrity ..on-,surgery. His name is also familiar to laymen as the author of more' than o'no' vigorously-written pamphlet inopposition to the ,views of .the. anti-vivi-BBctionists.'. Mr. Paget's. latest work covers a - wide field. of subjects. In certain esfeays, such .as, for instance, "The Genius of Pasteur," "Heredity and Life," "Hospital Life,", and ."The. 1 Doctor's Opponents," the author deals with questions in ■which the medical profession are specially interested. .In others, such .as: the opening paper, "Tho-Man in tho Street," "Rewards' arid Punishment," . and "The Eight . Sort of Girl," the everyday reartei, the-average layman, will be just as much interested as the author's medical brethren, whilst in such addresses as the one, on "Tho Influence. of Berkeley" and "The First Sight of Home," the purely literary interest is foremost., A spirit of broad tolerance, of perception of. the fact that the layman's view of what- might appear at 1 first sight a purely professional question ; may .often- be, worthy of serious con-sideration,-pervades the majority of tho essays. And yet there is no evidence of niiy avoidance or slurring over of an awkward or tigly truth. As Montaigne put it, here, in Mr. Paget's work, is. a book of good faith, a book in which, at all hazards,-the author expresses his innermost, most personal convictions. Mr. Paget does not disdain tho use of satirethere is a grim, humour in some of the essays, notably in his treatment of the eugenists, in "Heredity and Life," and it ig clear that he 'has had some difficulty in restraining-his indignation when discussing 'certain charges levelled against his profession by ignorant and malici-ously-inclmed critics. But individual and honest, criticism, even when it clashes with his own opinions, i 3 welcomed in a fine spirit of charity and broad-minded-ness—the ■ cheap sneer' of a would-bo omniscient is always absent. Two or three of tho.papers wero perhaps hardly of 6Ucli importance, cither of subject or treatment, as to justify reprinting, ,but the majority, from the gravity of tho . questions, dealt with and by reason, too, of tho author's special charm of literary Btylo, were eminently worthy of resurrection from the various reviews and other periodicals in which they first appeared.