Popular Science Monthly/Volume 30/March 1887/Literary Notices
The First Three Years of Childhood. By Bernard Perez. Edited and translated by Alice M. Christie. With an Introduction by James Sully, M. A., author of "Outlines of Psychology," etc. Chicago: A. K. Marquis k Co., 1885. Price, $1.25.
The aim of the author in the preparation of this work is to follow out, in little children, the gradual awakening of the mental faculties during the first three years of life. He is a painstaking, exact observer, and seems in some way to have had exceptional opportunities for the prolonged acquaintance of a good many different babies from the first days of their mundane experience. He has, besides, made excellent use of the labors of others in the same field, when their facts were well observed and well described, and their ideas grew out of real experience. His abundant material is carefully sorted and arranged for illustrating and enforcing his view of infant psychology. His facts are simply described, and are most frequently given in the form of anecdotes, and his interpretations of them are both sympathetic and scientific. He has a rare faculty of interpreting the external signs of infantile feeling. M. Perez is deeply interested in all practical questions concerning education, and is the author of a work entitled "Education from the Cradle." He is a good physiologist and psychologist, and notwithstanding his native fondness for children, he subjects them to rigorous scientific scrutiny. M. Perez is an intelligent evolutionist, and is also deeply interested in comparative psychology, and in his interpretations of the facts of child-life he makes excellent use of all the latest developments of science. An idea of the scope of the work will be best gained by a glance at the table of contents. Chapter I treats of the faculties and first impressions of the new-born child. Chapter II describes the motor activities—at the beginning of life, at six months, and at fifteen months. Chapter III considers the emotional sensations and the first perceptions. Chapter IV deals with the instincts, general and special, and Chapter V with the sentiments. Chapter VI discusses intellectual tendencies under the heads of Veracity, Imitation, and Credulity. Chapter VII is devoted to the will; and Chapter VIII to attention and memory. In Chapter IX association and imagination are considered; and Chapter X, on the elaboration of ideas, treats of judgment, abstraction, comparison, generalization, reasoning, and errors and illusions. The remaining three chapters are given severally to expression and language, the æsthetic sense, and the moral sense.
The introduction by James Sully, author of "Outlines of Psychology," is a valuable addition to the work. We quote his closing remarks: "A last feature of this volume which is deserving of mention is its thoroughly French form and style. The reader feels at every page that he is listening to a Frenchman who knows how to shape his materials, give order and arrangement to his exposition, light it up with pertinent illustration, and adorn it with the graces of style. While in places the author ventures a few steps into the darker recesses of metaphysical psychology, he never forgets that he is writing a popular work. And he has succeeded in producing a volume which, while it will be of special interest to the scientific student, will attract the general reader as well.
"It may not be superfluous to say, perhaps, what I feel sure the author himself would indorse, that this volume makes no pretension to be a final and exhaustive study of its subject. A complete theory of the infant mind will need to be built up by the combined efforts of many observers and thinkers. In the region of psychology, much more than in that of the physical sciences, repetition of observation and experiment is needed to check and verify the results of individual research. The secrets of infancy will only be read after many pairs of eyes have pored over the page. Though, as observed, M. Perez has made his studies unusually wide, it may be reasonably doubted whether, in some cases, he does not give exceptional instances as typical and representative. Certain it is that his notes respecting the first appearance of sensations—e. g., those of taste and smell, of the perceptions of distance, etc., of the movements of grasping objects, etc.—differ in some important respects from those of other observers. In certain particulars, too, this volume is less full than some other records, notably that of Professor Preyer's 'Die Seele des Kindes,' which, as it was published after the work before us, is not referred to. Hence, the student who wants to be quite abreast of the present results of research, will do well to read other records in company with this. This circumstance, however, does not in the least detract from the value of 'The First Three Years' as a rich mine of facts, and one of the fullest if not, indeed, the very fullest, monograph on its subject."
Elements of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates. Adapted from the German of Robert Wiedersheim, by W. Newton Parker, with Additions by the author and translator. With 270 Woodcuts. Pp. 345. Price, S3.
We are indebted to an Englishman for another excellent work on the comparative anatomy of the vertebrates. It is true that this publication is a translation of Wiedersheim's excellent work, published at Jena in 1884. But a book rescued in this way from a nation which is too often content with books printed on poor paper, with crabbed type and interminable sentences, and placed before us by an original worker with his own annotations and additions in language and type which are as luminous as they are precise, is a boon for which one may be truly thankful.
The subject-matter is arranged according to organs and not according to groups of animals, and one must have a general knowledge of the animal kingdom, and especially of its classification, to fully profit by the work. This arrangement, as the author says, "seems to be the only possible one if the book is to be founded on a scientific basis, for it is most important that the student should grasp the fact that there has been an evolution of organs as well as of animals." The illustrations are numerous and most excellent. There is nothing more exasperating to a student than a dingy and well-worn anatomical woodcut, rendered a perfect muddle by a halo of diminutive and broken type connected with equally broken lines which penetrate the drawing like skewers, and become hopelessly entangled in a mesh of muscular fibers and tissues. It is refreshing to get hold of this work of Wiedersheim's with its clear and ample engravings, rendered intelligible by large guiding initials, with their dotted lines connecting definitely with structural details in the drawing, and there stopping.
Some slight errors, however, have crept in, as the statement that the tarsus of birds consists in the embryo of three elements instead of four. As the author so often deals with his subject ontogenetically, he should have referred to the rudimentary pelvis in the whales and certain limbless reptiles. As excellent descriptions with diagramatic figures are given showing the development of the feathers and hair, a paragraph might have been devoted to the development and various modifications of the claw, hoof, and nail, with the statement that in certain birds the embryo possesses the rudiments of nails on the digits of the wing.
The chapter on the urogenital organs, accompanied by excellent diagrammatic as well as shaded illustrations, especially those showing these parts in the monotremes and marsupials, will be appreciated by students.
Each section of the subject closes with a brief bibliography, and the book ends with a good index.
Precious Stones in Nature, Art, and Literature. By S. M. Burnham. Boston: Bradlce Whidden. Pp. 400, with Plate. Price, $3.50.
When beauty in any mineral that may be found in Nature is accompanied by a corresponding rarity of the same, so that possession for ornamental purposes is only possible to those having wealth or power, the material belongs to the class of precious stones. Although precious stones are not indispensable to the world's progress, they flatter human vanity, and have therefore a not unimportant place in human affairs. The large money value a precious stone represents compared with its volume, rendered this sort of property valuable in former times as an additional medium in commercial interchange; the perfected banking methods of the present day have, however, relegated precious stones to their proper field—adornment and as curiosities.
The author does not discuss the usefulness of precious stones. Since they are used, have been always used, and are a very important article of commerce and industry, he tells us all he knows about them or has been able to gather from other authors; origin, properties, classification, prices, trade, pawns, sumptuary laws, size, collections, crown-jewels, secular and sacred uses, their place in literature, mystical properties, and engraving on precious stones. Many historical facts are given which make the book very readable and interesting. The above subjects arc distributed in the first nine chapters. The following chapters are devoted to the description and histories of the different varieties of precious stones. Among these the diamond occupies the first place. In two chapters the history, home, mining, trade, polishing, etc., of the diamond are minutely given, accompanied by much historical information. Another is devoted to historical and remarkable diamonds. The history of each of these stones—or as much as is known—is given in each case. The record is not what would be considered the best part of human nature. Murder, wars, artifice, theft, plunder, and treachery are the jewels on which the larger number of these remarkable diamonds are set, and very few of these historical diamonds have a clean history. The largest diamond known is the Braganza,or King of Portugal, weighing from sixteen hundred and eighty to eighteen hundred and eighty carats uncut, the genuineness of which is, however, doubted. There are two, the Matan and Nizam, weighing over three hundred carats, uncut, and seven, four of which are cut diamonds, weighing between two and three hundred carats. The diamond loses about one third of its weight by cutting.
The diamond is pure crystallized carbon. The stones which belong to the class of the precious corundum, which is supposed to be nearly pure alumina, are the most valuable after the diamond. They are sapphire, asteria, emerald, amethyst, topaz, and ruby.
The beryl class includes several varieties: the emerald, acquamarines, and topaz, which, to distinguish them from those of the corundum species, are termed Occidental, while these are termed Oriental. The difference in composition is that the beryl species contain silica and other substances besides alumina. Opals and pearls: spinet, garnet, tourmaline, turquoise, lapis-lazuli, chrysolite, chrys-oberyl, iolite, kyanitc, apophyllite, labradorite, and other gems, and the crystals of the quartz family, are described in the last four chapters.
There are six appendices, giving the size of the largest diamonds; classification of precious stones according to their constituents; hardness, and specific gravity, and relative hardness, relative specific gravity, localities in the United States where gem-minerals have been found.
Mind, No. XLV. January, 1887. London: Williams & Norgate.
The present number is unusually rich. The leading article is by Professor William James, of Harvard University, entitled "The Perception of Space." Professor Henry Sidgwick writes a criticism upon Dr. Martineau's ethics, and James Ward, author of the article upon psychology in the new edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," replies to some comments of Professor Bain upon his work. J. M. Cattell, Ph. D., contributes an account of some interesting experiments on the association of ideas. Five critical notices by Professor A. Seth, Thomas Whittaker, James Sully, Grant Allen, and Professor R. Adamson, deal respectively with vol. ii of J. H. Green's philosophical works, C. Rendouvier, J. Delbœuf, M. Guyau, and J. Volkelt. All these criticisms are exceptionally able. The notes upon new books are copious and interesting.
Hand-Book of Zoölogy, with Examples from Canadian Species, Recent and Fossil. By Sir William Dattson, LL. D., F. R. S., etc. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Montreal: Dawson Brothers, Publishers. Pp.304. With 317 Figures and 9 Plates. Price, $1.25.
This little book, as its name implies, is a hand-book of zoölogy. Chapter I, under "Physiological Zoölogy," deals with the tissues and functions of the animal. Chapter II treats of "Zoölogical Classification," and following these is a rapid survey of the animal kingdom, fully illustrated by woodcuts, which, in the majority of cases, were used in the first edition of this work, published in 1869. Some of the cuts are exceedingly poor, though in the main correct. Fossil forms are presented with the recent forms as they should be, and so one gets a better idea of the range of the animal kingdom. It is a book that the amateur collector and the young zoölogist should have, as much information in a condensed form is embodied in its pages.
It might be expected that the book would be conservative and somewhat antiquated, from the known antagonism of its author to the modern views of derivation. It is interesting to see, however, that the leaven of evolution is working slowly but surely even here.
In the preface to the first edition. Sir William says: "I have avoided the modern doctrines of a 'physical basis of life,' and of 'derivation,' because I believe them to rest on grounds very different from true science, and therefore to be unsuitable for the purposes of a text-book." Having in the first edition arranged his material rigidly under the branches of Cuvier, he says: "I have not scrupled to adhere to them, as the expression of a grand and philosophical idea, essential to an accurate and enlarged conception of Nature"; and, again: "This fourfold division includes the whole animal kingdom, and is the only rational one which can be based on type or plan of structure. . . . The attempts which have been made to introduce additional branches or provinces I regard as retrograde steps; such, for example, is the province Cœlenterata of Leuckart," etc., etc. And now in sixteen years—a long time, it is true, for most minds to admit so much—we find the author not only cancelling his protests against a physical basis of life and derivation, but reluctantly taking the retrograde steps in adopting essentially the classification of Leuckart, Cœlenterates and all, though he turns back longingly to the quatenary classification of Cuvier, which he says may still be regarded as of scientific value.
May many active years of work be vouch-safed to this delightful and charming naturalist, and in these years may he prepare another edition of his hand-book, with still further omissions and admissions!
An Elementary Course in Practical Zoölogy. By Buel p. Colton. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 185. Price, 85 cents.
Mr. Colton has produced an admirable book in the one before us. A student will certainly get a clear idea of the animal kingdom if he follows the stimulating advice and directions which the book offers. The following plan of study is carried out:
| 1. | Directions are given for collecting and preserving the specimens. |
| 2. | The live animal is studied. |
| 3. | The external features are noted. |
| 4. | The animal is dissected. |
| 5. | The development of a few forms is traced. |
| 6. | After studying each animal, its relations to other animals are considered (classification). |
He has avoided the almost universal practice, so common in English and most American text-books, of commencing with the lowest known forms of life, and following up step by step to the highest, thus unavoidably conveying the false idea of a continuous ladder in creation. On the contrary, he commences his examinations with the insects as being animals that every one may easily get. The pupil is told how to see and what to see, and is permitted to express himself in his own words. Suggestive inquiries are made which make the student and teacher companions in the work of study and investigation. A good text-book requires a good instructor, and this book is no exception to the rule.
In the usual courses of study in the schools of this country, the teacher has some knowledge of the subject; that is to say, he can pass some sort of an examination in algebra, geometry, rhetoric, and similar studies, or, at least, it is assumed he can; but we venture the assertion that not one teacher in a hundred, into whose hands text-books of zoölogy are placed, could tell whether a spider had six legs or eight, or whether it breathed through its mouth or otherwise.
This book, most excellent in its plan and execution, will probably be in the hands of every intelligent teacher of zoölogy, while the ordinary school boards will probably impose the short six-foot cuts across-lots, in preference to longer and more instructive paths. This is not a supposititious case, for some years ago, a gentleman interested in the publications of D. Appleton & Co., on visiting a certain high-school in Indiana, was gratified to find the blackboards covered with drawings copied from Morse's "First Book of Zoölogy." On inquiry, he found that the teacher alone possessed a copy, from which he was really teaching, while the school board had introduced another book which the entire class possessed, and from which they were reciting, parrot-like, the lessons!
Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Ethnology, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Annual Reports. Cambridge, Mass. Pp. 124.
The nineteenth report is dated April 9, 1886. The interest of the document centers in the report of the Curator of the Museum, in which are recorded investigations made under the direction or with the co-operation of the Museum in various parts of the United States and in Central America. The investigations to which the most attention has been directed were conducted in Ohio, chiefly in the mounds of the Little Miami Valley. A brief exploration was made among the mounds near Chillicothe, and furnished relics forming an important link connecting the people who built the earthworks in the Scioto Valley with the builders of the singular group on the Turner farm in the Little Miami Valley. In the latter region several small mounds and a part of a large cemetery were explored under the direction of Dr. Metz. From the cemetery, which is across the river from the ancient cemetery near Madisonville, many thousand specimens, and many skeletons were obtained. For the first time the large pipes cut in stone in the form of human figures have been found associated with the skeletons—a discovery which connects these articles, hitherto only casually found on the surface of the ground with the people who used them, and which, with other circumstances, throws light on the burial ceremonies of those people. Examinations were made of some mounds on the bluffs of the Mississippi, in Pike County, Illinois, and less thorough ones of mounds in Calhoun County, on the Illinois River, from the results of which the interesting conclusions were drawn that the two sets of mounds were not built by the same people; and that "the burial-mounds of the Illinois bluffs resemble in contents, size, and structure the simple burial-mounds of the Ohio Valley, while those on the Mississippi bluffs have nothing in common with them except that they are burial-mounds." A special paper is given to an account of the exploration of the "Marriott Mound," in the Little Miami Valley, and the description of its contents; and a paper by Dr. W. F. Whitney, "On the Anomalies, Injuries, and Diseases of the Bones of the Native Races of North America." Accounts are given of the discovery of human bones in mounds near Trempealeau, Wisconsin; of Dr. Abbott's continued investigations in the Trenton gravels; of the explorations of shell-heaps in Maine; and of Miss Fletcher's studies of living Indian customs among the Omahas, and her gift to the Museum of the objects which those Indians had carefully preserved for many generations in their Sacred Tent of War." From Dr. Flint, in Nicaragua, have been received four blocks of tufa bearing human foot-prints, which were found under several layers of volcanic material, on the shores of Lake Managua; and several ornaments of jadeite, precisely like the Chinese jadeite. The later of the two reports contains some interesting references to the history of the Museum and its foundation, the growth of the collections and their arrangement in the cases. The entries in the catalogue of the collections have reached the number 38,840; but this gives no index to the actual number of objects; for the entries refer to sets as well as to single objects, and one entry may often stand for many objects.
The Earth's Annular System; or, the Story of the Rocks. By G. N. Vail, Barnesville, Ohio. Published by the Author. Pp. 400. Price, $2.
Professor Vail propounds a new theory of the formation of the earth and the origin of the geological systems. It is in effect an adaptation of the nebular hypothesis, and supposes that a large part of the matter that now forms the crust of the earth, together with the waters, was held in suspension through the ages, in the form of vaporous rings, and, as the vapors gradually cooled and condensed, the rings fell to the earth by virtue of the laws of gravity. These successive downfalls mark the various ages, periods, and epochs into which geologists divide the history of the earth's crust, Jupiter and Saturn are cited in support of the theory as planets which are still going through this process. The author believes that he is able by the application of his theory to explain such obscure matters as the numerous floods which geologists assert have fallen upon the earth; the absence of the rainbow previous to the Noachian deluge, and many other statements in Genesis; "dust-showers"; the rise and fall of vast areas of the earth's surface, changes by denudation, etc.; the apparent retardation of the moon; the "great ice age"; the origin of the limestone strata; and the origin of coal. He asserts that he is a practical geologist who has made his studies in the field, and has drawn his conclusions from them.
Diseases of the Digestive Organs in Infancy and Childhood. By Lodis Starr, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 385. Price, $2.50.
The author's object in this book is to give prominence to a class of disorders which, while they are very usual in childhood, are yet too briefly considered in medical works. He regards the clinical investigation of disease in children as in some respects easier than the same study in adults. It is not complicated by circumstances of past life, yet there are very grave difficulties to be encountered in it, arising out of the sufferer's inability to give an accurate, or any, description of his feelings; and another source of embarrassment lies in the rapid growth and development of infants and the suddenness of their attacks, and the violence of the symptoms. Hence, the clinical investigation involves the three items of questioning the attendant for that which the child can not tell, inspecting the child, and physical examination. The importance of giving attention to the general regimen is particularly insisted upon. "So much may be done by the selection of suitable food, by artificial digestion, by regulating the clothing, bathing, and other elements of hygiene," that this factor is regarded as quite as important as the administration of drugs.
A History of the French Revolution. By H. Morse Stephens. In three volumes. Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 533. Price, $2.50.
Mr. Stephens presents, as the valid reason for producing a new history of the French Revolution, the fact that a very large amount of new material has recently been brought to light, embodying many facts before unknown, and presenting other facts in a new aspect, which the great historians and the more popular ones following them did not possess, and therefore did not use. In other respects, he claims to be animated by a great enthusiasm for his subject, and believes it to be the most fascinating in its interest and the most valuable for its political lessons in the history of the world; that he has worked at it diligently for years, to the exclusion of everything else, and has striven to be impartial in his treatment of it. The new matter of which Mr. Stephens has been able to avail himself is, as he describes it in the preface, copious and varied. It comprises local histories, which have been published in considerable profusion, with histories of special periods and even days, and articles in magazines and reviews and the bulletins of local archæological and historical societies and academies; biographies of the great personages of the Revolution; memoirs on the relations between France and Europe during the revolutionary period, or what may be called the foreign policy of the Revolution; and the publication of documents. The author traces a bond of connection of the Revolution with America, for, "without the successful termination of the American War of Independence, it may be doubted whether the French Revolution would have developed as it did, or whether it would have taken place at all." We have still another community of interest in the subject, for "nearly every expedient, whether socialistic or purely democratic, which has been proposed of recent years for benefiting the condition of the people, was tried between 1789 and 1799, and if history has any value at all, it is this period which ought to be examined before any other, in order to learn the political lessons which it teaches."
The Pedigree of Disease. By Jonathan Hutchinson, F. R. S. New York: William Wood & Co. Pp. 113. Price, $1.25.
This volume includes six lectures on temperament, idiosyncrasy, and diathesis, which were delivered in the theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons. The author starts out by deducing from the examination of the facts supposed to indicate temperament, the conclusion that part of those facts are merely the characteristics of different races, and another part merely the products of past disease—personal or inherited; so that, giving these what belongs to them, there is little left of it. Idiosyncrasy is defined as a peculiarity of constitution in some one particular feature developed to an excessive height or "individuality run mad." As here treated, it concerns special liability to certain diseases or to peculiar affections from particular kinds of food or drugs. Diathesis is the same in a less definite and rather vague form. In the discussion of it the author considers three great universal diatheses dependent upon the very commonest causes of disease by which man and other beings have been assailed from primeval times—the catarrhal, the rheumatic, and the scrofulous. Close to these are others of less importance but of parallel nature, and comprising all within range of liability—those of senile degradation and malignant new growths (cancer). Following these are other important diatheses, widely spread but not universal, since they depend upon local exposure; while hesitation is expressed whether the malarial diathesis ought not to be regarded as primary or universal. These views involve the recognition of the doctrine of hereditary transmission, and indicate that we ought to study disease as being, not of recent origin, or in dependence solely upon existing influences, but rather as that in which many seek truthfully to "read the record of a long descent."
Outlines of Lectures on Physiology. By T. Wesley Mills. Montreal: W. Drysdale & Co. Pp. 200. Price, $1.
The author of this book is Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal. The "Outlines" consist of the simplest and briefest statements of the principles of the science, such as might have served for the notes out of which the fuller lectures were elaborated. They appear to cover the whole field in its several departments, and to be adapted to give to the student who masters them such command of the subjects as books can afford, and to guide him in his experiments. An introductory chapter on general biology, and an appendix containing laboratory exercises in practical physiology, are also given.
Elementary Politics. By Thomas Raleigh. London: Henry Frowde. Pp. 1 63. Price, 25 cents.
Accepting the observation which some one has made, that "if men would only define the terms which they use in argument, most controversies would end before they begin," Mr. Raleigh has attempted in this useful little book to define the terms which are commonly used in political argument. The book is not meant to be a compendium of information, nor a summary of orthodox political doctrine; "not to satisfy but to stimulate inquiry"; not to form the reader's opinions, but to induce him to form opinions of his own. The chapter headings under which the definitions are given are, "The Origin of Society," "Primitive Society," "Civilization," "Modern Society," "The Modern State," "The Constitution of a State," "Elections," "Political Ideals," "Parties and Party Government," "Wealth, its Production and Exchange"; "Competition, Monopoly, Rent"; "The Distribution of Wealth," "Social Inequalities," "The Functions of the State," and "The State and Social Reform."
How to Strengthen the Memory. By M. L. Holbrook, M. D. New York: M. L. Holbrook & Co. Pp. 152. Price, $1.
This book has grown out of the author's own experiences and observations. It aims rather to determine the principles upon which the memory may be cultivated and improved than to develop a new system of mnemonics, the use of which, it is justly observed, "is like employing a large amount of machinery to accomplish a small amount of work." The principles which are set forth as fundamental to the cultivation sought, are the laws of association, comparison, attention, repetition, and the securing of a vivid first impression. These being observed, minor details will easily be learned. "Those who wish to possess memories of great power," the author remarks, "and become able to master the most difficult subjects, if Nature has not given them the requisite ability, can do so by hard work, and by no other means. All will find that the rational methods of memory culture advised will not only strengthen this faculty, but every other intellectual faculty."
The Hygiene of the Vocal Organs. By Morell Mackenzie, M. D. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 223. Price, $1.50.
This volume is designed to be a practical hand-book for singers and speakers. The author has been engaged in the treatment of diseased throats for a quarter of a century, and asserts that every singer or actor of note in England, with hardly an exception, at one time or another, came under his hands. He believes, therefore, that he has had unusual opportunities for studying the conditions which affect the voice. An understanding of the relation of the vocal organs to the general economy is insisted upon as an essential prerequisite to all proper training of the voice. "Singers and speakers," it is remarked, "are not only artists but also in a certain degree athletes, their work consisting essentially in well-ordered muscular movements. A man may be trained for a foot-race or a boxing-match by methods which, while calculated to develop the special qualities required for the performance of the feat, may be simply disastrous to the health of the body as a whole. In like manner an unintelligent teacher may seek to develop the voice at the expense of its owner's constitution." Some knowledge of the elementary laws of health is therefore an indispensable part in the equipment of the vocal instructor.
Ten Dollars Enough. By Catherine Owen. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 279. Price, $1.
It was a novel idea to throw a treatise on housekeeping, with receipts for preparing the dishes to be served at dinner, etc., into the form of a story, but the author has done it, as she desires to have the housekeeping she teaches executed, well. That is, she has told an entertaining story, and has packed it with practical receipts for cheap, appetizing dishes. The purpose of the book, as declared in the sub-title, is to show how keeping house has been done well on ten dollars a week, and how it may be done again. The prices of provisions quoted are ordinary New York prices, and for the articles in their season. The heroine "was keeping house with some luxury, on the same amount of table-money as many require to live very plainly. This could not be done except by buying everything only in its season; if beyond a certain price, she waited for it to get lower." A housekeeper who has read the book with care, declares that the author deserves a vote of thanks for the service she has rendered in it to good and cheap living.
A Hand-Book of Hygiene and Sanitary Science. By George Wilson. Philadelphia: Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 520. Price, $2.75.
This is the sixth edition of Dr. Wilson's valuable manual. The scope of the book is public hygiene, and having this in view, and to prevent the volume from growing to too large a size with the additions that have been made to it, along with matter that has become obsolete, some subjects appertaining to domestic hygiene have been omitted, or rather transferred to a supplementary work. After the definitions and the historical introduction, the subject is considered under the general headings of "Food"; "Air, its Impurities, and their Effects on Public Health"; "Ventilation and Warming"; "Water"; "Water Analysis"; "Impure Water, and its Effects on Public Health"; "Dwellings"; "Hospitals"; "Removal of Sewage"; "Purification and Utilization of Sewage"; "Soils and Localities—their Influence on Public Health"; "Infectious Diseases—their Mode of Propagation and Prevention"; "Disinfectants and Disinfection"; "Vital Statistics"; and the "Duties of Medical Officers of Health." In addition to what was contained in former editions, there have been given in the section on the examination of food, brief descriptions of diseases which render the flesh of animals unfit to be eaten; new matter on water analysis and the analysis of sewage and effluents; the chapter on soils and localities and their influence on health is new; the chapter on infectious diseases has been remodeled; and subjects relating to disinfection are treated more fully.
The Student's Hand-Cook of Historical Geology. By A. J. Jukes-Browne. London: George Bell and Sons; New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 597.
Dr. Jukes-Browne, having already published a volume on physical and structural geology, the present treatise, on paleonto logical and historical geology, is given to complete the student's curriculum. It preeminently concerns British geology, and is intended to present the history of the rocks of the British Islands, while Continental geology is drawn upon, in a supplementary way, only so much as is necessary to fill up the gaps in the British records and complete the outline of the history. Prominence has been given to such stratigraphical facts as throw light on the physical and geographical conditions under which each group or system of rocks has been accumulated; but in this department, where so much room is left for the imagination to work and there is so much temptation to give it freedom, the author has endeavored to confine himself to such inferences as might reasonably be deduced from a study of the facts. Illustrations are given representing typical fossils and sections of country, and they are clearly engraved.
The Buchholz Family. By Julius Stinde. Translated by Dora Schmitz. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 262.
This series of "Sketches of Berlin Life" is one of the most popular and one of the most amusing books ever published in Germany; a fact which is partly indicated by the mention in the title-page that the translation is made from the forty-ninth edition of the German original, while the story is only two years old. The heroine, Frau Buchholz, tells her own story of the troubles she got into by her intermeddling and jealousy, revealing in every incident how that she is the blunderer and to blame for all that is disagreeable, yet always totally unconscious that her conduct has not been marked by strict propriety and perfect tact. As a picture of German middle-class vanity and the weaknesses that attend it, the story has rarely been excelled; yet it is all told in perfect good-humor, with the most evident fidelity to nature, without exaggeration or malice. The translation is usually done with grace and spirit.
A Manual of Lithology. By Edward H. Williams, Jr. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Pp. 135. Price, $1.25.
The author is Professor of Mining Engineering and Geology in Lehigh University. In the classes, after thorough grounding in crystallography and mineralogy, the student begins the study of rock-formation. The theory and definitions are first acquired, and afterward a practical knowledge of the rocks is obtained by the examination of specimens. The object being to enable the student to classify at sight the more common species, only the macroscopic peculiarities are given. Mr. Williams has sought in this manual to combine a thorough knowledge of the elementary portion of the subject, with a brief account of the principal rocks, and a ready method for their determination.
Mineral Springs of the United States. By A. C. Peale, M. D. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 235. Price, 20 cents.
This paper is published as "Bulletin" No. 32 of the United States Geological Survey. The author's first effort was to obtain a list of the springs. All previously existing lists were found to be incomplete. The fullest one—that of a committee of the American Medical Association, referred to as "Pepper's List"—gave about 500 localities of springs. Others described, respectively, 171, 181, and 173 localities. The present lists include 2,822 localities, more than 600 of which are places of resort, and more than 200 sell the waters. Yet they are not regarded as complete, but only as preliminary to more detailed work which it is hoped may follow in the future. The information has been derived primarily from State geological reports and maps, various scientific publications, and members of the Geological Survey who have had opportunities of visiting different parts of the country. The results of analyses are given, where analyses have been made.
Deist, R. Scraps of Philosophy for Skeptics Knoxville, Tenn.: Zuberbuehler. Pp. 48. 25 cents.
Scudder. M. L. The Labor Value Fallacy. Chicago: The Patriots' League. Pp. 112. 10 cents.
Chicago Manual Training School. Fourth Annual Catalogue, pp. 16.
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Walcott, Charles D. Second Contribution to the Studies on the Cambrian Faunas of North America. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp.369.
Scudder, S. H. Systematic Review of our Recent Knowledge of Fossil Insects. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 128.
Peale, A. C. Lists and Analyses of the Mineral Springs of the United States. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 235.
Diller, J. S. Notes on the Geology of Northern California. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 23.
Jeffries, B. J. Some Medico-Legal Cases under State and National Laws. Boston. Pp. 11.
Wisser, .John P. Compressed Gun-Cotton for Military Use. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 164.
Allison, Edward P. The City Government of Philadelphia. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 72.
Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: William A. Ingham. Pp. 6.
Rotch, A. Laurence. Account of the Foundation of the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son. Pp. 29.
Bliss, James A. Boston. The History of the Discovery of Transtacial Mediumship. Pp. 46.
Anti-Convict-Contract Association Report. Chicago: L. T. Mansfield. Pp. 78.
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Cocoa and Chocolate. Dorchester, Mass.: Walter Baker & Co. Pp. 165.
Fiske, D. T. The Creed of the Andover Theological Seminary. Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co. Pp. 35.
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Report of Spencer F. Baird, Secretory of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 83.
Report of the Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 20.
Hague, A., and Iddings, J. P. Volcanic Rocks of the Republic of Salvador, Central America. Reprinted from the "American Journal of Science." Pp. 7.
Iddings, J. P. The Nature and Origin of Lithophysæ, and the Lamination of Acid Lavas. Reprinted irom the "American Journal of Science." Pp. 9.
Bilgram, Hugo. The Iron Law of Wages. Reprinted from '"The Age of Steel." Pp. 8.
Becker, George F. The Texture of Massive Rocks. Reprinted from the "American Journal of Science." Pp. 9.
Brinton, Daniel G. The Phonetic Elements in the Graphic System of the Mayas and Mexicans. Reprinted from the "American Antiquarian." Pp. 13.
Imports and Exports of the United States. Report by Chief of the Bureau of Statistics. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 259.
Winchell. N. H. Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota for 1884-1885. St. Paul: J. W. Cunningham & Co. Pp. 353.
Dimmock, George. Belostomidæ and some other Fish-destroying Bugs. From the Annual Report of the Fish and Game Commissioners ol Massachusetts. Pp. 8.
Le Reveil Littéraire (The Literary Awakening). Semi monthly. Prospectus No. Quebec: John Brennan. Pp. 16. $2 per annum.
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Russell, Israel C. Geological History of Lake Labontan. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 288.
Oliver, J. E., Wait, L. A., and Jones, G. W. Algebra. Ithaca, N.Y.: Dudley F. Finch. Pp. 412.
Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Normans. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 813. $1.50.
Wilson, John. Thoughts on Science. Theology and Ethics. London: Trübner & Co. Pp. 197.
Hunt, T. Sterry. Mineral Physiology and Physiography. Boston: Cassino. Pp. 710.
Oswald, F. L. The Poison Problem. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 138. 75 cents.
Godoy, Adèle Josephine, translator. The Martyr of Golgotha. 2 vols. New York: William S. Gottsberger. Pp. 364. $1.50.
Cope, E. D. Origin of the Fittest. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 467. $3.
Warriner, E. A. I am that I am (poem). Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co. Pp. 167. $1.
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