be made that can be proved or disproved by experiment. In regard to the phenomena, or the alleged facts, the whole question hinges, of course, upon the character of evidence; but here we must say that the author of "Isis Unveiled" shows not the slightest discrimination. There is displayed a great familiarity with magic lore, and a deal of industry in getting together a vast medley of materials. Bible-stories, legends from all lands, from all times, ancient and modern accounts of witchcraft, newspaper reports of table-turning, mind-reading, levitation, the psychological vagaries of a novelist, like Bulwer, and the results of scientific research, are all raked together promiscuously and accorded equal weight. There is no attempt toward a systematic arrangement of these multitudinous materials, nor are they held together by anything deserving the name of reasoning or argument. We are reminded by the book of nothing so much as the rush of débris which passes through a sewer after a summer shower. Everything is washed along—garbage, remnants of things once valuable, with now and then something that might be of real worth if sifted out—and the whole borne on by a turbid watery medium which takes its quality from the dirt it carries.
We should say that the work evinces great reading in certain directions, much ill-digested learning, a curious credulity in these times, and a strong tendency to mysticism. It is sure to find readers, as it deals with questions which interest all, and in a manner that will be satisfactory to many. Unhappily, education has not been carried far enough to teach the people to distinguish between the valuable and the worthless among things printed, and we have no doubt there are many who have gone through college and acquired nothing that will protect them from accepting "Isis Unveiled" as pretty fair gospel for these days. We may add that, aside from the uses for which the author designs them, there is a large amount of curious information, facts, and opinions, in her volumes which will be interesting to many, and are elsewhere inaccessible to ordinary readers.
Bulletins of the U. S. Entomological Commission. Nos.1 and 2. Washington, 1877.
These pamphlets are issued under the auspices of the U. S. Geological Survey, and are designed to contain such special information of interest or importance in connection with the objects of the commission as may from time to time seem useful. The first bulletin was published in April, and gave instruction as to the destroying of the young insects, which should be done throughout the West during April, May, and June. Number 2 is filled with the natural history of the locust. It is a good compendium of the habits of the pest, and is illustrated by woodcuts and a map. Prof. C. V. Riley is presumably the writer of both numbers.
Outlines of Modern Chemistry, Organic, based in Part upon Riches' Manuel de Chimie. By C. Gilbert Wheeler, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Chicago. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. Pp. 231. Price, $1.75.
This is a practical work, and has been prepared with especial reference to the requirements of medical students. The author remarks that it would have been easier to compile a larger book, from the bewildering wealth of results afforded by the labors in this branch of science, but he has preferred to prepare a concise and perspicuous outline of the subject, designed to follow some previous work on inorganic chemistry. The book is very neat in form; parenthetical references are given to authorities and original papers; pains are taken to give due prominence to the researches of American chemists; and the volume is supplemented by a careful and copious index.
Through Rome on: A Memoir of Christian and Extra-Christian Experience. By Nathaniel Ramsay Waters. New York: Charles P. Somerby. Pp. 452. Price, $1.75.
By Rome, the author here means the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. He early migrated out of Protestantism, and, having settled for a while in Catholicism, moved out into the region of religious doubt and denial, where he claims that he first found true peace. The book is a sort of theological autobiography, in which he visibly and forcibly delineates his mental experiences as a Protestant, a Catholic, and a skeptic. It is earnest in spirit, keenly controversial, and contains many views which
