Popular Science Monthly/Volume 28/January 1886/Literary Notices

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search

LITERARY NOTICES.

Ecclesiastical Institutions. Being Part VI of the "Principles of Sociology." By Herbert Spencer. Pp. 193. Price, $1.25.

The great life-work of Herbert Spencer, the "Philosophy of Evolution," advances toward completion, but it has moved slowly of late. Persistent ill-health and occupation with other subjects, and other parts of the system than that immediately in hand, have considerably delayed the appearance of the present volume.

Of the general nature of Spencer's "Synthetic Philosophy" little needs here to be said. Our readers are aware that it is a systematic attempt to explain the course of nature, the progress of life, the origin of man, and the institutions of human society, by one universal law of unfolding known as evolution. While in one aspect this system is simply a new organization of knowledge based upon the progress of science, and more comprehensive and unified than anything previously attained, in another aspect it is a new body of doctrine which discredits and replaces the most wide-spread and deeply cherished traditional beliefs of mankind. In the volume now before us Mr. Spencer has reached that stage in the development of his system in which he comes into the sharpest collision with all-prevalent religious dogma.

No discussion of the evolution of human society is possible which does not make the study of primitive social conditions and ideas prominent and fundamental. If the higher social forms were potentially involved in the lower, and had grown out of them by the working of natural laws, then the first and most important step of the investigation must be into the nature, capacities, and limitations of the primitive man, and the character of the primitive elements of society which grew out of, and were determined by, the attributes of the primitive man. Accordingly, the first part of the first volume of the "Principles of Sociology"—"The Data of Sociology"—is devoted to primitive man and that order of primary conceptions which was embodied in the earliest and rudest social institutions. These institutions are now so highly developed that we have got in a way of separating ourselves from "the heathen" by a great gulf, which makes all continuity of relations between the lowest and the highest impossible. But, if evolution be true, the highest is derived from the lowest by unbroken chains of causation, and there is no other possible way of explaining and understanding existing institutions than by tracing their derivation back to primitive germinal conditions. This is, at any rate, the only way open to science which is an exposition of the natural order; and sociology only becomes a true science as it is pursued by the method adopted by Mr. Spencer of working out the laws under which social progress has taken place. The data of sociology in the primitive conditions which initiated the lowest social state constitute, therefore, the essential basis of the science, and determine the whole course of subsequent elucidation.

In Part II Mr. Spencer works out "The Inductions of Sociology," or the nature, structure, and functions of the organism of society; and in Part III, "The Domestic Relations," be treats of the maintenance of species, the relations of the sexes in primitive society, and the development of the family.

Volume II of the "Principles of Sociology" begins with Part IV, on "Ceremonial Institutions," the evolution of which is traced from early to advanced societies. Part V takes up "Political Institutions," and these with their development by the same method. "Ecclesiastical Institutions" (Part VI), now published, as the title imports, treats of the evolution of existing religious organizations from their lower forms in primitive society. Its necessary implication, of course, is, that the religious, like all other social institutions, have a natural genesis, and can only be explained as derivations from pre-existing forms which carry us backward and downward to the religious notions, rites, and observances of the earliest men. The nature of the religious idea is first unfolded, and it is shown how religious ceremonies were at first mixed with others, so that medicine-man, ruler, and priest, were combined in the same individual. The rise of a separate priesthood and of religious hierarchies is then traced out, and the argument is pursued till we reach the modern forms of ecclesiastical institutions, "Church and State," "Nonconformity," and "The Moral Influences of Priesthoods." Two other ports remain to be written for the completion of the second volume of "The Principles of Sociology," viz., "Professional Institutions" and "Industrial Institutions"; but there is reason to expect that these will be completed with less delay than has occurred with Part VI. We find a notice of the present volume in the "Pall Mall Gazette," which is so excellent that we make an extract from it:

"Ecclesiastical Institutions" begins with a short restatement and re-enforcement of the ghost-theory of the origin of religion already laid down in the first volume of the Sociology. It is Interesting to note how much new confirmatory evidence has been rapidly accumulated during the intervening period; and Mr. Spencer therefore wisely chooses most of the fresh Instances by which he strengthens his case from works published since the appearance of his earlier volume. In one of these in particular, the Rev. Duff Macdonald's "Africana," conclusions almost identical with Mr. Spencer's own have actually been arrived at by a Scotch missionary in the heart of Africa, in apparent total ignorance and independence. and without a passing glimpse of their ulterior implications. From the origin of the religious idea itself, hero assigned to the belief in a soul, and consequent ancestor-worship, Mr. Spencer gradually passes on to the evolution of ecclesiastical or hierarchical systems. Beginning with the medicine-man, as the propitiator or averter of hostile ghosts, and the priest properly so called, as the propitiator and attendant of friendly ghosts—the family gods or manes—he proceeds to trace the gradual development of the organization which results with increasing culture from the last of these two classes of functionary. Descendants, ho shows, are the first priests; and more especially male descendants, at least wherever the position of women has become one of marked inferiority. But the eldest male descendant in particular—in short, the head of the family—tends to concentrate upon himself the highest duty of the priesthood. Moreover, as the chief gods In early communities are deceased rulers, the king, as their living representative, exercises the functions of priest also. In process of time, the king frequently finds the priestly offices clash with other duties, and then he delegates them to others: they are performed by proxy. Hence in most instances the origin of a distinct non-royal priesthood. The rise of such priesthoods is well shown in the case of the Flamens, instituted at Rome to replace the king during his temporary absence. As the ghost gradually develops into the god, polytheistic priesthoods of the advanced type are evolved hide by side with the evolving religion. Sometimes the Pantheon has its relative ranks assigned by conquest and incorporation; the gods of the vanquished tribes take their place amicably In the some system with the gods of the victors, but naturally enough on a lower level. Eventually the slow elevation of one great god to a position of marked superiority in the Pantheon may give rise to a gravitation towards monotheism. Thus, to the philosophic Greeks of the ago of Socrates, Zeus had almost arrived at that point of supremacy over other gods which lifts the "father of gods and men" into the true monotheistic religion, the other deities at the same time sinking to the subordinate grades in a sort of angelic hierarchy, Mr. Spencer next goes on to notice the value of the ecclesiastical system as a social bond, especially in early times, the military and civil functions of priests, and the question of the relations between Church and State, A very Spencerian chapter on Nonconformity is replete with its author's ingrained independence and individuality of character; for Mr. Spencer Is nothing if not individualist in fiber. The book ends with an ecclesiastical and then a religious retrospect and prospect where timid waverers may find much to console and to reassure them. Mr. Spencer does not see in the threatened changes of form any final menace even to religious worship in its proper essence, he anticipates that there will always remain a necessity for qualifying the too prosaic and material form of daily life by religious observances; that a sphere will still exist for those who are able to impress their hearers with a due sense of the mystery which enshrouds the universe; and that musical expression to the sentiment accompanying this sense will not only survive but will undergo further development. Finally ho concludes with the reiteration of the idea already so fully insisted upon in the "First Principles": "One truth must ever grow clearer—the truth that there is an inscrutable existence everywhere manifested, to which [man] can neither find nor conceive either beginning or end. Amid the mysteries which become the more mysterious the more they are thought about, there will remain the one absolute certainty, that he is ever in presence of an Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.'

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES, NO. LI.

Physical Expression: Its Modes and Principles. By Francis Warner, M, D., Lond., F. R. C. P. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 372. Price, $1.75.

This is an old subject much discussed by artists, anatomists, alienists, and physiognomists, from Leonardo da Vinci onward. It has a copious literature, and, in the long list of works given by Dr. Warner in his bibliography, those of Sir Charles Bell, on the "Anatomy and Physiology of Expression," and of Charles Darwin, on the "Expression of Emotion in Man and the Lower Animals," arc prominent. But so interesting a subject as that of the physiological signs of inward states could not fail to attract multitudes of observers who have contributed to it in many aspects. Fancy and speculation, however, have outstripped science with its explanations of the double mechanism involved. There has been great recent advance in our knowledge of the structure and functions of the nervous system, and in the development of psychology, from the physiological side; while results from both are of great value in arriving at the principles involved in expression. Dr. Warner takes up the subject broadly and aims to treat it in the light of all that has been gained in the various lines of research that bear upon it. Premising that the work is written with clearness and judgment, and is fully illustrated, the reader will gain the best idea of its contents by a statement of the topics considered. The first five chapters are devoted to an analysis of the nature and the modes of expression. Chapter VI treats of its physiology; Chapter VII of its pathology; Chapter VIII of postures; Chapter IX of expression in the hand; Chapter X, expression in the head; Chapter XI, expression in the human face; Chapter XII, expression in the eyes; Chapter XIV, the infant and adult; Chapter XVII, art criticism; and Chapter XIX, new apparatus for observing and recording expression.

Recent American Socialism. By Richard T. Ely. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 74.

The author passes the history of the early socialistic movements in the United States with a rapid sketch-review, and gives his attention principally to the consideration of socialism as it has manifested itself since the publication of Mr. George's "Progress and Poverty." His object is to present the character of the movements, not to pass judgment on them; and it is no compliment to the intelligence of average readers that he has felt it incumbent to excuse himself for not obtruding his own views of their merits and demerits; as if, in recording that some of the organizations advocated dynamiting, he should think it necessary to say explicitly that he thought that very bad. In his presentation, the author has endeavored to let the parties concerned speak for themselves as far as possible, thereby securing further accuracy and impartiality. He classifies the advanced Socialists of the present day into the two groups of the Internationalists—a party of violence, believing in the use of dynamite and like weapons of warfare as a means of attaining their purpose—and the Socialistic Labor party, who condemn these tactics, and some of whom have not renounced all hope of a peaceable revolution of society; and calls attention to the superior character of the men of the latter party as compared with those of the former. Besides these are the labor unions, not actually and avowedly socialistic, but liable to tendencies in that direction and claimed as at least prospective allies by the socialists. The danger from these movements is real, though the extreme peril may not be immediate; and "of course we all hope for the best, but in the mean time it may be safer to fear what is worse, and it can do no harm to be watchful." As for a remedy, "there is no simple, easily applied formula which will cure social evils, and any one is a quack who pretends to have found one. Repressive legislation, in the absence of overt acts, has failed to repress the growth of the socialistic sentiment, and is likely to fail. The cure is to be sought in the opposite direction, of finding out what are the real, reasonable grievances of the men among whom this sentiment is cultivated, and devising and applying measures to ameliorate them. Then, with this purpose kept honestly in view, "in the harmonious action of state, church, and individual, moving in the light of true science, will be found an escape from present and future social dangers. Herein is pointed out the path of safe progress; other there is none."

Planting Trees in School-Grounds, and the Celebration of Arbor-Day. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 64.

This is a document issued by the Bureau of Education for the purpose of cultivating interest in the planting of trees and of turning attention in the direction in which the work may be most profitably done. It contains "lessons from history" and other facts, to show the importance of preserving the forests; selections from literature and poetry, to be used in making up the programme for the exercises of Arbor-day; and a practical essay on "Planting Trees in School-Grounds." In this paper we observe the suggestion that, in selecting the kinds of trees to be planted in school-grounds, regard should be had to their liability to injury from accident, their tendency to sprout where not wanted, the agreeable or disagreeable odors that they may emit, the ornamental character of their flowers or fruit, their longevity, rate of growth, and other circumstances tending to make them more or less acceptable in the places where they are to remain. The American elm and the soft maples appear to be among the trees best adapted to this purpose.

Offices of Electricity in the Earth, pp. 42; and Origin of Species, pp. 76. By H. B. Philbrook. New York: "Problems of Nature," 21 Park Row.

These two pamphlets, which together attempt a new cosmology and a theory of development intended to take the place of the "mistaken attempt" of Darwin, furnish an example of the nonsense which a class of visionary theorists imagine they can pass off for Science. The basis of Mr. Philbrook's system is that the universe and all its parts and contents are manifestations of electricity. When he comes to details, he is startling as well as amusing. Thus: "The atmosphere is only a continuation of the condensation of the electricity of the solar system, and each atom of gas of this abundant element is but a slightly condensed globe of mica. "Gold" is produced simply by a great pressure of particles of mica. Silver is constructed by the pressure of chalk; copper by the pressing of the mica partly decomposed, and the substance is but little different from gold. Iron is produced by pressing quartz and the undecomposed mica in it." Coal is formed by the exposure of coral to great heat, and exists wherever there are mountains: in the Orange Mountains of New Jersey, and in Massachusetts, "sufficient coal for a whole nation," and if bored for deep enough, will be found there. Less beat than is required to convert coral into coal produces trap.

Niagara Park Ilustrated. Edited by Alice Hyneman Rhine. New York: Niagara Publishing Company. Pp. 112. Price, 60 cents.

The author gives as a reason for having prepared this book, "a desire to commemorate the freedom of Niagara from individual possession, and becoming in a manner the property of the world. Surely, if anything deserves a printed formal recognition, it is the removal of that great indignity done to Nature's masterpiece in the past." Her thought was a happy one, and her execution is worthy of it—and as nearly worthy as a modest human effort can presume to be, of the subject. A better guide the visitor need not ask for, and a more agreeable companion in a guide he is not likely to get. The directory of points of interest on the American and Canadian sides forms a but relatively small part of the book, but it is the practical part, and is ample for its purpose. The mass of the book is made up of choice articles from travelers and poets, most of them classics in English and American literature, describing the falls or reflecting the emotions which they have awakened; in short, it is a compendium of that which is best in the literature and romance of the falls. These articles are accompanied by numerous excellent illustrations.

History and Management of Land Grants For Education in the Northwest Territory. By George W. Knight. New York: G. P. Putmam's Sons. Pp. 175. Price, 50 cents.

This work is number three in the series of papers of the American Historical Association. It reviews the history of all the grants of land that have been made by Congress in aid of education in the Northwest Territory and the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin; the dispositions that were made of them in the several States; the manner in which the funds accruing from them have been managed; and the net results in benefit to education that have been derived from them. The grants were variously made to the Territory as a whole, and to the States in severalty; they included the "school-section" in every township of thirty-six sections; saline lands, swamplands, grants for seminaries or universities, grants for agricultural colleges, and special grants. The grants have in no case been as well managed as they might have been, and have been in some instances badly managed, with much waste; but, with all this, they have been "instrumental, in a degree that can not be estimated in mere dollars and cents, in promoting the cause of education. It is doubtful if with the wisest management the school-land could have been made to maintain unassisted the work for which it was set aside. Perhaps the greatest benefit rendered by the funds has been in fostering among the people a desire for good schools. Without the land grants, the burden of maintaining free schools would have seemed oppressive to the new State, but, aided by the income of the funds, the people have grown into a habit of taxing themselves heavily for the support of education. Thus the funds have made practicable a system of education which without them it would have been impossible to establish."

City School Systems is the United States. By John D. Philbrick. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 207.

This work is No. 1 of the "Circulars of Information" of the Bureau of Education for 1885. Its author is one of the most experienced of American city school superintendents, and one who has written or said a great deal on educational subjects; and in it he has presented an extensive review of the principles and conditions of the educational organizations, generally, of all the towns in our country having populations of more than eight thousand or thereabout, and particularly of the larger cities which have the most clearly defined systems. The points to which attention is chiefly directed cover the administration and organization of the schools; the classes and kinds of schools; the studies, supervision, programmes, and supplementary reading provided for; industrial education; physical and other drill; gratuitous instruction; gratuitous text-books the tenure of office of teachers; the sex of teachers; examinations, promotions, and exhibitions; the question of "recess and no recess," concerning which he speaks with force against the abolition of recess; school ages; sufficiency of accommodation; schoolhouses, museums, decorations and art; pedagogical libraries; and coercive attendance.

The Boys' and Girls' Pliny. Edited, with an Introduction, by John S. White, LL. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 326, with Illustrations. Price, $3.

In this adaptation, which is the third and last of a brief series of classical authors—Plutarch, Herodotus, and Pliny—which the editor has prepared for the reading of boys and girls, the selection is made from the most interesting parts of Pliny's "Natural History." As the author's science, however pleasant reading it may be—and in that respect it is not excelled—would not be good science in the present day, it calls for frequent correction; this is given in all cases where Pliny's statements have been proved erroneous, except where they are so evidently preposterous as to need no comment. For his foot-notes, the editor has had recourse to Cuvier, Bostock, and Ajasson, devoted students of Pliny, he says, "whose work can rarely be improved upon." In the introduction are given the life of Pliny and his nephew's account of his death by the eruption of Vesuvius.

Twenty-five Years with the Insane. By Daniel Putnam. Detroit: John Macfarlane. Pp. 157. Price, 75 cents.

The author of this book was for twenty-five years Chaplain of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, at Kalamazoo, and he seta forth here the results of his experience and observations in that capacity. After an historical review of the development of the modern methods of taking care of the insane, he considers their proper care in asylums, their treatment outside of asylums, depicts the opinions and feelings of patients, and discusses the relations of schools, religion, alcohol, tobacco, and other narcotics, inherited tendencies, and crime, with insanity. He believes that asylums and hospitals for the insane have done much for the relief of one of the most pitiable forms of human suffering, and that it is possible for them to do more and better in the future.

The Co-operative Commonwealth in its Outlines. By Lawrence Gronlund. Boston: Lee & Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. Pp. 278. Price, 81.

This book presents to the reader, in a concise, logical, and readable form, the principal propositions of modern socialism, from the point of view of a socialist. It has been written, according to the professions of the author, that it may be seen that the social and political phenomena in all progressive countries, and particularly in our own country and Great Britain, are, in a perfectly natural manner, evolving a new social order, a social-democratic order, to which the name of the "Co-operative Commonwealth" is given, or, that socialism is no importation, but a home product, wherever found; to give good reasons for expecting that the new social order will be a "happy issue" to every one, and to justify the conviction that the situation must come to this new order within a comparatively short period, or to barbarism. The author has also a more serious purpose than the one of mere information, which is to prepare the public to take such an attitude as to make the revolution, which he foresees as a certainty, a bloodless and dangerless one, resulting in the establishment of a wholesome security.

The Blood-Covenant. By H. Clay Trumbull, D. D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 350. Price, $2.

The blood-covenant is a rite by which two persons absorb each the other's blood, either by drinking or by transfusion to the vein?, whereby they become bound to one another in even a closer connection than that of brotherhood. It prevails in many countries—savage, barbarous, and semi-barbarous—and may be traced back to extreme antiquity. Dr. Trumbull discovers it first in Syria; then finds numerous accounts of it in the journals of African travelers and of adventurers among the North American Indians; detects it in the Norse lands of Europe and in India, and so around the world. lie might also have found it a characteristic custom among the Albanians and some of the south Slavs. Going back into history he finds it still more prevalent in the olden times, and, seeking to discover it in its origins, he detects it in the rites and literature of the ancient Egyptians, and allusions upon allusions to it in the books of the Bible. Besides description and history, the purpose of his book is to investigate the meaning and symbolism of the rite. He believes that its origin, to use one of the many statements he makes respecting it, is in "the universally dominating primitive convictions that the blood is the life; that the heart, as the blood-fountain, is the very Boul of every personality; that blood-transfer is soul-transfer; that blood sharing, human or divine-human, secures an inter-union of natures; and that a union of the human nature with the divine is the highest ultimate attainment reached out after by the most primitive as well as by the most enlightened mind of humanity." With savage and barbarous peoples the rite lies at the foundation of cannibalism; it is the motive of sacrifices, in which the animal is offered to the god as a substitute for the human blood. In one form the drops of blood were put in wine or other draughts and drunken: then the wine was drunken without the actual presence of the blood; whence we have the use of wine in pledges of friendship and in marriage. Among the Jews it is symbolized in circumcision; and, finally. It found its culmination in the offering of the blood of Christ, which Christians of all denominations again observe symbolically, after their Master's own institution, in the use of wine at the sacrament. These views, which Dr. Trumbull sets forth with much force and copious illustrations by references and quotations, arc not a theory which he set out to prove, but are thoughts that have grown upon him as he has advanced in his work, and have been suggested by his researches; and the fact that they have been hitherto overlooked furnishes, to his mind, another illustration of the "inevitably cramping influence of a preconceived fixed theory—to which all the ascertained facts must be conformed—in any attempt at thorough and impartial scientific investigation."

Mind-Cure on a Material Basis. By Sarah Elizabeth Titcomb. Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co. New York: Brentano Brothers. Pp. 288.

The author of this work having acquired the method of curing disease which is practiced by the mind-curers, came to the conclusion that the success attending that method is due to concentration of thought, and not to the theology underlying the method. She regards it as a well-attested fact that disease, even inorganic, can be cured as well as caused by the mind or the imagination. Besides especially elaborating this theory she reviews "The Theology of the Christian Scientists"; discusses "The Single-Substance Theory," or Materialism, and the manifestations of "Mind in Animals and in the Lower Races of Men"; attempts to trace "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Immortal Soul"; and searches for "Bible Proofs of the Single-Substance Theory."

Methods of Research in Microscopical Anatomy and Embryology. By Charles Otis Whitman. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 255. Price, $3.

The aim of this work is to supply in a measure a need which has been created by the rapid development of the methods of microscopical anatomy and embryology within the last few years. The contents of the volume have been arranged in two parts the first embracing methods of a more general nature, such as preservative fluids, dyes, macerating fluids, fixatives, mounting media, the microtome with its appurtenances, methods of imbedding, etc.; and the second including special applications of embryological, anatomical, and histological methods. Under the head of "embryological methods" are given, besides accounts of objects of study, notes on such points as the times, places, and best methods of collecting, breeding-habits, food, and other items of information that may aid the student in making a choice of material and controlling its supply. The part on special methods is designed to meet the wants of the beginner as well as of the more advanced student.

Report on Forestry (Department of Agriculture). Prepared by Nathaniel H. Egleston. Vol. IV. 1884. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 421.

This report is compiled from the replies to the circulars of inquiry which have been sent out to various parts of the country, asking for information respecting different points in the condition of the forests and the consumption of wood. The facts thus gathered are arranged in the shape of special reports by agents of the department, as on the collection, preservation, and planting of seeds or young trees in the prairie States; the condition of forests, timber-culture, etc., in the Southern and Western States; on the kinds and quantity of timber used for railroad-ties (from facts furnished by two hundred and eighty-three railroad companies); on the decrease of woodlands in Ohio; on the forest condition and lumber and wood trade of certain States; on the growth, etc., of trees; on the forests of Washington Territory; and on the production of maple-sugar in the United States and Canada.

The German Verb-Drill. By Adolphe Dreyspring. New York: D, Appleton & Co. Pp. 276.

Professor Dreyspring is the author of the "Cumulative Method" of teaching German, which he illustrates by the motto—Repetitio mater studiorum—"repetition the mother of studies." The purpose of this work is to present the mechanism of the colloquial and written languages in a series of exercises on the verbs, always lively and varied, yet subject to a well-ordered system. The author selects this part of speech as the central object of the exercises, because he believes that the office of none other is more complex, more important, and more useful in ministering to the power and intelligibility of expression. It is also the part of speech which in German as in other languages goes through more inflections and raises more difficulties in construction than any other; so that whoever masters the verb has little difficulty with anything else. The verb-drill takes the form of a lively conversation between the teacher and the class, in which a single verb being selected for the day's lesson, it is passed along in its inflections and with its combinations. The plan appears to us, looking at it from without, adapted to facilitate the study of language and make it more interesting, while it is also fundamental and thorough.

Lectures on the Principle of House-Drainage. By J. Pickering Putnam, Architect. Boston: Ticknor & Co. Pp. 125. A Guide to Sanitary House-Inspection. By William Paul Gerhard, C. E. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 145. Price, $1.25.

The "Lectures" of the former volume were delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before the Suffolk District Medical Society and the Boston Society of Architects. Their scope is chiefly the presentation of the principles on which the drainage appliances of houses should be constructed and arranged, with criticisms of existing appliances and arrangements. The author has himself devised some new appliances, the qualities of which he describes, but always with an honest notice to the reader that he is talking about his own work, A foreign and independent judgment of the value of the lectures is given in a request which was made by the editor of the "Sanitary Record," London, for permission to republish them.

The principal aim of Mr. Gerhard's book is to instruct the householder respecting the main features of a sanitary house-inspection, particularly in the matter of searching for defects in the arrangements. First is considered the inspection of city houses as to their surroundings and soil, the cellar, yard, structural details, sewerage and plumbing, water-supply, method of garbage disposal, arrangements for warming, gas-lighting, ventilation, for exclusion of bad odors, prevention of dust, and for safety against tire; next, are articles on apartment-houses and tenement-houses, on country-houses, which, like city-houses, are treated in detail, and on summer boarding-houses and summer resorts.

Marvels of Animal Life. By Charles Frederick Holder. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Pp. 240, with Plates. Price, $2.

The aim of this inviting volume is to interest youth in natural history by pointing out the attractive side and so presenting its interesting features that they will go out and become investigators for themselves. It relates wholly to marine life. Many of the observations chronicled in it, the author says, "were made during a long residence upon a coral reef or atoll, some while swimming under water along the bristling coral banks that formed a characteristic feature of our tropical home, and others are the memories of many practical collecting tours in various localities." The author displays much talent in presenting the brighter sides of his pictures.

Rudder Grange. By Frank R. Stockton. Pp. 322. Price $1.25. The Last Meeting. By Brander Matthews. Pp. 268. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

"Ruder-Grange" is an amusing sketch of experiments in housekeeping, rather fanciful than real, we judge, which we have lead with much pleasure, and can commend as all healthy and good for a leisure moment. "The Last Meeting" has a more elaborate plot and greater variety of incident, and appears to deal with sadder scenes.

The Commonwealth of Georgia: The Country, the People, and the Productions. Prepared under the direction of J. T. Henderson, Commissioner of Agriculture. Atlanta: J. P. Harrison & Co. Pp. 379. With Fifteen Maps. Price, $1.

In this work, which is published under the authority of the State, as a hand-book, the attempt is made to depict, by a series of maps, in an intelligible and acceptable way, the geology, agriculture, temperature and rainfall, water-powers, forestry, minerals, and elevations of Georgia. In the letterpress are given, with considerable detail, descriptions of the population, public institutions, government, educational establishments, newspapers, and of the fruit, grass, garden, and held products.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Natural Gas: Its Advantages, Use, and Economies. By George II. Thurston. 1885. Pittsburg: A. A. Anderson & Son, Printers. Pp. 82.

Fifth Report of the Shell-fish Commissioners of the State of Connecticut to the General Assembly, January, 1886. 1885. Middletown: Pelton & King, Printer's. Pp. 26.

Report of the Proceedings of the Illinois State Board of Health. Quarterly Meeting, Springfield, October 29, 30, 1885.

Geometrical Form of Volcanic Cones and the Elastic Limit of Lava. By George F. Becker. Reprint from the "American Journal of Science." Pp. 11.

A Contribution to the Vertebrate Paleontology of Brazil, and Second Continuation of Researches among the Batrachia of the Coal-Measures of Ohio. By E. D. Cope. 1885. Philadelphia: A. E. Foote.

On Polysynthesis and Incorporation as Characteristics of American Languages. By Daniel O. Brinton, M. D. 1885. Philadelphia: McCalla & Stavely. Pp. 41.

The Physiological and Pathological Effects of the Use of Tobacco. By Hobart Amory Hare. M. D, 1885. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 86. Illustrated.

Index to the Literature of Uranium, 1789-1885. By H. Carrington Bolton. Ph. D. 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 86.

Remarks on a Supposed Fossil Fungus from the Coal-Measures. By Professor Joseph F. James. Pp. 10.

Saratoga Winter and Summer: An Epitome of the Early History, Romance, Legends, and Characteristics of the Greatest of American Resorts. By Prentiss Ingraham. New York, 1885. Pp. 110. Illustrated.

Forest Preservation In Canada. By A. T. Drummond. Montreal, 1885. Pp 7.

Introspective Insanity. By Allan McLane Hamilton, M. D. Reprint from the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences." 1885. Pp. 8.

Free Cities In the Middle Ages By L. K. Klemm, Ph. D. Hamilton. Ohio. Pp. 22.

Inaugural Exercises of the Henry Shaw School of Botany. Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. 1885. Pp. 24.

Report of the Committee on Indexing Chemical Literature. By H. Carrington Bolton. Pp. 5.

Cervalces Americanus. A Fossil Moose or Elk from the Quaternary of New Jersey. By W. B. Scott. Pp. 22. Illustrated.

Chemistry In the Service of Public Health. By William Ripley Nichols. 1885. Salem Press: Salem. Mass. Pp. 20.

The Fixed Idea of Astronomical Theory. By August Tischner. 1885. Leipsic: Gustav Fock. Pp. 86.

Forty-second Annual Report of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor for the Year 1885. New York, 1885.

The Necessity for Closer Relations between the Army and the People, and the Best Method to accomplish the Result. By Captain George F. Brice, U.S.A. 1885. New York; G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 30. 25 cents.

Price List of Publications of the Smithsonian Institution. July. 1885. No. 627. Washington: Government Printing Office. Pp. 27.

Third Annual Report of the Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1884. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co. 1885.

Why Modern Cremation should replace Earth-Burial, 1885. San Francisco; Bacon & Co.

Astronomical Papers prepared for the Use of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. Vol. II, Parts III and IV; Velocity of Light in Air, and Refracting Media. 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office.

The Physician's Visiting List for 1886. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Various sizes, at prices from $1 to $3.

Ventilation of Buildings. By W. F. Butler. Re-edited and enlarged by James L. Greenleaf, C.E. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 147. Price, 50 cents.

Chemical Analysis for Schools and Science Classes. By A. H. Scott White. New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 130.

The Idea of God as affected by Modern Knowledge. By John Fiske. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 173. Price, $1.

First Lessons in Philosophy. By M. S. Handley. New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 59.

Bird-Ways. By Olive Thorne Miller. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 227. Price. $1.

Men, Women, and Gods, and other Lectures. By Helen H. Gardener. New York: The "Truth-Seeker" Company. Pp. 158. Price, $1.

Railroad Transportation: Its History and its Laws. By Arthur T. Hadley. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 269. Price. $1.50.

Afternoon Songs. By Julia C. R. Dorr. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 184. Price, $1.50.

Chemical Equilibrium the Result of the Dissipation of Energy. By G. D Liveing. New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 97, with Plates.

Darwinism and other Essays. By John Fiske. New edition, revised and enlarged. 1885. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, $2.

Charles Darwin. By Grant Allen. 1885. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 206. 75 cents.

Physical Expression: Its Modes and Principles. By Francis Warner. M.D.. Lond., F.R.C.P. 1885. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 372. Price, $1.75.

A Political Crime. By A. M. Gibson. New York: William S. Gottsberger. Pp. 402.

Elements of Universal History. By Prof. H. M. Cottinger. Boston: Charles H. Whiting. Pp. 836.

Social Wealth. By J. K. Ingalls. New York: The "Truth-Seeker" Company. Pp 320. Price, $1.

The Pedigree of Disease. By Jonathan Hutchinson, F.R.S. New York: William Wood & Co. Pp. 113.

Gray's Botanical Text-Book. Vol. II. Physiological Botany. By George Lincoln Goodale. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. Pp. 534.

Poems. By Jamin Willsbro. Philadelphia: Benjamin F. Lacey. Pp. 119.

Italian Popular Tales. By Thomas Frederick Crane. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 389. Price, $2.50.

The Silent South. By George W. Cable. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 180, Price, $1.

A Mortal Antipathy. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 307. Price, $1.50.

Report of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for 1884. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 719, with Charts.

Manual of the Botany of the Rocky Mountain Region. By John M. Coulter, Ph.D. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. Pp. 480.

Psychiatry. By Theodore Meynert, M.D. Translated by B. Sachs, M.D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 285. Price, $2.75.

The Prehistoric Palace of the Kings of Tiryns. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 385, with Chromo-Lithographic Plates, Map, and Plans. Price, $10.