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to be drawn into the photographs, so
sharp and rich are the black and white
reproductions.  The effect is nearly
stereographic.
   An 1895 photograph of the Michael
Baltus family, posing before their log
cabin and newly-constructed frame
house just east of Auburndale Station
in Wood County, elicits more than the
sense of sight alone. It is as though
the garden produce they so proudly
display can be touched, the smooth-
hulled melons hefted. And you don't
have to be especially esthetic to feel
the rough-hewn planks of the cellar
door or the warmth of the patterned
sunlight on the barefoot children cap-
tured by the camera in a golden mo-
ment of play at the turn-of-the-century.
   In their foreword, the editors of
Portrait of the Past comment, "We
have worked with the photographs in
this volume for so long that the faces
in them have grown familiar. And in
a way, they are kin, for their lives.
recorded on the pages that follow and
bound to us by the flow of history,
make up our past. And so we hope
this book will be for each reader what
it has been for us-a journey home."
   To page through this book is to
join in that journey. To peruse it is
to enter another time.-J. R. Batt  0
THE MYTH OF THE BRITANNICA,
by Harvey Einbinder, Johnson Reprint
Corporation, London & New York.
390 pp. Cloth bound. $10.00.
  Originally published in 1964, The
Myth of the Britannica has been out
of print in recent years but is now
among the resurrected works of the
Johnson Reprint Corporation.
  The author, Dr. Harvey Einbinder,
is a physicist who first began to ques-
tion the infallibility of the Britannica
when he discovered that the article on
Galileo in the 1958 edition was per-
petuating an error that had been cor-
rected in the literature as early as
1935. Einbinder's reservations as to
the encyclopedia's value range from
the arts and letters to the sciences.
  The Encyclopedia Britannica has
encouraged the belief that its record
of more than 200 years of publication
is based on unimpeachable and lofty
scholarship. It has advertised that its
36 million words and 24 volumes are
"the greatest treasure of knowledge
ever published . . . It is truth. It is un-
questionable fact." In his study, Dr.
Einbinder not only details the errors he
found in the Britannica, but also gives
the historical and commercial reasons
underlying these inadequacies. Eric
Dear Sirs:
  Will you please send me your maga-
zine?
   If possible, start the subscription
with your Winter Issue. Some of these
lovely photos (Edgar L. Obma, "A
Portfolio of Portraits: The Faces of
Wisconsin") compare with those of
Karsh. Thanking you, I am
             Respectfully,
             Eunice Williams Drew
             Tomah, Wisconsin
(Note: Several Review subscriptions
  have been received recently. Non-
  member readers are invited to sub-
  mit a request for Academy member-
  ship, active dues for which are only
  $3.50 more than the $4.00 Review
  subscription rate. Membership as-
  sures receipt of Transactions, other
  Academy mailings, and program
  participation opportunities.
Dear Editor:
  Ever since Volume 18, No. 4 came
out I have been intending to write this
note of congratulation. Your choice of
Mr. Obma's pictures, the pictures them-
selves, and the presentation are all
Larrabee, writing in the New York
Herald Tribune in 1964, noted, "Ein-
binder's charge against the Britannica,
to put it briefly, is one of lazy, inept,
whimsical, and uninformed editing-
and he backs it to the hilt."
  Still and all, it is a bit unsettling to
learn of the thin veneer of those things
so long considered pillars of certitude
in our society.                      E
excellent. The Review is always inter-
esting, and one could not do this kind
of thing very often, but I wanted you
to know that this particular issue has
pleased, memand many other people to
whom I have shown it.
        Yours sincerely,
        Frederic G. Cassidy
        Professor of English
        Director, Dictionary of Amer-
           ican Regional English
        American Dialect Society
Dear Sirs:
   Now that I have read that member-
ship in the Wisconsin Academy is not
for academicians only, and that
"...membership will encourage research,
discussion and publication," I should
like to continue with you. Therefore,
I send herewith my check for member-
ship renewal.
  I have a layman's interest in all the
fields and many times find Academy
Review articles I enjoy reading. Of
particular enjoyment was the article by
Fannie Taylor ("The Arts: Their Jig-
saw Condition," Vol. 18, No. 1).
             Interested Reader
             Madison, Wisconsin
WISCONSIN ACADEMY REVIEW
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