Popular Science Monthly/Volume 27/September 1885/Literary Notices
Scientific Culture and other Essays. By Josiah Parsons Cooke, LL. D., Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in Harvard College. Second edition, with additions. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 293. Price, $1.
We had carefully read the first edition of this volume of essays, and have now re-read it in its expanded form with renewed pleasure. There are but few scientific writers so trained in the skillful use of English as Professor Cooke. Aside from the value and instructiveness of their contents, his essays are a treat to all who appreciate clearness, vigor, and precision in style, while yet the admirable expression is kept subordinate to intense and weighty thought. The work, however, is to be mainly prized as a contribution to the great educational movement of our time, which aims to give larger recognition to science in our higher schemes of study. This new edition must be taken as representing with a high degree of authority the broad and solid claims of scientific education. It does not deal with the subject technically, or formally, or even systematically, but is simply a collection of essays "written for special occasions without reference to each other," but all having a bearing upon one subject, with which the author has been long occupied both as a philosophic thinker and a practical teacher. The first essay, "Scientific Culture," and the eleventh, "Scientific Culture; its Spirit, its Aims, and its Methods," present directly the predominant idea of the book; but the various other papers present the view taken in an instructive and impressive manner. The several biographical articles are of extreme interest in illustrating the mental training and development of scientific men; while the papers on the Greek question are designed to meet immediate issues in relation to collegiate reform. The article on "The Elementary Teaching of Physical Science" is of especial value, for, although Professor Cooke has not devoted himself practically to this field of work, his statement of the scientific principles it involves is forcible and timely.
But, while the volume is full of sound suggestions on the general subject of science-teaching, yet its leading title, "Scientific Culture," embodies the fundamental conception which it is designed to bring out; and this is nothing less than an unqualified avowal of the extremest claim put forth in behalf of science as a new educational basis. The adherents of the old traditional system of scholarship are ready enough to admit that there is a certain usefulness and importance in scientific studies, which entitle them to a place in the collegiate curriculum; but they strenuously resist the idea that science is to give rise to a new "culture." Here they make a stand, and here the battle of progressive education is to be fought, with heavy odds, it must be confessed, against the reformers. For "culture" has come to be a very potent word, representing, as it does, all that is most excellent, dignified, and revered in a system of education that has prevailed for centuries in the leading civilized countries. In fact, the chief capital of the classical party to-day, in their struggle against the new education, is the powerful spell of a single term, which has come mainly to imply a critical knowledge of the dead languages, because, by all our scholastic traditions, no man can lay claim to "culture" who is not familiar with Latin and Greek. The term has no doubt become widened in recent times, so as to embrace other languages and the general subject of literature, but the party of tradition is sharply jealous of any extension of it that will make the term "culture" applicable to proficiency in distinctively modern studies.
Professor Cooke takes no narrow view of his subject. He concedes the value of that genuine mental culture, whatever the instruments employed to attain it, which confers intellectual power by the vigorous and systematic exercise of the intellectual faculties; and he recognizes that this may be secured by the thorough study of languages, and the literatures they contain. He draws a distinction between erudition and scholarship, the former implying the simple accumulation of stores of learning, and the latter a discipline of the intellect and an enlargement of mental power through the process of independent inquiry. The same thing holds in science. The cramming of books—the erudition of science—is of but little worth; while the independent exercise of the mind upon the problems of science—the assimilation of acquisitions into a real knowledge—is the true scholarship of science, and the highest form of mental cultivation. Professor Cooke shows conclusively that the "culture" of science is a broader conception, and involves a more varied and a completer mental training, than can be obtained from the exclusive study of language and of literature, because science has for its object the study of nature, and the whole scheme of phenomena and law in the midst of which human life is carried on.
The Religious Aspect of Philosophy: A Critique of the Bases of Conduct and of Faith. By Josiah Royce, Ph. D., Instructor in Philosophy in Harvard College. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 484. Price, $2.
If the test of a system of philosophy is, as Ferrier says, that it must be "reasoned," then is Dr. Royce's work entitled to this rank, for it is undoubtedly an ably "reasoned" system. He has written an independent and suggestive book, lively and vigorous in style, and which is certain to be appreciated by those who have a taste for metaphysical inquiries.
In his preface the author describes the work better than we can: "This book sketches the basis of a system of philosophy, while applying the principles of this system to religious problems. The form and order of the treatment depend upon the nature of these latter problems themselves, and are not such as a system of philosophy, expounded solely for its own sake, would be free to take. The religious problems have been chosen for the present study because they first drove the author to philosophy, and because they, of all human interests, deserve our best efforts and our utmost loyalty."
It seems, therefore, that our author was driven to philosophy by some sort of religious disquiet or perplexity. We gather from what follows that he had lost his faith, or was fearful of losing it, and went to philosophy for relief. What he found it is the office of the book to tell, but it is evidently something very different from that which had left him at first. He says: "As he has no present connection with any visible religious body, and no sort of desire for any such connection, he can not be expected to write an apology for a popular creed. This confession is made frankly, but not for the sake of provoking a quarrel, and with all due reverence for the faith of other men. If the fox who had lost his tail was foolish to be proud of his loss, he would have been yet more foolish to hide it by wearing a false tail, stolen mayhap from a dead fox. The full application of the moral of the fable to the present case is, moreover, willingly accepted. Not as the fox invited his friends to imitate his loss, would the present writer aim to make other men lose their faiths. Rather is it his aim not to arouse fruitless quarrels, but to come to some peaceful understanding with his fellows touching the ultimate meaning and value and foundation of this noteworthy custom, so widely prevalent among us, the custom of having a religion."
Nevertheless, the philosophy he sought seems to have answered the author's purpose, as it showed him that the skepticism he dreaded was not so bad a thing after all. Again he says: "As to the relation of this book to what is called modern doubt, it is a relation neither to blind obedience nor of unsympathetic rejection. The doctrine of philosophic idealism here propounded is not what in these days is popularly called agnosticism. Yet doubting everything is once for all a necessary element in the organism of philosophic reflection. What is here dwelt upon over and over again is, however, the consideration that the doubts of our time are not to be apologetically 'refuted,' in the old-fashioned sense, but that, taken just as they are, fully and cordially received, they are upon analysis found to contain and imply a positive and important religious creed, bearing both upon conduct and upon reality. Not to have once thoroughly accepted as necessary the great philosophic doubts and problems of our day, is simply not to have philosophized as a man of this age. But to have accepted these doubts without in time coming to accept the positive truth that is concealed in them, is to treat them as the innocent favorite of fortune in a fairy tale always at first treats his magic gift. It is something common and dingy, and he lays it carelessly away in his empty house, feeling poorer than ever. But see: handle it rightly, and the fairy gift fills your transfigured home with a wealth of gems and gold, and spreads for you a wondrous banquet. To the author has come the fancy that modern doubt may be some such fairy gift as this, and he would like to suggest to some reader what may possibly prove the right fashion of using the talisman."
More light is thrown upon the author's position by a passage from his introductory chapter, where he remarks: "The short and easy agnostic method is not enough you must supplement skepticism by philosophy; and when you do so, you will find yourself forced to accept, not indeed the old theology of your childhood, but something that satisfies oddly enough certain religious longings that, as skeptic, you had carefully tried to forget. Then you'll find yourself with what you may have to call a religious doctrine; and then you may have to state it as we are here going to do, not in an easy or fascinating way, such as the pure skeptic can so well follow, but at all events with some approach to a serious and sustained effort to consider hard questions from many sides. The skeptical method is not only a good but also a necessary beginning of religious philosophy. But we are bound to go deeper than mere superficial agnosticism."
From these quotations the reader will be able to form some tolerable conception of the scope and purpose of Dr. Royce's work. Of its value as a contribution to speculative thought we are not qualified to speak. Cut, turning to Chapter I, in which the author puts the grave question, "What, then, is religion?" we do not find the answer so clear and satisfactory as seems required in stating the fundamental idea of a religio-philosophical system. Religion, according to our author, is something important, vaguely associated with ethics. He says: "So much, at all events, seems sure about religion. It has to do with action. It is impossible without some appearance of moral purpose." Again: "A religion adds something to the moral code, and what it adds is, first, enthusiasm." And again: "But in fact religion always adds another element. Not only does religion teach devotion to a moral code, but the means that it uses to this end include a more or less complex theory of things. Religion says not merely, do and feel, but also believe. . . . These three elements then go to constitute any religion." On this basis, which is at any rate sufficiently comprehensive, and by the help of the great lights of German philosophy—Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Lotze, and others—Dr. Royce builds his system, and in the opinion of able critics he has built to excellent purpose.
The French Revolution. By Hippolyte Adolphe Taine. Translated by John Durand. Vol. III. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 509. Price, $2.50.
The present volume gives the history of the revolutionary government, including the Reign of Terror. The author expresses himself in his preface as regarding the leaders in the movements of the time in the same light as he would the crocodiles of the ancient Egyptian temples—dangerous animals, brutes rolling about on a purple carpet, but worshiped in their day. Of his own kinds of "crocodiles" he has studied the details of the structure, the play of the organs, their habits, their modes of living, their faculties, and their appetites. Of the thousands of specimens he had at hand, he has selected a few for special treatment, of which the three largest seem, of their kind, truly remarkable, and those in which the divinity of the day might well incarnate himself. The bills of butchers, as well as housekeeping accounts, authentic and regularly kept, throw sufficient light on the cost of this cult. We can estimate how much the sacred crocodiles consumed in ten years, we know their bills of fare daily, their favorite morsels. Naturally, the god selected the fattest victims, but his voracity was so great that he likewise bolted down, and blindly, the lean ones, and in much greater number than the fattest. Moreover, by virtue of his instincts, and an unfailing effect of the situation, he ate his equals once or twice a year, except when they succeeded in eating him. This cult certainly is instructive, at least to historians and men of pure science." We are told also that "this volume, like the others that have gone before it, is written solely for amateurs of moral zoology, for naturalists of the understanding, for seekers of texts and of proofs—for these and not for the public, whose mind is made up, and which has its own opinion on the Revolution."
The Morals of Christ. By Austin Bierbower. Chicago; Colegrove Book Company. Pp. 200. Price, 50 cents.
"In announcing his morality," says the author, "Christ took three departures from other systems—one from the Mosaic, one from the Pharisaic, and one from the Græco-Roman. . . . In departing from the Mosaic morality, he sought to develop morality from its primitive rudeness and simplicity; in departing from the Pharisaic morality, he sought to recall it from a ritualistic divergence to the proper subjects of morality; and, in departing from the Græco-Roman morality, he sought to substitute the tender for the heroic virtues." The author's purpose in this essay is declared to be to set forth the morality of Christ as a departure from these three representative types, "it being this triple departure, more than anything absolute, on which he put his chief emphasis, and which, more than anything original, characterized his system."
The History of the Present Tariff. 1860-1883. By F. W. Taussig. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, Pp. 111. Price, 75 cents.
This volume is intended to give a narrative of the growth of the protective system which now exists in the United States. It endeavors to state the circumstances under which the various tariff acts were passed, the causes which made their enactment possible, and the changes of duty which they brought about—facts which may be familiar enough to old citizens who have not shut their eyes to them, but which can hardly be known to the younger Americans who have been taught that the protective policy is an essential part of our institutions and prosperity. The author has opinions of his own on the subject, which he has not concealed, but which he has tried not to allow to distort his statements of facts.
The History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837. By Edward G. Bourne. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 161. Price, $1.25.
The proposition has been made within the past two years, instead of reducing our revenue, now too large for the legitimate needs of the Government, to continue collecting the surplus to form a fund for distribution among the States. A similar experiment was tried once before in the history of our country, with disastrous results; but men's memories are short in political and financial history, and the story has been forgotten except by students. Mr. Bourne's book appears opportunely to bring the lesson back to mind, and warn such persons as need the warning and would heed it. In the main it is a relation of facts, showing how the surplus was disposed of in the several States which shared in the distribution, and what came of the dispositions.
Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society. Vol. I, 1883 and 1884. Denver: Published by the Society, Whitman Cross, Secretary. Pp. 147, with Plate.
The Colorado Scientific Society was formed in December, 1882, "for the promotion of scientific intercourse, observation, and record in the State of Colorado." From the twelve original members it increased during the first year to a body of thirty-one members. The contents of the present volume of its proceedings are well described by Mr. S. F. Emmons, its first year's president, in his retiring address, as "interesting and instructive papers upon new methods in the chemical investigation of metals; on the geology and manner of occurrence of ores in Colorado mining districts, and the discovery of minerals not only new in this part of the world, but some new to science; upon glacial phenomena in Colorado; upon the geology and volcanic phenomena of the far-distant Dutch possessions in the East Indies; and suggestions with regard to the home question of the supply of water from artesian wells to be expected in Denver."
The Museum, Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2, May and June, 1885. Philadelphia: William F. Fell & Co. Pp. 16 each number. Price, 15 cents; $1.50 a year.
The "Museum" is an illustrated monthly journal for collectors of all classes and young naturalists. The numbers before us bear the marks of good editing and efforts to secure original contributions from men whose names carry authority in their respective departments of research.
Symbolism and Science. By Lloyd P. . Smith. Philadelphia: Privately printed. Pp. 23.
This essay was originally read as a paper before the Germantown Science and Art Club. The author's purpose was to call attention, "rather by way of suggestion than otherwise," to the subject of the esoteric or symbolical method of teaching pursued originally in the East, and the pernicious effects it has had on the progress of true knowledge even down to our own time.
Lessons in Hygiene. By John C. Cutter, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 180. Price, 50 cents.
This is an elementary text-book, adapted for common schools, on the maintenance of health, with the rudiments of anatomy and physiology, and the treatment of emergent cases, and lessons on the action of stimulants and sedatives on the brain and nervous system. It presents the essential facts concerning bathing, clothing, air, water, food, cooking, home-construction, mental work, physical exercise, eye-work, contagious disease, filth-disease, disinfection, tea, tobacco, chloral, alcoholics, etc., as bearing upon the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease. The practical is prominent throughout.
Christian Thought. Second Series. Edited by Charles F. Deems, LL. D., President of the American Institute of Christian Philosophy. New York: Phillips & Sons, 80 Fourth Avenue. Pp. 476.
The "Institute of Christian Philosophy" is a society which holds stated meetings for the discussion of questions bearing upon the relations of science and the Christian religion, together with annual assemblies on the Chautauqua plan at some place of summer resort, where the same questions are formally considered with carefully prepared addresses before as large audiences as will attend. The present volume represents the sum of the year's work of the institution as embodied in the more important lectures and papers on philosophy, Christian evidence, and biblical elucidation, spoken at the monthly and annual meetings. These, as they appeared in the monthly numbers of the periodical "Christian Thought," were r varied with editorial remarks, briefer articles, paragraphs, and squibs, all having some bearing on the main question, which are also incorporated in the volume.
An Account of the Progress in Zoölogy in the Year 1883. By Theodore Gill. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 53.
Though no startling discoveries in zoology were recorded during 1883, the progress of the science was real. The two important events deemed worthy of special notice were the International Fisheries Exhibition in London, and the publication of Jordan and Gilbert's "Synopsis of the Fishes of North America." Mr. Gill's "account" is composed of synopses of the several papers and reports of the investigations of naturalists in the various countries in which science is systematically pursued.
Archæological Institute of America. Sixth Annual Report, 1884-'85. Cambridge, Mass.: John Wilson & Son. Pp. 48.
A new departure has been taken by the institute, in order to give it wider national scope and interest, in the division into affiliated societies, of which there are now three, those of Boston, Baltimore, and New York, each with its own roll of members and set of officers. Progress is reported in the exploration of New Mexico and Arizona by M. Bandelier, in the collation of the results of the excavations at Assos, Asia Minor, and in the publication of papers. An expedition was sent out last fall to Babylonia, under the charge of Dr. W. Hayes Ward, for the purpose of looking over the field and finding a favorable site for future thorough investigation. It has not yet made a report for publication. The institute collected and expended $46,150 between May, 1879, and May, 1885.
Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America, 1884, Professor A. M. Elliott, Baltimore, Md., Secretary. Pp. 100.
The "Modern Language Association" was organized in the city of New York in December, 1883. Its object is the "advancement of the study of the modern languages and their literatures." The second meeting, of which this pamphlet contains the report, was held at Columbia College, New York, on the 29th and 30th of December last. A considerable number of papers, abstracts of which are here given, all instructive and suggestive, were read, bearing on the value of modern languages, the desirability of giving more attention to them and of putting them on an equal footing with the ancient languages, and the best methods of teaching them. A resolution was adopted expressing the opinion of the convention that the establishment of a classical course in modern languages, with special view to disciplinary methods, alongside the ancient classical course in our colleges is not only desirable but practicable.
Notes on the Literature of Explosives. By Professor Charles E. Munroe, U. S. N. A., Annapolis, Md. Pp. 32.
Elephant Pipes in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Davenport, Iowa. By Charles E. Putnam. Pp. 40.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Davenport has two pipes in the shape of elephants, and three inscribed tablets, which are claimed to have been found among aboriginal relics. Their genuineness has been doubted by some, and has been attacked by Mr. Henry W. Henshaw, in the report of the Bureau of Ethnology. This essay is a vindication of their authenticity by a member of the academy. Behind the question immediately at issue lies the controversy respecting the origin of the mound-builders, on which archæologists are dividing.
Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous. Edited by Julius A. Palmer, Sr. Boston: L. Prang & Co. Pp. 4 of Text, with Twelve Chromo-lithographic Plates.
Regarding the edible mushrooms as supplying most valuable and delicious food, the author seeks to furnish a guide in the selection of species that shall admit of no mistake being made. The letterpress pages furnish general directions for recognizing and gathering the useful species and avoiding the dangerous ones; and the plates give exact portraits of both kinds, in their natural sizes and colors, with botanical descriptions, and directions for preparing them for the table. The same information is given in a cheaper form in two charts, one containing the useful, the other the dangerous kinds. Mr. Palmer's qualifications for the description of these plants are attested by the fact that he has for more than ten years directed his attention and experiments to ascertaining the edible or noxious qualities of the various species of mushrooms abounding in our fields and woods.
A Course of Practical Instruction in Botany. By F. O. Bower and Sidney H. Vines. London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 226. Price, $1.50.
This work has grown out of the course of botanical instruction which was begun in 1873 by Mr. W. Thistleton Dyer in the Normal School of Science at South Kensington, in which the same plan was adopted as Professor Huxley had found convenient for the animal side of morphology. Mr. Dyer's purpose, to put the results of his experience in teaching methods in the form of a hand-book, which he has not been able personally to carry out, has been fulfilled by his successor, Mr. Bower, in the matter of laboratory instruction for the types selected, and by Dr. Vines in the matter of method and the morphology of the cells. The plan of the teaching is—typical specimens having been selected of well-known or easily identified plants—to give the pupil directions for making careful and minute examinations of all their parts, their structure, and their visible qualities. This volume, which is designated as Part I, is devoted to the phanerogams and the pteridophyta.
The Basic Pathology and Specific Treatment of Diphtheria, Typhoid, Zymotic, Septic, Scorbutic, and Putrescent Diseases generally. By George J. Ziegler, M. D. Philadelphia: George J. Ziegler, M. D. Pp. 225. Price, $2.
The author's treatise is based upon and unfolds the theory that the diseases in question are "dependent upon, or complicated with, one common basic, alkaline, pathogenic factor, mostly the volatile alkali ammonia, incidental to all forms of life, and differing only in quantity and the constitutional and local manifestations and complications arising from diverse etiological and pathological conditions, yet underlying and intensifying them all."
A Manual of the Theory and Practice of Topographical Surveying by Means of the Transit and Stadia. By J. B. Johnson, C. E. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 113. Price, $1.25.
The author is Professor of Civil Engineering in Washington University, and was formerly Engineer of the United States Lake and Mississippi River Surveys. The system which he explains is well adapted to preliminary railroad and canal surveys; surveys of drainage-basins, reservoir, dam, and bridge sites; the location of ditches and pipe-lines; and, in fact, to surveys of any kind demanding a knowledge of the topographical features or of the contours of the ground. He has had, as objects in view in preparing the work, to make a manual useful to students and in the work in the field; to explain the methods of field-work so clearly and minutely that an engineer in practice could, without other instruction, prepare his instruments, and do the work in good shape; and to furnish means of reducing the field-notes and methods of plotting, the results of many years' experience of many engineers.
The Lineal Measures of the Semi-civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 14.
Dr. Brinton is devoted to the study of the history and civilization of the aborigines of the Americas, and pursues it with industry in all its branches. In the present monograph he gives the results of his analyses of the words for weights and measures in the Maya, Cakchiquel, and Nahuatl or Aztec languages, instituted to ascertain, if possible, what units, if any, were employed by the peoples who spoke them. The measures of these nations seem to have been derived from the body, and some of them were curious. A unit of land-measure among the Cakchiquels was the circumference of the human figure. A man stood erect, his feet together, and both arms extended. The end of a rope was placed under his feet and its slack placed over one hand, then on top of his head, then over the other hand, and was finally brought to touch the beginning. This gave somewhat less than three times the height. The Aztecs had four measures from the point of the elbow: one to the wrist of the same arm, a second to the wrist of the opposite arm, a third to the ends of the fingers of the same arm, and the fourth to the ends of the fingers of the opposite arm. Neither of the three nations was acquainted with a system of estimation by weight, or with the use of the plumbline, nor with an accurate measure of long distances.
The Magnetism of Iron and Steel Ships. An Explanation of the Various Ways in which it affects the Compass. By T. A. Lyons. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 124, with Plates.
This volume is the seventeenth of the series of "Naval Professional Papers." Its purpose is to exhibit in a concise form the principal phenomena of the deviations of the compass on iron ships. First are described the characteristics of a steel magnet, the method of determining those characteristics for any particular one, and the reciprocal action of two magnets. Next, the similitude of the magnetism in an iron or steel ship to that of an ordinary bar magnet is established, and the inquiry is made applicable to the ship, whereby we may become acquainted with her magnetic peculiarities. These observations are complemented by a number of experiments, all helping to complete the investigation, and to bring out a more satisfactory elucidation of the subject.
The Religion of Philosophy; or, The Unification of Knowledge. A Comparison of the Chief Philosophical and Religious Systems of the World, made with a View to reducing the Categories of Thought, or the most General Terms of Existence, to a Single Principle, thereby establishing a True Conception of God. By Raymond S. Perrin. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 566. Price, $4.
The purpose and character of this elaborate volume are admirably summed up in its comprehensive title-page. The author has taken to metaphysics from the most modern point of view, and labored with great assiduity, much learning, and no little analytic and constructive skill, to work out the grand conception of unity in the world of philosophical thought. Firmly accepting that important principle of science, that the fewer assumptions we make in the explanation of things the better, he has labored to reduce the number of principles hitherto postulated as the primary elements of existence, and to show that there is but one final and universal principle, of which all others are but derivative expressions. Part I, consisting of eight chapters, is an epitome of the history of philosophy from the dawn of speculation among the Greeks down to the eclecticism and positive philosophy of France and the Scotch school. The contributions of the most illustrious philosophers embraced in that long period are sifted and estimated with a view to their bearings upon the fundamental proposition which the author finds himself called upon to establish. Part II consists of eight chapters, devoted to "The Nature of Perception," four of which are given to Herbert Spencer and four to G. H. Lewes. In Part III we reach the subject indicated by the title of the book, "The Religion of Philosophy." We have here eight further chapters, six of which are devoted to an account of the leading religious systems of the world, with reference to the fundamental thesis of the author's book. The seventh of these considers "The Science of Morality," and the last is an "Appeal to the Women of America in Behalf of the Religion of Philosophy."
We can do no more than give this brief outline of a portly book which has cost the author immense labor, and will, no doubt, prove helpful to students interested in the various questions it discusses. Of the validity of the work as an original contribution to philosophic thought we can not speak, as we have not had time to give it critical attention. Appealing to the scholarship of the time, it must abide its verdict on the claims of the performance to live in the future.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Vol. II, July 1, 1882, to July 1, 1884. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 127.
The volume contains, with lists of members, etc., abstracts of the proceedings of the stated meetings of the society, and mention by name of the papers read at each, two presidential addresses, and sixteen special papers. The presidential address of Mr. Theodore Gill, January 19, 1883, was on "Zoögeography," and gave an elaborate review of the faunal regions or "realms" into which naturalists have divided the earth. The presidential address of Mr. Charles A. White, January 25, 1884, was on "Certain Phases in the Geological History of the North American Continent, biologically considered.
Sanitary Suggestions on how to Disinfect our Homes. By B. W. Palmer, M. D. Detroit, Mich.: George S. Davis. Pp. 58. Price, 25 cents.
This is a handbook for popular perusal, containing the latest and best information on the household use of disinfectants, deodorants, and antiseptics, and practical precautions for the prevention of cholera, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and other infectious diseases.
The Filth Power. By J. B. Olcott. Pp. 41.
This is a paper from the report of the Secretary of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, having been made originally, apparently, in the form of an address at one of the meetings of the board. Its purpose is to present the system of removal of sewage by water as the great evil that now threatens the health and morals of our communities. Sewage irrigation is also condemned as an evil hardly, if any, less dangerous. Making allowance for the speaker's great intensity of statement, there can be no doubt that a truth is here held up to view. Pollution of streams and the ground by turning the nastiness of towns upon them is a dire evil, which, threatening to become almost universal, can not be combated and remedied too soon. For a remedy, the author proposes systematic treatment of all refuse matter with earth.
Mind in Nature. Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 3-March and May, 1885. Chicago: Cosmic Publishing Company. Monthly. Pp. 16 each number. Price, 10 cents a number, $1 a year.
This is a popular journal of "Psychical, Medical, and Scientific Information," and gives especial attention to what has come to be called "Psychical Research." It has a large list of special contributors, among whom clergymen and students of the nervous system are well represented.
Remarks upon Chipped Stone Implements. By F. W. Putnam. Salem, Mass.: Salem Press. Pp. 8, with Nine Plates.
The "remarks" were made at a meeting of the Essex Institute, and relate to the method of manufacture, the character, and use of the implements in question. The plates represent various implements, with and without handles, from Trenton, New Jersey, Mexican localities, the Navajo and Pah-Ute Indians, and Tierra del Fuego.
Facts serving to prove the Contagiousness of Tuberculosis. By W. H. Webb, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 28.
The author cites a number of cases that occurred in his own practice where a wife appeared to contract consumption from her husband, and husbands from their wives, and refers to many other cases of which he has notes which prove, he says, "conclusively," the contagiousness of phthisis. He also publishes a note from Surgeon-General von Lauer, of the Royal Prussian War Department, supporting the same view, and describes his apparatus for catching tubercle-bacilli in the air near victims of tuberculosis, and some of the results of using it.
Foul Brood: Its Management and Cure. By D. A. Jones. Beeton, Ont.: "Canadian Bee Journal." Pp. 24.
"Foul brood" is a disease of bees, which, in order that the treatment may not be misapplied, the author carefully distinguishes from "chilled," "neglected," "overheated," "drowned," and "dead" brood. It is a germ-disease, and lurks in the honey, whence the bees contract it. The author's remedy is to cause the bees to fast till all the diseased honey is eliminated from their ' systems. The process has to be very carefully performed, and the cautions to be observed are particularly insisted upon in the directions.
Bulletins of the United States Geological Survey. No. 2, pp. 8; No. 3, pp. 36; No. 4, pp. 34, with Nine Plates; No. 5, pp. 325; No. 6, pp. 43; No. 11, pp. 66, with Six Plates. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
The bulletins are numbered in a continuous series, and will be bound in volumes of convenient size. The first six numbers constitute Vol. I, which will contain 493 pages, with eleven plates. Of the present list, No. 2 consists of "Gold and Silver Conversion Tables," which give the coining values of troy ounces of fine metal, and the weights of fine metal represented by given sums of United States money. In No. 3 are described the fossil faunas of the Upper Devonian along the meridian of 76° 30', from Tompkins County, New York, to Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Number 4 gives accounts by Charles A. White of mesozoic fossils, including descriptions of certain aberrant forms of the Chamidæ from the cretaceous rocks of Texas; of a small collection gathered in Alaska by Mr. W. H. Dall; and of the Nautiloid genus Enclimatoceras Hyatt. No. 5 is a "Dictionary of Altitudes" in the United States, arranged by States and alphabetically by places, compiled by Mr. Henry Gannett. The data are derived from special, railroad, State, and municipal surveys, and generally from barometric or trigonometrical determinations. No. 6 is a list of elevations in the Dominion of Canada, derived generally from railroad and canal surveys. No. 11 is a paper on the quaternary and recent mollusca of the Great Basin, with descriptions of new forms, by Pi. Ellsworth Call, for which an introductory sketch of the quaternary lakes of the Great Basin is furnished by Mr. G. K. Gilbert.
Ethical Culture. Four Lectures. By Samuel Burns Weston. Philadelphia. Pp. 70. Price, 20 cents.
The Society for Ethical Culture, whose views are partly set forth in these lectures, regards the moral reason as the soul's sovereign authority, and holds that in yielding obedience to that authority, in living true to the dictates of our moral and rational nature, we are on the path that leads to the heights of religion. The present lectures were delivered to the society in Philadelphia. The special subjects are: "The Need of an Ethical Religion"; "Why Christianity does not satisfy us"; "The Success and Failure of Liberalism"; and "The Meaning of a Society for Ethical Culture."
The Sanitary Monitor. A Monthly Journal. Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2, May and June, 1885. J. F. Winn, M. D., Editor and Proprietor. Pp. 14 each number. Price, 10 cents; $1 a year.
The "Monitor" is devoted to "Individual, Family, and Public Health," and gives contributions, addresses, editorial articles, reports, and items bearing upon these important subjects. It is not a medical journal, but is designed especially for the instruction of the laity in matters pertaining to the preservation of health.
Architectural Studies. Part I. Twelve Designs for Low-Cost Houses. New York: William T. Comstock, 6 Astor Place. Price, $1.
The designs are shown on a large scale, with full details, and include prize designs from "building competition," with specifications, bills of materials, and estimates of cost. The costs of the buildings are estimated at $2,600 and less.
The Abdominal Brain. By Leila G. Bedell, M. D. Chicago: Gross & Delbridge. Pp. 45.
The name of the book is taken from Bichat, who first used the term. The purpose is to maintain that not the brain and spinal cord alone, but the whole nervous system, particularly that part of it called the sympathetic, is concerned in the operations of mind. The author refers, in her introduction, to a paper by Dr. W. A. Hammond, which was published in "The Popular Science Monthly" after her essay was read in her society, the "Woman's Physiological Institute of Chicago," as bearing on her subject, and indicating that there is a place in science for her views,
A New Philological Theory. By Professor A. J. Mogyorosi. Alleghany, N. Y. Pp. 11.
Professor Mogyorosi believes that those writers on languages are wrong who regard the Aryan and Shemitic families as presenting the most perfect types of structure, and ignore the Turanian family, which is, he suggests, to the others as the center to the right and left wings. He illustrates his position by several examples of word-roots as they appear in the several families, in which the Magyar serves as the type of the Turanian.
The Iroquois Sacrifice of the White Doer. Pp. 8. On Some Doubtful or Intermediate Articulations: au Experiment in Phonetics. Pp. 12. By Horatio Hale.
Notes on the Literature of Explosives. No. VIII. By Professor Charles E. Munroe, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. Pp. 18.
The Soaring Birds. A Mechanical Problem. By I. Lancaster. Chicago. Pp. 22.
Woman, a Poem. By Logan E. Bleckley. Clarksville, Ga. Pp. 23.
A Study of Thermometers, etc. By O. T. Sherman. Pp. 4.
A Plea for the Medicinal Use of Pure Alcohol, etc. By Henry Leffmann, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 10.
The Spirit of Scientific Progress. By Harvey W. Wiley, Ph. D. Pp. 20.
Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, to March 31, 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 144.
Crop Report (Georgia) for July. 1883. J. T. Henderson, Commissioner of Agriculture, Atlanta. Pp. 28.
International Electrical Exhibition (Philadelphia) Reports. Carbons for Arc Lamps. Pp. 16. Steam Boilers. Pp. 39. General Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Exhibitions. Pp. 54.
The Western Society for Psychical Research. Chicago. Constitution and Rules. Pp. 8.
The Terraces of Rotomahana. a Poem. By Frank Cowan. To which is prefixed a Paper on Geyser Eruptions and Terrace Formations. By Josiah Martin, F. G. S. Auckland, N. Z. Pp. 61.
Marginal Kames. By H. Carvill Lewis. Philadelphia. Pp. 26.
Report of Proceedings of the Illinois State Board of Health, July Meeting. 1885. Pp. 26.
Teachers' Institutes (Bureau of Education Circular). Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 206.
The Missouri Coteau and its Moraines. By Professor J. E. Todd, Tabor, Iowa. Salem, Mass. Salem Press. Pp. 12, with Plate.
Cocaine Hydrochloride. New York: Druggists' Circular Press. Pp. 97.
"Dio Lewis's Nuggets." Dio Lewis, Editor. Monthly. August, 1885. New York: Dio Lewis Publishing Company. Pp. 38. 10 cents a number, $1 a year.
Minnesota. Its Resources and Possibilities. By Professor C. W. Hall, Mr. D. C. Bell, and Rev. J. H. Morley. Minneapolis. Pp. 32.
A New Physical Truth. By E. J. Goodwin, M. D., Solitude, Ind. Pp. 32.
Hydatid Tumors in the Brain. By R. Harvey Reed, M. D. Mansfield, Ohio. Pp. 16.
Account of the Progress of Chemistry in 1884. by H. Carrington Bolton. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 52.
Observations of Comets. By J. G. Porter and H. C. Wilson. Cincinnati. Pp. 29, with 13 Plates.
The Latest Systems of Medicine. By J. G. Reeve, M. D. Dayton, Ohio. Pp. 33.
"Man. A Semi-Monthly Journal." Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 8. 5 cents a number, $1 a year.
Cholera, etc. By J. B. McConnell, M. D. Montreal: Robert Miller, Son & Co. Pp. 40.
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas. Biographical Notice. By George W. Maynard. New York. Pp. 7.
Trichina Spiralis. Including an Examination of Indiana Hogs. By Thomas B. Redding, F. R. M. S. Newcastle, Ind. Pp. 44
Universal or Cosmic Time. By Sanford Fleming. Toronto, Ont.: Copp, Clark & Co.
Fodder Analyses. Blue-Joint Grass Hay. Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Amherst.
"The Massachusetts Magazine." Conducted by John N. McClintock. Boston: J. A. Cline & Co. Monthly, August, 1885. Pp. 64. 25 cents a number, $2.50 a year.
United States Hay-Fever Association. 1885. Portland, Me.: Hoyt, Fogg & Dunham. Pp. 39.
State Board of Health of Wisconsin. Eighth Report. Madison, Wis. Pp. 160.
Truth, a Poem. By Edwin N. Kingsley. Pp. 57. 25 cents.
Bible Fabrications refuted. By O. B. Whitford. Pp. 47. 15 cents. And St. Matthew before the Court. Pp. 88. New York Truth-seeker Company. 10 cents.
Smithsonian Institution. Report of Professor Spencer F. Baird, Secretary. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 98.
Accounts of Progress. 1884. Geography. By Commander F. M. Green, U. S. Navy. Pp. 19. North American Paleontology. By J. B. Marcon. Pp. 20. Meteorology. By Professor Cleveland Abbe. Pp. 176. Physics. By Professor G. F. Barker. Pp. 57. Chemistry. By B. H. Carrington Bolton. Pp. 52. Mineralogy. By Professor E S. Dana. Pp. 19. Anthropology. By Professor O. T. Mason. Pp. 41. All Smithsonian Reports. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
Lectures on Teaching. By J. G. Fitch, M. A. New edition, with a Preface. By an American Normal Teacher. New York: Macmlllan & Co. 1885. Pp. 393. $1.
Students' Songs. Compiled and edited by W. N. Hills. Cambridge, Mass.: Moses King. Pp. 60. 50 cents.
Tornado Studies for 1884. By John P. Finley. (Signal-Service Paper.) Washington: Government Printing-Office. Text and Plates.
Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals. 1665 to 1882. By H. Carrington Bolton. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 778.
Theory and Practice of Teaching. By Rev. Edward Thring, M.A. New and revised edition. Cambridge: University Press. 1885. Pp. 262. $1.
The Manual of Phonography. By Benn Pitman and Jerome B. Howard. Cincinnati: Phonographic Institute. 1885. Pp. 144.
The Devil's Portrait. By Anton Giulio Barrili. From the Italian. By Evelyn Wodehouse. New York: W. 8. Gottsberger. 1885. Pp. 312. 75 cents.
On Teaching: Its Ends and Means. By Henry Calderwood, LL.D., F.R.S.E. Third edition. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1885. Pp. 126. 50 cents.
The Treatment of Opium Addiction. By J. B. Mattison, M.D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1885. Pp. 49. 50 cents.
Cholera. Its Origin, History, Causation, Symptoms, Lesions, Prevention, and Treatment. By Alfred Stillé, M.D. Philadelphia: Lea, Brothers & Co. 1885. Pp. 164.
Magneto- and Dyamo-Electric Machines. From the German of Glaser De Cew. By F. Krohn; and specially edited, with many Additions, by Paget Higgs, LL.D. London: Symons & Co. 1884. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 301.
The Windmill as a Prime Mover. By Alfred R. Wolff, M.E. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1885. Pp. 159. $3.
Life of Frank Buckland. By George C. Bompas. With a Portrait. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1885. Pp. 433. $2.
Annual Report of the Operations of the Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1884. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1885. Pp. 476.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Vol. VII. 1884. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1885. Pp. 661.
Silver-Lead Deposits of Eureka. Nevada. By Joseph Story Curtis. (Monographs of the U.S. Geological Survey. Vol. VII.) Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1885. Pp. 200. 16 Plates. $1.10.