spiratory food, not a poison under all circumstances, as held by some; as a stimulant, it enables the system to use some of its reserve force; when the brain is worried, alcohol may be taken at bedtime with benefit; tobacco in moderation is harmless, except to the young and growing." Chapter VII. treats of the "Effects of Inheritance;" VIII., "The Election of a Pursuit in Life;" IX., "Overwork, and Physiological Bankruptcy;" X., "Mental Strain and Tension," with this as one of its propositions: "Chloral hydrate is a much more objectionable narcotic than either opium or alcohol. In Chapter XI., under the heading "Hygiene," the author treats, in separate sections, of "The House we live in;" "The Air-Supply;" "Ventilation;" "The Water-Supply;" "Sewage;" "Fevers;" "Disinfectants and Antiseptics;" "Vaccination;" "Accidental Poisoning." Chapter XII. is devoted to the treatment of "Emergencies," Chapter XIII. discusses the influence of climate and telluric conditions on health, and concludes the book. The author's style is easy and entertaining, and his book contains a large amount of valuable information.
The Geological Story briefly told. An Introduction to Geology for the General Header and for Beginners in the Science. By James D. Dana, LL. D., Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in Yale College. 263 pages, 12mo. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 1875. Price, $1.50.
Now that the stories of science are being simplified and told in so many ways, that everybody may hear them. Prof. Dana comes forward and briefly tells his favorite story—the geological one. This little book is one of the most interesting and instructive of the briefly-told stories of science published. It fills well the place for which it was intended—an introduction to geology for the general reader and for beginners in the science—and will be specially welcomed as a source of ready and concise information in this branch of study. Scientific terms are defined as they are met with, and the whole narrative is made as popular as possible. After some prefatory suggestions about practical out-door study, the subject of "Rocks, or what the Earth is made of," embracing constituents of rocks, kinds of rocks, and structure of rocks, forms the opening part of the book. Part second treats of the methods by which the different kinds of rocks have been made, and the causes in geology which have formed the geographical features of the earth's surface. Part third deals with historical geology, tracing the succession in the formation of the rocks of the earth, and the progress of life—plants and animals—from the simpler forms of early time up to man. The book is finely illustrated.
Art-Life and Theories of Richard Wagner. Selected from his Writings and translated by Edward L. Burlingame. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1875.
There is probably no subject which a hasty public opinion would more quickly exclude from the cycle of the sciences than music; and public opinion would be, as usual, both right and wrong. The strictly scientific part of music—the systematic collection of the general principles and leading truths relating to it—is of no immediate use to the composer; neither is any particular theory of atoms important to the I analytic chemist. Chemistry, however, although at present chiefly an art, claims a place among the sciences, and the modern school of music formulates its theories in scientific guise, and demands a judgment on intellectual and scientific grounds. We must not forget, too, that among the seven sciences of the ancients music was the peer of geometry.
This volume of selections and translations from the writings of Wagner, the founder and the chief exponent of the new school of music, is almost the only means by which Americans can arrive at a conception of the principles which animate it, and of the ideals which it seeks. Wagner is a voluminous writer, and many of his essays are of a quite special nature, so that great judgment was required in selecting such of them as should give the reader a rounded conception of Wagner as a man, as a composer (in reference to his own works), and as a musician, or musical theorist (in reference to the function which music should fulfill, and to the means for attaining its ideal).
With only a casual acquaintance with Wagner's complete works, we may yet un-
