These notes give the location of each quarry, the character and position of the rock, manner of working, uses of the product, etc. The results of tests to determine the structure, hardness, and comparative value of these stones are deferred to another Bulletin.
Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, Vol. Ill, No. 3, contains papers, based on experiments, with plates for illustration, "On the Laws of Muscular Stimulation and Contraction," by George T. Kemp; and "On Tetanus and the Velocity of the Contraction Wave in Striated Muscle," by John P. Campbell.
In a letter to the Prince of Boncompagni on Various Points in the History of Mathematics, which is published at Rome and Paris in French, M. Charles Henry discusses the problem of inscribing a triangle within a circle, as proposed in Ménon; the origins of the planetary signs and the Arabic numerals, and a number of other problems that have engaged the attention of students at various times.
The eight lectures on The Social Influence of Christianity, delivered by David J. Hill, LL. D. (Silver, $1.25), before the Newton (Mass.) Theological Institution in 1887, have been issued in book-form. The purpose of these lectures is to show how much and in what way Christianity has improved the character of our civilization. In the first lecture the nature of human society is discussed; the second is a summary reply to the question "What has Christianity done for Society?"; and the other lectures deal respectively with the relations of Christianity to the problems of labor, wealth, marriage, education, legislation, and repression. Doubtless some readers would be inclined to ascribe to other causes a part of the effects which the author credits to Christianity. In connection with the pictures which he gives of past progress, the author frequently expresses his opinions, or presents arguments, on sociological questions which are to be decided in the future. The book is methodical in arrangement, scholarly in tone, and readable in style.
The Realities of Heaven, eight lectures by the Rev. T. F. Wright (W. H. Alden, Philadelphia, 40 cents), is an exposition of the doctrine of resurrection and immortality, from the point of view of the Swedenborgian or New Church.
Opposite in point of view from the two preceding volumes is The Bible of Nature, by Felix L. Oswald (Truth-Seeker Company, $1). This is a spirited effort to state the principles of a religion of Nature, pointing out incidentally many ignorant, cruel, and revolting practices that have gone on under the authority of Christian churches. "The religion of the future," says Dr. Oswald, "will preach the gospel of redemption by reason, by science, and by conformity to the laws of our health-protecting instincts." Its principles as here set forth are comprised under "Physical Maxims," viz., health, strength, chastity, temperance, and skill; "Mental Maxims," viz., knowledge, independence, prudence, perseverance, and free thought; "Moral Maxims," viz., justice, truth, humanity, friendship, and education; and "Objective Maxims," viz, forest-culture, recreation, domestic reform, legislative reform, and the priesthood of secularism. The author sets forth the promptings of our normal instincts in regard to each of these matters, states the penalties of neglecting such promptings, and the rewards of conformity to them, with suggestions for reforming the present condition of society.
The author of "A Modern Zoroastrian," Mr. Samuel Laing, has issued a pamphlet entitled Agnosticism and Christianity (Watts & Co., London), in which he debates the question whether the two subjects of his essay are reconcilable. With that form of Christianity which disregards theological theories, and consists in imitation of the character of Jesus of Nazareth, he says agnosticism may well join hands, but that many of the harsh and incredible doctrines of the Old Testament and the churches may be, and are becoming, neglected by both Christians and agnostics. He does not believe that the loss of faith in a system of rewards and punishments in a future life would be a death-blow to morality, for the reason that, by the evolution of the human race, morality has become instinctive in civilized communities. He states briefly the "philosophy of polarity," which he has found most satisfactory, and closes by saying that the duty of a man of the nineteenth century being to follow truth at all hazards, he will find himself
