# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 23/August 1883/Literary Notices

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Notes of Talks on Teaching. Given by Francis W. Parker, at the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute, July 17 to August 19, 1882. Reported by Lelia E. Patridge. New York: E. L. Kellogg & Co.
The normal schools all over the land have for the past twenty-five years been sending out graduates whose mission it has been to replace the old rote-system of lesson-learning by methods better adapted to the minds of children. We commend this book to that great body of earnest teachers. It contains a series of twenty-five full, clear, and much-needed expositions of the principles that underlie primary and grammar school teaching. The first half of the volume is devoted to lectures, or "talks," as they are called, upon teaching children to read, to spell, and to write. There are nine further "talks" upon teaching composition, numbers, arithmetic, geography, and history. Then follow a chapter upon examinations, another upon school government, and another upon moral training.
It is said, by some of our leading teachers, that the noise about Colonel Parker and the "Quincy System" is largely due to the prominence of his trumpeters—the Adamses. And, no doubt, many willing learners will ask: "Is there really anything new in Colonel Parker's teaching? Have we not, for a generation, been using identical methods?" We reply that this book ​certainly contains a great deal that we have not before seen in the literature of school reform. Candid readers, familiar with current school ideals and practices, will see, we think, that Colonel Parker is working from a stand-point of his own, and that his view of the situation is not the generally recognized one.
The fashion of modern educational reformers has been to exalt "method" above all other things. Normal pupils have been trained early and late in methods of teaching. To the acquirement of method they have given long practice, under sharp criticism. And the practical issue of all this drill has too often been a kind of teaching which has at once fallen to the level of dead routine. The method, mechanically acquired, has been mechanically applied. Colonel Parker evidently sees this. With him methods are nothing without competent teachers; and competent teachers evolve their own methods. The "talks" in this volume are mostly of the underlying psychological principles that should shape methods, and rarely of special practices. He reiterates his warning to teachers against imitation. Teaching, with him, is a vital intercourse between the mind of the teacher and the mind of the scholar. It is in his greater reliance upon the guidance of principles, and the personal activity of the teacher, working on his own hook independently of anybody's method, that Colonel Parker's claim seems to us to consist.
He has unusual insight into mental phenomena, lie is a student of psychology, with an intuitive tendency to seek the causes of things. Further than this, he has strong sympathy with childhood, and these combined traits give originality to his work as a teacher. They make him a reformer of the reformers. He sees through the barren formulas and absurdities that have frequently replaced the old-fashioned school routine.
His sense of the inanity of prevailing practices is often seen in these pages. For instance, in speaking of so-called analytical teaching, he gives the following familiar example of recitation in arithmetic:
Teacher.—"If one apple costs three cents, what will four apples cost?"
Child.—"If one apple costs three cents, four apples will cost four times as many cents as one apple will cost. Therefore, four apples will cost four times three cents. Four times three cents are twelve cents. Therefore, if one apple costs three cents, four apples will cost twelve cents."
Colonel Parker adds: "I think I have not put in all the words that can be put into this complex and useless explanation. If the previous work has been correct, all the child needs to say is, 'twelve cents,' and go on performing a dozen examples, instead of agonizing over this one."
By "previous work" Colonel Parker means the early study of numbers, which should be "by bringing the mind to bear directly upon the relations of things. . . . As well might we try to teach the facts in botany without plants, in zoology without animals, form without form, and color without colors, as to teach number without numbers of objects. All primary ideas of numbers and their relations must be obtained immediately through the senses, and by their repeated limitations as numbers of things, as to how many. . . . From repeated tests, given by myself and by teachers under my supervision, the average child of five or six years of age does not know three when he enters the school-room. . . . Ability to count," says Colonel Parker, "must not be confounded with the knowledge of numbers. Knowing a number is, first, knowing the equal numbers that make it up; second, the equal parts of a number; and, third, any two unequal numbers in a number and any two unequal numbers that make it up. This applies to numbers from one to twenty, and is learned by experiments with things. I have tried during the last eleven years to teach numbers to little folks, and I have never succeeded in teaching, nor have I seen ten really taught, during the first year. By using language without regard to what it expresses, fifty or one hundred may be taught; i. e., the child, by unceasing drill, may repeat gibberish that seems to be knowledge to the casual observer. Ask him to verify his statement by showing the real relations among things, and you find he has been repeating an unknown language."
Colonel Parker's criticisms upon much that goes as object-teaching are equally trenchant and thorough-going. With him, ​education is idea-growth. lie understands the conditions of this growth, and he knows that the first business of a teacher should be to learn these conditions. So far as we know, the subject of mental growth is not put on this footing in our training-schools, nor are our teachers tested by any such standard. But the circulation of such books as this will hasten the time when the teachers of children will be required to know something of the laws that govern their mental development.
An Address on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Class of 1832, parts of which were read at a Class-Meeting at Union College, June 27, 1882. By Charles E. West. Brooklyn, N. Y.: Tremlett & Co.
This is a volume of unusual interest of its kind. There is of course much in it of local and personal import that will be chiefly prized by the parties in most intimate relation with the scene of the history, but we have found even this portion of Dr. West's monograph very entertaining. We call attention to it here, however, on account of the admirably executed survey of scientific progress in its main departments which has taken place during the fifty years which have elapsed since the organization of the "class of '32." From his wide familiarity with the labors of scientific men, and his clear appreciation of the great drifts of modern thought, Dr. West was well prepared to perform the duty that devolved upon him in sketching the great changes of the last half-century, and he has done it in a most able and attractive manner.
The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, with a Selection from his Correspondence and Occasional Writings, and a Sketch of his Contributions to Science. By Lewis Campbell, M. A., LL. D., and William Garnett, M. A. London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 662. Price, $6.
No stronger individuality has appeared in recent English science than that illustrated by the present biography. Clerk Maxwell was a man of undoubted genius, as a mathematical physicist among the very ablest, and withal original, versatile, and eccentric. He had a strong sense of humor, and mixed wit, fun, pictures, and poetry, with much of his speculation in science. He was affectionate and interesting as well as adventuresome and refractory as a boy, and was always unconventional, quaint, and simple in his ways. He dipped deeply into logic and metaphysics when in college, and the tendency to subtile speculation is exemplified in all his scientific works. His life furnished much material for the pen of the biographer, and the volume is graphic, spicy, and very readable. Much of it consists of his correspondence and previously unpublished notes, while the course of his mental development is well delineated, and the importance of his researches is clearly presented. He had a very profound admiration for the genius of Faraday, and perhaps his own most important work consists in the mathematical development of physical ideas concerning the constitution of matter, the germs of which are found in the insight of the great electrician. Professor Maxwell's character is thus summed up by the writers of the present volume:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Poet, Litterateur, Scientist. By William Sloane Kennedy. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 356.
No doubt the rampage for personal gossip, displayed alike by our newspapers and magazines, is largely shared also by biographical writers who enter upon the delineation of many lives before the life has ceased. As to the gossip, it is of course but an index of the public appetite, and, as to its untimeliness, that must be held as timely which is sufficiently wanted. That ​we should have a virtual life of Holmes while he is yet among us and busy as ever, seems to us as far as possible from being objectionable.
And certainly no man ever had a greater temptation for working up a personal career to the edification of all contemporaries than the writer of this book. His materials are abundant and attractive, to many they will be fresh, and to all entertaining. The account of the early life of Dr. Holmes we have found very pleasant and satisfactory, and the information about his various publications interesting; the eulogy is of course inevitable, and the criticism more or less passable. For Mr. Kennedy must also favor us with his estimates of the genius, performances, and opinions of the author he has taken in hand. But his judgments, if not very valuable, can not be much misleading, because everybody has read these fascinating books, and each one can make up his own mind as to their merits. On the whole, however, we confess ourselves much obliged to Mr. Kennedy for his agreeable volume.
Methods of Social Reform, and other Papers. By W. Stanley Jevons, F. R. S. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 383. Price, $3.
This volume consists of various articles contributed within the last few years by Dr. Jevons to the reviews on a variety of social subjects, and which have been collected by his wife for those who desire to possess them in a permanent form. It was the intention of Dr. Jevons to reissue them himself, and before his untimely and lamented death he had already revised two of them, "Experimental Legislation and the Drink Traffic," and "Amusements of the People." The remainder are reprinted just as they were originally written.
It is unnecessary to commend the work of this able writer. His several treatises on philosophical subjects are of excellent repute. But the present volume, while quite miscellaneous in its topics, probably represents his latest views on important practical questions of a social character. They are marked by clearness and moderation, and will be found full of sober reflection upon questions too frequently treated by extremists in visionary and extravagant ways. Much of Dr. Jevons's criticism deals with the social condition of things in England, and is designed to bear upon special practical reforms, but the discussions are always carried on with reference to principles that are not without application in other countries.
Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development. By Francis Galton, F. R. S., author of "Hereditary Genius." New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 387. Price, 83.
Mr. Galton, as is very well known, has taken up the systematic study of human character from the most modern point of view, and, pursuing it in the light of the doctrine of evolution, has carried out a course of experimental inquiries ingenious in conception and fruitful of many new conclusions. With his numerous papers contributed to learned societies and to the periodical press, scientific readers are familiar; these, which are of a varied character, he has now revised, extended, reduced to considerable unity of method, and published in the volume before us. Mr. Galton's researches are characterized by great subtilty of perception, a remarkable insight into the elements of human character, and a surprising skill in pursuing his fertile suggestions to verification by experimental tests. He has done much, more indeed than any other investigator, to bring the elements of research respecting individual characteristics into quantitative and statistical form, so as to favor accuracy of inductions. If a more technical title had been admissible, the present work might have been called a treatise on anthropometry—the measurement of the traits of human nature. It is through the bodily correlations of intellectual and emotional effects that this experimental method becomes possible, and all Mr. Galton's studies, although they deal largely with psychical phenomena, are made upon the basis of organic conditions and physical characteristics. The subject of composite portraiture, to which Mr. Galton has given much attention, and which, indeed, he has created as an important branch of investigation, is fully treated in this volume, the result of his latest methods being given and pictorially illustrated, while graphic and diagrammatic resources are extended to other ​subjects of inquiry. The book is most interesting throughout, full of novel and acute suggestions and practical conclusions of varied applicability. The chapters upon "Variety of Human Nature," "Anthropomorphic Registers," "Mental Imagery," "Enthusiasm," "Influence of Man upon Race," "Early and Late Marriages," and "The History of Twins," may be mentioned as of especial interest, although the whole work richly deserves the critical attention of all the scientific students of human nature.
Wealth-Creation. By Augustus Mongredien. With an Introduction, by Simon Sterne. New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. Pp. 308. Price, 81.25.
The author is well known as a writer of unusual clearness on questions of political economy; as a practical business man possessing the happy faculty, which does not always exist in men engaged in trade, of considering these questions by reference to their fundamental principles, and in the light of a strictly correct reasoning. The predominant ideas of his work are that the abolition of war and the establishment of unrestricted freedom of trade are the essential conditions to the creation and even diffusion of the largest wealth and prosperity among nations. In Mr. Sterne's introduction is given a review of the history of tariff legislation in the United States, with facts showing that our manufacturing industries and other interests have enjoyed the greatest degree of relative prosperity during the life of tariffs laid for revenue only; that while from 1850 to 1860, with such a tariff, the capital invested in manufactures and the product of the manufactories doubled, from 1860 to 1870, under the war tariff, they did no more; and from 1870 to 1880, under the same tariff, they increased only twenty-five per cent.
Alcoholic Inebriety, from a Medical Stand-point, with Cases from Clinical Records. By Joseph Parrish, M. D. Philadelphia: Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 185. Price, 1.25.
Dr. Parrish has performed an excellent and much-needed service in the preparation of this volume. That both the moral and political agencies have failed to do what was expected from them, in putting an end to the evils of intemperance, is now but too well known. Henceforth less sanguine expectations must be entertained as to what can be really accomplished, and different means resorted to for the purpose chief among which will be the diffusion of sound scientific information in regard to the subject of which this volume on alcoholic inebriety is an example.
The point of view from which the work is written is thus stated by the author: "From the ordinary and popular outlook, inebriety corrupts a wide range of both public and private morals, and is so interwoven with the affairs of life, both domestic and civil, that it is looked upon as the chief factor of crime, of insanity and many other diseases, and as a general disturber of all that should be cherished as valuable in the life of individuals and of the community. Efforts have been put forth to arrest its progress, if not to apply a radical remedy for its evils, to which the pulpit, the press, the platform, and the ballot, have all contributed a share of influence, till the land is covered with organizations having for their standard the doctrine of abstinence and prohibition. Taking half a century ago as a starting-point, the growth of the temperance sentiment of the country has been marvelous, and to-day, simply as a sentiment, it holds a prominent and commanding position; and yet we are confronted with the discouraging statement that dram-drinking and drunkenness are on the increase."
"From another outlook, not so popular, because not so familiar, another view may be had, which, though more limited in its scope, is none the less important, because it reveals the causal beginnings from which flow the results that are recognized as intoxication. As yet this new field has not been explored as it might have been, and as the gravity of the subject demand.-, notwithstanding it discloses the remote causes of inebriety, and indicates the remedial course to be followed in dealing with it. This is doubtless partly due to the fact that the new line of research is, in a degree, technical and scientific, and the people are not disposed to go behind what they see in the inebriate and his surroundings, to attempt to penetrate tissues, and search ​after forces with which they are not familiar."
It has been the purpose of Dr. Parrish to treat the principles of his subject from the foregoing point of view as a physician interested first of all in the nature, causes, and treatment of disease. If alcoholism is a disease involving organic perversion and morbid physical action that has become chronic, it is of but little use either to exhort or pledge men against its effects, or even to invoke the law for the suppression of intemperance. Diseases must be treated in conformity with natural laws, and by men who understand what they are. Dr. Parrish takes up the subject of inebriety in its aspects of vice and crime, and with reference to the various abnormal manifestations of conduct in inebriates. The subject of heredity in alcoholic intemperance, and the relations of inebriety and insanity, with the questions of asylums for these classes, are considered. The chapters on "The Inebriate's View," "How to deal with Inebriates," "The Psychology of Inebriety," and "The Effects of Different Alcohols," are practical discussions of the subject which ought to be widely disseminated. It should be stated that a large number of cases are cited in the work, illustrative of the phenomena and varied effects of intemperance, under its several aspects of vice, crime, and disease.
Catalogue of Publications of the Smithsonian Institution, 1846 to 1882. By William J. Rhees. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 328.
The series of "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" was begun in 1848, and now comprises twenty-three volumes in 4to, with 119 articles. The "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," begun in 1802, embraces twenty-three volumes in 8vo, with 122 papers. The annual reports are represented by thirty-five volumes, which include much general matter of interest. Other series are the "Bulletins of the National Museum," of which twenty, aggregating 3,103 pages, have been published; the "Proceedings of the National Museum," which are sent out by the sheetful of 16 pages, and are at present represented by four volumes of 2,221 pages; and the volume of the "Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology," 638 pages imperial 8vo. The whole number of publications is 478. The names of the articles and the names of the authors are given alphabetically in the catalogue. No copyright is taken out by the Institution on its works, but acknowledgment is expected to be made of the use of them. All works that are in print can be obtained at cost price; and a price-list is printed in connection with the catalogue.
The Leading Men of Japan. With an Historical Summary of the Empire. By Charles Lanman. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Pp. 421. Price, $2.
The first part of this volume is devoted to biographical sketches of modern Japanese statesmen, authors, and scholars, largely those who have contributed in a greater or less degree to the bringing about of the late reforms in the empire. The materials for the sketches are, of course, derived from native sources, and much of the matter appears to be also; for it has a terseness, a richness, and a home flavor like those of the works of Japanese art that an American writer working up the sketches in his own way could never have given. All the more credit to Mr. Lanman for preserving this flavor, for it is one of the most attractive and delightful features of the book. In the second part are given excellent accounts, historical and descriptive, of the Japanese Empire, and of Corea—so lately the forbidden land; to all of which is added a bibliography of works on Japan.
The Builder's Guide, and Estimator's Price-Book. By Frederick T. Hodgson. New York: The Industrial Publication Company. Pp. 331. Price, 2.
This work is chiefly intended to assist the builder or contractor in making estimates of the cost of work he is about to undertake, by bringing before him the details he must look after, and their approximate cost. It is also useful to the person about to employ a builder or contractor, or who intends to execute his own plans. It includes a compilation of the current prices of all kinds of building materials in their details, of worked materials, and of labor, with building rules, data, tables, and useful memoranda, and a glossary of architectural and building terms.
First-Year Arithmetic-Teacher's Manual, and First-Year Text-Book. By James H. Hoose, A. M., Ph. D. Syracuse, New York: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 156. Price, 35 cents.
This work is based upon Pestalozzi's system of teaching elementary numbers, and is designed for pupils in the first grade, or first year of public schools. It appears to have grown out of work that was accomplished by teachers with pupils of the grade for which it is designed, and to be in effect simply a transcription of the record of that work as kept by the teachers from day to day, for application to other classes. By it, it is claimed, pupils may lea r n to compute numbers with accuracy and readiness, without a slate; to express themselves with facility and intelligence in the forms of arithmetical language; and to think patiently, vigorously, and accurately, and have a becoming confidence in their own powers.
Astronomy corrected. By H B. Philbrook, Counselor-at-Law. New York: John Polhemus. Pp. 55.
This little volume, says the author, "is respectfully submitted to the reading world, in order to remove the errors that have so long deluded mankind in reference to astronomical problems." These "errors" relate to the creation and the causes of the motions of the solar system, to Laplace's nebular hypothesis, and Newton's gravitation. It is not new to have the law of gravitation assailed, nor is it entirely novel to have the portion in regulating the universe that has been assigned to it referred to the interstellar ether. Mr. Philbrook is, we believe, the first to tell us precisely how the ether acts.
Lowest Forms of Water Animals. By N. d'Anvers. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 59. Price, 50 cents.
This is one of the "Science Ladders" series of illustrated natural history readers, the special purpose of which is to teach the great laws of the animal kingdom in language simple enough to be intelligible to every child who can read. It teaches what an animal is and what protoplasm is, and describes the rhizopoda, sponges, infusoria, hydras, medusæ, sea-anemones, coral, polyps, polyzoa, and "some tiny creatures with water-works."
Compendium of the Tenth Census, June 1, 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Part I, pp. 924; Part II, pp. 817.
The scope of the census of 1880 was greatly enlarged, and its machinery was much changed from that under which the previous censuses were taken. The information collected by it has been much more extensive, more varied, and presumably more accurate than has been gathered for any other decade in the history of our country. Opportunity was given to begin the inquiries in departments admitting such anticipation, several months before the first of June, and thus to give a more careful and exhaustive character to the investigation; and the work of making the enumerations was given to persons especially appointed for it, and not to officers who already had other duties. Except as to churches, libraries, and private schools, the statistics of which have been delayed in compilation, the tables embraced in the "Compendium" touch all the general classes of statistics which will be embraced in a more detailed form in the more extended publication of the series of quarto volumes. Part I contains the statistics of population and agriculture; Part II, those of manufactures; power used in manufactures; mining, railroads, steam-craft, canals, telegraphs, and telephones; occupations; fisheries; foreign parentage; areas, dwellings, and families; Alaska; life-insurance; fire and marine insurance; valuation and taxation; public indebtedness; newspapers and periodicals; public schools; illiteracy; defective, dependent, and delinquent classes; and mortality.
Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report of the State Geologist for 1882. By George H. Cook. Camden, New Jersey: F. F. Patterson. Pp. 191, with Map.
The topographical survey has been continued over 480 square miles, chiefly in the highland country of the northern part of the State. The whole area covered by this survey up to the present time is 1,740 square miles. Progress is also reported of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, which, when completed, it is hoped in the next season, will cover 5,326 of the 7,576 ​square miles of the State. The report of "Geological Work in Progress" includes an extensive notice of the Red Sandstone district with its trap ridges, which is a marked local feature, with accounts of the eruptive rocks of Sussex County, iron-mines and mining industries, plastic clays and their uses, and shore-changes. The plastic clays are worthy of especial attention, for they have been found capable of extensive application, particularly for furnishing terra-cotta building material and architectural ornaments, and promise to become most important elements in the resources of New Jersey. The "sea-side developments," or growth of summer resorts now in course of rapid expansion, are also noticed, with some account of climatic peculiarities and of agricultural development in Southern New Jersey. A chapter on drainage is illustrated with a convenient map of the water-sheds. The resources for water-supply and the character of the water are considered, whether the supply is derived from lakes and rivers or wells, dug, driven, and bored; and the water-supplies of the larger towns and several important wells are described. The map accompanying the report has been corrected up to date.
Annual Report of the Chief Signal-Officer to the Secretary of War, for the Year 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 1,120, with 119 Charts.
The organization and objects of the Signal-Service department have been often set forth. Its chief purpose is to train a corps of officers competent to correspond by signal and give speedy and effective service in times of war and in emergencies. For that purpose primarily the training-school is kept up at Fort Whipple, Virginia, where officers are drilled for Signal-Service work. Incidentally, the service makes its value known in a variety of ways, and is the agency employed by the Government to secure the reports and forecasts of the weather. It had in operation, during the year of the present report, in the United States, 247 stations, and was receiving daily telegraphic reports from 189 stations in the United States and other countries. The net-work of its stations extends to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and over the intervening territory. "Sunset stations" have been established at a number of places, where meteorological indications are gathered from the appearances at sunset, and with the aid of the spectroscope; and the officers at these stations have acquired an accuracy in forecasting the local weather twenty-four hours in advance, the degree of which is represented by a maximum percentage of 89210 for the regions west of the Mississippi Valley, and 82610 for the region east of the eastern bounds of that valley. The report is filled with masses of detail and station reports.
The Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review, March, 1883. D. H. Hopkinson, Editor and Proprietor. New York. Pp. 32-lxxxviii. Price, $2 a year.
A most pleasing and flattering illustration of the prosperity and the artistic taste of the fraternity of jewelers and silversmiths in the United States. The literary department comprises thirty-two of the finely printed, large quarto pages, and is occupied with articles of special interest to the fraternity and of general interest to many others; among them we notice a part of a series on the elaboration of gold and silver, and a kind of "Notes and Queries," under the title of "Proceedings of the Horological Club." The other pages are occupied with the cards of manufacturers and cuts of their designs, many of which, it is hardly necessary to say, are exceedingly handsome.
The Physiology of Protoplasmic Motion. By Th. W. Englemann, M. D., of the University of Utrecht. Translated by Charles S. Dolley, M. D. Rochester, N. Y.: Davis & Leyden. Pp. 40. Price, 50 cents.
Living protoplasm, says the author of this treatise, possesses, in many cases at least, as it appears to the assisted eye, the power of independent, rapid movement. The motion expresses itself in a change of form and arrangement of the protoplasmic mass, the volume of which apparently remains the same. It may also be produced artificially. The present paper records the results of continued, careful, and minute studies of the manifestations of protoplasmic motion in its various forms.
Lectures delivered to the Employés of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. By Professor H. Newell Martin and Drs. Henry Sewell, William T. Sedgwick, and William K. Brooks, of Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. Pp. 98.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company maintains two reading-rooms for the men in its employ, but it had been observed that only a part of those for whom the rooms were intended availed themselves of them. Professor Martin suggested to President Garrett that the men who were not readers might be induced to attend free popular scientific lectures, and proffered the services of himself and his biological colleagues in the Johns Hopkins University. The lectures were delivered in February, 1882, before audiences of twice as many deeply interested hearers as were expected. They were on "How Skulls and Backbones are built," by Professor Martin; "How we move," by Dr. Sewall; "Fermentation," by Dr. Sedgwick; and "Some Curious Kinds of Animal Locomotion," by Dr. Brooks. They are popular in character and are published in their present form by the railroad company for free distribution among the men who heard them, and among others in its employ who were not able to attend them.
The Unending Genesis; or, Creation ever present. By H. M. Simmons. Chicago: The Colegrove Book Company. Pp. 111.
A pleasantly conceived and pleasant tempered essay on the phenomena of nature in the light of the Biblical story of the creation, the purpose of which is to show that creation is not and is not to be a completed process, but one that is ever recurring, the object of continual renewals, and still as fresh and living in its repetitions of to-day as when it first began to operate.
Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. Vol. III, Part III. 1879-1881. Davenport, Iowa: Published by the Academy. Pp. 130, with Four Plates.
The volume which is completed by the publication of this part contains a large number of contributions on subjects of geography, geology, natural history, and antiquities, which speak well for the activity and intelligent zeal with which the members of the Academy perform their self-imposed work. Most of the papers record the results of local investigations around Davenport, which seems to be situated in a district of much scientific interest. Other papers concern the larger field of investigations opened by our rapidly developing Western Territories. The whole of the third part of the volume is occupied with the memorials and writings of the late youthful but devoted President of the Academy, Joseph Duncan Putnam, in whose death science evidently has suffered a great loss. Besides the memorial addresses and biographical sketches, its principal feature is the publication in full of Mr. Putnam's notes on the Solpugidæ—a family between the scorpions and the spiders—of North America.
Proposed Ordinance and Rules and Regulations for Plumbing, House-Drainage, etc., in the City of Philadelphia. As reported by the Committee of Twenty-one. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 13. Price, 20 cents.
The "Committee of Twenty-one" consisted of plumbers, architects, physicians, and citizens, interested in sanitary matters. The plumbers, as a body, submitted their suggestions, and the architects did the same. The committee, guided by these aids and their discussions, elaborated the ordinance which, in the shape in which it is here presented, constitutes a valuable epitome of the essentials of sanitary plumbing and engineering.
"Appalachia," April, 1883. Vol. Ill, No. 2. Appalachian Mountain Club. Boston: W. B. Clarke & Carruth. Pp. 104. Price, 50 cents.
The present number of this interesting journal contains an article on "Mountain Observatories," by Professor Pickering; a paper by Mrs. John Tatlock, Jr., on the "Variations of Barometric Measurements of Altitude with the Season"; descriptive accounts, from explorations, of the Twin Mountain Range, the Blue Hills (of Norfolk County, Massachusetts), the Mountains of Eastern Cuba, and Roan Mountain, North Carolina; reports of officers, and of the work of the Club; and proceedings of meetings. In the course of the past three years, the ​names of forty-seven mountains, of which no published accounts existed, while many of them were wholly unexplored, and several even unnamed, have appeared in the lists of the club. Of these there now remain but thirteen of which no description has as yet appeared in "Appalachia." Prominent features of the work described in the present number are the exploration of the Twin Mountains, the construction of new paths to the summits of Mounts Madison and Adams, the expedition up the Wild River Valley and the east branch of the Pemigewasset to the summit of Mount Lafayette, and more restricted but hardly less interesting investigations.
An Outline of Qualitative Analysis for Beginners. By John T. Stoddard, Ph. D., Professor of Chemistry in Smith College. A. G. Carley, Northampton, Mass. Pp. 54. Price, 75 cents.
Students in a well-equipped qualitative laboratory, who have the time of a competent instructor at their disposal, need little help from a text-book. Some small book containing the tests by which the several bases and acids may be detected, and the succesive steps of the system of analysis which the instructor deems the best, is a necessity. Professor Stoddard's book belongs to this class, and probably leaves more for the student to work out under the guidance of the instructor than any similar book yet published. Thus, no equations are given, it being a part of his method to require the student to write these, and to draw up analytical tables for himself. He also requires the devising of new methods of separation, thus introducing an element of original work.
The Advanced Question-Book. By Albert P. Southwick. Syracuse, N. Y.: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 360. Price, 1.50.
This work includes in one volume the "Dime" question-books on general literature, general history, astronomy, mythology, rhetoric, botany, zoölogy, chemistry, geology, and physics, with complete answers, notes, queries, etc. While we should never think of using such books in recitation, or of encouraging a teacher who used them there, we can conceive that they arc admirable as manuals for ready reference.
Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. Herbert B. Adams, Editor. VI. Parish Institutions in Maryland. By Edward Ingle, A. B. Pp. 48. Price, 40 cents. VII. Old Maryland Manors. By John Johnson, A. B. Pp. 38. Price, 30 cents. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. Price of the series, $3 for twelve numbers.
The idea of this series is to bring together, in numbered monographs, kindred contributions to historical and political science, so that individual efforts may gain strength by combination, and become more useful as well as more accessible to students. The Studies will be published at monthly intervals, but not necessarily in separate form. The present essays relate to peculiar features in the political and social organization of the Maryland colony, quite different from those which distinguished the New England organization, a correct understanding of which may help to explain some things in the history and present condition of the State.
Van Loans Catskill Mountain Guide, 1888. Catskill, N. Y.: Walton Van Loan. Pp. 122, with Maps. 40 cents.
"The Medico-Legal Journal," Vol. I. No. 1. Published at 55 Broadway, N. Y. Pp. 115. $3 a year.
Woman's Medical College of Baltimore. Announcement and Catalogue. Baltimore. Pp. 12.
Small-pox and Vaccination. By Professor S. E. Chaillé. New Orleans: New Orleans Auxiliary Sanitary Association. Pp. 23.
Record for the Sick-Room. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. 25 cents.
The Upper University: A Syllabus of the Scheme and of the Sources of its Revenue. By Thales Lindsley. Pp. 25.
The Human Consciousness: A Syllabus of its Data and Inductions. By Thales Lindsley. Pp. 17.
Relief of Local and State Taxation through Distribution of the National Surplus. By Wharton Barker. Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co. Pp. 28.
The Ores of Leadville. By Louis D. Ricketts, B. S. Princeton, N. J. Pp. 6$, with Plates.
School Books on Physiology and Hygiene. By Stanford E. Chaillé. New Orleans. Pp. 10.
Hero-Worship: Sermon by M. J. Savage. Boston: George II. Ellis. Pp. 11.
Savior's Portland Cement. New York: Johnson & Wilson.
Legal Provisions respecting the Examination and Licensing of Teachers. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 48.
Edison Electric-Light Company, Eighteenth Bulletin. Pp. 4(1.
Resuscitated: A Dream of Existence after Death, etc. Sacramento, Cal.: Lewis & Johnston. Pp. 128. 5 cents.
​A Revision of the Genus Clematis is of the United States. By Joseph B\ James. Cincinnati. Pp. 19.
Manifesto of the Communists. By Karl Marx and Frederick. Engels. New York: Schærr & Frantz. Pp. 28. 5 cents.
The American Trotting-Horse. By Professor William H. Brewer. Pp. 28.
The Evolution of the American Trotting-Horse. By William H. Brewer. Pp. 6.
The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright's Disease, Neuralgia, Rheumatism. Colds, Fevers, etc. By C. E. Page, M.D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 274. $1.
Relations of Micro-Organisms to Disease. By William T. Belfield, M.D. Chicago, 111.: W. T. Keener. Pp. 131.
Conflict in Nature and Life. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 483. $2.
Bacteria and the Germ Theory of Disease. By Dr. H. Gradle. Chicago. Ill.: W. T. Keener. Pp. 219.
A Treatise on Insanity in its Medical Relations. By William A. Hammond, M.D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 767. $5.
Life and Language of William Cobbett, with his Grammar. By Robert Waters. New York: James W. Pratt. Pp. 272. $1.75.
A Tragedy in the Imperial Harem at Constantinople. By Leila-Hanoum. Translated from the French by General R. E. Colster. New York: W. S. Gottsberger. Pp. 299.
Atomic Creation and other Poems. By Cornelius P. Schermerhorn. New York. Pp. 200.
God Out and Man In. Replies to Robert G. Ingersoll. By W. H. Piatt, D.D., LL.D. Rochester, N.Y.: Steele & Avery. Pp. 320. $1.50.
Hand-Saws, their Use, Care, and Abuse. By Frederick T. Hodgson. New York: The Industrial Publication Company. Pp. 96. $1.
Plant-Life. By Edward Step. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 218. $1.25.
Manual of Taxidermy. By C. J. Maynard. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 111.
Report of the Chief Signal-Officer, 1881. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 1296, with 69 Charts.