Our Native Ferns and how to study them, with Synoptical Descriptions of the North American Species. By Lucien M. Underwood, Ph. D. Bloomington, Illinois. Pp. 116. Illustrated. Price, $1.
The development of interest in the study of ferns is illustrated by the works treating of them, or embodying illustrations of them, that have been published in this country during the last four years. Still, they occupy a subordinate place in our botanical manuals, the descriptions of many species are stored away in inaccessible periodicals and rare books, and, till this work appeared, no manual available to students had been issued that classified all our native species, or outlined their morphology and mode of life. Professor Underwood has made, in the little manual before us, a most commendable attempt to fill this gap in botanical literature. The descriptions of genera and species are preceded by chapters describing in an engaging style the haunts, habits, distribution, morphology, fructification, structure, classification, and nomenclature, etc., of ferns, the germination of fern spores, "How to study Ferns," and "A Little Fern Literature."
Drugs that enslave: The Opium, Morphine, Chloral, and Hasheesh Habits. By H. H. Kane, M. D. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. Pp. 224. Price, $1.50.
This book contains a great deal of information on the narcotic habit, its effects, dangers, and treatment, which is derived from the author's special experience as a medical practitioner, from wide acquaintance with the literature of the subject, and from extensive correspondence with medical men, systematically carried on for the elucidation of obscure or undetermined questions. Though the work aims to be a contribution to medical science, and is addressed to the profession, it yet has a general interest, from the prominence given to the growing dangers of narcotic indulgence among nearly all classes of society. Dr. Kane maintains that a great impulse has been given to the illegitimate use of opium by the introduction of the hypodermic syringe for the injection of morphine under the skin into the tissues. The practice with this instrument is but recent. It was introduced into this country from England in 1856, by Dr. Fordyce Barker, and has not only come into universal use by physicians, but it is much and increasingly employed by individuals, who continue the habit as a fascinating indulgence, which was begun by the doctor for the relief of painful disease. The book is full of examples of the distressing evils of narcotic indulgence, and abounds in warnings against its insidious approaches and deadly results.
Reminiscences of Dr. Spurzheim and George Combe. A Review of the Science of Phrenology from the Time of its Discovery by Dr. Gall, to the Time of the Visit of George Combe to the United States, in 1838-'40, with a new Portrait of Spurzheim. By Nahum Capen, LL. D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 262. Price, $1.50.
The author was a personal friend and confidential assistant of Spurzheim during his visit to the United States, and is thoroughly versed, as an active sympathizer, with the school of thought of which he was a conspicuous representative from the beginning. He has prepared his reminiscences in answer to what he believes to be a general demand, and has incorporated in it many interesting recollections concerning other advocates of the phrenological school, as Drs. Gall, George Combe, and Andrew Combe.
History of the Free-Trade Movement in England. By Augustus Mongredieu. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 188. Price, 50 cents.
The question naturally occurs to the observer of national progress, who is also a student of political and economical literature, why, when the majority of the scientific writers and thinkers of all nations agree in approving the principles of free trade, statesmen set them at naught, and only one state, England, has yet adopted them and put them in practice; and they may ask further, What conditions have prompted that country to take a different course from its neighbors? This little book undertakes to answer these questions. It does more. Protectionists assert that England has been declining since it adopted free trade. It answers these assertions by
