159
��and it is showD tliaL the greater number simply hinder the development of bflcteria, and in no way destroy their powers when they are again placed under suitable conditions.
The little volnme may be summed up as clear and concise, well ilinstrated, and inex- pensive.
[Jr. Black has adopted a rather high sound- ing title for a course of lectures delivered to the sludeota in the Chicago college of denial surgery. There is no evidence that he has worked pr&cticallj' at the subject, and the gen- erallKaliona to which he is iuclined have to be made entirely upon the work of others which be has not controlieil. He thinks that all the processes causing cell destruction or absorp- tion are a sort of digestion, and that micro- organisms act by digesting the cells, or else they are digested by them. Perhaps, if the subject-matter had been a little more digested by the author, he would not have felt himself c&lled upon to publish these lectures.
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��This book is n reprint, in revised form, of a series of articles which appeared in The san- itary engineer in answer to a typical questioner who asked for a rule-of-thumb method for solv- ing problems in ventilation, and who failed to recognize the legitimate relation between ' long- winded discussions on the physics of gases,' and ventilation. The author iir^es a thorough knowledge of the mechanics of gases, and of the laws involved in their free and constrained movement, as essential to any competent judg- ment upon the solution of the various pneumatic snd thermal problems peculiar to beating and ventilation.
Pecuniary rather than constructive or func- tional difficulties are stated to be the most serious encountered in providing good ventila- tion. A partial antidote for scepticism as to the efficiency of any method, because of the fre- quent entire or partial failure of elaborate and costly systems put to the t£st of actual use, appears in the description given of systems in successful operation in various types of build- ings. If the causes of failure in lees success- ful undertakings bad been clearly iiointcd out, the fitith of many would have been still further strengthened. A discussion of the compara- tive cost of heating, with and without conjoined Tenttlation, would also have served the good
ftnlilaUM oud h,<tll-g. By J. S. Gillinos. New York.
��purpose of furnishing needed iuformation, and of allaying any undue apprehension growing out of the autlior's slatements which make venti- lation dependent on libernlity of expenditure. The ordinary cost of ventilation does not neces- sarily represent the minimum cost under con- ditions of maximum economy and elliciency ; and it is along these lines that the progress is to l)c made which shall inspire confidence, and create demand.
The book is a valuable contribution to the literature, rather than to the science, to which it pertains. It furnishes a clear statement of the fundamental principles involved in the art of healing and ventilation, and describes its methods and results in their application to the numerous and varied illustrations cited. In style, the book is fresh, vigorous, and perB|iic- nons ; the occasional flashes of the author's individuality lending a charm the more com- plete because unmarred by dogmatism. Though occasional statements may provoke marginal interrogation -points, the book is an eminently safe guide, and castlj' takes a leading place among the works of its kind which have ap- peared in American literature.
��NOTES AND NEWS.
It is fluggetted by O. P. Putnam's sons of New York lo secure for the publications of societies the aaine advantages ihat are posBessed tir ilie Issues of publishers, b; having them full; described in a priced and classified catalogue, to be mode up, say, twice a year, and to be distributed as widely as are the booli- lisla of publishing- houses. There are al present En the United States some seventy scieiililic and histor- ical associations which issue Id the course of the jcnr transactions, proceedings, or monographs. Many of these publications possess an interest and importuice tor the general public, and find sale outside ot the special ciri'les of the members of the societies for whom they are more particularly prepared. The gen- eral sale of such society publications conld be ma- terially increased, to the advantage as well of the special interests they are planned lo further, as of the various piiblicatioa-futids. if provision were made for some Irnstwonhy means by which the general public might secure prompt information concerning the works issued, and for some regular chatmel through which could be supplied the increased demand that such information would unquestionably induce. Each society whose publications are lucluded in the catalogue, will, under the plan proposed, contribute a small annual payment towards the cost of its prepa- ration, while the publishers will assume the payment of such deflciency as may remain.
— D. G. Brinton of Philadelphia announces as hi press "The Lendp^, and their legends; with the com-
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