Popular Science Monthly/Volume 20/December 1881/Literary Notices
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES, NO. XXXVI.
Suicide: an Essay on Comparative Moral Statistics. By Henry Morselli, M.D., Professor of Psychological Medicine in Royal University, Turin; Physician-in-Chief to the Royal Asylum for the Insane. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 388. Price, $1.75.
Some two or three years since, the author of this book contributed quite an elaborate work in Italian to the "International Scientific Series." It at once took high rank as an authoritative presentation of the subject, and was largely drawn upon by Continental and English periodicals in the discussions that followed its publication. Dr. Morselli has revised and abridged the original, expressly for the English version now issued in London and New York; and the work in its present form supplies a long-recognized want in our literature.
There are, however, those who will ask: "What has suicide to do with science? or, What place has such a work in the 'International Scientific Series'? People commit suicide," they will say, "because they are tired of life; it is a matter of morals; an act of volition originating in the will, which is free, and therefore not amenable to the methods of science."
To this, the simple reply is, that it is the office of science to investigate the regularities and the conditions, or, in other words, the laws of phenomena. The voluntary destruction of life is a social phenomenon, the investigation of which falls just as much within the scope of science as an inquiry into the conditions of combustion, the classification of minerals, or the laws of plant growth. Dr. Morselli's book is a systematic and comprehensive inquiry into the phenomena, the conditions, and the laws of suicide. It is, therefore, a legitimate and important contribution to the science of sociology; and is, moreover, the most practical exemplification we have seen of the real significance of law in what are called the higher spheres of its application. In a notice like this we can only give a few illustrative results of his method.
In the first place, it has been found, by a long course of extensive and careful observation, as shown by statistics, which are simply numerical records of facts, that the phenomena of suicide occur with great regularity. The psychical laws, in fact, work with more uniformity than the physiological or organic laws. Suicides are more regular than births, deaths, and marriages; and it has also been established that it is on the increase in the most enlightened countries, so as to compel the conclusion that this result is due to advancing civilization. Dr. Morselli states this general result in the following form: "In the aggregate of the civilized states of Europe and America, the frequency of suicide shows a growing and uniform increase, so that generally voluntary death since the beginning of the century has increased and goes on increasing more rapidly than the geometrical augmentation of the population and of the general mortality." Extensive tables are given, confirming this statement in a large number of countries.
But, though there is great regularity in the phenomena of suicide, this regularity is only under uniform conditions. Suicide varies as the conditions vary. Moreover, a large number of conditions are acting together, so that the result is a highly complex one. It is the work of the investigator to disentangle these conditions, so as to show the proper value of each. The general problem presents itself in this way. Suicide is a phenomenon occurring in all states of society. But in some countries its rate falls as low as twenty or thirty to a million inhabitants in a year, while in others it rises to perhaps one hundred and seventy to the million, and others show rates that are intermediate. In some cases, the figures from year to year are comparatively stationary, but fluctuate at different times of the year. In other instances, the annual figures fluctuate; and in all cases a variety of causes are at work to determine the result. The task of the statistician is to find out and express by numbers and averages the relation of the rates of suicide to these numerous accompanying conditions that are found to influence voluntary death. The task is an especially difficult one, but it has been accomplished with such success as to afford new and striking proof of the validity of sociological science. Dr. Morselli first considers the influence of the physical environment or the agencies of nature, as they affect the practice of self-destruction.
Men do not kill themselves in all climates alike. The influence of different regions is not great, but it is real. It has long been supposed that suicide is much more frequent in the north of Europe than in the south; and it has been found that it is more common in the northern than in the southern parts of France and Italy. But the old notion that Northern Europe is the "classic ground" of suicide is modified by later researches, which indicate that the excess is rather in the central region. Dr. Morselli says: "If of all the countries, districts, provinces, and circles of Europe we form five groups, which we will call the North, West, Central, East, and South, we shall perceive the predominance of the central over the other four according to the method in which the countries indicated are placed in the scale of averages per million. In the center two thirds of the countries exceed the proportion of one hundred and fifty on the million; to the North about three quarters stand between fifty and one hundred and fifty, and in the South more than three quarters do not exceed the proportion of fifty suicides per million of inhabitants in the year."
But the influence of seasons over suicide is powerful. It varies greatly in different times of the year, and this variation is so regular that the number of those who will destroy themselves in the different months is predictable in each country. Many things about suicide are difficult to ascertain and more or less uncertain, but there is no doubt about the time of year; and it is entirely established that the maximum of suicide occurs in the hot season, and the minimum in the cold season. Fig. 1 is a copy of one of Morselli's diagrams showing the comparative monthly variation of suicide in five countries. By tracing each line representing a country, its height at each month indicates the proportion given in the left hand column.
We can not say anything here of the influence of geology or of meteorology, or of the moon, or of the days of the month, or
of the hours of day or night, by all of which the rates of suicide are shown to be affected.
Under the title "Ethnological Influences," Dr. Morselli treats of races, stocks, nationalities, anthropological characteristics, and customs. As regards ethnic influences it is shown that the Germanic race is most addicted to suicide, while the two stocks, German and Scandinavian, divide this supremacy; the Jews, on the other hand, stand lowest in the scale. There seems to be a relation between suicide and anthropological characters, of which the following example is given: "The frequency of suicide in the various parts of Italy generally is in a direct ratio with stature, and the inclination to self-destruction increases from south to north as the stature of the Italians gradually increases."
The social environment, or social influences, affecting suicide are treated in a chapter of the work of great interest and instruction. The topics dealt with are the nature and effect of civilization; the influence of different forms of religious worship and creed; the effect of culture and instruction; the influence of public morality; general economical and political conditions; the density of population; and city and country life.
Chapter V is devoted to "The Influence of Individual Conditions," such as sex, age, vocation, profession, and individual status in government and society. Here also, as in the former chapter, we are tempted to give results which space forbids. But in regard to sex it may be remarked that, so
profoundly different are the characteristics of the sexes, we might expect a great difference in their proneness to suicide, and such is the fact. But the result is different from what we should expect if we accept the statements of reformers, who tell us
that women have hitherto been the sufferers from a systematic oppression which has made life a burden, while tyrannical men have made existence pleasant by abusing the weaker sex. Yet suicide is everywhere three or four times more frequent among men than among women. It is remarked that suicide is more frequent among Spanish women than those of any other country; and, curiously enough, that the proportion is generally found to decline with the greater preponderance of women in any country. Age also powerfully influences suicide, and nearly equally so in both sexes. The time of life most favorable to suicide is from twenty to fifty years of age; but the greatest proportion happens between forty and fifty. Dividing life into periods of ten years, it will be found that the fifth decennial period stands highest, and curves have been constructed to represent graphically to the eye the rate of increase and decline. Fig. 2 illustrates this for four countries.
Under the head of civil and social status, Dr. Morselli considers the influence of celibacy, marriage, widowhood, and the presence or absence of children. Those conditions are very different and marked ia their effects. In Italy, France, and Switzerland, suicides are less numerous among single than among married women. In Italy, if the suicides among single women are represented at 90, those of married women will be 100, and of widows 147; and in France, if the probability of suicide among married men is represented by 100, that of single men will be 111·4, and of widowers, astonishing to say, 250. Fig. 3 brings out some of these results very strikingly.
There are many other points of interest in the volume which we can not even name. The discussion of the philosophy of the subject, its moral aspects, and under what condition the suicidal practice is to be diminished in future, is clear, sagacious, and instructive. The subject has always a mysterious fascination, but as here considered it has also a rational and scientific interest that will command the attention of all thinking people.
In a chapter on the modes and instruments of self-destruction, it is shown that even here there is a predictable regularity.
The Foreigner in China. By L. N. Wheeler, D. D. With an Introduction by Professor W. C. Sawyer, Ph. D. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 268. Price, $1.25.
Dr. Wheeler has here given us an extremely readable little volume, treating various aspects of matters in the "Flowery Kingdom." He was a Methodist missionary in China from 1865 until 1873. He preached to the natives in their own language, and devoted himself actively to missionary work through the preparation of many English and Chinese publications. His familiarity with the native written and spoken language gave him advantages in studying the character of that people, of which he seems to have well availed himself. There are more candor and fairness in his pages than might be expected of one, under the powerful bias of religious partisanship, who goes to a distant country for the avowed purpose of overturning its system of faith. His chapters on Chinese history, diplomatic intercourse, and on the origin and effect of the various wars—external and internal—in which the empire has been involved in modern times, are most interesting and instructive. As between the peaceable pagans, who are content to be let alone, and the aggressive Christian nations, who have been bent upon opening the Celestial Kingdom to the benefits of civilization, Dr. Wheeler does not fail to recognize that the heathen have much the better showing. After giving an account of the Chinese policy, and the wars and their results, in the first eight chapters, the author passes to the subject of the religious conversion of the Chinese people. An account of the Roman Catholic missions is followed by that of the Protestant missions, and a discussion of the hindrances to evangelism, after which he devotes a chapter to proving that Protestant missions are not a failure. He points out the great difficulties of the work, and gets a standard of what constitutes success in dealing with such a nation by showing that all other efforts to influence the Chinese—diplomatic, commercial, and military—have been anything but successful. Judged "by the same tests as we apply to more mundane undertakings," missionary work, he thinks, is not to be pronounced a failure. Hut Dr. Wheeler's ideas of success are certainly large, if not peculiar. He says, "Were there not a single convert to Christianity in the Chinese Empire to-day, it would still be too early to pronounce unfavorably on missions." When we remember, as the author tells us, that the Christian gospel was introduced among the Chinese as early asa. d. 300; that Nestorian Christian missionaries began work there in a. d. 639; that the Catholic Church entered upon this missionary field more than six hundred years ago; and that the Protestant Church began its missionary labors there early in the present century—the statement that, if there were not a single convert to Christianity in the Chinese Empire to-day, it would still be too early to draw an unfavorable inference as to future prospects, shows that faith pays but very little regard to the inductions of experience. The doctor, moreover, interprets success in a very liberal way, considering it rather a problem of spiritual dynamics than of mere numbers. He says, "As each idolater was held fast by the entire force of native superstition, the conversion of one was a triumph over the whole might of paganism."
As to Confucianism, the religion of China, Dr. Wheeler has no hesitation in declaring that to be a "stupendous failure," leaving the people in a wretched spiritual condition, notwithstanding its long and undisturbed ascendency. He quotes the Rev. William Ashmore, who describes the prevalence of the precepts of Confucius as follows: "The roads to honor, to wealth, and to official preferment all start out from the skill displayed in stating and applying the maxim of the sage and his expounders. The most powerful social class is composed of those who have been covered with literary honors for their proficiency in the knowledge of Confucius. Confucianism is really the state constitution; it is the state religion; it is the state etiquette. Confucius and his teachings are worshiped by three hundred million people. The words that fell from his lips form the thesis of all the literary tournaments of the empire. They are graven deep on granite monuments. They are posted on the doorways of pavilions and rest houses every year. They are written on fans that are ever in hand. They are painted on bed-curtains. They are gilded on rolls and hung up to adorn their temples and dwelling-houses. They furnish the phraseology with which men of polite learning exchange amenities with each other; and they may be heard falling from the lips of the common people in the markets when chaffering about the price of shrimps and snails."
And yet, notwithstanding all this, the moral condition of the Chinese is anything but satisfactory. The virtues of benevolence, integrity, propriety, wisdom, sincerity, with filial piety, are so far exemplified in the daily life of the people as to explain their remarkable longevity as a nation; their love of fixed and orderly modes of life; their thrifty habits; and their general tendency to practice the arts of peace. But the people are untruthful and dishonest, and, notwithstanding their ostentatious politeness, are coarse and brutal under the surface, and are loose, lewd, and polygamous.
Professor Sawyer's introduction to the volume is a brief essay on the present American aspects of the Chinese question. He considers it from the point of view of the recent treaties with China negotiated by the American envoys, Angel, Swift, and Prescott, the text of these treaties being given at the close of the volume. Professor Sawyer takes what may be called the liberal or anti-Californian view of the subject. He shows the futility of the reasons commonly offered for excluding the Chinese from the country, and in this connection remarks: "We have long endured the immigration of Celts and Teutons at a rate fifty times more rapid than the coming of the Celestials, and no political economist would dare to say that we should be better off without them, although they have made it almost impossible to govern New York and some other cities even respectably. Strange to say, these very Celts and Teutons are the men whose minds are most exercised lest we should be overrun by an inferior race; and their hoodlum sons, not the Chinese, are the disturbing element in San Francisco."
A Hand-book of Vertebrate Dissection. By H. Newell Martin, D. S. C., and William A. Moele, M. D. Part I. How to dissect a Chelonian. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1881. Pp. 94. Price, 75 cents.
The multiplication of special monographs for guidance in practical scientific study is an excellent sign of the times, as it becomes an index of activity in the field of experimental work. But these little manuals of practice are generally prepared with no other view than to serve as convenient helps in manipulation, and arc but rarely steps in a broad, well-defined educational plan. The little book before us is of a different character, and has its place as part of a comprehensive system of biological study.
Professor Martin, who has charge of biology in Johns Hopkins University, has organized his department of teaching on a rational basis, and this book is the first installment of a series of small hand-books which has had its origin in his experience and necessities as a teacher. His theory of the method of study, which is hardly new, but has not been before reduced to a working system, is that students should first acquire some general idea of the elements and relations of their subject before concentrating study upon special divisions of it. In accordance with this idea, he some years ago, in connection with Professor Huxley, issued a volume called "Practical Biology," which was designed to introduce students to this science by observations of the structure and life-history of a number of typical plants and animals. It assumed that there is properly a science of living beings, as such, quite apart from any division of them into animals and plants. The course of study prescribed was experimental and thorough, and designed to lay a firm foundation for the further pursuit of the subject. Being thus grounded in general biology, the student is prepared to take up botany, or animal anatomy and physiology, and proceed with them to the greatest advantage. The present hand-book comes in at this point when it is proposed to enter upon the scientific investigation of vertebrates, and it shows him "how to dissect a chelonian." The Chelonia are reptiles of the tortoise kind, and among these Professor Martin selects the Red-bellied Slider Terrapin for dissection, and adapts his book to the details of its structure. But, if students can not find this species, Professor Martin says that it is quite as well, and even in some respects better, to obtain species slightly different from the one described; the attention of students being kept more alert when they find they can not altogether rely on the description in the book, but have to look at everything carefully for themselves.
The present monograph will shortly be followed by two others, containing directions for the dissection of a pigeon and a rat, both of which are nearly ready for publication. The series will ultimately include a bony and a cartilaginous fish, a lizard, and one of the large-tailed amphibia, and when completed the series will form a Hand-book of Vertebrate Dissection.
Algebra for Schools and Colleges. By Simon Newcomb, Professor of Mathematics, U. S. Navy. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1881. Pp. 454. Price, $1.90.
A characteristic of this book is that, for the convenience of teachers, it is divided into two parts: the first adapted to well-prepared beginners, and comprising about what is commonly required for admission to college; and the second designed for the more advanced general student.
In the preparation of his work, Professor Newcomb recognizes two important principles in education which are much overlooked, and are novelties in their application to algebra. The first is that, in the acquisition of knowledge, an idea can not be very fully grasped by the youthful mind unless it is presented under a concrete form. This requires that, whenever possible, an abstract idea should be embodied in some visible representation, and all general theorems presented in a variety of special forms. In accordance with this principle, numerical examples of nearly all algebraic operations and theorems have been given. Algebraic operations with pure numbers are made to precede the use of symbols, and the latter are introduced only after the pupil has had a certain amount of familiarity with the distinction between algebraic and numerical operations. The second principle is the importance of time in mental processes. All mathematical conceptions require time to become ingrafted upon the mind, and the greater their abstruseness the more time is needed. The author is of the opinion that the backward state of mathematical instruction in this country, as compared with Europe, is due to a neglect of this principle. he says: "Let us take, for instance, the case of the student commencing the calculus. On the system which was so universal among us a few years ago, and which is still widely prevalent, he is confronted at the outset with the number of entirely new conceptions, such as those of variables, functions, increments, infinitesimals, and limits. In his first lesson he finds these all combined with a notation so entirely different from that to which he has been accustomed, that before the new ideas and forms of thought can take permanent root in his mind he is through with the subject, and all that he has learned is apt to vanish from his memory in a few months. To meet this difficulty, the author has not scrupled to deviate from strict logical order to introduce the more advanced conceptions, disguised, perhaps, under some simple form at the earliest practicable period in the course. Some familiarity with ideas is thus acquired before their more formal enunciation. The practical feature of the work subsidiary to this principle consists in subdividing each subject as minutely as possible, and exercising the pupil on the details preparatory to combining them into a whole. Exercises in the use of algebraic language have been made to precede any solution of problems. In general, each principle which is to be presented or used is stated singly, and the pupil is practiced upon it before proceeding to another."
These features of the work certainly conform to sound educational philosophy, and they justify the conclusion that it has been executed throughout in a similar spirit. Professor Newcomb's reputation as a mathematician will be sure to commend his work to the favorable regard of teachers, and experience with it will test the fidelity with which he has applied the principles we have referred to, and others of perhaps equal importance which we have not space to notice.
Man's Origin and Destiny, sketched from the Platform of the Physical Sciences. By G. P. Lesley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania. Boston: George 11. Ellis. Pp. 442.
The chief portion of this volume was prepared as a series of lectures, and delivered at the Lowell Institute, Boston, in 1866. They were published in a volume under the present title in 1868, and, the work continuing to be called for, some slight corrections were made in the plates, and a new edition is now issued, to which six more lectures are added.
It was the author's aim in his lectures "to attempt to show how far the sciences) as they are now advanced, succeed in throwing light upon the early history of our race"; or "to stimulate one class of minds by certain new suggestions respecting the correlation of the physical sciences with the history of mankind." His book is in no sense the systematic exposition of a theory which he claims as his own, but is rather a free, discursive interpretation and criticism of some of the leading doctrines and tendencies of modern scientific thought. The purpose and quality of the work are sufficiently indicated in the following prefatory passage: "The author never contemplated anything beyond a general sketch of the present bearings of science upon the vexed question of the origin and early history of man. But the question has many subdivisions. He intended the several lectures to be separate sketches of those subdivisions of the field of discussion—mere introductions to their proper study. His views are stated, therefore, in round terms. Nothing is closely reasoned out. Much is left to the logical instinct, and more to the literary education, of the reader. Reference is everywhere made to the sources of information within easy reach of all. Even the style of an essay has been avoided. The book is merely a series of familiar conversations upon the current topics of interest in the scientific world."
We have gone through Mr. Lesley's book with interest and profit—pleased with its brilliant and forcible passages, which are frequent; instructed by its learning and its abounding facts, and stimulated by its incisive observations and its forcible arguments. But the work is strongly stamped with the author's individuality, and its supplementary chapters especially, fresh and breezy as they are, contain various opinions to which we find it impossible to subscribe. The view taken of sociology, in the lecture on "The Social Destiny of the Race," appears to us inadequate and not up to the times; and in the lecture on "The Future Economics of Mankind" we seem to hear the voice of a Pennsylvania official rather than the scientific master of economical principles. But, notwithstanding its faults, the work is original, helpful, and invigorating, and those who are concerned to note the drifts of modern inquiry will be sure to find it serviceable.
The Microscope and its Revelations. By William B. Carpenter, M. D., F. R. S. Sixth edition. Illustrated by Twenty-six Plates and Five Hundred Wood-Engravings. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston & Co. 1881. Pp. 882. Price, $5.50.
The admirers of the veteran physiologist Dr. William B. Carpenter will be gratified to learn that his surrender of the registrarship of the University of London, to which he had given nearly a quarter of a century of his life, was not the signal of retirement from scientific labor. On the contrary, liberation in one field has only led to greater activity in another. His elaborate work on the microscope has long been a standard for practical students, and has well kept up with microscopical improvement and progress. In preparing the fifth edition the pressure of official duties upon his time made it necessary to call in assistance in getting ready certain parts of the work. But, being recently more at liberty, he has rewritten those parts, and has devoted himself to the task of thoroughly revising and much extending the whole treatise in this sixth edition. We have spoken of former editions of the book in terms of strong commendation, and an examination of the present has only served to heighten our estimate of its excellence. It is encyclopedic in scope, and profusely and elegantly illustrated. The ease and clearness of Dr. Carpenter's style are well known, and no book that he has written better illustrates these qualities than "The Microscope." There is another feature of the work that adds greatly to its popular value—the large amount of interesting information in each department of natural history, which is made a subject of microscopical study. While 266 pages are devoted strictly to the construction, forms, properties, and manipulation of the instrument, more than 600 pages are given to its applications in the living world. This greatly enhances the interest of the work, and gives it a completeness possessed by no other microscopical manual. Every who has a microscope will need also Dr. Carpenter's book to get the most out of his instrument; and every one who has the book will be certain to want a microscope.
The Mechanic's Slide Rule and how to use it. By Frederick T. Hodgson. New York Industrial Publication Co. 1881. Pp. 29. 25 cents.
The New Botany. A Lecture on the Best Method of Teaching. By W. J. Beal, Ph. D., Professor of Botany in the Agricultural College, Lansing, Michigan. Pp. 15.
The New Ethics. An Essay on the Moral Law of Use. By Frank Sewall. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1881. Pp. 61. 75 cents.
Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics for the Three Months ended June 30, 1881. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 107.
Contributions to the Study of the Toxicology of Cardiac Depressants. I. Carbolic Acid. A Summary of Fifty-six Cases of Poisoning, with a Study of its Physiological Action. By Edward T. Reichert, M. D. Pp. 25.
Thirty-ninth Missouri University Catalogue, 1880-'81 Including Report to the Governor, Pp. 176.
Tertiary Lake Basin of Florissant, Colorado. By Samuel H. Scudder. Washington. 1881. Pp. 22. With Map.
Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club, Transactions No. 2. Ottawa, Canada. 1881. Pp. 44.
On some Mammalia of the Lowest Miocene Beds of New Mexico. By E. D. Cope. 1881. Pp. 12.
On the Origin of the Iron-Ores of the Marquette District, Lake Superior, pp. 10; and Ou the Age of the Copper-bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, pp. 2. By M. E. Wadsworth. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Hessian Fly. Its Ravages. Habits, Enemies, and Means of preventing its Increase. By A. S. Packard, Jr. . M. D. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 43.
General Index and Supplement to the Nine Reports on the Insects of Missouri. By Professor C. V. Riley. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1881. Pp. 177.
On the Conidæ of the Loan Fork Epoch, pp. 4: and Review of the Rodentia of the Miocene Period of North America, pp. 26. By E. D. Cope. Washington. 1881.
Osteology of Lanius Ludovicianvs Excubitorides, pp. 9; and Osteology of the North American Tetraonidæ, pp. 4. With Nine Plates. By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A. Washington. 1881.
The President's Report to the Board of Resents of the University of Michigan, for the Tear ending June 80, 1880. Ann Arbor. 1880. Pp. 76.
Annotated List of the Birds of Nevada. By W. J. Hoffman. M. D. Extracted from the Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey. Washington. 1881. Pp. 54. With Map.
Astronomical Papers. Vol. I. Part 5. On Gauss's Method of computing Secular Perturbations. Washington. 1881. Pp. 44.
"American Journal of Mathematics." Vol. III, No. 4. Cambridge: University Press. December, 1880. American Juvenile Speaker and Songster. By C. A. Fyke. Cincinnati: F. W. Helmick. Pp. 127. 40 cents.
The Mother's Guide in the Management and Feeding of Infants. By John M. Keating, M.D. Philadelphia: II. C. Lea's Son & Co. 1881. Pp. 118. $1.
Florida, for Tourists, Invalids, and Settlers. By George M. Barbour. With Maps and Illustrations. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1882. $1.50.
The Labor Question, or an Exact Science of Equivalents. Chicago: Legal News Co., Printers. 1881. Pp. 186.
Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes. By Rev. T. W. Webb, F.R.A.S. New York: Industrial Publication Co. 1881. Pp. 493.
first Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey. By Clarence King, Director. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 79. With Map.
Antiseptic Surgery. The Principles, Modes of Application, and Results of the Lister Dressing. By Dr. Just Lucas-Championnière. Translated and edited by F. H. Gerrish, M.D. Portland: Loring, Short & Harmon. 1881. Pp. 239. $2.25.
An Introduction to the Science of Comparative Mythology and Folk-Lore. By Rev. Sir George W. Cos, M.A. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1881. Pp. 330. $1.75.