Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 21.djvu/722

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

erence to its relations with British speculation. Besides the general editor, several eminent scholars and teachers have been invited to prepare particular volumes of the series. The prominence of Kant among modern philosophers and the general merits of his work make it eminently fitting that he be given the first place in the series. His thoughts certainly deserve and need to be set forth in a shape in which they may be accessible and intelligible to the average of thinking readers. Professor Morris has undertaken this task in the face, he acknowledges, of considerable difficulties, among which are that "Kant's work marks and conspicuously illustrates a stadium of transition in the history of modern thought," that "it is far more eminently the story of a process of inquiry and demonstration than a didactic exposition of finished results," and that "Kant's intellectual attitude, in some of its most essential aspects, remains, to the end, thoroughly confused."

The Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft of 1692, and its Practical Application to our own Time. By George M. Beard, A. M., M. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 112. Price, $1.

Dr. Beard's essay has less immediate bearing on the Salem witchcraft than on the case of a murderer who was recently executed at Washington. The witchcraft excitement of 1692 is used as a pivot on which to hang a plea in behalf of the murderer. The people of New England were under a delusion when they tried and hung the Salem witches; so, it is argued, we have been under a terrible delusion in trying and hanging the murderer of our President.

Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad. By Archibald Geikie, LL. D., F. R. S. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 335. Price, $1.75.

Professor Geikie is a very sound geologist, but we are inclined to think he is more at home in the work of exploration than in that of essay-writing. The papers of this collection are all good and solid, and will interest those already instructed in its line of topics, but they have not a large share of the quality which will attract general readers.

Unscientific Treatment of the Insane.—In his paper on "Insanity in its Relations to the Medical Profession and Lunatic Hospitals," Dr. Nathan Allen points out several serious defects in the management of our hospitals for the insane. The first of his objections is to the separation of the experts from the medical profession and the placing of the study of insanity and the care of the insane so exclusively in their hands. A second fault is in the erection of so large and expensive buildings, by which a multitude of difficulties, avoidable in the multiplication of smaller establishments, are encountered. The system itself, moreover, is wrong, in that it aggregates such large masses N of diseased persons; and it violates sanitary laws by bringing the diseased in contact with each other, to infect each other with the most infectious of all disorders—those of the mind. A fifth objection is that the magnitude of the congregations precludes the employment of the highest order of sanitary agencies for the health and improvement of the patients. Finally, it is objected that the present system tends directly to confine the knowledge and treatment of insanity to a few individuals. Add to this that no plans are devised or means employed to prevent insanity, and we have abundant reason, Dr. Allen thinks, to revise our system.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

The Prehistoric Architecture of America. By Stephen D. Peet. Reprint from the "American Antiquarian." Pp. 16.

The Prevention of Yellow Fever. By Professor Stanford E. Chaille, M. D. New Orleans: L. Graham & Son, Printers. 1882. Pp. 22.

The Culture and Management of our Forests. By H. W. S. Cleveland. Springfield, Ill.: H. W. Rokker, printer. 1882. Pp. 16.

Tenth Census of the United States. Forestry Bulletins Nos. 1 to 16. With Special Reference to the Lumber Industry. December, 1881.

The Fifty-eighth Annual Report of the Officers of the Retreat for the Insane of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford. 1882. Pp. 35.

Consumption: Its Causes. Prevention, and Hygienic Management. By W. H. Smith, M.D., Ph. D. St. Clair, Michigan. Pp. It.

Report on Surgery. By W. O. Roberts, M. D. Reprint from the "American Practitioner," Louisville. 1882. Pp. 16.

Socialism and Christianity. By H. Cheroung. Printed by the Author. New York. 1882. Pp. 42. 15 cents.

Account of Field Experiments with Fertilizers. By Professor W. O. Atwater. From the Report of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture. 1881. Pp. 25.