Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/294

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280
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

80°, were comprised in a single belt. The zones were also subdivided, where that seemed best.

The Distribution of Products, or the Mechanism and Metaphysics oe Exchange. By Edward Atkinson. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 303. Price, $1.25.

Mr. Atkinson, a man of business, has spoken so often, so intelligently, and so much to the purpose on financial questions as to give him a right to be heard and weight to his views. The present volume includes three essays—on "What makes the Rate of Wages?" "What is a Bank?" and "The Railway, the Farmer, and the Public." The subject of the first essay is attended with a complication of conditions and relations, and differences of opinion upon it are inevitable. Mr. Atkinson takes an optimistic view of the prospects of a satisfactory settlement of the relations of capital and labor on the conditions set forth in his fundamental proposition. He shows that a high rate of wages does not necessarily signify high cost of production, and vice versa, and enforces a distinction, too often overlooked, between rate of wages and sum of wages in the manufacture of a given product. The second essay presents an exposition of the principles on which safe banking is conducted. In the third essay the author shows that the railways have performed a great service in our national economy, and that a large reduction in the costs of transportation has been brought about by the consolidation of the principal lines; and maintains that nearly all the features of our present railway system are working, as a whole, for good.

Paradise Found: A Study of the Prehistoric World. By William F. Warren, LL. D. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 505. Price, $2.

The Count de Saporta, Mr. G. Hilton Scribner, and others, have made our readers familiar with the hypothesis that the cradle of the human race and of all life must be sought at the north pole. The accession of so many men known to be careful observers, imbued with the scientific spirit, and habituated not to express an opinion unless they have reasons at hand with which to fortify it, as have uttered views consistent with this hypothesis, has lifted it up out of the category of speculations to a genuine theory, claiming deliberate investigation. Dr. Warren, who is President of Boston University, has arrived at conclusions nearly coincident with those of Count de Saporta and those who agree with him, through his own independent studies, though not, of course, without having them re-enforced by theirs. In the present work, he offers the considerations by which the theory of polar origin is to be supported, carefully worked out, and in their order. Beginning with a survey of the present state of the question of the location of Eden and of the existing theories upon it, he presents in Part Second his own hypothesis, with a definition of the conditions on which it may be admissible; in Part Third, the scientific bearing on it of geogony, geography, geology, prehistoric climatology, paleontological botany, zoölogy, and archæology and general ethnology; in Part Fourth, confirmations of the hypothesis by ethnic tradition—from ancient cosmology and mythical geography, and from Japanese, Chinese, East Aryan, Iranian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian, ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek thought; in Part Fifth, further verifications of the hypothesis, based upon a study of the peculiarities of a polar paradise; and in Part Sixth, the significance of the results he has drawn from these considerations.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Preliminary Analysis of the Bark of Fouqueria Splendens. By Helen C. DeS. Abbott. Pp. 8.

The Lineal Measures of the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. Pp 14.

Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, 1883 and 1884 Denver, Col. Pp. 147, with Plates.

Notes on the Literature of Explosives. By Professor Charles E. Munroe, Annapolis, Md. Pp. 82.

Spiritism; the Origin of all. Religions. By J. P. Dameron, San Francisco. Cal. Pp 108.

Elephant Pipes. Davenport, Iowa. By Charles E. Putnam. Pp. 40.

The Filth-Power. By J. B. Oleott. Pp. 41.

Starling Medical College, Columbus. Ohio. Pp. 16.

Contagiousness of Tuberculosis. By W. II. Webb. M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 28.

Scriptural Temperance. By W. H. Ten Eyck, D. D. New York: P. Brinkerhoff. Pp. 44.

Light of Comparison Stars for Vesta. Pp. 8. Astronomical Observatory, Harvard Collie. Report of Director. Pp. 12. Observations of Variable Stars in 1884. Pp. 10. All by Edward C. Pickering.

The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the