who stands on a level with Goethe. The editor describes him as having been of "multifarious activity as fabulist, literary and dramatic critic, philosopher, and theologian." His "Laocoon" is one of the recognized classics in the literature of art. He was eminent as a classical scholar, archæologist, antiquary, poet, and dramatist—"a pioneer in the development of modern German literature." And there has been no figure in that literature "whose life is more laborious and fruitful, no character in an age of sentimentality which was more sane, stalwart, and manly." The selections present him in these various aspects, and the letters reveal features of his personality.
A translation of Testa, an instructive book for boys, by Paolo Mantegazza (Heath, $1.25), has just been issued. Its character may be quickest indicated by comparing it to "Sanford and Merton," though it has the advantage of being written for the present generation. Before this book appeared nothing of note, except De Amicis's "Cuore," had been written for children in Italy. "Testa" is a story of a boy who was sent to live for a year with a sagacious old uncle, a retired sea-captain, who, by telling anecdotes and by commenting upon various incidents, teaches his nephew many lessons in regard to the operations of nature, the ways of the world, and especially manners and morals. There is also some good counsel on the choice of a profession. In an early chapter is given a set of model resolutions for a month, and succeeding chapters contain blank pages for the young reader to fill with his own good resolutions for each remaining month of a year. The great variety of the book, and its Italian and, therefore, unfamiliar flavor, are enough to make it interesting to the average American boy, though only serious-minded boys will appreciate its full meaning.
The treatise on The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms, by Alfred Binet (the Open Court Publishing Company, 50 and 75 cents), has for its object to prove the existence of psychological faculties in the simplest organisms, and to describe their modes of manifestation. The sensibility and power of reacting possessed by these simple creatures is commonly called irritability. But M. Binet asserts that, "in these inferior beings, which represent the simplest forms of life, we find manifestations of an intelligence which greatly transcends the phenomena of cellular irritability." The author describes in successive chapters the psychic phenomena connected with the use of motory organs and organs of sense, with nutrition and fecundation, and he treats also the physiological function of the nucleus. He even goes further than is indicated above, and ascribes psychic faculties to the cells which make up the tissues of higher animals. He states that "the faculty of seizing food and of exercising a choice among foods of different kinds—a property essentially psychological—appertains to the anatomical elements of the tissues just as it does to all unicellular beings." In his views on the subject of this volume the author takes issue especially with M. Richet, and also with Prof. Romanes.
American Society for Psychical Research. Proceedings, Vol. I, No. 4. Boston: Damrell & Upham. Pp. 290. $1.
Bodington, Mrs. Alice. The Mammalia; Extinct Species and Surviving forms. Pp. 25.
Bowditch, H. P., M.D. Hints for Teachers of Physiology. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 58. 25 cents.
Branner. John C. The Cretaceous and Tertiary Geology of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin of Brazil. Pp. 64, with Plates.
Bunce, Oliver Bell. The Story of Happinolande. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 188. 25 cents.
Chicago Manual Training School. Sixth Annual Catalogue, 1888-'89. Pp. 24.
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Annual Report for 1888. Part II.
Cook, A. J. Silo and Silage. Lansing, Mich.: Darius D. Thorp. Pp. 31.
Davis, Singleton W. Sketches of the Scientific Dispensation of a New Religion. San Diego, Cal. Pp. 64.
Day, George B. The New Interpretation; or, the Scriptures viewed in the Light of Christian Science. Chicago: O. M. Parsons. Pp. 121. 50 cents.
Doty, Alvah H., M.D. A Manual of Instruction on the Principles of Prompt Aid to the Injured. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 224. $1.25.
Draper, Andrew S. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of New York. Albany. Pp. about 1,200.
Drummer, An Old How to be Successful on the Road as a Commercial Traveler. New York: Fowler and Wells Company. Pp. 84. 20 cents.
Fewkes, J. Walter. The Anatomy of Astrangia Danæ. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 20, with Six Plates.
Fowke. Gerard, Sidney, Ohio. The Manufacture and Use of Aboriginal Stone Implements. Pp. 20.
Galton, Francis. Natural Inheritance. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. Pp. 259. $2.50.
Garrigues, Dr. H. J. Der Scheintod. New York. Pp 28.
Gilman, Nicholas Paine. Profit Sharing between
