Popular Science Monthly/Volume 21/August 1882/Literary Notices
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES, NO. XLII.
Ants, Bees, and Wasps. A Record of Observations on the Habits of the Social Hymenoptera. With Illustrations and Colored Plates. By Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M. P., F. R. S., etc. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 448. Price, $2.
When, some ten years ago, the author of this work was solicited to contribute a volume to the "International Scientific Series," he cordially consented, on the condition that he might take his time. Nothing could be more reasonable, for Sir John is a very busy man, and occupied by many duties. But, now that his book has appeared, the surprise is that he should have done it so quickly. The most expeditious way of producing a book is, of course, with the scissors; the next is with the pen, where the work is spun from the fancy; but the slowest method is where the author strikes into original inquiry, which involves long-continued observation and experiment before he can bring the subject into shape for literary presentation. It is in this sense that Sir John Lubbock has made the present work. How it has originated, and what is its object, are thus stated in the preface: "This volume contains the record of various experiments made with ants, bees, and wasps, during the past ten years. Other occupations, and many interruptions, political and professional, have prevented me from making them as full and complete as I had hoped. My parliamentary duties in particular have absorbed most of my time just at the season of year when these insects can be most profitably studied. I have, therefore, whenever it seemed necessary, carefully recorded the month during which the observations were made, for the instincts and behavior of ants, bees, and wasps are by no means the same throughout the year. My object has been, not so much to describe the usual habits of these insects, as to test their mental conditions and powers of sense."
The work has, therefore, a twofold interest. In the first place, it is a contribution to comparative psychology; a subject which requires much more cautious and discriminating study than it has formerly received. The insects to which Sir John Lubbock has devoted himself exhibit remarkable mental traits, but it is by no means so easy a thing to interpret them rightly. Much, of course, was critically and accurately known of their habits and characters before our author took up the inquiry, as his copious bibliography and numerous citations show; but there was also so much loose and exaggerated statement in the popular natural history of these creatures, and so much serious deficiency in their scientific study, that a close and systematic re-examination of the phenomena was necessary. Sir John devised various ingenious methods of dealing with his insects, and by taking the ample time necessary to educate himself in their manipulation, and in getting familiarly acquainted with their ways, he has been enabled to qualify many previous opinions respecting their intelligence, and very much to extend our accurate knowledge upon the subject.
But while the problems which Sir John Lubbock had here to solve were those of comparative psychology, they have another interesting aspect. The insects being gregarious and eminently social, all their mental manifestations were in social relation, so that the inquiry ran inevitably into comparative sociology. It is this fact which gives the highest interest to the research. It is of no little importance to find out how much these tiny creatures know which are capable of elaborating such curious and extensive social arrangements. Are they really next to man in the scale of intelligence? Sir John Lubbock seems to have arrived at this conclusion, but he opens his introductory chapter thus: "The anthropoid apes no doubt approach nearer to man in bodily structure than to any other animals; but when we consider the habits of ants, their social organization, their large communities, and elaborate habitations; their roadways, their possession of domestic animals, and even, in some cases, of slaves, it must be admitted that they have a fair claim to rank next to man in the scale of intelligence."
We have no space either to explain Sir John's interesting method of procedure in these researches, nor to intimate his results. But we may say that the author has thoroughly caught the spirit of his country neighbor, Mr. Darwin, and that his book is quite of the Darwinian order, evincing the most minute, painstaking, and patient observation, and reasoning no further or faster than the facts will warrant.
Capital and Population: A Study of the Economic Effects of their Relations to Each Other. By Frederick B. Hawley. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 267.
The author confesses his position, as exemplified in his treatise, to be a peculiar one. While considering himself a disciple of what is called the English and orthodox school in political economy, he has arrived at results which are in many instances diametrically opposed to those of that school; especially on the subjects of free trade and taxation. On the other hand, his reasoning presupposes the falsity of most of the arguments heretofore advanced in support of the very conclusions he upholds. These singular results are obtained by his taking up the reasonings of Mill and Ricardo, and others of their school, and carrying them out on their lines beyond the limits where they stopped, and by taking up and giving importance to factors that were unconsidered or overlooked by them. Having pointed out an important variation in the definition of capital as given x by Ricardo and Mill, he makes the deduction that over-accumulation, or the increase of capital beyond the needs of population, is not only possible, but of frequent and periodic occurrence in all civilized nations; that there is, in fact, a tendency to it. He then undertakes to show that proportional and real wages vary inversely instead of together, as has heretofore been assumed, and that it is not a high rate of proportional wages, but of real wages, that is a stimulus to population. He further reaches conclusions opposed to free trade and in favor of the protective policy; that manufactures are more advantageous as a national pursuit than agriculture, and commerce is more advantageous than either; and finds a basis for a positive decision in favor of bi-metallism.
John Stuart Mill. A Criticism, with Personal Recollections. By Alexander Bain, LL. D. Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 201. Price, $1.25.
This volume is precisely what was needed to supplement Mill's "Autobiography." While, on the one hand, that work is invaluable as a disclosure of personality, and as an interpreter of mental experience, such as none but the author himself could give, on the other hand it is full of the necessary bias and the limitations of an auto-representation, and contains defects and omissions which only another mind could supply. Dr. Bain was pre-eminently the man to add this counterpart to Mill's own sketch of his life. He knew the man intimately, was himself an independent student of the whole range of questions to which Mill devoted himself, while the two men were in such sympathy that Mr. Mill intrusted to Professor Bain the revision of the proof-sheets of the "Logic," his greatest and most important work. With such a preparation, Professor Bain could not fail to give us a most interesting sketch, and which is at the same time a critical estimate of Mill's publications. Much light is thrown on the circumstances of the production of each work—how the author was led to the subject, how his views were modified or expanded, and how he was influenced by the leading contemporary minds of his time. There is an interesting analysis of Mill's relation to Comte, and a still more interesting statement of his relations with Mrs. John Taylor, whom, after twenty years' acquaintance as a married woman, after the death of her husband, Mill married. There is a critical examination of his extravagant claims in regard to the talent of this lady, and also of Mill's attitude toward the "woman question" generally.
There are various important points, on which Dr. Bain disagrees with Mill, which we should like to have seen further elucidated, and to a consideration of some of these we may return in future. But the points of objection are generally well taken. We are gratified to observe that Dr. Bain holds exactly the opinion which we have maintained in regard to Mill's celebrated "University Address" on education. As the questions involved are of permanent interest, it may be well to quote what Bain says about this performance of Mill:
The performance was a failure, in my opinion, for this simple reason, that he had no conception of the limits of a university curriculum. The Scotch universities have been distinguished for the amount of study comprised in their arts degree. Mill would have them keep up the classics intact, and even raise their standard; he would also include a complete course of the primary sciences—mathematics, physics, chemistry, physiology, logic, and psychology—to which he would add political economy, jurisprudence, and international law. Now at present the obligatory sciences are mathematics, natural philosophy, logic, and moral philosophy. If he had consulted me on this occasion, I should have endeavored to impress upon him the limits of our possible curriculum, and should have asked aim to arbitrate between the claims of literature and science, so as to make the very most of our time and means. He would then have had to balance Latin and Greek against chemistry, physiology, and jurisprudence; for it is quite certain that both these languages would have to be dropped absolutely, to admit his extended science course. In that case he would have been more careful in his statements as to the Greek and Latin languages. He would not have put these languages as synonymous with "literature"; and he would have made much more allowance for translations and expositions through the modern languages. He would have found that at the present day we have other methods of correcting the tendency to mistake words for things than learning any two or three additional languages. He would not have assumed that our pupils are made all "to think in Greek"; nor would he have considered it impossible to get at the sources of Greek and Roman history without studying the languages. If he had a real opponent, he would not have given the authority of his name to the assertion that grammar is "elementary logic." His mode of speaking of the style of the ancient writers, to my mind at least, is greatly exaggerated. "Look at an oration of Demosthenes; there is nothing in it which calls attention to itself as style at all. . . . The Athenians do not cry out, What a splendid speaker, but, Let us march against Philip." He also gives way to the common remark that the teaching of Latin and Greek could be so much improved as to make it an inconsiderable draft upon a pupil's energies. On this point he had no experience to go upon but his own, and that did not support his position.
In the scientific departments he carries out strictly the Comte hierarchy of the fundamental sciences, and, in this respect, the address was valuable as against the mischievous practice of culling out a science from the middle of the series, say chemistry, and prescribing it by itself to the exclusion of its forerunners in the hierarchy. While he speaks fairly and well on the mathematical and physical sciences, his remarks on the moral and political display, as usual, the master's hand. He next goes on to talk of free thought, on which he maintains a somewhat impracticable ideal for our universities. From science he proceeds to art, and enforces a favorite theme—the subservience of poetry to virtue and morality. One feels that on this topic a little more discrimination was necessary; art being a very wide word. His conclusion was a double entendre: "I do not attempt to instigate you by the prospect of direct rewards, either earthly or heavenly; the less we think about being rewarded in either way, the better for us."
In the reception given to the address, he was most struck with the vociferous applause of the divinity students at the free-thought passage. He was privately thanked by others among the hearers for this part.The Medical Adviser in Life Assurance. By Edward Henry Sieveking, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 206. Price, $2.
The author's object is to furnish the reader with information which, if it is to be found at all in the ordinary works of medicine, is so scattered as not to be readily available. Much of the substance of the book is derived from the experience of the author, or has been placed at his disposal by friends who have been engaged in the study of questions connected with life insurance. The special topics of "The Normal Man," "The Duties of the Medical Officer," "Hereditary Influences," "The History of the Individual," "The Insuree's Liability to Disease," and "The Medico-Legal Aspects of Life Insurance," are considered.
Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report of the State Geologist for the Year 1881. Trenton, New Jersey: John L. Murphy. Pp. 308, with Map and Table of Temperatures.
The topographical survey has been pushed, during the year, westward across Morris County and the central part of Warren County, to the Delaware River at Belvidere, the work covering an area of 360 square miles, and making, with what had been previously done, a total area of about 1,260 square miles completed. In the several chapters of the report are considered the encroachments of the sea upon the low-lying lands of the shore, the ores of iron and other metals, and quarries of stone in the State, with statistics; and more than half of the volume is occupied with the consideration of "the climate of New Jersey." An excellent geological map of the State accompanies the report.
From River to Sea. A Tourists' and Miners' Guide from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, via Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Charles S. Gleed, Editor. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co. Pp. 240. Price, $1.
This work is designed to supply a want. Its purpose is to give people a good general idea of the vast territory which is tributary to the new line of railway communication (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway) between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. It embodies a great deal of information of a kind which the traveler looks for, and will be generally useful to him. The illustrations, which are fairly well but not finely executed, lose a large part of their value by being inserted without reference to the text, and in a not regular order.
Political Institutions: Being Part V of the Principles of Sociology. The Concluding Portion of Volume II. By Herbert Spencer. Pp. 457. Price, $1.50.
The second volume of Spencer's "Principles of Sociology" is devoted to the evolution of I, Ceremonial Institutions, and II, Political Institutions; and, as the first part was issued separately about two years ago, the second part is now also issued separately, for the convenience of those who have procured the other.
Although this work is in its nature historical, yet it is necessary to discriminate between the method of ordinary history and that here adopted. Common history only applies to the later stages of progress, and it would deal with political institutions only in their higher modifications. But the idea of "development" implies that of origin, and carries us back to prehistoric times and primitive conditions. The question is, in what way the earlier or rudimentary forms of political institutions grew up. This problem lies back of that of the ordinary historian, is of a deeper nature, and can only be successfully pursued under the | guidance of some general theory of social genesis which will throw a common light on the development of ceremonial, political, ecclesiastical, and industrial institutions. Such a theory is that of evolution, and accordingly it is here made a part of the exposition of that theory. Of the difficulties of the exposition growing out of the nature of the subject, and the imperfections due to its subordination to a larger scheme of thought, the author says:
Statistics of the Production of the Precious Metals in the United States. By Clarence King, Special Agent of the Census. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 94, with Six Plates.
The information on which this report is based has been procured, so far as is possible, directly from the producers of bullion. It was not expected that completeness could be reached in this way, for many small producers would be overlooked or would fail to report, but the plan gives a nearer approach to accuracy than can be gained from the comparison of the receipts of domestic bullion at the mints and assay-offices, or from an examination of the bullion accounts of the express companies—the only other sources of information that were open. A comparison of the annual output of different States shows that the United States produces 33·13 per cent of the gold yield of the whole world, 50·59 per cent of the silver, and 40·91 per cent of the total. Of the aggregate supply of the precious metals, North America furnishes 55·78 per cent.
Hand-Book of Invertebrate Zoölogy for Laboratories and Seaside Work. By W. H. Brooks, Ph. D. Boston: S. E. Cassino. Pp. 392, 200 Cuts. Price, $3.
This volume has very strong claims upon the biological student; but for the beginner, especially if he lives near the sea, it is incomparable. The art of starting a beginner aright in any branch has not yet been perfected, but Dr. Brooks has made a successful stroke in this direction for zoölogical science. The work has been planned with reference to the exigencies of systematic study, and to put the student upon the right track to attain the mastery of the subject with the least waste of exertion. Nothing is introduced that is not wanted. Generalizations and comparisons are omitted, on the principle that the beginner shall first get at the facts, in order that he may subsequently grasp and make the generalizations his own. The work is therefore not a text-book, but a hand-book of practical study, and is admirably adapted for self-instruction. In his prefatory remarks describing the work, the author says: "Most lecturers upon natural science find, no doubt, that preliminary work, the presentation of facts upon which science is based, absorbs so much time that there is no room for a philosophical discussion of the scientific aspects of the subject. I have therefore attempted to show the student how to acquire a knowledge of the facts for himself, in order to remove this burden from lecturers and text-books."
The types selected for description are, of course, but few compared with those considered in systematic works; but still they cover wide zoölogical ground, and are sufficient to prepare for more comprehensive research. In the treatment of each type the author has not attempted to present all that is known about it, but simply to guide the beginner to those features which he can find and observe for himself. And so also with the illustrations. The minute details of complicated structural figures are omitted, and only those given that it is necessary for the beginner himself to discover in his examination of the specimens. For this purpose, the illustrations are greatly superior to any we have elsewhere seen.
The book begins with the examination of amœbæ, and the opening directions for obtaining them will give a good idea of the clearness, directness, and simplicity with which the whole work is written:
Transfer the material thus gathered to a collecting-bottle, and gather ooze from several bodies of water, preserving each specimen in a separate bottle, for amœbæ may be abundant in one locality and almost absent in another. Pour the ooze into shallow dishes, such as soup plates or baking-dishes, putting enough into each dish to form a layer about an eighth of an inch deep over the bottom.
Place the dishes near the window, where they will be well lighted without exposure to the direct rays of the sun; fill them with fresh water, and allow them to stand undisturbed for two or three days, in order to allow the amœbæ to creep out of the ooze and accumulate at its surface.
If a permanent supply of amœbæ is desired, each dish may be converted into a small aquarium by the addition of a few floating water plants, such as "duck-weed," and when covered with a pane of glass, to exclude dust and prevent excessive evaporation, may be kept in good order for several months by simply replacing with fresh water the loss by evaporation.
In a day or two a thin brownish-yellow film will usually be visible over the whole or parts of the surface of the ooze; and portions of this film, almost entirely made up of microscopic organisms which have crept to the surface, may now be examined for amœbæ, in the following manner.It only remains to add that this work is published at a very low price. Considering its cost and elegance, we hardly know of another so cheap a book. And, considering that there is no other book at all like it to serve the purposes of introductory study in its field, it ought to be in wide demand by the students of natural history.
Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air, in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection. With Illustrations. By John Tyndall, F.R.S., M.D. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 338. Price, $1.50.
Some of the researches contained in this book have appeared in the pages of "The Popular Science Monthly," and nothing, therefore, need be said to our readers that is merely commendatory of their interest. The volume is the result of extended researches into one of the obscurest of subjects—the nature, conditions, and influence of the invisible microscopic life of the atmosphere. Any inquiry into the dust and floating contents of the air, if thoroughly pursued, leads to the more subtile question of infinitesimal forms of life and their germs as floating elements of the breathing medium. Profound problems are here encountered: Are these germs spontaneously originated, or are they subject to the laws of propagation which govern all other grades of life? Again, are these germs the seeds of disease which affect the higher forms of life, and thus become of the highest moment to the physician and the hygienist? The import of the subject has been disclosed only within the last few years, and depends upon the perfection of the microscope, and the most refined researches into the nature and effects of fermentation and putrefaction. Many able men in different countries have been working, with intense assiduity, over different branches of this momentous inquiry; but it was on many accounts fortunate that Professor Tyndall, about a dozen years ago, saw its importance, and brought all his resources to bear upon its systematic investigation. That he has thrown much more light upon the subject by his skillful and extensive experiments, and that he has made very important contributions to the establishment of the germ theory of disease, will not be questioned. But in still another respect it is fortunate that he identified himself with its elucidation. By his rare power of exposition, and his wonderful clearness of statement, he has done more, perhaps, than all other writers to impress the medical profession and the public both with the vital importance of the subject and the advance that has been made in the establishment of its fundamental principles. His present book embodies the main results of his original work, and, what is more, it presents them in so lucid and inviting a form that all classes of readers will be equally pleased and instructed by his views.
There is, perhaps, in the whole field of science no illustration more striking than is here afforded of the fruitful practical application of investigations undertaken for the simple purpose of the extension of knowledge, with no perception of its ultimate utilities. While one division of laborers, spurred by the urgent necessities of observers, spent their energies in bringing the microscope up to its highest power, another division was equally absorbed in finding out what could be known of the newly revealed world of microscopic life. The stimulus of the love of discovery was sufficient to insure the successful progress of both. But now we begin to see the beneficent ripening of their results as they could not see it. As a legitimate issue of those labors, we have arrived at views of the nature and propagation of diseases that will make an epoch in the advance of medical and hygienic science. We print, in the present Monthly, the Introductory Note to Professor Tyndall's volume, which is very instructive in regard to the present position and future influence of the "Germ Theory of Disease."
A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (a. d. 1450-1881). By Eminent Writers, English and Foreign. Edited by George Grove, D. C. L. Part XIV. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 128. Price, $1.
The present number includes the titles from Richter to Schorberlechner. The plan and execution of the work are commendable. The information is given in well-written and easily readable articles, the length of which is adapted to the character and importance of the subject. Biographies of eminent composers, performers, instrument makers, and other musical persons, predominate in the present number, ranging from few-line notices of little distinguished instrumentalists to the sixteen-page article that is given to a distinguished composer like Rossini. Besides these, the number before us has paragraphs, within a few pages, on such subjects as "Ridotto," the opera of Rienzi, "Rigadoon," with a musical passage to show what it is, the opera of Rinaldo, "Rinforzando," "Ripieno," "Ritardando" and its synonyms, "Ritornello" with other musical illustrations, etc. We mention these heads to give only an inadequate idea of the abundance and variety of the material with which the work deals.
Our Homes. By Henry Hartshorne, A. M., M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 150. Price, 50 cents.
A volume in the series of "American Health Primers," edited by Dr. W. W. Keen. It is a practical, pleasant-reading treatise on house-building, house management, and house sanitation, considering the subject under the heads of situation, construction, light, warmth, ventilation, water-supply, drainage, disinfection, population (the relations of density of population to health), and working-men's homes.
The Wine Question in the Light of the New Dispensation. By John Ellis, M. D. New York: Published by the author. Pp. 228.
The controversy respecting the use of fermented or unfermented wine in the communion service is considered here in the light of the teaching of the Swedenborgian Church, with citations from authorities and opinions outside of that church, all going to sustain the presumption that unfermented wine is the kind to be used.
The Rhymester; or, the Rules of Rhyme. A Guide to English Versification. By the late Tom Hood. Edited, with Additions, by Arthur Penn. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 208. Price, $1.
The author believes that verse-making—not trying to write poetry—is of use as an exercise for fixing accurate pronunciation; and that, if done at all, it should be well done. He accordingly gives here the rules for doing it well. Many changes have been made by the American editor, of which the more material ones are marked, and chapters have been added on the sonnet, the rondeau, and the ballade, and on the other fixed forms of verse.
The Books of All Time. A Guide for the Purchase of Books. Compiled by F. Leypoldt and Lynds E. Jones. New York: F. Leypoldt. Pp. 80.
A list of approved books is given, with the prices of the best or most popular editions; and to each title are attached bits of criticism which throw some light on the characteristics of the author. The list, as a whole, is a good one and deserves approval, but would have been better for a little closer pruning away of mediocre books.
A Reading Diary of Modern Fiction. Containing a Representative List of the Novels of the Nineteenth Century, preceded by Suggestive Remarks on Novels and Novel-reading. New York: F. Leypoldt. Pp. 150.
The main object of this work is stated to be "to present a survey of all that is considered worth reading in the domain of modern fiction, and thus to make easy a daily record of what has been read and what to read next, with a view to comparing notes and a mutual exchange of recommendations among congenial friends." For this purpose a column in each page is given of "Books worth Reading," and is followed by blank columns for estimating merit, and recording other books that may be suggested. Our remark is, that the catalogue is too full. We should not like any one for whose mental cultivation we cared to become acquainted with so many novels. If the list were only one tenth as large, it would be many times more valuable.
The Practice of Commercial Organic Analysis. By Alfred H. Allen, F. I. C., F. C. S., Lecturer on Chemistry and Public Analyst. Volume II, Hydro-carbons, Fixed Oils and Fats, Sugars, Starch, Alkaloids, and Organic Bases, etc. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. 1882. 8vo. Pp. 561. Price, $5.
To those chemists who are already the fortunate possessors of the first volume of Mr. Allen's work, it will be good news to know that the second volume has at last been issued, for its appearance has been awaited with some impatience. In the former volume we had a full description of the alcohols, with the acids and ethers derived from them; also the phenols, carbolic, salicylic, and benzoic acids, as well as all the cyanogen bodies. The present volume, which is much larger than the former, contains the new methods of analysis of many articles of present interest. The analytical chemist will probably turn first to the chapter on glucose and grape-sugar, for on these subjects reliable and practicable information is meager. Here, for the first time, we believe, methods for estimating maltose are given, and attention is called to the error which it causes when Fehling's solution is employed for the estimation of dextrose in commercial glucose. The method of determining dextrose, maltose, and dextrine in the same solution from the rotatory and reducing power, in connection with the specific gravity of the solution, is clearly and concisely given.
Next in interest to glucose is the analysis of butter, and, although the chemist has not yet attained perfection in this, we find here the best methods known at present for detecting oleomargarine. The last chapter, a lengthy one, is devoted to aniline derivatives, the assay of aniline dyes, the identification of coal-tar colors, and the recognition of dyes on tissues.
We bespeak for the book the most favorable attention, because it is the only complete work on this subject in the English language, because it is new and up to the times, and because its author is well known as a practical analyst. The work is indispensable to the laboratory.
Currency; or, The Fundamental Principles of Monetary Science postulated, explained, and applied. By Hugh Bowlby Willson. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 309. Price, $1.50.
The author contemplated, when he began, many years ago, his investigations on the subject of this work, writing a synopsis of the theories and practices of ancient and modern nations in respect to their currencies, but soon discovered that he would not have time to perform the task. The present work, the scope of which is more limited, has grown out of a series of postulates which he published in 1875-'76, in a London journal, for the purpose of directing attention to the desirability of embodying the ascertained and generally accepted principles of monetary science in a few "simple if not self-evident" propositions. Professor Bonamy Price, of Oxford, wrote him a note of thanks for his letter, saying, "It is exceedingly good, and I rejoice over it much, especially the postulates and principles." Much space is devoted to attacking the "prejudices and ignorance" which uphold the present systems of issuing and supplying paper money, they containing much that is regarded as at variance with scientific principles. The plan of delegating the issue of paper money to banking corporations other than the government is assailed; and the result of the author's deductions "has been the evolvement of a purely automatic method of supplying both coined and paper money," with supply and demand as the only motive power to be used in keeping the automaton in motion. In opposition to the "mercantile theory," which seeks to accumulate the largest stores of the precious metals in a country, a plan is contended for which leaves those metals "free to the distribution of the natural forces of industry and trade."
History of the Water-Supply of the World. Arranged in a Comprehensive Form from Eminent Authorities. By Thomas J. Bell, Assistant Superintendent of the Cincinnati Water-Works. Cincinnati: Peter G. Thomson. Pp. 134. Price (paper), 50 cents.
The original intention of this work was to arrange a compilation of general and local information on the subject of water supply in all of its bearings, with special reference to Cincinnati, and to the project for a new supply for that city. As the work progressed, its scope became broader, and the plan assumed a more comprehensive form. The work contains a description of the various methods of water-supply, and discusses the pollution and purification of water, sanitary effects, and analyses of potable waters; and, further, considers other topics having special reference to Cincinnati, the Ohio River, and the proposed water-supply of the city.
A Compendious Dictionary of the French Language. Adapted from the Dictionaries of Professor Alfred Edwall. By Gustave Masson. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 416. Price, $1.
A most excellent dictionary for daily use. The compiler has endeavored especially to realize the qualities of accuracy and completeness, and to keep equally distant from exaggerated concision and overabundance of detail. The letter-press is clear, yet compact. The matter is arranged in four columns to the page, the words are printed in bold-face type to catch the eye readily, and the definitions are satisfactorily full. Particular attention has been paid to etymologies in the French-English part. A supplement, giving the principal diverging derivatives or doublets in the language (showing how words have varied from the Latin roots and from the congeners in other Romance languages) is of much use and interest to students. The Chronological Tables of the History of French Literature from the earliest period to the present day, of chronicles and memoirs, and the other literary information with which the work is introduced, will be welcome to many who would otherwise find it difficult to obtain, from the numerous sources from which it would have to be drawn, the information which they convey.
How the Great Prevailing Winds and Ocean-Currents are produced, and how they affect the Temperature and Dimensity of Lands and Seas. By C. A. M. Taber. Boston: A. Williams & Co. Pp. 82. Price, 40 cents.
The author states as a reason for this publication that, after many years of experience on the oceans, he has found that the generally accepted theories of the causes of the great winds and currents were not in harmony with the world-wide operations of nature, but were rather adapted to certain areas of oceans and continents than applicable to larger portions of the globe, "where the great movements of the atmosphere and ocean are not concordant with the generally accepted explanations." He reviews the theories of Hadley, Maury, Adhemar, Croll, Geikie, and other authors who have written upon the subject, shows wherein he regards them as deficient, and elaborates his own theory, in which a depression of sea-level on the western, and elevation on the eastern sides of the ocean, by the force of the west winds, and an independent circulation of waters around the poles, form important parts.
Primary Helps: Being No. 1 of a New Series of Kindergarten Manuals. By W. N. Hailmann, A. M., editor of "The Kindergarten Messenger and the New Education." Syracuse, New York: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 29, with Fifteen Plates. Price, 75 cents.
Professor Hailmann is an enthusiastic Kindergartner, a practical teacher, and a member of the Board of Education of Detroit, Michigan. It has been his aim for years to bring those engaged in the Kindergarten work into harmony, and especially to establish a connection between the Kindergarten and the public schools. The present book is the first fruits of his efforts in this direction, and aims to make the principles of Froebel applicable to primary schools.
Report on the Geology of the Henry Mountains. By G. K. Gilbert. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 170, with full-page Engravings and Photographs.
The author expresses a considerable degree of satisfaction at the manner in which his work in the survey of these mountains has been accomplished. He had his own way in conducting it, and pursued it under circumstances of exceptional advantage, with the result that, he says, "so thorough was the display [of the formations], and so satisfactory the examination, that, in preparing my report, I have felt less than ever before the desire to revisit the field and prove my conclusions by more extended observation." The Henry Mountains are not a range, and have no trend, but are simply a group of five individual mountains, separated by low passes, and-without discernible system of arrangement, situated in Southern Utah, on the right bank of the Colorado River of the West, and between its tributaries, the Fremont and the Escalente. The highest peaks rise about 5,000 feet above the plateau at their base, and 11,000 feet above the level of the ocean. At the time of their discovery by Professor Powell they were in the center of the largest unexplored district in the United States; and they are in a desert country that has hardly any economic value.
A Bibliography of Fossil Insects. By Samuel H. Scudder. Pp. 48.
This work forms one of the series of the "Catalogue of the Library of Harvard University," and is one of the first formal attempts to collect separately the titles of papers on fossil insects. It shows the results of great labor, for it gives not only the titles of books and papers on the subject, but also a very large number of references to works and essays in which fossil insects are only referred to, or form one among other topics of equal prominence, which are touched upon in the course of a chapter, essay, or book, and in all the principal languages of science. Except when otherwise stated, all the papers quoted have been examined by the author personally.
Tables for the Determination, Description, and Classification of Minerals. By James C. Foye, Ph. D., Professor in Lawrence University. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. Pp. 85. Price, $1.
The object of this work is to furnish tables by means of which students may, with as few easy tests as possible, learn to determine and classify minerals found in the United States, and become familiar with their principal characteristics. Two tables serve for the determination of species; a third gives the crystalline structure and other distinctive characteristics of each species; a fourth classifies the species according to "Dana's Mineralogy"; and a fifth classifies by basic elements and ores. The appendix gives the distinctions between some of the closely allied species and varieties. A great deal of information is compressed into a small space.
The Little Mountains East of the Catskills. By W. M. Davis. Pp. 33. With Plate.
Scientific Proceedings of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute. Vol. I. No. 2. Cincinnati, May, 1882. Pp. 50.
Clinical Contributions to Electrical Therapeutics. By Romaine J. Curtiss, M. D. Joliet, Illinois. Pp. 52.
Quarterly Report of the Bureau of Statistics for Three Months ended March 31, 1882. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 96.
Note on the Aurora of April 16-17, 1882. By H. Carvill Lewis. Pp. 9. Illustrated.
Proceedings of the National Association for the Protection of the Insane and the Prevention of Insanity. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. Pp. 55.
Missouri Historical Society. Publication No. 6. Archaeology of Missouri. By F. H. Balder. St. Louis, Missouri. Pp. 17.
A New Theory of the Suspension System, with Stiffening Truss. By A. Jay DuBois, Ph.D. Pp. 43.
Indian Languages of the Pacific States and Territories, and of the Pueblos of New Mexico. By Albert S. Gatschet. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1882. Pp. 10.
Preventing Disease. By J. R. Black, M. D. Newark, Ohio. Pp. 17.
Charles Robert Darwin. By Joseph F. James. Read before the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, May 2, 1882. Pp. 7.
A Bill regulating Rates of Postage. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, Printers. 1882. Pp. 9.
The Student's Guide in Quantitative Analysis. By H. Carrington Bolton, Ph. D. Illustrated. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1882. Pp. 127. $1.50.
Extra Census Bulletins: Tables showing the Cereal Production of the United States by Counties, 1881, Pp. 36; Report on the Manufacture of Fire-Arms and Ammunition, by Charles H. Fitch, 1882, Pp. 36; Tables showing the Cotton Production of the United States by Counties, 1881, Pp. 5; Report on the Cotton Production of Louisiana, by Eugene W. Hilgard, 1881, Pp. 99. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
Report on Experiments and Investigations to develop a System of Submarine Mines. By Lieutenant-Colonel Henry L. Abbott. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1881. Pp. 444.
Memoirs of the Science Department of the University of Tokio. No. 6, The Chemistry of Saki-Brewing, by R. W. Atkinson, B. So., Pp. 73; No. 7, Report on the Meteorology of Tokio for the Year 1880, Pp. 77, with Plates; and, The Wave-Lengths of some of the Principal Fraunhofer Lines of the Solar Spectrum, by T. C. Mendenhall. Ph.D., Pp. 27. Published by the university. Tokio, 1881.
Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft of 1692 By George M. Beard, M.D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. Pp. 112. $1.
The Science of Ethics. By Leslie Stephen. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. Pp. 462. $4.
Antinous. A Romance of Ancient Rome. By George Taylor. From the German by Mary J. Safford. New York: William S. Gottsberger. 1882. Pp. 343. 75 cents.
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. A Critical Exposition. By George S. Morris, Ph.D. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. 1882. Pp. 272. $1.25.
Science Ladders. Edited by N. d'Anvers. No. 1. Forms of Land and Water, illustrated, Pp. 67; No. 3, Vegetable Life, illustrated, Pp. 78. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. 50 cents each.
Our Merchant Marine. By David A. Wells. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 219. $1.25.
The Gospel of Law. By S. J Stewart. Boston: George H. Eilis. 1882. Pp. 326. $1 25.
A Geographical Reader. Compiled by James Johonnot. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1882. $1.25.
Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad. By Archibald Geikie, LL.D., etc. With Illustrations. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1882. $1.75.
Physiognomy. A Practical and Scientific Treatise. By Mary Olmsted Stanton. Printed for the Author. San Francisco. 1831. Pp. 851.
What is Bright's Disease? Its Curability. Philadelphia: Published by the Author. 1882. Illustrated. Pp. 152. $1.
A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin. By Louis A. Duhring. M.D. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1.82. Pp. 685. $6.