# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 35/June 1889/Literary Notices

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Natural Inheritance. By Francis Galton. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 259. Price, $2.50.
The name of the author of this work is identified with studies of problems that lie at the base of the science of heredity, more closely, perhaps, than that of any other who has written upon the subject. Upon it he has published five books and fifteen memoirs and review articles, the earliest of which appeared in 1869. That work, which covered the subject of "Hereditary Genius," could only have been the fruit of long-continued, careful studies, such as Mr. Galton is still pursuing, but under more and more methodized forms. This volume contains the more important of the results of these continued researches, set forth in an orderly way, with more completeness than has hitherto been possible, together with a large amount of new matter. The inquiry relates to the inheritance of moderately exceptional qualities by brotherhoods and multitudes rather than by individuals. Among the problems to be dealt with to which particular attention is called are the one that refers to the curious regularity observed in the statistical peculiarities of populations during a long series of generations, in which certain marks that may not recur prominently in the groups most closely related to one another, appear most distinctly through the whole; the average share contributed to the personal features of the offspring by each ancestor severally; and the nearness of kinship in different degrees. The discussion is opened with an account of the processes in heredity, in which a distinction is marked between natural and acquired peculiarities, and family likeness and individual variation, latent characteristics, blending and mutually exclusive heritages, and petty influences are considered. The man being usually one twelfth larger than the woman, a rule is found for transmuting female into male measures so as to fix a uniform standard, applicable to either sex. The term "particulate inheritance" is defined as relating to the bits of elements which we inherit from this progenitor and that, and as covering the incalculable number of small and mostly unknown circumstances that influence our development. In a chapter on "Organic Stability" the effort is made to show, by familiar illustrations from common things, how types may come about and be perpetuated; how "sports" may suddenly appear and then endure; and, from this, that evolution is not by minute steps only, but may occur by jumps. The account of the method by which the author's "schemes" and his rules for estimating the value of his results were prepared is minute and exact, hard as a mathematical demonstration to follow, but, like a mathematical demonstration, clear ​when the processes are matured. By it is deduced an equation suggesting a theory of descent, to be applied in the subsequent investigations. The investigations were made by the aid of experiments on sweet peas (the sizes of the peas of a crop), and on moths bred for the purpose, and of about a hundred and fifty family records. The records, of course, include facts relating to a vastly larger number of persons. The chief subjects to which they relate arc stature, eye-color, temper, the artistic faculty, some forms of disease, marriage selection, and fertility. The item of stature offers many advantages in the study—from the ease and frequency with which it may be measured and its practical constancy during many years, from the fact that it is not a simple element, but is the sum of the accumulated lengths or thicknesses of many bodily elements, and because its discussion need not be entangled with considerations of marriage selection, and its variability is normal. To the inheritance of stature each mid-parent (median between the two parents) contributes an influence marked as one half, each individual parent one quarter, and each individual grandparent one sixteenth. A like hereditary relation is found to exist between the man and his ancestors in the matter of eye-sight. In point of the artistic faculty, highly artistic people intermarry, while moderately artistic people do not so usually, because, "A man of highly artistic temperament must look on those who are deficient in it as barbarians; he would continually crave for a sympathy and response that such persons are incapable of giving. On the other hand, every quiet unmusical man must shrink a little from the idea of wedding himself to a grand piano in constant action, with its vocal and peculiar social accompaniments; but he might anticipate great pleasure in having a wife of a moderately artistic temperament, who would give color and variety to his prosaic life. On the other hand, a sensitive and imaginative wife would be conscious of needing the aid of a husband who had enough plain common sense to restrain her too enthusiastic and frequently foolish projects." And vice versa. Of the problem as related to disease, the author observes: "The vital statistics of a population are those of a vast army marching rank behind rank, across the treacherous table-land of life. Some of its members drop out of sight at every step, and a new rank is ever rising to take the place vacated by the rank that preceded it, and which has already moved on. The population retains its peculiarities, although the elements of which it is composed are never stationary; neither are the same individuals present at any two successive epochs. In these respects a population may be compared to a cloud that seems to repose in calm upon a mountain plateau while a gale of wind is blowing over it. The outline of the cloud remains unchanged, although its elements are in violent movement and in a condition of perpetual destruction and renewal. . . . Both in the cloud and in the population there are continual supply and in-rush of new individuals from the unseen; they remain awhile as visible objects and then disappear. The cloud and the population are composed of elements that resemble each other in the brevity of their existence, while the general features of the cloud and of the population are alike in that they abide." One of the striking facts disclosed in the classification of the diseases of each family is their great intermixture. We know very little about the effects of such mixture, how far they are mutually exclusive, and how far they blend; or how far, when they blend, they change into a third form. Owing to the habit of free intermarriage, no person can be exempt from the inheritance of a variety of diseases, or of special tendencies to them. While death by mere old age and failure of vital powers appears common, it is not found, as a rule, that the children of persons who die of old age have any marked immunity from specific diseases. Applying the inquiry to consumption, the law of heredity found to govern the other faculties examined appears to govern that of liability to this disease also, although the constants of the formula differ slightly. It is not possible that more than one half of the varieties and number of each of the parental elements, latent or personal, can, on the average, subsist in the offspring; for a calculation based upon the supposition that they can all be conveyed would soon lead into absurdities. But if the personal and latent elements are transmitted on the average in equal numbers, it is difficult to suppose that ​there can be much difference in their variety. Mr. Galton's inquiries, as a whole, can be hardly regarded as more than pioneer work, the determinate and accurate results of which have yet to be brought out. The conclusions, he remarks, "depend on ideas that must first be well comprehended, and which are now novel to the large majority of readers, and unfamiliar to all. But those who care to brace themselves to a sustained effort, need not feel much regret that the road to be traveled over is indirect, and does not admit of being mapped beforehand in a way they can clearly understand. It is full of interest of its own. It familiarizes us with the measurement of variability, and with curious laws of chance that apply to a vast diversity of social subjects. This part of the inquiry may be said to run along a road on a high level, that affords wide views in unexpected directions, and from which easy descents may be made to totally different goals from those we have now to reach."
The Critical Period or American History. 1783-1789. By John Fiske. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 368. Price, $2.
On hearing the news of the treaty which ended the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine stopped the publication of "The Crisis," declaring, "The times that tried men's souls are over." So far from this being the case, Prof. Fiske says, "The most trying time of all was just beginning. It is not too much to say that the period of five years following the peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the American people." The American commonwealth was then a tender plant, beset by many and varied dangers, and only the most judicious management could have preserved its life until it had taken firm root. Prof. Fiske in his first chapter recounts the negotiations at Paris in 1782 and 1783 in regard to the treaty of peace, giving especial attention to King George's troubles with his successive cabinets, and their bearing on the questions at issue. This is followed by a survey of the changes in forms of government, and in' regard to the succession of property, slavery, and church establishment made by the thirteen commonwealths in consequence of obtaining independence of England. The next two chapters tell of the obstacles thrown in the path of Congress by the discontent of the unpaid army; by the unwillingness of the people to pay taxes for the support of the General Government, or to pay their debts to British creditors; by their jealousy of any semblance to royal power or hereditary privilege; by the commercial hostility between the States, and State quarrels over conflicting boundary claims; by the poverty of the country and the confusion of the currency—until finally insurrections in some of the States forced upon a majority of the people the conviction that something must be done, and done quickly. The author then shows how a spirit favorable to strengthening the national Government grew out of various occurrences. One of these was the settlement of the conflicting claims of the States to lands west of the Alleghanies by the surrender of all these claims to the United States; another was a difficulty with Spain in regard to the navigation of the lower Mississippi. The convention which drew up the new Constitution was led up to in a most cautious way. "At first," says Prof. Fiske, "it was to be just a little meeting of two or three States to talk about the Potomac River and some projected canals"; then commissioners from all the States were invited to be present and discuss some uniform system of legislation on the subject of trade; and, finally, the plan for a convention to devise provisions "to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union" was officially adopted by Congress.
The story of the work done by the Federal Convention forms the chief chapter of the volume, and is told in a way to show the interactions of the opposing and diverging forces whose resultant was the Constitution of the United States. Then follows an account of the discussion and ratification of the document by the several States, and the election and inauguration of Washington as President, and the critical period of American history was safely passed. Prof. Fiske offers his book to the student of American history, not as a complete summary of the events of the period which it covers, nor as a discussion of the political questions involved in them, but rather as a grouping of the main facts in such a way as to bring out their causal sequence.
The Playtime Naturalist. By Dr. J. E. Taylor, F. L. S., Editor of "Science-Gossip." With 366 Illustrations, New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 287. Price, $1.50.
No better statement of the scope and spirit of the "Playtime Naturalist" can be given than by quoting its preface entire. It is as follows: "The writer of this book has a liking for intelligent English lads, just as some people have for blue china and etchings. He ventures to think the former are even more interesting objects. And, as the writer was once a boy himself, and vividly remembers the never-to-be-forgotten rambles and observations of the objects in the country; and, moreover, as he treasures up such reminiscences as the most pleasant and innocent of an active man's life, he thought he could not do better than enlist this younger generation in the same loves and the same pleasures. He has endeavored to do his best for his human hobbies, and hopes their lives may be richer and sweeter and more manly for what he has introduced them to in the following pages."
The book is a story of the collecting done by the boys of "Mugby School," and its style may be seen in the section relating to fish-scales, published in the May number of this magazine. There is a delightful chapter early in the volume entitled "Among the Birds," and this is followed by a fascinating account of moth and butterfly collecting. A variety of insects of land and water, land shells, frogs, newts, etc., and microscopic animals and plants, receive attention in turn. The descriptions are accompanied by an abundance of illustrations, which aid in identifying the creatures described, and add much to the attractiveness of the volume. No book better adapted to arouse a love of nature in the young has been published in a long time.
An Elementary Text-Book of Chemistry. By William G. Mixter, Professor of Chemistry in Yale University. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 459. Price, $2.50.
The author states as the aim of this book, to enable the student to grasp the fundamental principles of the science, and at the same time to learn something of the chemistry of common things. The work is adapted to students of college age. The "periodic classification" has been made the basis of arrangement. The acidic and basic groups are treated alternately in order to discuss bases and salts early in the course, as well as to give constant variety to the character of the experiments performed. Compounds of the rare elements are described, to make evident the reasons for the classification, and also to serve as a basis for the summaries of the groups. Graphic and constitutional formulas are much used. The reasons for a number of constitutional formulas are given, and, in case of compounds whose constitution is not understood, care is generally taken to state that the constitutional formulas employed are assumed from analogy. Considerable matter intended for reading rather than recitation is distinguished by small type. The volume is introduced by a short chapter on the physics of chemistry, which includes an account of crystallography and of the laws of gases. Detailed directions for experiments, and a large number of figures of apparatus, are given. Much pains is taken to show the relationship between the members of each group by means of summaries. Presentations of chemical principles are scattered at intervals through the book.
Nature and Man. Essays Scientific and Philosophical. By William B. Carpenter, with an Introductory Memoir by J. Estlin Carpenter. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 483. Price, $2.25.
The fifteen essays contained in this volume represent chiefly the latter phases of Dr. Carpenter's thoughts on the problems concerned with the interpretation of nature and man. He believed some of the conclusions which they embody to be of high importance in the guidance of life. They were the result of long observation, and in some cases differed widely from the ideas which his early education and his first studies had led him to adopt. Mr. J. Estlin Carpenter undertakes in the "Memorial Sketch" to indicate some of the processes which contributed to this change, and to present briefly the connection between Dr. Carpenter's varied work and the personality from which his many-sided energy flowed out. An interesting and instructive delineation is given of the various phases which Dr. ​Carpenter's views, particularly those bearing upon the relations of theological and scientific thought, underwent in the course of his transition from strict teleologism to the full acceptance of the theory of evolution. He received his early education under the superintendence of his father, a Unitarian minister, who was accustomed to insist in his teaching on the importance of bringing the reasoning powers to bear upon observed facts—a principle which the philosopher applied well in his after-studies. In his sixteenth year he became interested in Mr. Exley's "New Theory of Matter," a book devoted to showing that "all the attractions of gravitation, cohesion, electricity, chemical, magnetic, etc.," can be explained upon the same principles. It was a first attempt to demonstrate the correlation of forces. While Dr. Carpenter was active in prosecuting his physiological investigations, and had already touched upon the similarity in the character of the laws regulating vital and physical phenomena, the affairs of his religious society obtained a nearly equal share of his interest. He cultivated music, particularly organ music, with great assiduity. With this taste, and partly directing it, perhaps, was associated the preparation of a collection of psalm-tunes for his little chapel at Edinburgh. His adherence to the Unitarian faith barred him from a professorship in the university, for which he desired to be a candidate. When he had removed from Edinburgh, he felt the loss of public worship more than any other inconvenience of his situation, and wished he could be back at his old post, where he could take his part in leading the "devotional feelings of the congregation." When the "Vestiges of Creation" appeared, a few of its conceptions were found to be so similar to thoughts that he had expressed, that some readers attributed it to him; but he was not prepared to accept the main doctrine of that book, and answered it by saying that, as we had scriptural authority for believing that the Creator formed man out of the dust of the earth, he must confess his predilection for believing that the Creator had at some period "endowed certain forms of organic matter with the properties requisite to enable them to combine at the fitting season into the human organism"—rather that that we are descended from a chimpanzee. He taught that a common designed plan reigned in the evolution of the solar system, of human forms, and of the entire organic world; believed thoroughly in the reality of miracles; and held that man is accountable to the Creator for all his acts, even those that are really God's own. While this was going on, his views concerning the correlation of forces were taking more definite shape, his studies of the nervous system were becoming expanded and leading him to modified opinions concerning the will and moral responsibility. When Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared, "he was well fitted to appreciate the general argument," for he had long thought on the subject of modification by descent, and while he had rejected the theory of the "Vestiges," "it had been on the grounds of insufficient evidence and physiological error, not from theological prepossession." He had written to his brother Russell in 1884, that one of his great desires was "to be of some use as a mediator in the conflict which has now distinctly begun between science and theology. I see quite clearly that it is of no use to try to grapple with the subject unless one thoroughly masters the question on both sides." His views on the questions raised by Darwin's theory are specifically expressed in a semi-autobiographical article on "Darwinism in England," which he published in Malta in 1881, and which is given in Mr. Estlin Carpenter's "Memorial." His theological views were disturbed by this course of thinking, but he wrote in a letter: "I believe that these difficulties are a necessary result of the habits of thought which have been growing up with me; and, as they never obscure my view of duty, I find it better not to trouble myself too much about them, but to apply myself to the business of the time." Through these difficulties. Dr. Carpenter, we are told, "after no long interval, worked his way. The strong religious needs of his nature found their satisfaction in the view of the world depicted in the later essays in this volume." Of the essays in the present collection, five relate to physiology, the brain, muscular movement, and force; three, to man as the interpreter of nature, the psychology of belief, and the "Fallacies of Testimony in Relation to the Supernatural"; two, to human automatism; one, to "The ​Deep Sea and its Contents"; four, to "The Force behind Nature," "Nature and Law," "The Doctrine of Evolution in its Relations to Theism," and "The Argument from Design in the Organic World." The list of Dr. Carpenter's writings contains two hundred and ninety-three titles.
The Plantation Negro as a Freeman. By Philip A. Bruce. "Questions of the Day Series." No. LVII. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 262. Price, $1.25.
The estimate of negro character which prevails in the Northern States, where negroes are few, has been more influenced by knowledge of the wrongs which the race has suffered than by acquaintance with the actual habits of the black people. Mr. Bruce's volume will dispel any too ideal view of the black race which the reader may hold. It is a very thorough presentation of their mental and moral traits, as exhibited in all the important relations of life, based upon observations of the author extending over a long series of years since emancipation, in "South side Virginia," a region containing a colored population of about two hundred and fifty thousand. Mr. Bruce represents the negro as a careless and capricious parent, as being decidedly lax in regard to the marriage tie, as depending on firm management for his value as a servant, and as humble or impertinent in demeanor toward the whites according to the way he is treated. His crimes are of the impulsive class—he is not a cool and calculating villain. As a voter he is easily led astray, and is becoming readily purchasable. His religion is emotional, and has but little influence on his conduct. He is highly superstitious, and has great faith in the trick doctor. The author thinks that the ordinary sort of education furnished the negro hurts him in some ways, as well as helping him, and that a system modified so as to be adapted to his character would be much more of a benefit. About the same that was said of the black as a servant applies to him as a farm laborer. He delights to own or rent land, but his laziness makes him an undesirable tenant. As a mechanic he is generally only a helper. Mr. Bruce regards the negro not as being essentially depraved, but as having many unfortunate weaknesses, and this opinion dominates the view as to the future of the race which he gives in the closing chapter. He regards the proper solution of the negro problem as a matter of profound solicitude to a large and important part of our country.
A Manual of Instruction in the Principles OF Prompt Aid to the Injured. By Alvah H. Doty, M. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 224. Price, $1.25.
In order that the subject of this volume may be well understood, it is essential to know something of the construction of the human body and the functions of the different organs. For this reason the author devotes about a third of the volume to anatomy and physiology. Coming to the application of this knowledge, he describes the use of roller bandages, of four-tailed, square, triangle, and cravat bandages; of slings, compresses, and tampons; also the tying of knots, the making of poultices, and the application of moist and dry heat. Half a dozen pages are devoted to antiseptics and deodorants. The various forms of injury are then described, and the proper treatment for each is stated. Under wounds, the bites of dogs and snakes are included. The chapter on hæmorrhage contains a diagram showing the position of the important arteries, and a cut of a suspender so devised as to be especially useful in case of emergency for constricting a bleeding limb. The use of various articles likely to be at hand as temporary splints and slings in cases of fracture is described. A variety of injuries, many of them involving unconsciousness, receive due attention. Among these are burns, frost-bite, fainting, stunning, intoxication, fits, hysteria, and heat-stroke.
In the treatment of drowned persons, three methods of artificial respiration are given, with figures. There is a chapter on poisons, and another in which a variety of injuries and affections are treated, including convulsions of children, bed-sores, chafing, etc. The last chapter is on transportation of the patient, either with or without a litter, manufactured or extemporized, and includes by permission that part of the "Manual of Instruction for Hospital Corps, U.S. A." which relates to transportation of the wounded, with the cuts. The author states that special effort has been made to so arrange the matter and to introduce such points as ​will make the book of use to the ambulance corps connected with the different military organizations. He has endeavored to explain each topic in a simple manner, and when medical terms are used their lay synonyms are also given. Numerous illustrations have been inserted to aid in making the work readily intelligible.
The Insane in Foreign Countries. By William P. Letchworth. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 374. Price, $3.
This volume, by the President of the New York State Board of Charities, is an important contribution to the literature of its subject. It embodies an examination of European methods of caring for the insane, especially the insane in public institutions, pursued without interruption for seven months, supplemented by information obtained since the time of the author's visit. By way of contrast, a brief introductory sketch of the ways in which the insane were treated in earlier times is given. The systems employed in England, Scotland, and Ireland are then described in turn, and the characteristics of representative Continental institutions are set forth. A chapter each is given to the insane colony of Gheel, in Belgium, where is the celebrated shrine of St. Dymphna, and to the colony-hospital at Alt-Scherbitz in Saxony. The final and longest chapter, and the most important portion of the volume, presents a resume of the author's observations and his conclusions drawn from them. Based upon the results of his inspections of foreign and American asylums, and of his own experience in the supervision of the defective classes of New York State, Mr. Letchworth offers his views as regards the selection of sites and locations of asylums, the kind of buildings to be provided; the questions of sewage disposal, water-supply, protection against fire, the laying out of the grounds, the furnishing and decoration of wards and rooms, the difficult problem of the disposition of the acute, the chronic, and the criminal insane; the practice of restraint and the amount of liberty that may be granted; the character of the attendants to be chosen; the religious exercises, amusements, employments, dress and clothing, visitation and correspondence of patients, post-mortem examinations; the methods of admission and discharge, and the value of summer resorts. All these subjects are treated clearly and explicitly. Besides these, the author gives his personal views respecting the insane in poor-houses, local or district care of the insane, state care, the boarding-out system, state supervision, and kindred topics. The book is beautifully printed and richly illustrated with engravings and heliotype reproductions of plans of buildings and asylum interiors, and pictures of historical interest.
Geological Survey of New Jersey. Final Report of the State Geologist. Vol. I. Topography, Magnetism, Climate. By George H. Cook, State Geologist. Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Company. Pp. 439, with Maps, etc.
The survey was authorized by the State Legislature in 1864, and has been continued regularly till the date of the report. The act contemplated a completion of the work, previous partial surveys having been carried on by Henry D. Rogers in 1836-'40, and Dr. William Kitchell in 1854-'56. While the yearly reports of the present work that have been made and liberally distributed among the people have been somewhat miscellaneous as to the subjects discussed, on account of the prominence of special wants and interests, the various branches of the survey have been kept advancing, so that it has been found practicable to include the final geographical reports in this volume. The State Geologist has enjoyed the co-operation and assistance of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey; and the expense of conducting the latter half of the topographical work has been borne by the United States Geological Survey. Of the several parts of the present volume, the article on the Geodetic Survey, by Prof. Bowser, of the Coast Survey, gives accurate determinations, in latitude and longitude, of several hundred points, the stations of which are exactly described, and the primary ones distinctly marked on the spot. In the "Physical Description," Mr. C. C. Vermeule, after defining the geographical position and outlines of the State, relates the history of the questions of boundary and limits of jurisdiction from the beginning; marks the political divisions, with measurements of the areas of the counties and townships, and describes the topography of the State as being ' readily classed ​in belts which correspond closely with the outcrops of the various geological formations. Beginning at the northwest, we have the Kittatinny Mountain and Valley, occupying the western half of Sussex and Warren counties, and corresponding to the Palæozoic formation; next, the Archæan Highlands; then the rolling Triassic or red sandstone plain; then the furrowed and irregularly hilly cretaceous plain; and, lastly, the triangular, extremely level, sandy, and pine-clad plain of the Tertiary formation, fringed seaward by a belt of tide-marsh inclosed from the sea by sand beaches. These features are common to the Atlantic slope southwest." In the detailed review these belts divide themselves up into alternating streaks of mountain and valley, table and plain, of which twenty-four are described. These divisions present, considering the limitations of the area, much diversity of aspect, from the mountain lands of the northwest, studded with lakes, with the trap dikes of the "red sandstone plain" intervening, to the swamps and pine plains and tidal plain and beach sands as we approach or when we reach the sea-coast. The description is supplemented by a table giving the areas of the several water-sheds, with the percentage of forest upon them, and their population per square mile, a list of benchmarks at which the elevation above the sea is exactly recorded; and a much larger list of elevations, from the latest and best determinations of prominent points, referred to mean sea-level. The paper on the Magnetic Survey, recording observations at one hundred and fifty-eight stations, reveals some noteworthy irregularities in declination, particularly in regions of Archæan rock, and near the trap ridges, where a tendency of the needle toward a perpendicular to the crest line of the ridge is remarked upon. This paper is accompanied by a chart showing equal lines of declination for 1888. Prof. Smock describes four natural climatic provinces in the State, each of which has its peculiar features: the Highlands and Kittatinny Valley; the Red Sandstone Plain; the Southern Interior; and the Sea-shore, or Atlantic Coast Belt. The first is not generally marked by excessive extremes of temperature, but has rather a northern climate. The last, though having nowhere a truly mild winter climate—like that of southern Florida and California, etc.—affords pleasant winter resorts. In view of the small area of the State, the variety of conditions to be found in New Jersey appears a little remarkable. A fine topographic map, and an altitude map, in which nine grades of elevation are indicated by as many distinct shades of coloring, are furnished in pockets.
Activity is resumed by the Society for Political Education by the issue of a pamphlet, No. 25 in its series, on Electoral Reform." It sets forth the grave defects in the electoral systems of most of the States, and explains the remedies therefor in secrecy of ballot and other reforms. The "New York (Saxton) Bill" and the "Massachusetts Ballot Reform Act" are appended. The next forthcoming publication of the society will deal with the "Liquor Question in Politics," and as soon as possible it will revise and reissue its list of standard works on economics, political history and science, and economic reforms, for the direction and aid of students and the general reading public. The society aims at awakening an intelligent interest in governmental methods and purposes, and at diffusing information concerning the rights and duties of citizens. Mr. George lies, secretary, 330 Pearl Street, New York, invites the co-operation of all interested in the society's work.
The Self: What is it? is the problem which Mr. J. S. Malone attempts to answer (J. P. Morton & Co., Louisville, 75 cents). He divides the human mind into two parts—intellect and sensibility—and affirms that the faculty which causes all human activity is desire, a subdivision of sensibility, challenging any one to find one voluntary human action that can be traced back to intellect as its primal cause. He deems intellect only instrumental. He affirms that moral responsibility belongs also to sense, and that the end of existence concerns only this department of mind. In the second division of his book he maintains that intellect is an offshoot from sense, and examines some of Kant's doctrines.
Mr. Frederic E. Ives has privately printed in Philadelphia a brief account of his process of photographing in colors, under the title A New Principle in Heliochromy, He ​alludes to the various attempts which have been made to produce photographs in natural colors, and then states the essential features of his own method. He says in conclusion that there is much yet to be done in perfecting the print-making part of the process, and that for the present he is satisfied to obtain perfect heliochromic prints on glass, so that the result may be shown with the optical lantern. He appends a reply, which he made in the "Journal of the Franklin Institute," to a criticism on his claims by Mr. C. H. Bothamley. The brochure has a photo-engraved portrait of Mr. Ives as frontispiece.
A lecture entitled Outlines of a New Science, by E. J. Donnell, has been published in the "Questions of the Day Series" (Putnam, $1). The author maintains that exchangeability is the source of economic value, that all wealth is the fruit of commercial exchange, and that, when this is going on actively, all departments of productive industry have health and vigor. Further, that the recent enormous increase in the productive powers of labor has created a problem which demands an immediate solution; that the problem is especially pressing in this country because our productive powers are greater and the restrictions on our commercial exchanges more oppressive than in any other of the advanced industrial nations; and that our tariff system taxes the many for the benefit of the few.
The Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology have begun to issue from time to time such special papers as have heretofore been published in connection with the annual reports, in a separate form, but of uniform octavo size with the reports. Each number will be sold separately at a specified price, which will vary according to the number of pages and illustrations. The papers will be omitted from the annual reports. The first of these papers published is an interesting essay by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, on a "Relic of Ancient Mexico—Standard or Head-dress?"—with three colored plates, to which is appended a note "On the Complementary Signs of the Mexican Graphic System."
The Plans for furnishing an Abundant Supply of Water to the City of New York from a Source independent of the Croton Water-shed, proposed by John R. Bartlett and Associates, contemplate the utilization of the Passaic water-shed in New Jersey; the reservoirs to be located about fifteen miles from the city, and the water to be brought in by a tunnel under the Hudson River, The supply of all the New Jersey towns suburban to New York, and of Brooklyn, is declared to be practicable by the same system, and it is claimed that the quantity of water available for this purpose is sufficient to furnish them all abundantly. The water privileges of the region in question are owned by private corporations, from which the author has obtained concessions of the right to construct reservoirs and collect and use the surplus waters. In behalf of this scheme, it is claimed that the Passaic watershed has three times the area of the Croton water-shed, and is therefore capable of affording a much larger supply of water than can ever be derived thence; that it is much nearer to the city; that the water can be brought direct to the lower part of the city, where it is most needed; that it will be pure and wholesome, and, being delivered under a head-pressure of three hundred feet, will go of its own force to the tops of the highest houses, and with sufficient energy to be instantly available in extinguishing fires; and that it possesses other somewhat less important but obviously convenient advantages. The book in which the scheme is developed and explained contains several addresses and memoirs, legal opinions, and opinions of experts on the various questions brought out in the discussions of it, with maps, plans, profiles, and views.
Mr. Charles W. Darling, Corresponding Secretary of the Oneida Historical Society, has published privately, in a pamphlet of 43 pages, some Historical Notes concerning the City of New York as it appeared in its earliest days. They have been gathered from the writings of the chief historians, earlier and later, of the city, and from manuscript folio volumes of public records. They contain matter that is omitted by one or other, or more, of the writers quoted from, and form a picture as a whole which it will be hard to find in its fullness anywhere else. The notes date back to the period when trading and fishing huts were first erected upon Manhattan Island, and embrace the years between ​the discovery by Hudson in 1609 and the recall of Governor Wouter Van Twiller in 1637.
Business is one of half a dozen thoughtful little books by James Platt, on kindred subjects and with equally terse titles (Putnam, 75 cents). It is a clear, vigorous, and direct statement of the nature and importance of each of the qualities which make up the mental fittings of the successful man of business. The author has long advocated the teaching of business methods in English schools, so that the youth of that country might be competent to fill the clerkships which English merchants are constantly giving to Germans and Swiss. He regards commercial life as a remorseless struggle for existence, in which the men of greatest skill and perseverance defeat their fellows. He repudiates the doctrine of the weak, indolent, and thoughtless that puts all failure upon the Lord, and says that if men do not succeed it is because they are not equal to the requirements of the age they live in. Mr. Piatt does not hold that reading books alone will make any one a thorough man of business, but that books can supply knowledge of laws and principles which, if intelligently applied, will prevent failure or be productive of success.
D. C. Heath & Co. are about to publish Thirty-six Observation Lessons on Common Minerals, by Henry L. Clapp, designed as a practical guide for the use of the teacher in directing the pupil's energies, and cultivating the true scientific habit of thinking and working. The same firm will issue The Laws of Health in Relation to School Life, by Arthur Newsholme, M.D., intended for the guidance of all who are charged with the responsibility of watching over the mental and physical well-being of pupils of both sexes in public or private schools. The book is in use in English training schools, and the American edition has been carefully revised to adapt it to our climate and the needs of our schools.