N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual, 1886. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son. Pp. 750. Price, $3.
The publishers have taken great pains to make this work complete and correct up to the day of going to press. It contains a fully descriptive list of newspapers and periodicals in the United States and Canada, arranged by States in geographical sections, and by towns in alphabetical order; another list, descriptive as to distinctive features and circulation, of newspapers inserting advertisements, arranged in States by counties; a third list, of class and professional publications, and publications in foreign languages. From these lists may also be obtained other information about newspapers; and in connection with them there is given a description, with statistical information, accounts of manufacturing enterprises, and political notes, respecting each county. Finally, the book contains an alphabetical list of cities, towns, and villages in the United States having a population of five thousand and upward.
How to Drain a House: Practical Information for Householders. By George E. Waring, Jr., M. Inst. C. E. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 222, with Twenty Illustrations. Price, $1.25.
Colonel Waring has given long and attentive study to the matter of house-drainage, and as a result he has views of his own upon the subject which will be found stated in the present volume. Not by any means that the book has been written merely to promulgate his own notions; it has been prepared because, in the author's opinion, it will prove the best and safest guide in a field of practice of vital importance, and still far from settled in its methods. The author holds that there has been unquestionably a steady improvement in recent years in dealing with the difficult problems of the disposal of household waste; each step, however imperfect in itself, being better than the condition of things which preceded it. Such, indeed, have been the progress made and the success achieved as greatly to strengthen the expectation that an ideally perfect system of house-drainage may soon become an accomplished and accepted fact. Meantime improvement is along various lines of trial, with a certain inevitable rivalship of views and devices. Colonel Waring does not, however, in the present volume attempt to give an account of the various ideas and contrivances, however excellent they may be, that have now come into use; but having studied them all, and had large experience of the subject, he has fixed upon his own methods, and devotes his work to an exposition of them.
We have read the book carefully through, and have found it unusually interesting and instructive. The preliminary remarks on house-drainage and health are impressive and decisive, and the explanation of principles and the description of plans and construction arc full, clear, and perfectly intelligible. The book abounds in common-sense suggestions, and is certain to prove valuable to all house-constructors and housekeepers who are seeking correct information upon the subject.
Ballooning: A Concise Sketch of its History and Principles. By G. May. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 96, with One Plate.
The author believes that, though practical aerial navigation has so far been found unattainable, the pursuit of it has resulted in something, though it be little, to facilitate art and scientific progress. In this work, besides reviewing the history of ballooning, be seeks to ascertain and define the obstacles which interfere with its active progress, the mechanical means necessary to surmount them, and the natural power by which those means are to be put in operation; and to point out certain regulations and restrictions by which they must be governed in their application.
The Lock-Jaw of Infants (Trismus Nascentium). Its History, Cause, Prevention, and Cure. By J. V. Hartigan. M. D. New York: Bermingham & Co. Pp. 123.
The disease in question is often fatal during the first month of infantile growth, but doctors have not been able to ascertain or agree upon its cause. The author maintains a theory which was advanced by Dr. J. Marion Sims some thirty years ago, but never received attention—that it is occasioned by mechanical pressure of the occipital or parietal bones on the brain.
