_A New Story of the Stars_ is an essay in which _A. W. Bickerton_, professor of chemistry and physics in Christ Church College, New Zealand, sets forth a theory of the origin of universes or of parts of universes by impact. Nebulæ already existing--but how existing we are not informed--careering through space, are supposed to collide, whereby heat and light are developed. They may meet in face, and would then probably coalesce, but more likely the impact would be a grazing one, when three bodies would be produced; a portion, or slice, as the author calls it, of each of the colliding bodies would be sheared off, forming an intensely hot and bright new star, while the original masses would go on their course, having the parts that had been in contact heated and made brilliant, so as to present in their revolutions the aspect of variable stars. The author's attention was drawn to this subject by the appearance of a new star in Cygnus in 1877. A little while afterward Nova Aurigæ appeared, presenting exactly the phenomena he had predicted. Professor Bickerton writes as one who understands his subject; there is nothing in his speculations, so far as we have observed, that grates harshly with known facts, and it can be read, as he reads it, to account plausibly for some of the facts--just as can several other theories of the formation of the universe which are still only speculations. The problem is yet far from comprehension, and is one of the legacies which the nineteenth century is destined to bequeath to the twentieth. (Published at Christ Church, New Zealand.) FOOTNOTES: [A] The Structure and Classification of Birds. By Frank E. Beddard. London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 548. [B] Bush Fruits. A Horticultural Monograph of Raspberries, Blackberries, Dewberries, Currants, Gooseberries, and other Shrublike Fruits. By Fred W. Card. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 537. Price, $1.50. [C] The History of the World, from the Earliest Historical Time to the Year 1898. By Edgar Sanderson. With Maps. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1898. [D] Life, Death, and Immortality, and Kindred Essays. By William M. Bryant. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. [E] Elements of Sanitary Engineering. By Mansfield Merriman. New York: John Wiley & Sons. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited. Pp. 216. $2. [F] An Epitome of Human Histology. By Arthur W. Weysse. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 90. Price, $1.50. [G] Elementary Botany. By George Francis Atkinson, Ph. D. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 444. Price, $1.25. [H]: A History of Japanese Literature. By W. G. Aston, Late Japanese Secretary to H. M. Legation, Tokyo. D. Appleton and Company. [I] An Elementary Text-Book of Botany. By Sydney H. Vines. London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 611. Price, $2.25.