dence and business, are related with much ingenuity and irrepressible humor. The father at school and finding out how he likes it is, however, the main figure, and the book at once takes rank as a first-class satire on English boarding-school life.
The Coming Democracy. By G. Harwood, Author of "Disestablishment." Macmillan & Co. Pp. 390. Price,
We have not been able to get interested in this volume. It seems to be written from the high Tory and the High Church point of view, and professes to consider the growing tendency of modern democracy in relation to English institutions. The author first takes up democracy in relation to foreign politics, and then in relation to home politics, in which he considers its relation to the crown, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, the upper classes, the middle classes, and the lower classes. Perhaps the English may find some utility in the discussion, but we can not share their discernment.
The Change of Life, in Health and Disease. A Clinical Treatise on the Diseases of the Ganglionic Nervous System incidental to Women at the Change of Life. By Edward John Tilt, M. D., Past President of the Obstetrical Society of London. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 184.
An important work on a subject that is too little understood and is not treated with anything like adequate thoroughness in ordinary medical works. It treats the subject intelligently and intelligibly in its various aspects, beginning with the physiology and general pathology of the change of life, and discussing afterward the special pathology under the several heads of "diseases of the ganglionic nervous system," "diseases of the brain," "neuralgic affections," "diseases of the reproductive organs," "diseases of the gastro-intestinal organs," "diseases of the skin," and "other diseases."
The Cornell University Register, 1881-'82. Ithaca, New York. Pp. 120.
The university was attended during the year by 384 students. In the science departments, the collection of apparatus for physics has been increased by the expenditure of about $15,000; a new, spacious, and thoroughly equipped building for the departments of chemistry and physics has been begun, and will be ready for occupation about January, 1883; large and important additions have been made to the lithological collections; and the organization of a party of students for geological and paleontological exploration during the summer vacation was contemplated. Special attention is invited to the conditions on which the State scholarships, 128 in number, are granted, and the construction, generally favorable to the candidate, which the authorities of the university put upon them. The right, especially, of every person who is qualified, to enter the examination for the scholarships, and to have it held, is insisted upon.
Light: A Course of Experimental Optics chiefly with the Lantern. By Lewis Wright. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 367. Price, $2.
The purpose of this volume, as declared by the author, is to make a very full and vivid presentation of the body of experimental facts upon which the principles of the science of optics are based. Avowedly following Professor Tyndall, the author adopts the experimental method of teaching, and maintains that projection upon a screen, with the use of a common lantern, is far superior in general effect to any other method of demonstration, besides having the advantage of exhibiting the phenomena to a whole class or to a large audience at the same time. But while the magnificent apparatus of the Royal Institution, by which Professor Tyndall has carried lantern demonstration to an extent and perfection never before attained, is far too costly for general use, the author maintains that the greater number of experiments can be shown satisfactorily to at least a science class with only a good gas-burner, while a satisfactory lantern can be made at small expense, and is a very efficient piece of apparatus. Though the work is based throughout upon experiment, which implies that the student should become familiar with actual optical effects, yet it is very profusely and elegantly illustrated, and the numerous colored plates will be held to go
