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Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/138

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128
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

people as no more than "an honest, well-meaning gentleman, but with no capacity for military and only mediocre ability in civil affairs." His place has never been other than first in the three fields in which the celebrated eulogy gave him that position; and the steady drift toward giving him his proper place in history and his appropriate appreciation as a soldier and statesman which the author acknowledges to have been going on for twenty-five years, was never less constant than it is now. Not words of eulogy, but rational appreciation of facts and calm estimates of deeds and appreciation of the bearing of the statesman's counsels.and words constitute the highest admiration; and in these the American people have not been wanting toward Washington. In this work General Johnson has made a welcome contribution to our knowledge of Washington as he was.

Micro-organisms in Water. Their Significance, Identification, and Removal. By Percy Frankland and Mrs. Percy Frankland. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 532. Price, $5.

The purpose of this work is to present in a compact shape the results of investigation of the bacteriology of water, the literature of which is extensive and very much scattered. The authors have therefore endeavored to present in it in connected form an account of the more important work that has been carried on in this department, in the hope that it may be of service to the student, the investigator, and those who are practically concerned with the hygienic aspects of water supply. They give, first, a survey of all the more important general methods of bacteriological study, describing in detail those which are specially applicable to the examination of water; second, an account of the principal results hitherto arrived at by the use of these new bacteriological methods in the study of the different kinds of water, and the changes which they undergo through natural and artificial agencies. Particular attention has also been bestowed on the behavior of pathogenic bacteria in water; and a concise description is appended of the principal characters of all the microorganisms, numbering more than two hundred, which, so far as the authors have been able to ascertain, have hitherto been found in water. The first chapter treats of sterilization and the preparation of culture media, describing the forms of sterilizing apparatus and the use of them, and giving directions for the preparation of the media, with estimates of their value and particular application. The second chapter is devoted to the staining and microscopic examination of micro-organisms; the third, to the examination of water for micro-organisms. In the fourth and part of the fifth chapters, account is given of the numbers of micro-organisms that are found in waters derived from different sources, as ice, hail, rain, rivers, lakes, etc. The various methods of purifying water for drinking purposes are described and discussed in the fifth chapter. The subjects of the succeeding chapters are the multiplication of micro-organisms; the detection of pathogenic bacteria in water; the vitality of particular pathogenic bacteria in different waters; the action of light on micro-organisms in water and culture mediums; and tabular descriptions, with illustrations, of the various micro-organisms found in water.

How Gertrude teaches her Children. By Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Translated by Lucy E. Holland and Francis C. Turner, and edited by Ebenezer Cooke. Syracuse, N. Y.: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 256. Price, $1.50.

This is described on the title-page as an attempt, given in the form of a report to the Society of the Friends of Education at Burgdorf, to help mothers to teach their own children, and an account of the method. But little of it has been translated before, those portions given in Biber's Life of Pestalozzi being, according to the editor, all. There are difficulties in the way of translation, on account of the use of peculiar terms for which there is no adequate English rendering. The translators have tried to give a literal translation without paraphrase and without omissions. They do not regard their work as perfect, and will "gladly and thankfully" receive any help which will make the authors' thought still clearer. The translation is preceded by a biographical and historical introduction. The position of this work is defined by the editor as along with the Method and the First Letter from Stanz, the place of the method being after Letter I of this