"Proceedings" has been begun, and four papers intended for it are in the hands of the printers. Notice is taken of the fact that the indebtedness on the building of the Academy has been paid, and the formation of a permanent endowment fund has been begun. Two chapters of the Agassiz Association of America for the study of natural history, and a "Humboldt Society," which seeks to unite philosophical speculations with scientific investigations, have been formed in Davenport, and hold their meetings in the rooms of the Academy. It is observed that the membership of these organizations is made up wholly of young men and women, largely students in the public schools of the city. These facts, and everything connected with this volume, speak well for the earnest interest that prevails at Davenport in the study of science.
On Small Differences of Sensation. By C. S. Peirce and J. Jastrow. Pp. 11.
A record of experiments to determine the point at which differences in the intensities of nerve excitations cease to be perceptible. Among the points brought out is the probability that we gather what is passing in one another's minds in large measure from sensations so faint that we are not fairly aware of having them, and can give no account of how we reach our conclusions about such matters. The insight of women as well as certain "telepathic" phenomena may be explained in this way.
A Treatise on the Diseases of the Nervous System. By William A. Hammond, M. D. Eighth edition; with Corrections and Additions. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 945. Price, $5.
It would be hardly possible to give a better evidence of the merit of this work than is afforded by the appearance of this, the eighth edition, testifying that during the fifteen years it has been before the public it has been tried and found not wanting. The first edition was published in 1871, as resting to a great extent on the author's own experience. Its declared purpose was to be a treatise which, without being superficial, should be concise and explicit, and, without claiming to be exhaustive, should be sufficiently complete for the instruction
and guidance of those who might consult it. The sixth edition, in 1876, was entirely remodeled and greatly enlarged. The seventh edition received extensive additions, and was translated into Italian under the supervision of Professor Borrelli, of Naples. The opportunity given by the appearance of this eighth edition has been improved to revise the work thoroughly, make several changes, and add a section on "Certain Obscure Diseases of the Nervous System."
A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday in the Christian Church. By A. H. Lewis, D. D. Alfred Centre, New York: The American Sabbath Tract Society. Pp. 583. Price, $1.25.
Dr. Lewis is a prominent minister of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, which teaches, according to his own statement, "that the law of God as contained in the Decalogue is eternal and universal, both as to its letter and its spirit; therefore, the seventh day is the only Sabbath; that under the gospel it should be observed with Christian freedom and not Judaic strictness, but that the change which Christ taught was a change in the spirit and manner of the observance, and not in the day to be observed." The argument pursued in this work is exclusively historical, and is intended to show that no authority worthy of respect exists or ever existed for the change that has been made in the day to be observed—from the seventh day to the first. The evidence, which is intended to be full and continuous from the gospels down, is given in the exact words of the texts cited, and in all the words that bear on the subject, and not in paraphrases or abstracts, so that, if any mistake be made in its import, it shall not be the author's fault. In this way Dr. Lewis attempts to show that no change is authorized in the Gospels, or in the words of any of the apostles; that the change was not made or recognized in the first two centuries; that the first signs of it appear in the days of Constantine, when the seventh day was still observed as the Sabbath, and Sunday, being the day of the resurrection, was celebrated in addition, as a religious festival; that Sunday observance gradually grew at the expense of the seventh-day observance, particularly under the auspices of the Latin Church, and under the
