# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 36/April 1890/Literary Notices

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Physiology of Bodily Exercise. By Fernand Lagrange, M. D. The International Scientific Series, Vol. LXVI. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 395. Price, $1.75.
In early times men depended upon the constant use of their physical strength to obtain the means of subsistence, and to protect themselves and their possessions against violence; during a later period, when a class had arisen whose subsistence was provided by serfs, even these were still required by custom to use their muscles in warlike exercises; at present a large and increasing portion of civilized men are engaged in occupations which do not demand bodily exertion, and much of the labor formerly done by human muscles is now performed by steam and electricity. The modern man has reveled for a time in bodily inactivity, but is now waking up to the fact that exercise is as essential to health and the enjoyment of life as sufficient food and sleep. But there are many who have not yet learned this lesson, and not all of those who are willing to take exercise have the right knowledge to secure for them its full benefits, or to protect them against its misuse. Knowledge of this sort it is the object of the present volume to supply. We do not know of any other book that explains so fully as this what goes on within the body when the muscles are used. The author first describes the process of muscular work, then explains the nature of fatigue, tells what changes in the body are produced by habituation to work, what the essential characters of the different exercises are, what results are effected by different kinds of exercise, and closes by pointing out the office of the brain in exercise. The slightest movement performed by the human machine, he says, brings into play the neighboring parts, and sometimes also more distant ones. The old soldier who said, "When I had my two legs, I used to give a splendid blow with my fist," spoke sound science. Hence an exercise may produce marked effects in a part of the body where we should not have dreamed of looking for them. The great organic functions of the body are not isolated from the work of the muscles. More blood is drawn to the working muscular masses, and this stimulus to the circulation causes the lungs to draw in a larger supply of air. It is commonly said that work produces heat in the body, but in reality the heat is the cause of the work, and is itself produced by combustion of the nutritive substances derived from our food, of the fat, and, when these are exhausted, of the bodily tissues. The waste products of this combustion clog the muscles and are one of the causes of fatigue. Breathlessness is caused by violent exercise, which suddenly increases the quantity of carbon dioxide in the blood, and makes a great demand on the lungs to eliminate the poison. The stiffness of fatigued muscles is due to other waste products, notably the urates. Overwork causes more of such products to be produced than can be excreted; hence they accumulate within the ​system, and their poisonous action often brings on a fever similar to typhoid. The organism is poisoned by its own products. Repose brings cessation of painful frictions of nerve-fibers and shocks of muscle-fibers, and allows time for the elimination of waste products and the repair of the tissues. The construction and action of the bodily organs become so modified by training that they can do more work without fatigue than before. Dr. Lagrange classifies exercises as those of strength, of speed, and of endurance. Before passing to the general effects of exercise, he tells what groups of muscles are brought into action in the common exercises. Exercise produces salutary effects, he says, alike in those who assimilate too little and in those who do not dissimilate enough. The enlargement of the chest cavity is one of the most beneficial results of exercise, and many suppose that it can be best secured by the use of the arms, but Dr. Lagrange argues that exercises of the legs are most effective in expanding the lungs, because the legs can do more work than the arms, and thus create a greater respiratory need. The author then points out how some popular exercises cause deformity, and names others which do not have this tendency. It has been found that brain-work, like muscular exertion, is attended by a greater flow of blood to the working organ, an increase of heat, more vigorous combustion, and hence increased formation of waste materials. Mental overwork, also, leads to feverish states, which must be attributed to the accumulation of products of combustion, as in the case of physical overwork. Now, while the muscles are the immediate agents in bodily movements, the exciting cause of the movements is the will. In executing a difficult feat much brain-work is demanded in order to co-ordinate the muscles employed, and, if the brain is already overworked, the author concludes, such an additional mental task is injurious. Hence, for persons suffering from mental overwork, exercises which can be performed automatically should be prescribed, rather than exercises of skill. The volume furnishes practical information which will enable the reader to so regulate the amount and kind of his exercise as to benefit and not injure himself. Its style is simple, and the reader is led along by such easy steps that the course of the exposition can be readily followed. This latest addition to the International Scientific Series ranks with the best of its companions in importance and general interest.
The Continuous Creation. An Application of the Evolutionary Philosophy to the Christian Religion. By Muyron Adams. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 259. Price, $1.50.
The author of this work, who is pastor of a Congregational church in Rochester, N. Y., believes that the "inevitable revolution which Matthew Arnold declares is befalling the religion in which we have been brought up, is part of that evolution by which God continues the higher processes of creation." He conceives the possibility of thinking under the principle of evolution and at the same time as a Christian believer, and believes that before long it will be found impossible to think clearly in any other way. The book is the outcome of a course of Sunday evening lectures which he delivered to his congregation on evolution and its relation to religion. A key to the central thought of the work may be found in a comparison, in the second chapter, between the former and more recent theories of creation. "According to the old story of creation, which was based upon no facts, but only upon a misinterpretation of revelation, God made man at one stroke, not as a sculptor makes a statue, not as an inventor makes a machine, but as the magician makes his prodigy. Accordingly, God is no constant and necessary factor of creation, but is a being who may be dispensed with, except for occasional irruptions into our region of space to perform wonders. Now r, in place of such a conception, evolution offers a far nobler one; and produces an array of facts, ever increasing in bulk and significance, to substantiate it. The process of change which goes on generation after generation, and age upon age, is creation. The Creator does not act as a magician, suddenly, as by mere impulse, but as the steady, eternal energy, and ever according to that purpose which we begin to consider." Again, in the chapter on "The Idea of God": "When we are told that evolution abolishes God, or renders him superfluous, we see, on the ​contrary, that evolution can not proceed one step without God. The materialist may declare that evolution proceeds by material energy or force. The agnostic may say that we do not know and can not know. The theist identifies the universal Power and Intelligence, proceeding by universal laws, as the Being of whom men have had imperfect intuitions, of whom men have had inspirations." As to the bearing of evolution on religion, we are told: "There is a feeling that evolution is dangerous. The exaggeration of that feeling is that evolutionary philosophy comes as a whirlwind to destroy religion; on the contrary, it comes to restore and revive it. My friends, evolution will prove itself dangerous to the kind of religion which treats it in that way. The religion that seeks to stand on the ground of opposition to light, on the ground of resistance, will find itself more and more threatened and undermined by it." The evolution of the idea of immortality is also regarded as of the highest importance, as showing the consummation of the works of creation. Other special topics considered include the Bible as a record of religious gradual growth, "the problem of evil," the relations of evolution with Christianity and with special features and aspects of Christian faith, and its relations with social institutions and development. Finally, criticism, both higher and lower, and that of all shades and grades between, is declared really to have but the one purpose of coming at the abiding and the useful. The law of development being all-inclusive, "truth, sacred truth, must also have its course of development and progress. It can not long be contained in any statement or mass of statements. It increases by its own vitality and outgrows the most elaborate and finished form in which any age can put it. And, above all, religious truth is not stationary—a jewel cut and fashioned by skillful device; it is in the nature of seed, inclosing the elements of growth, else it is no vital truth. . .. The serious concern of all men ought to be to know the truth, and to commit themselves to it. Not to commit themselves to the uncertainties, but to the certainties. So far as they do that, they will have no fear of the thrashing process of criticism which comes at various periods, and has now come."
Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy. By F. Howard Collins, with a Preface by Herbert Spencer. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 571. Price, $2.50.
We have here an eminently useful idea carried out in a very satisfactory manner. Mr. Collins has undertaken the by no means inconsiderable labor of going over the ten published volumes of Mr. Spencer's system of philosophy and summarizing them page by page. As he states in the "Compiler's Preface," "The object of this volume is to give in a condensed form the general principles of Mr. Herbert Spencer's philosophy as far as possible in his original words. In order to carry out this intention, each section (§) has been reduced, with but few exceptions, to one tenth; the five thousand and more pages of the original being thus represented by a little over five hundred. The 'Epitome' consequently represents 'The Synthetic Philosophy' as it would be seen through a diminishing glass; the original proportion holding between all its varied parts." Mr. Collins has aimed to present every salient point, to omit no essential link in the argument by which the celebrated exponent of the doctrine of Evolution deduces the whole course of history and the laws that govern all nature, animate and inanimate, from certain fundamental postulates of the most abstract or at least of the most general kind. The first thing that strikes us is the severity of the test to which Mr. Spencer's philosophy has thus been subjected. Stripping off all externals and non-essentials, Mr. Collins has laid bare the very framework of the system. He has reduced the Synthetic Philosophy to a series of almost naked propositions, the connection or lack of connection of each of which with those that precede and follow can be seen at a glance. Opinions will doubtless differ as to the degree of logical coherence thus brought to light; but we must declare, for our own part, that we are impressed anew, not only with the wonderful grasp of Mr. Spencer's mind, but with the philosophic unity of his thought. The apostle of Evolution has afforded us, in his successive volumes and in the successive chapters of each volume, one of the most magnificent examples of evolution. The success with which he has developed his system speaks ​powerfully for its essential conformity with the true order of nature.
It is hard to say whether Mr. Collins has rendered a greater service to those who are already familiar with Mr. Spencer's writings or to those who will first obtain some knowledge of them through his book. Certainly the former will thank him warmly for having placed within their reach a compend which will enable them at any moment to study to the greatest advantage the connection of the different parts of Mr. Spencer's system, and to refer at once to any portion which requires for its full comprehension that more complete elucidation which Mr. Spencer's own works supply. In the preface he has written for the present work Mr. Spencer says that he was somewhat surprised to find that it had been possible "to put so much into so small a space without sacrifice of intelligibility." We are not surprised at his surprise. The result must be attributed to Mr. Collins's skill; but it also testifies to the essential lucidity of the text on which Mr. Collins was working. With the utmost skill he could not have made pages intelligible that were involved in obscurity and self-contradiction. No one who is really interested in Mr. Spencer's writings will care to be without the present manual. Giving, as it does, the gist of every paragraph in the original volumes, it will in many cases render the consultation of those volumes unnecessary. What Mr. Spencer thinks is here, we might almost say, fully set forth. His own books give us in addition confirmatory reasonings and illustrations. Any one, therefore, who, without knowing anything of Spencer, becomes interested in Mr. Collins's epitome will probably seek the fountain-head whence so much of striking thought and compact argument has been derived.
Naturally, certain parts of the present epitome are more effective than others. The section on the Unknowable in Mr. Spencer's "First Principles" does not admit of much condensation, and here the epitome is too abstract for anything like general reading, though possessing in common with all the rest a high degree of usefulness for serious students of Spencer. The same remark applies to large portions of the "Psychology;" but in the biological and sociological portions Mr. Collins has given us a version of Spencer that is at once pithy, vigorous, and thoroughly interesting. We could quote scores of paragraphs that tell their tale with admirable condensation and point, and that make good reading for any day in the year. The effect, therefore, of the present work, we may hope, will be to popularize to some extent a system of thought which, abstract as it may seem, has been elaborated by its distinguished author in the most practical spirit possible and which can not become more widely known without conferring proportionate benefit upon society.
Special Physiology, including Nutrition, Innervation, and Reproduction. By John Gray M'Kendrick, M. D., LL. D., F. R. S., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1889. 8vo. Pp. 803. Price, $6.
Dr. M'Kendrick states in his preface that it has been his "endeavor throughout this volume to lay before the reader the main facts of physiological science, and as far as possible to state these facts in terms of measurement. The time has gone past for vague generalities in the description of physiological phenomena, and physiology is year by year drawing nearer to her true position as a science, dealing as strictly with the phenomena and basis of organic life as physics deals with those of dead matter."
The book is divided into sections, subdivided into chapters. The sections deal, in order, with nutrition; food; digestion; absorption; the blood and its circulation; respiration; assimilation or nutrition; glycogenosis; excretion; the income and expenditure of the body; animal heat; the nervous system; the senses; the voice; animal locomotion; and reproduction. There are four hundred and eighty-five illustrations.
Dr. M'Kendrick's well-known scholarship is a guarantee that this book is a valuable one. But that such is the fact would be quite apparent from inspection, even were his name not placed on the title-page. It gives the latest results of physiological study with accuracy and exactness. Whether or not his expectations, quoted from the preface, are ever to be realized, he certainly has aided to advance the science of ​physiology in the direction of his ideal. While the difficulties in the way of quantitative estimates of physiological phenomena are sometimes very great, that is no reason for relaxing efforts to overcome them, since in the accomplishment of this lies the hope of perfecting the science.
We have little space for special criticisms, but we think the author would have done better to leave some things to psychology, which he includes in his work. For instance (page G58), he speaks of pain as "a third kind of sensation, unlike touch and temperature." Now, there is a long-standing controversy as to this point whether pleasure and pain are distinct sensations or a quality of all sensations. Dr. M'Kendrick ought to have seen that this question could not be disposed of in a paragraph. Moreover, he should have recognized that it is clearly and peculiarly a psychological question. To include such a statement as he makes in a physiological work is certainly an error, whether he be right or wrong. And the assumption he makes is, besides, one which he would have great difficulty in substantiating. The likelihood is that pleasure and pain are not distinct forms of sensation, but qualities of all sensation whatsoever.
Problems in American Society. By Joseph H. Crooker. Boston: George H. Ellis. Pp. 293. Price, $1.25.
Six essays on moral and social problems of the time constitute this volume. The first is entitled "The Student in American Life," and its key-note is contained in the words "Americans are prone to ignore the vast practical importance of cultivated men." The second essay gives a sketch of the history of scientific charity, from the "Hamburg System" to the "Charity Organization" system of England and America, embodying many of the principles of this method of diminishing poverty. "The Boot of the Temperance Problem" is the subject of the next paper. The author does not think attacking the saloon-keeper is the way to reach the root of drunkenness. On the contrary, "true temperance methods," he says, "are such as reach the reason, the conscience, and the will of each individual." There is an essay on "The Political Conscience," which in many men is a coarser article than the private conscience. In regard to "Moral and Religious Instruction in our Public Schools," the author maintains that, "logically there is no stopping short of a state religion, if religious instruction is insisted upon in the public schools"; and in answer to the question, "Shall, then, our public schools teach a formal moral code?" he answers: "No; rather let them possess a moral atmosphere, derived from the personality of the teacher." In the closing essay he discusses the fact that many villages having churches of half a dozen sects are almost destitute of real religion.
The Town-Dweller: His Needs and his Wants. By J. Milner Fothergill, M. D. With an Introduction by B. W. Richardson, M. D., F. B. S. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 118. Price, $1.
Two general reasons are given by Dr. Fothergill for the dwellers in towns being inferior physically to the inhabitants of the country. First, a natural selection draws the slight men of active brain from the country into the towns; and, second, the conditions of life in the towns are hostile to physical vigor. In successive chapters of this book the dangers in these conditions of city life are pointed out. The house of the town-dweller may be built on a rubbish-heap, and have smoky chimneys and dangerous plumbing. His surroundings may include noisy or ill-smelling premises, while street noises afflict the best city neighborhoods. The air he breathes lacks ozone, and is charged with the oxides of carbon, sulphur dioxide, and metallic fumes, and contains often irritating dust. The water-supply of towns is not always wholesome. The towndweller eats too much meat and white bread, and he rejects fat, which shows that his digestive organs are too weak to digest it. Too much tea and alcoholic beverages are consumed by town-dwellers, and the liquors often contain substances more harmful than alcohol. Most of the work of the town is done indoors, and in a hot atmosphere, which favors the handling of small objects. Town amusements are also mostly carried on indoors, and furnish little of the recreation needed. The brain and nerves of the town-dweller are unnaturally developed, while his muscles and internal organs are proportionately weakened. Blight's disease and ​diabetes are especially associated with the mental activity of town-dwellers. Their children are sickly, and if it were not for the constant inflow of new blood from the country, the towns would be depopulated in three or four generations. Dr. Richardson, in his introduction to the volume, says, "The divisions are excellent, the title of each division attractive, and the mode of progress from stage to stage artistic." He draws attention to certain "short, sharp sayings, each one in its proper place, and easily learned and not easily forgotten." As samples of these he quotes, "Flags and pavements produce no grass." "Brains are the finest raw material of a country." "To kill the weak and injure the middling is a long price for education." He calls it also an eminently suggestive book, which, if the author had lived, would doubtless have been expanded.
On the Creation and Physical Structure of the Earth. By John T. Harrison. London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 189. Price, $2.50.
The author offers this production as an essay toward a theory of the formation of the earth's crust. In his discussion he makes liberal use of passages in the writings of the leading geologists, which often reveal wide differences of opinion concerning the questions discussed. He also puts at the heads of several chapters, and scatters through his text, passages from the Bible, with which he evidently deems it essential that his views should conform. A striking case of this tendency to subordinate his opinions to the imagined geological teachings of the Bible is where he says that the earthquakes which now occur result from disturbance of the crust in one or other of the old lines of rupture, and asks, "Who can earnestly consider this condition of the earth and say that it may not be nearly ripe for another paroxysm?" He then quotes from Prof. Hitchcock to the effect that the earth contains within itself chemical energies sufficient to accomplish its own destruction, and adds, "We have the yet older and surer revelation that the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunken man, and, when enveloped in flames, all the works of man shall be burned up." This, in spite of the fact that the progressive cooling of the earth points to its end in frigidity.
A Test-Book of Animal Physiology, with Introductory Chapters on General Biology and a Full Treatment of Reproduction. For Students of Human and Comparative (Veterinary) Medicine and of General Biology. By Wesley Mills, Professor of Physiology in McGill University and the Veterinary College, Montreal. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1889. 8vo. Pp. 700.
The plan of this important work is new. It adopts the comparative method, begins with general biology, treats of the cell as the unit, gives an account of unicellular vegetal organisms both on the morphological and the physiological side, then of unicellular animals, next of multicellular organisms, leading up to a consideration of the animal body, the animal kingdom and man's place therein. Following all this is a full exposition of the origin of life in general and of reproduction, very admirably presented. Then the chemical constitution of the animal body is taken up, the blood and the contractile tissues are examined, the graphic method is extensively applied to the study of muscle physiology, the circulatory system is explained, succeeded by an account of the digestive system. Excretion is next dealt with, then the metabolic or chemically transforming processes, while the nervous system and the senses form the concluding portions of the work.
The plan has obvious advantages. It is much better adapted to giving the learner a correct and comprehensive view of physiology than treatises in the usual form and order. Moreover, the work in question is admirably executed and has all the characteristics of a truly scientific production. It is certain that physiology must be hereafter studied with reference to general biological laws, and not by piecemeal methods. Then books like the present one will inevitably supersede the older text-books, presenting a less unified physiology. Dr. Mills's volume will help this progress. It may be safely recommended as one of the best treatises on the subject extant, and in respect to method we know of none more praiseworthy.
La Pisciculture en Eaux Douces (Fish Culture in Fresh Waters). By A. Gobin. Paris: J. B. Baillière et Fils. Pp. 360.
M. Gobin has given us a handy and useful book, comprehensive and practical. The ​subject has been introduced into the agricultural and national schools of France, and the art has become there, according to the author, not only a regular branch of industry, but also the fashion. It is recommended as being equally well adapted to women with the care of poultry, bees, and silk-worms. "As a recreation, it interests the mind and the eyes; and it has been well tested as an economical resource. As a regular pursuit, it has been taken up and then dropped several times; in the present effort that is making to establish it on a systematic basis, the United States is acknowledged to be in advance of any of the European countries which are named. Of its importance, the author well says that, in a period of civilization like that which we have reached, every waterfall, however slight it may be, should and can be utilized as a motor force, and every stream and water surface should be made to support the maximum of aquatic inhabitants best suited to purposes of food. To obtain this condition, nothing has to be created. All that is necessary is "to study and adopt what has been done in England, Switzerland, some places in Germany, and especially in the United States." In the several chapters and sections of the book are considered the properties of fresh water, the different kinds of fish, natural and artificial breeding and feeding, the construction and management of fish-ponds, the management of lakes and methods of dealing with running waters, migratory and "sedentary" fish, crustaceans, lagoon fish, and sea fish. The whole is abundantly and satisfactorily illustrated, and a classified list of the freshwater fishes of France is added.
A paper that will have value for manufacturers of iron and steel is that on The Construction of Cupolas for the Melting of Pig-Iron, by M. A. Gouvy, Jr., translated by W. F. Durfee, which appeared in the "Journal of the Franklin Institute" for January, 1889. It presents, in one comprehensive view, most of the experiments that have been tried in many lands, with a hope of improving the working of cupolas; and the translator believes that, if its conclusions are intelligently followed by users of cupolas, very large economies of fuel will result. Among the experiments whose history is given in this sketch are the employment of hot blast, utilization of the gas escaping from the top of the furnace, changes in the form of the vertical section of cupolas, cooling the walls, equal distribution of the blast, suction-blast, gas-firing, and complete combustion of the carbonic oxide. The author points out clearly the advantages and disadvantages of each of these devices, aud at the end sums up his conclusions. A table giving the relative dimensions, the product, and the consumption of fuel in thirty-three cupolas of various construction accompanies the paper.
The purpose of the manual on Foods for the Fat, by Nathaniel F. Davies (Lippincott, 75 cents), is to enable persons suffering from corpulency to so regulate their diet as to cure their ailment. The first division of the volume tells the amount of food required by persons in ordinary occupations, the uses of fat in the body, and the effect on corpulency of exercise, stimulants, tea, coffee, and other beverages. In the second part of the book a list of articles which may be eaten by the corpulent is given for each month, and something more than half the volume is devoted to recipes for preparing such articles.
Dr. George M. Gould, of Philadelphia, publishes a report of three cases in which, respectively, chorea, flatulent dyspepsia, and palpitation of the heart had been caused by eye-strain, and were cured when the eye was relieved. Following the line of research thus opened, the author examines the relation of sexualism and reflex ocular neuroses, and finds a means of accounting for the headaches of women in the years between puberty and middle age, and for various other functional derangements.
The object of the Inventor's Manual (J. F. Davidson & Co., New York, $1) is "to give the inventor and patentee some hints on patents generally, together with information on ways of exhibiting inventions, bringing them to public notice, and effecting sales." Among the subjects treated in this work are, how to invent, how to secure a good patent, value of a good invention, how to exhibit an invention, how to interest capital, how to estimate the value of a patent, advice on selling patents, advice on the formation of stock companies, forms for assignments, licenses, and contracts, State laws concerning ​patent-rights, and other items of information not generally accessible to the inventor or manufacturer.
The following five books and pamphlets are issued by the Woman's Temperance Publication Association: The Year's Bright Chain (price, 50 cents) consists of twelve pages of quotations from the writings of Frances E. Willard, alternating with full page pictures representing the months. Each picture is accompanied by a couple of stanzas of verse telling the wish the month grants to a boy and to a girl. A finely engraved steel portrait of Miss Willard forms the frontispiece. The artistic and mechanical quality of the book can not fail to delight her young admirers. Frances Raymond's Investment, by Mrs. S. M. I. Henry (price, 50 cents), is the story of a woman's complaint against the State for the loss, due to the licensed saloon, of what her boy had cost her. The Unanswered Prayer; or, Why do so many Children of the Church go to Ruin? also by Mrs. Henry (price, 50 cents) consists of several chapters of counsel to mothers in regard to saving their children from the evils and dangers that beset them. Songs of the Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union, by Anna A. Gordon (price, 25 cents), consists of ninety-five pages of words and music, suitable for temperance meetings. Crusader Programs (price, 25 cents) is a collection of exercises, consisting of recitations, dialogues, etc., interspersed with songs, and designed for the Loyal Temperance Legion, Sunday schools, etc., and adapted to Arbor-day, Easter, Decoration-day, and other occasions.
A new review, called The Arena, has been started in Boston, under the editorship of B. O. Flower (The Arena Publishing Company, $5 a year). The promise that it will be "a field of combat" where the many social, ethical, and political questions of the day will be fought over, seems likely to be verified, for among the contributors to the first two numbers are some of the most belligerent writers for the press who are now in the field. These are such as Robert G. Ingersoll, who opens the first number with an article on "God in the Constitution"; Lawrence Grönlund, who writes on "Nationalism"; Hugh O. Pentecost, on "The Crime of Capital Punishment"; Henry George, on the "Rum Power"; Rev. Minot J. Savage, W. H. H. Murray, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, and Hudson Tuttle. Besides these serious discussions, The Arena offers papers on literary subjects, by Dion Boucicault, Louis Frechette, and others, and poetry and fiction by Joaquin Miller, W. H. H. Murray, Edgar Fawcett, and others. Each number is to have a portrait as a frontispiece; that of Dion Boucicault appears in the first number, and that of Rev. Minot J. Savage in the second.
In Some Social and Economic Paradoxes—a reprint from the "American Anthropologist"—Mr. Lester F. Ward sustains a number of theses, the contrary of which i9 now more currently held, such as that "The artificial is superior to the natural;" "Social activities may be artificially regulated to the advantage of society"; "Reforms are chiefly advocated by those who have no personal interest in them"; "Discontent increase with the improvement of the social condition"; "The means of subsistence increases more rapidly than population," and others on the relations of capital, profits, and wages.
A pamphlet published by E. Truelove, of London—Home Rule and Federation is its name, and A Doctor of Medicine its author—advocates the federation of nations on a plan resembling that of the United States as the cure or most effective palliative for existing social and political evils. It might begin with states already showing inclinations in that direction, like those of the Balkan Peninsula and Scandinavia; then bring in France and England, whereby, it is suggested, a solution of the Irish question may be found; and at last be made universal.
Some years ago Mr. J. C. Pilling undertook the compilation of a bibliography of North American languages; visited many public and private libraries, and corresponded extensively; and embodied the results of his researches in a volume of which a limited number of copies were printed and distributed. He has since continued his investigations, and has collected enough new material to lead to the belief that a fairly complete catalogue of the works relating to each of the more important linguistic stocks of North America may be prepared. Four ​catalogues of the new series have been published by the Bureau of Ethnology. The first of them is the Bibliography of the Eskimo language, which is spoken by a people covering a very extensive range of territory and widely scattered, and is represented in many dialects. The earliest date recorded in the bibliography is 1729, and it is brought down to include titles that came in while the work was in process of typesetting. Next in order is the Bibliography of the Siouan Languages, in preparing which the compiler enjoyed the advantage of the fact that many of those who have fashioned the literature of the language are still living, and he has had personal intercourse or correspondence with a number of them for several years. The publications of the Siouan group cover, perhaps, a wider range than those of any other linguistic group of North America. Nearly every dialect is represented in print or manuscript, either by dictionaries or extensive vocabularies, and pretentious grammars have been prepared of at least five of the languages. The third bibliography is of the Iroquoian Languages to which group, perhaps, belongs the honor of being the first of American languages to be placed upon record. The languages most largely represented are the Mohawk and Cherokee. Of manuscripts, mention is made of a greater number in Mohawk than in any of the other languages. Grammars have been printed of the Cherokee, Huron, and Mohawk; dictionaries in Huron, Mohawk, and Onondaga, and, in manuscript, of Seneca and Tuscarora. The Muskhogean Languages, to which the fourth bibliographical paper is devoted, are represented by 521 entries, of which 467 relate to printed books and articles and 54 to manuscripts.
Les Trois Mousquetaires—The Three Musketeers—of Alexandre Dumas is published by Ginn & Co., in an edition prepared for the use of schools, by Prof. F. C. Sunichrast, of Harvard College. This is one of the best works of the lively novelist, and belongs to a series to which Mr. George Saintsbury has ascribed remarkable and almost unique merits. But all of Dumas's works are liable to objection because of their containing passages unfit to be put into the hands of pupils. The present edition is an attempt to offer a condensation of the book, in which, while leaving the main features of the story and the brilliant and delightful passages untouched, all that is objectionable is excluded, and the volume is brought within such limits of length that it may be conveniently used as a text-book. The notes include explanations of difficult passages and allusions, and notices of historical persons and places mentioned in the story. Price, 80 cents.
The Young Folks' Library, edited by Larkin Dunton, LL. D. (Silver, Burdett & Co.), is a series of supplementary readers, designed to give, besides practice in reading, useful information in special fines of school study, and selections from the best literature. The World and its People is a section of this library devoted to geography. Book I, First Lessons, starts with the building of a doll's house with blocks, and proceeds to the drawing of a plan of a school-room and play-ground, a village, and a city, after which the meaning and use of a map and of the points of the compass are fully explained. Spelling lists follow each lesson, and the volume is illustrated. Book II, Glimpses of the World, aims to present such ideas of persons and places as will interest children and fit them for the study of geography proper. The maps inserted usually represent portions of the United States, and at the same time illustrate general geographical features of the world. The frontispiece is liable to give children a wrong idea of the size of the earth; it represents the globe floating in space, with a swallow the size of Greenland flying over it about a thousand miles above the atmosphere. Many poetical pieces are introduced into each book. Other volumes are to follow.
Prof. Alexander M. Bell has embodied his widely known system of sound notation in a Popular Manual of Vocal Physiology and Visible Speech (E. S. Werner, New York, 50 cents), designed as a text-book for teaching these subjects in schools and colleges. It gives a complete view of the actions of the vocal organs and the resulting elements of speech. The symbols used to represent the various motions and positions of the organs constitute visible speech. The mastery of spoken languages, the exact acquirement of native or foreign pronunciations, the correction of defects of utterance, and ​the teaching of articulation to the deaf, are uses to which Prof, Bell's system is applicable.
References to the United States Constitution, by William E. Foster, is published as No. XXIX in the series issued by the Society for Political Education, 330 Pearl Street, New York. Mr. Foster, Librarian of the Providence Public Library, is one of the scholarly men who seek to make the collections of books committed to their care of the largest possible public benefit. This pamphlet is an object-lesson in reading with a purpose. It gives clear references by chapter and page to everything in print having a bearing on the Constitution of the United States. We are given a list of the works showing the antecedent influences in antiquity, in German and English institutions, and in American colonial history. The more immediate causes are traced in the records of the Annapolis Convention, 1786, and the Philadelphia Convention, 178*7. Next Mr. Foster analyzes the Constitution as framed and adopted, and shows the various sources of its articles. He then proceeds with Constitutional History since 1789, giving reference to all the leading expositions and commentaries on the Federal and State Governments, with notes on the various amendments, and on the comparisons of other governments with that of the United States. An appendix summarizes the decisions of the Supreme Court since 1865 on questions affecting national or State supremacy. Mr. Foster has performed his task with conscientious care and thoroughness. His References will save every student of the Constitution much unnecessary labor and bring before him much that he might never otherwise know. (Price, 25 cents.)
Prof. Simon N. Patten, of the University of Pennsylvania, in his pamphlet on The Rational Principles of Taxation, makes a debatable contribution to a difficult theme. He maintains that the wastes and burdens of competition in methods of distribution are increasing; the great cost of solicitation and advertisement in their manifold forms he holds to be the chief reason why science applied to industry has not enriched the nation as it should. His remedy for undue and wasteful competition is of a heroic kind; it is no other than an adaptation of the high-license plan in dealing with the retail liquor trade. Prof. Patten holds that while that plan deprives no patron of his desired beverages, effects no increase of prices, it results in notable economy to the community in extinguishing one half or more of the saloons, with their outlays for rent, attendants, and so on. He argues that a similar reduction of the ranks of all distributive classes by a high special tax would inure to a general promotion of prosperity in which these classes would perforce share.
Appleton, John Howard. Laboratory Tear-Book, 1890. Providence, R. I.: Gordon Roscoe &, Co. Pp. 81. 12 cents.
Arey. Albert L. Laboratory Manual of Experimental Physics. Syracuse, N. Y.: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 200. 75 cents.
Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. Annals.—Meteorological Observations made on the Summit of Pike's Peak, January, 1874. to June, 1888. Pp. 475.—Observations of the New England Meteorological Society in the Year 1888. Pp. 99, with Charts.—Monthly Bulletins of the New England Meteorological Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Edward C. Pickering, Director.
Blackmar, Frank W. History of State Aid to Higher Education in the United States. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 343.
Blake, William P., New Haven, Conn. Mineralogical Notes (Verde Valley, Ariz.). Pp. 3.
Bray, Henry Truro. The Evolution of a Life from the Bondage of Truth to the Freedom of Reason. Chicago: Holt Publishing Co. Pp. 486. $2.
Brinton, Daniel G. On Etruscan and Libyan Names. A Comparative Study. Pp. 16.
Canadian Institute. Annual Report for 1889. Toronto: Charles Carpmael, President of the Council. Pp. 118.
Chisolm, Julian J., Baltimore. Persistent Headaches and how to Treat them. Pp 12.
Clark, A. Arnold, Lansing. Mich. Germs, the Prevention of Consumption, etc. Pp. 16.
Clark, Kate Elizabeth. The Dominant Seventh. A Musical Story. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 164. 50 cents.
Coast and Geodetic Survey, United States. Tables for converting Customary and Metric Weights and Measures. Pp. 4.
Crawley, Edwin S. Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 159. $1.
Crocker, Uriel H., Boston. Excess of Supply: its Cause and its Results. Pp. 8.
Crookshank, Edgar M. History and Pathology of Vaccination. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. 2 vols. Pp. 460 and 610, with Plates.
Ethnology, United States Bureau of. J. W. Powell, Director. Report. 1888-'84. Pp. 564—Ibid . 1884-'85. Pp. 675, both with Maps and Plates.—The Circular. Square, and Octagonal Earthworks of Ohio. By Cyrus Thomas Pp. 36, with Plates.—Textile Fabrics of Ancient Peru. By William H. Holmes. Pp. 17. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
Dead Heart, Souvenir of the (Lyceum Theatre, London). New York: Cassell & Co. Pp. 51, with Plates.
Ebers. Georg. Joshua, a Story of Biblical Times. Translated by Mary Safford. New York: W. S. Gottsberger & Co. Pp. 371.
​Foster, Michael, and others, Editors. The "Journal of Physiology" Vol. XI, Nos. 1 and 2. Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company's Works, England. Pp. 160, with Plates. $5 a volume.
Gray, Henry, London. Random Catalogue of Americana and Coloniana. Pp. 241.—Random Catalogue of Choice Books. Pp. 16.
Harrison, Louis Reeves. Rothermal. New York: American News Company. Pp. 281. 50 cents.
Iowa, State University of. Bulletin from the Laboratory of Natural History. (Anatomy of the Gorgonidæ and the Native Fishes of Iowa.) Iowa City. Pp. 76.
James, Edmund J. Federal Constitution of Germany. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Pp. 43. 50 cents.
Kansas Academy of Sciences. Transactions, 1887-'88. Topeka: B. B. Smyth, Librarian. Pp. 129.
Martin, H. Newell, and Brooks, W. K. Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 100, with Plates. $1.
Massachusetts Agricultural College. Twenty-seventh Annual Report. Pp. 99.
National Museum, United States. A Review of the Genus Xiphocolaptes of Lesson. Pp. 20. And of the Genus Sclerurus of Swainson. Pp. 10. Birds collected in the Galapagos Islands in 1888. Pp. 28. And Birds collected at certain other South American Islands in 1887-'88. Pp. 10. All by Robert Ridgway.—Descriptive Notes on New Genera and Species from the Lower Cambrian of North America. By Charles D. Walcott. Pp. 16.—New North American Acrididæ. By Laurence Bruner. Pp. 36, with Plate.—Contribution to the History of Pallas's Cormorant. By Leonard Stejneger and Frederick A. Lucas. Pp. 12. Description of Two New Species of Snakes from California. By Leonard Stejneger. Pp. 5.—Report on the Batrachians and Reptiles collected in 1887-'88. By E. D. Cope. Pp. 7.—Descriptions of New Species of Fishes. Galapagos Islands and Coast of Colombia. By David Starr Jordan and C. H. Bollman. Pp. 34.—Catalogue of Insects collected in 1887-'88. By I. O. Howard—Scientific Results of Explorations by the United States Fish Commission Steamer Albatross. By Dr. George Vasey. Washington: Government Printing-Office
New Jersey Agricultural College. Experiment Station, New Brunswick, Bulletin. Fungous Diseases of the Cranberry. By Byron D. Halsted. Pp. 40.
New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, Bulletin. Testing of Dairy Breeds. Pp. 44.
Noel, Hon. Edward. Natural Weights and Measures London: Edward Stanford. Pp. 83, with Plates.
"P., G. W." American Whist. Illustrated. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 367. $1.75.
Pickering, Edward C. On the Spectrum of Zeta Ursæ Majoris. Pp. 2.
Rankin. Francis H. M. D. Hygiene of Childhood. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 140. 75 cents.
Richards, Edgar. Some Food Substances and Adulterants. Washington, D. C. Pp. 18.
Rochester, N. T. Forty-second Annual Report of the Board of Education. Pp. 207.
Salomons, Sir David. Electric Light Installations and the Management of Accumulators. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company. Pp. 334. $1.50.
Sampson, Z. Sidney. Primitive Man. Boston: James H. West. Pp. 8. 10 cents.
Sapp, Hudson, Mansfield, Ohio. A New Revelation, Unequaled Theology. Pp. 164.
Savage, Minot. J. Sermons on Life. (Wealth and Poverty; Mr. Bellamy's Nationalism.) Boston: George H. Ellis. Pp. 16 and 19. 5 cents each.
Small, Albion W. The Beginnings of American Nationality. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 77. $1.
Shufeldt, R. W. Remarks upon Extinct Mammals of the United States. Pp. 38.—Progress in Avian Anatomy in 1888-'89. Pp. 5.—Osteology of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Water Birds. Pp. 28, with Plates.
Stewart. Hon. William N., United States Senate. Speech on Speculators in Money and Debts. Pp. 8.
Tennessee State Board of Health, Bulletin. Nashville. Pp. 20.
Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, Transactions, 1889. Prof Joseph Leidy, President.
Wake, C. Staniland. The Growth of the Marriage Relation. Boston: James H. West. Pp. 70. 10 cents.
White, Andrew Dickson, LL. D. Syllabus of Lectures on the Causes of the French Revolution. Philadelphia. Pp. 14.
Whitman, C. O., and Allis. Edward Phelps, Jr., Editors. "Journal of Morphology," December, 1889. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. 120.