# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 19/June 1881/Literary Notices

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Popular Lectures ok Scientific Subjects. By H. Helmholtz. Translated by E. Atkinson, Ph.D. Second Series. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 265. Price, $1.50.
The first series of Helmholtz's lectures met with the success which has induced Professor Atkinson to translate an additional volume of them. It is gratifying to know that the translator feels himself justified in this, as it shows a growing popular appreciation of solid intellectual work in science. The contents of this volume are considerably varied, and represent the action of Helmholtz's mind upon widely different subjects. The first paper is an in memoriam address on Professor Gustave Magnus, who died in 1869. The essay is not a mere biographical notice or an ordinary eulogy, but is rather an analysis of the character and the scientific labors of Magnus in connection with the state of knowledge and circumstances of his time, so that the paper becomes in some respects an interesting portion of scientific history.
The second paper is "On the Origin and Significance of Geometrical Axioms," and it was a lecture delivered in Heidelberg in 1870. This discussion is not child's play, but many will be attracted to master it because it breaks into the field of speculation with regard to the different dimensions of space.
Artists will be interested in the abstracts of five lectures "On the Relation of Optics to Painting," which were delivered in Cologne, Berlin, and Bonn. After the introductory he takes up successively the subjects, form, shade, color, and harmony of color. His point of view is neither that of the practical artist nor of the student of pictures and schools of painting, but it is that of the physiological optician who is master of a subject. He shows in various ways how a knowledge of the mode of perception of the organ of vision may be of importance to the artist.
Perhaps the most striking of all the papers is the lecture "On the Origin of the Planetary System." So much is said about the nebular hypothesis of Kant and Laplace in these evolutionary times, that many will be glad to see the subject summed up within a moderate compass, and by an authoritative hand. No man is better prepared by his broad scientific erudition and his thorough mastery of mathematical and experimental physics than Professor Helmholtz to report on the present state of knowledge regarding the origin of the planetary system. But it was very far from the author's intention to make a mere popular statement of what former inquirers have arrived at. As one of the founders of the doctrine of the conservation of forces, he may be said to have been an original contributor to the nebular theory; and he is very pointed in his remarks on the grave scientific significance of the inquiry. He says, "Science is not only entitled, but is indeed beholden, to make such an investigation. For her it is a definite and important question—the question, namely, as to the existence of limits to the validity of the laws of nature, which rule all that now surrounds us; the question whether they have always held in the past, and whether they will always hold in the future; or whether, on the supposition of an everlasting uniformity of natural laws, our conclusions from present circumstances as to the past, and as to the future, imperatively lead to an impossible state of things; that is, to the necessity of an infraction of natural laws, of a beginning which could not have been due to processes known to us. Hence, to begin such an investigation as to the possible or probable primeval history of our present world, is considered as a question of science—no idle speculation, but a question as to the limits of its methods, and as to the extent to which existing laws are valid."
Professor Helmholtz is of opinion that our planetary system must sooner or later ​come to an end by the exhaustion of its forces. The sun must ultimately "run down" like a clock. He thinks that the existing stock of power available for the maintenance of life may last some seventeen million years, but that it must at length be spent. He thus philosophizes, in conclusion, over the phenomena of the final extinction of life:
As yet we know of no fact, which can be established by scientific abservation, which would show that the finer and complex forms of vital motion could exist otherwise than in the dense material of organic life; that it can propagate itself as the sound movement of a string can leave its originally narrow and fixed home, and diffuse itself in the air, keeping all the time its pitch, and the most delicate shade of its color tint; and that, when it meets another string attuned to it, starts this again or excites a flame ready to sing to the same tone. The flame even, which, of all processes in animate nature, is the closest type of life, may become extinct, but the heat which it produces continues to exist, indestructible, imperishable, as an invisible motion, now agitating the molecules of ponderable matter, and then radiating into boundless space as the vibration of an ether. Even there it retains the characteristic peculiarities of its origin, and it reveals its history to the inquirer who questions it by the spectroscope. United afresh, these rays may ignite a new flame, and thus, as it were, acquire a new bodily existence.
The Human Body: An Account of its Structure and Activities, and the Conditions of its Healthy Working. By H. Newell Martin, D. S. C, M. A., M. B., Professor of Biology in the Johns Hopkins University. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1881. Pp. 655. Price, $2.75.
This work is a contribution to the American "Science Series" of college text-books, and is one of the best of those excellent publications that has yet appeared. Dr. Martin's task in its preparation has not been a light one; for, although he has had the most interesting of all subjects to deal with, and is herein specially fortunate, yet, on the other hand, he has had to compete in the most thoroughly cultivated field of our whole scientific literature. There are many physiological text-books of all grades, and among them are some of the best scientific manuals to be anywhere found. A new work must therefore be of exceptional excellence if it aspires to become a standard on this subject in the higher education.
We have looked over "The Human Body" carefully, and have been interested throughout. The descriptive and explanatory part is remarkably clear, and the accompanying illustrations are abundant and of a superior quality. The book has, moreover, something of a freshness and originality which seemed to be due to the breadth of Dr. Martins preparation as a biologist. One of the difficulties, indeed, with our physiological text-books is, that they have been too generally the work of ​physiological specialists and exclusive students of the human body. Human physiology of some sort is as old as the practice of medicine, but it became a new science under the influence of modern biology. The human body is only to be understood in connection with the general system of life in nature, and, as this subject has recently been greatly developed, its results should contribute much interesting interpretation to human physiology. Dr. Martin, we think, has written his work from this point of view, and that it may be taken as embodying all the latest assured advances of science in their bearing upon his subject. But, as there is no sharp boundary where accredited science stops, the author, in posting up his work, necessarily encountered the perplexity of dealing with facts and principles not yet settled, for physiology is still an actively progressive science. Dr. Martin does not avoid "disputed matters," but simply aims to do justice to the present state of his subject. He says in his preface: "This was deliberately done, as the result of an experience in teaching physiology, which now extends over more than ten years. It would have been comparatively easy to slip over things still uncertain, and subjects as yet uninvestigated, and to represent our knowledge of the workings of the animal body as neatly rounded off at all its contours, and complete in all its details—totus, teres, et rotundis. But, by so doing, no adequate idea of the present state of physiological science would have been conveyed; in many directions it is much further traveled and more completely known than in others; and, as ever, exactly the most interesting points are those which lie on the boundary between what we know and what we hope to know. In gross anatomy there are now but few points calling for a suspension of judgment; with respect to microscopic anatomy there are more; but a treatise on physiology which would pass by, unmentioned, all things not known but sought, would convey an utterly unfaithful and untrue idea. Physiology has not finished its course; it is not cut and dried, and ready to be laid aside for reference like a specimen in an herbarium, but is comparable rather to a living, growing plant, with some stout and useful branches well raised into the light, others but part-grown, and many still represented by unfolded buds."
We have no space to go into the method or classification of Dr. Martin's work, which seems to be lucid and convenient, while the share given to the leading subjects is well proportioned to their importance.
In one respect this manual is better than we expected to find it: it is more thoroughly practical than we were prepared to expect from an experimental biologist, and such a devotee of original scientific study as Dr. Martin is well known to be. We anticipated a valuable and trustworthy scientific treatise, but we are glad to see that the science is constantly and effectively applied to the hygienic art. The application of physiological principles for the preservation of health, the care of the body, and the improvement of the conditions of life, are copiously interspersed through the text, and they will have the effect both of increasing the student's interest in the study and of securing the first object of all education—the acquisition of knowledge indispensable to self-preservation.
Victor Hugo: His Life and Works. From the French of Alfred Barbou. By Frances A. Shaw. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 207. Price, $1.
The life of a man who has acquired such a hold upon a nation as Victor Hugo has gained upon the French people can not fail to be full of interest and instruction, and well deserves to be written. The great French poet and patriot has found a competent and appreciative biographer in M. Barbou, who seems to be one of his most enthusiastic admirers, and has associated with him intimately.
The Telescope: The Principles involved in the Construction of Refracting and Reflecting Telescopes. By Thomas Nolan, B. S., Reprinted from "Van Nostrand's Magazine." New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 75. Price, 50 cents.
This little book presents a brief exposition of the optical principles of lenses and mirrors, and their application to the construction of refracting and reflecting telescopes, illustrated by several figures and plates.
Sight, an Exposition of the Principles of Monocular and Binocular Vision. By Joseph Le Conte, LL. D. With numerous Illustrations. Pp. 275. D. Appleton & Co. International Scientific Series, No. XXII. Price, $1.50.
Dr. Le Conte has for many years made the eye a subject of special study, from the point of view assumed in this book. And this is the way this wonderful organ will in future have to be studied. Its interest as an object of investigation is inexhaustible. Its mechanism and action are roughly explained in every physiology; but, to state all that is known about it, in its several aspects in health and disease, would require whole libraries, Helmholtz has made a large and a profound book on physiological optics, devoted to an elucidation of the relations of light to the visual organism, while the psychological relations of the organ of vision have yet to be explored. The eye is, therefore, a subject so complex, obscure, and extensive, that it must in future be approached on different sides by separate investigators. In taking up the eye with a view of explaining the mechanism and process of sight as single and double, our author declares that he does not know the existence of "any work covering the same ground in the English language." He, therefore, claims that it meets a real want, and fills a real gap in scientific literature.
In regard to its form. Dr. Le Conte says: "I have tried to make a book that will be intelligible and interesting to the thoughtful general reader, and at the same time profitable to even the most advanced specialist in this department." It must be admitted that that the author has fairly attained to his ideal. His explanations are so clear, and his facts and principles so interesting, that they will be sure to engage the attention of ordinary readers, while at the same time he gradually passes to the consideration of questions and the presentation of views that will appeal to instructed critics as new contributions to the subject.
Another point in regard to this work strikes us as most important. It is largely a book of experiments; the effects discussed and illustrated with the woodcuts are such as can be tested by the reader who will take some pains to practice. This is an important means of education, by which the reader not only learns how to do things, but becomes acquainted with the subject at first hand, and knows what he knows. On this feature of his book. Dr. Le Conte remarks "As a means of scientific culture, the study of vision seems to me exceptional. It makes use of, and thus connects together, the sciences of physics, physiology, and even psychology. It makes the cultivation of the habit of observation and experiment possible to all; for the greatest variety of experiments may be made without expensive apparatus, or, indeed, apparatus of any kind. And, above all, it compels one to analyze the complex phenomena of sense in his own person, and is thus a truly admirable preparation for the more difficult task of analysis of those still higher and more complex phenomena which are embraced in the science of psychology."
Sketches and Reminiscences of the Radical Club of Chestnut Street, Boston. Edited by Mrs. John T. Sargent. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. 1880. Pp. 418. Price, $2.
The Radical Club was founded in the spring of 1867, with the purpose of bringing together occasionally a few persons who were known to be daring thinkers on subjects of high import, and of furnishing them "an opportunity for uttering their thought to an audience capable of appreciating its scope, of criticising its worth, and of developing its relations." It was composed of members of all religious denominations, and enjoyed an attendance of two hundred at the closing sessions of 1880. This volume contains about fifty of the essays which were presented at the meetings, with notices of the discussions which followed the reading. The authors, whose names are appended, are, as a rule, men and women known in literature, science, or the forum, whose words never fail to command attention. The subjects of their papers represent a wide range of thought in literature, art, theology, metaphysics, science, and sociology, and are of degrees of practicality of which "Color blindness" may be taken to represent one extreme and "The Impossible in Mathematics" the other. The reports of the informal discussions are full of conventional life, and are hardly less interesting than the essays.
Our Native Ferns and how to study them, with Synoptical Descriptions of the North American Species. By Lucien M. Underwood, Ph. D. Bloomington, Illinois. Pp. 116. Illustrated. Price, $1.
The development of interest in the study of ferns is illustrated by the works treating of them, or embodying illustrations of them, that have been published in this country during the last four years. Still, they occupy a subordinate place in our botanical manuals, the descriptions of many species are stored away in inaccessible periodicals and rare books, and, till this work appeared, no manual available to students had been issued that classified all our native species, or outlined their morphology and mode of life. Professor Underwood has made, in the little manual before us, a most commendable attempt to fill this gap in botanical literature. The descriptions of genera and species are preceded by chapters describing in an engaging style the haunts, habits, distribution, morphology, fructification, structure, classification, and nomenclature, etc., of ferns, the germination of fern spores, "How to study Ferns," and "A Little Fern Literature."
Drugs that enslave: The Opium, Morphine, Chloral, and Hasheesh Habits. By H. H. Kane, M. D. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. Pp. 224. Price, $1.50.
This book contains a great deal of information on the narcotic habit, its effects, dangers, and treatment, which is derived from the author's special experience as a medical practitioner, from wide acquaintance with the literature of the subject, and from extensive correspondence with medical men, systematically carried on for the elucidation of obscure or undetermined questions. Though the work aims to be a contribution to medical science, and is addressed to the profession, it yet has a general interest, from the prominence given to the growing dangers of narcotic indulgence among nearly all classes of society. Dr. Kane maintains that a great impulse has been given to the illegitimate use of opium by the introduction of the hypodermic syringe for the injection of morphine under the skin into the tissues. The practice with this instrument is but recent. It was introduced into this country from England in 1856, by Dr. Fordyce Barker, and has not only come into universal use by physicians, but it is much and increasingly employed by individuals, who continue the habit as a fascinating indulgence, which was begun by the doctor for the relief of painful disease. The book is full of examples of the distressing evils of narcotic indulgence, and abounds in warnings against its insidious approaches and deadly results.
Reminiscences of Dr. Spurzheim and George Combe. A Review of the Science of Phrenology from the Time of its Discovery by Dr. Gall, to the Time of the Visit of George Combe to the United States, in 1838-'40, with a new Portrait of Spurzheim. By Nahum Capen, LL. D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 262. Price, $1.50.
The author was a personal friend and confidential assistant of Spurzheim during his visit to the United States, and is thoroughly versed, as an active sympathizer, with the school of thought of which he was a conspicuous representative from the beginning. He has prepared his reminiscences in answer to what he believes to be a general demand, and has incorporated in it many interesting recollections concerning other advocates of the phrenological school, as Drs. Gall, George Combe, and Andrew Combe.
History of the Free-Trade Movement in England. By Augustus Mongredieu. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 188. Price, 50 cents.
The question naturally occurs to the observer of national progress, who is also a student of political and economical literature, why, when the majority of the scientific writers and thinkers of all nations agree in approving the principles of free trade, statesmen set them at naught, and only one state, England, has yet adopted them and put them in practice; and they may ask further, What conditions have prompted that country to take a different course from its neighbors? This little book undertakes to answer these questions. It does more. Protectionists assert that England has been declining since it adopted free trade. It answers these assertions by ​setting forth "the exact truth as embodied in historical and statistical facts of undeniable authenticity."
Is Consumption contagious, and can it be transmitted by Means of Food? By Herbert C. Clapp, A. M., M. D. Boston and Providence: Otis Clapp & Son. 1881. Pp. 178. Price, $1.25.
Considerable evidence is offered in this work tending to show that, "to a certain extent, at least, and under certain conditions, consumption is contagious." This evidence is derived from incidents in the history of the disease, the statements of physicians, and special reports of twenty-five cases. The subjects of contagion in cattle, the possibility of the transmission of tuberculosis by means of food, and the inoculability of tubercle, are also considered.
The Spirit of Education. By M. L'Abbé Amable Béesau. Translated by Mrs. E, M. McCarthy. Syracuse: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 325. Price, $1.25.
This little work, by a pious French ecclesiastic, is said to have been very popular in his country. Its author is a Catholic priest, and the work is written from the point of view of the system he represents. It is endorsed by high authorities of the Church as a volume to which Catholics may look with confidence. An interesting feature of the book is its numerous extracts from the writings of eminent Catholics in past times on the subject of education. As might be expected, there is very little recognition of science in the work, and no reference to the more urgent of the modern questions that are agitating the public on the subject of education. It might have been written a thousand years ago.
Lectures on Electricity in its Relations to Medicine and Surgery. By A. D. Rockwell, A. M., M. D. New York: William Wood & Co. Pp. 99. Price, $1.
These lectures deal chiefly with the practical points of the subject, and give special consideration to the methods of general faradization and central galvanization—methods already familiar by name to the profession, but which the author thinks might be better understood and appreciated.
The Logic of Christian Evidences. By G. Frederick Wright. Andover: Warren F. Draper. 1880. Pp. 306. Price, $1.50.
In consequence of the constant changes in the condition of the world and the lines of thought, each generation approaches the subject of the evidences of Christianity from a slightly different point of view. Hence a re-presentation of the subject, corresponding with the new conditions, is always in place. The author regards the power of Christianity to adjust itself in form to different degrees of civilization, while its substance remains unchangeable, as in fact one of the evidences; for the power is a consequence of its spiritual nature, and of its independence of transitory phases of intellectual and social development. The aim of this treatise is to bring into view the external and the internal evidences of Christianity as they now stand, and as they appear when compared with the evidences on which the beliefs of science are based.
First German Book, after the Natural or Pestalozzian Method, for Schools and Home Instruction. By James H. Worman, A. M. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes & Co. Pp. 63. Price, 35 cents.
This book is intended for beginners wishing to learn the spoken language of Germany, which is taught in it by direct appeal to illustrations of the objects mentioned, and without the use of English. The author has designed in it to present in a few pages all the essentials of German grammar so as to make their mastery easy, and prepare the student, after going through it, to enter upon the study of the more recondite, complicated, and irregular principles of the language.
Tom Paine on Trial, and the Infidels in Court. Brooklyn: D. S. Holmes. Pp. 87. Price, 25 cents.
On Statical Electro-Therapeutics, or Treatment of Disease by Franklinism. By W. J. Morton, M. D. New York. 1881. Pp. 28.
Trances and Trancoidal States in the Lower Animals. By George M. Beard, A.M., M. D. 1881. Pp. 17.
Observations on Jupiter. By L. Trouvelot. Pp. 23.
On the Geographical Distribution of the Indigenous Plants of Europe and the Northeast United States. By Joseph F. James. 1881. Pp. 18.
​Abstract of Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington D.C. with the Annual Address of the President, for the First Year, ending January 20, 1880. and for the Second Year, ending January 18, 1881. Prepared by J. W. Powell. Washington: National Republican Printing-House. Pp. 150.
Report of the Cruise of the United States Revenue Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, With Meteorological Abstracts. By Captain C. L. Hooper, U.S.R.M. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 74.
A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (a. d. 1450-1881). Edited by George Grove, D.C.L. Part XIII. Planche to Richter. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 128. Price. $1.
Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics relative to the Imports, Exports, Immigration, and Navigation of the United States for the Three Months ended December 31, 1880. Pp. 130.
On the Variation of the Leaf-Scars of Lepidodendrum Aculeatum (Sternberg). With Plates. Pp. 16. On the Variations of the Decorticated Leaf-Scars of Certain Sigillariæ. With Plates. Pp. 5. On the Identity of Certain Supposed Species of Sigillaria with Sigillaria Lepidodendrifolia (Brongniart). With Plate. Pp. 5. By Herman L. Fairchild. From the "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences."
The Nature of Vibration in Extended Media, and the Polarization of Sound. By S. W. Robinson. Philadelphia. 1881. Pp. 12.
Thoughts on Agricultural Education. By E. Lewis Sturtevant, M.D., South Framingham, Massachusetts. 1881. Pp. 19.
The "Spoils" System and Civil-Service Reform in the Custom-House and Post-Office at New York. By Dorman B. Eaton. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 123. Price, 50 cents.
A Fourth State of Matter. By Alexander E. Outerbridge, Jr. Philadelphia. 1881. Pp. 11.
Notes on North American Microgasters, with Descriptions of New Species. By C. V. Riley, M.A., Ph D. From the "Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis," April 6, 1881. Pp. 20.
The Infidel Pulpit. A Study of Ingersoll. By George Chainey. Boston. Pp. 8. Price, 5 cents.
The Microscope and its Relation to Medicine and Pharmacy. Edited and published by Charles H. Stowell, M.D., and Lousia Reed Stowelt, M.S. An Illustrated Bi-monthly Journal. Vol. I, I No. 1. Pp. 32. Price $1 a year.
Physiology in Thought, Conduct, and Belief. By Daniel Clark. M.D., Medical Superintendent Asylum for the Insane, Toronto. 1881. Pp. 15.
Rapid Breathing as a Pain-Obtunder in Minor Surgery, Obstetrics, the General Practice of Medicine, and of Dentistry. By W. G. A, Bonwill, D.D.S. Pp. 16.
On the Geology of Florida. By Eugene A, Smith. With a Plate. From the "American Journal of Science." April, 1881. Pp. 17.
The "Journal of Physiology." By Michael Foster, M.D.. F.R.S. Vol. III. No. 1, August, 1880; 2, January, 1881, and Supplement. Published in America under the Auspices of the Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 92, 70, 68. Price, $5 a year.
Contributions to the Anatomy of the Milk-Weed Butterfly, Danais Archippus (Fabr.). By Edward Burgess. Secretary of the Boston Society of Natural History. With Plates. Boston: Published by the Society. Pp. 16.
"The Magazine of Art." London, Paris, and New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. April. 1881. Pp. 34. Price, 35 cents.
Modern Architectural Designs and Details: for Dwellings, Stores, Offices, and Cottages. VI. Plates 41 to 48. New York: Bicknell & Comstock. Price, $1.
The Student's Dream. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. 1881. Pp. 97. Price, $1.
The Dirt-Cure. By T. L. Nichols, M.D. New York: M. L. Holbrook & Co. 1881. Pp. 88. Price, 50 cents.
Imaginary Quantities: Their Geometrical Interpretation. Translated from the French of M. Argaud. By Professor A. S. Hardy. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1881. Pp. 135. Price, 50 cents.
Locke's Conduct of the Understanding. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, etc., by Thomas Fowler, M.A. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1881. Pp. 136. Price, 50 cents.
Second German Book, after the Natural or Pestalozzian Method. By James H. Worman, A.M. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1881. Pp. 81. Price, 40 cents.
Working Drawings, and how to make and use them. By Lewis M. Haupt. Philadelphia: Joseph M. Stoddard & Co. 1881. Pp. 53. With Thirty Figures.
Pocket Pronunciation-Book. By E. V. De Graff, A.M. Syracuse, New York: C. W. Bardeen. 1881. Pp. 46. Price, 15 cents.
Short History of Education. Being Articles in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Edited by W. H. Payne, A.M. Syracuse, New York: C. W. Bardeen. 1881. Pp. 105. Price, 50 cents.
Cooperation as a Business. By Charles Barnard. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1881. Pp. 234. Price, $1.
The School of Life. By William R. Alger. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1881. Pp. 205. Price, $1.
How to tell the Parts of Speech. By the Rev. Edwin A. Abbott, D.D. American edition, revised and enlarged. By J. G. R. McElroy, A.M. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1881. Pp. 143. Price, 75 cents.
Report on Foreign Life-Saving Apparatus. By Lieutenant D. A. Lyle. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 45. With Nineteen Plates.
Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year ending June 30. 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 391. With Plates.
The Origin Of Primitive Superstitions. By Rushton M. Dorman. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1881. Pp. 398. Price, $3. Illustrated.
Second Report of the United States Entomological Commission for the Years 1878 and 1879. Relating to the Rocky Mountain Locust and the Western Cricket. Washington: Government Printing-office. 1880. Pp. 424. With Map and Illustrations.