# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 32/February 1888/Literary Notices

Layout 4
The American Journal of Psychology. Edited by G. Stanley Hall, Professor of Psychology and Pedagogics in the Johns Hopkins University. Vol. I, No. 1. Baltimore, Md.: N. Murray. Pp. 205. Quarterly, $3 per year.
This journal is to be heartily welcomed and commended. It supplies a genuine want, and if the first number is a fair sample, its work will be well done, and a great credit to American science. The object of the journal "is to record the psychological work of a scientific as distinct from a speculative character, which has been so widely scattered as to be largely inaccessible save to a very few, and often to be overlooked by them." The journal is to consist of three parts: "I. Original contributions of a scientific character. These will consist partly of experimental investigations on the functions of the senses and brain, physiological time, psycho-physic law, images and their association, volition, innervation, etc.; and partly of inductive studies of instinct in animals, psychogenesis in children, and the large fields of morbid and anthropological psychology not excluding hypnotism; methods of research, which will receive special attention; and lastly, the finer anatomy of the sense-organs and the central nervous system, including the latest technical methods, and embryological, comparative, and experimental studies of both neurological structure and function; II. Digests and reviews, and III. Notes, news, brief mentions, etc."
The number before us contains leading articles, entitled: "The Variations of the Normal Knee-Jerk and their Relation to the Activity of the Central Nervous System" (with plates), by Warren Plympton Lombard, M.D.; "Dermal Sensitiveness to Gradual Pressure-Changes," by G. Stanley Hall and Yuzero Motoro; "A Method for the Experimental Determination of the Horopter" (with plate), by Christine Ladd-Franklin; "The Psycho-Physic Law and Star Magnitudes," by Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D. In addition there are sixty pages and more of reviews of psychological literature, covering thirty-eight works reviewed—American, English, French, German—the reviews being of unusually excellent quality. ​Finally, there are ten pages of interesting notes, giving items of psychological importance.
Since the publication of "Mind" was commenced, no periodical has appeared of such fair promise for the promotion of psychological knowledge and inquiry. Professor G. Stanley Hall has made his mark in this department of science, and is thoroughly equipped for the work of conducting such a journal. We wish the enterprise every success, and believe that it will receive a cordial support from all those who are competent to judge of the value of a scientific pursuit of psychological study.
The Science of Politics. By Walter Thomas Mills. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1887. Price, $1.
This book is not exactly what its title would seem to indicate. The author defines political science as the science of the state and also of citizenship, but the latter is the exclusive subject of this work. It does not treat of the functions of the state or of its historical evolution, but of the practical duties of the citizen, especially with regard to political parties. Hence, it is practical rather than philosophical, and for that very reason will probably interest a larger number of readers. The style is journalistic, and the book is cut up into a large number of short chapters, so that it reads like a series of newspaper articles.
The author's views on the subject of parties are, for the most part, those of the best public opinion of the country at the present time. He holds fast to the doctrine that a political party exists solely to carry into effect some recognized principle or principles which its members believe in, and consequently that when a party refuses to act on principle it has no longer any reason to be. He is no believer in the doctrine that a man must always indorse the action of his party, whether he approves it or not; and he has a clear sense of the despotism of party managers and of the mischief they often do. He shows that a party is not, like the state itself, a permanent organization, but a temporary one, and that when a party has outlived its usefulness it ought to perish and give way to a new organization that will deal with the problems of the day. He is, perhaps, a little too ready to break off from established parties because of disagreement with them on a single issue, the particular issue that he is interested in being that of prohibiting the sale of liquors. But he shows throughout his book the preference of public ends to private and partisan ones which is now happily characteristic of the best young men of America. In short, while there is little in the book that will be new to the political philosopher or the instructed statesman, there is much that will be useful to ordinary voters if they should study it.
We are sorry to find the book disfigured by a great number of misspellings, such as "weich" for which, "squarly" for squarely, "Leiber" for Lieber, and so on, some pages having two or three words misspelled. Such blunders are not creditable to either author or publisher.
The Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient and Mediæval. By C. W. King. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 466. With 15 Plates.
The author's original work upon Gnostic remains was published about 1864, and met with strong commendation or reprehension, according as it fell in with or contradicted cherished notions. The most really complimentary criticism to his own mind was the assertion made by one reviewer that he had displayed in the work more the spirit of a Gnostic—that is, of "one addicted to knowledge"—than of a Christian. He claims to have continued to pursue his investigation with the motive thus described, of studying the subject for the sole purpose of understanding the truth. New and extremely valuable sources of information have come to his hand since the publication of the first edition, to which no previous author had access: in the shape of the tract the "Refutation of All Heresies," by an author, perhaps Origen or Hippolytus, who was intimately acquainted with the doctrines he exposed, and illustrated them by many extracts from the Gnostic literature, then copious enough; and of the "Pistis Sophia," the only one left of the once numerous Gnostic Gospels, and a most important book for his own purpose. Mr. King's especial field of research is the archæological side of the ​subject, the philosophical side having, in his opinion, been satisfactorily treated by Matter ("Histoire critique du Gnosticisme," 1827), to whom the reader is referred. The history and origin of the system, its relations with other systems from which it was derived or has borrowed its rituals and its emblems, come under his purview. He begins by reviewing the great religious systems of the East, which were flourishing at the time of the promulgation of Christianity in those regions, with the influence of those systems upon the modes of thought and expression of both the missionaries of the new creed and their exponents. He cites from the words of St. Paul evidence of the previous existence of the germs of Gnosticism in the cities that were the scenes of his most important labors. Proof is brought forward that the seeds of Gnosticism were originally of Indian growth and were carried westward by the movement of Buddhism, which was planted in the dominions of the Seleucidæ and the Ptolemies "at least as early as the times of the generation following the establishment of those dynasties." Next, are considered the contributions of Egypt, which are discriminated from the real Gnostic productions, and have their distinctive characters pointed out; Mithraicism, with explanations of its alliance with Occidental Christianity; the religion of Serapis, the last of the heathen forms to fall before the power of Christianity; "Abraxas, Abraxaster, and Abraxoid gems," and their meaning; the relations of astrology, the Templars, the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons; with observations about the origin of Mason's marks, and talismans, and amulets, which are related by their nature to this religion; "for Gnostic symbols and Gnostic formulas gave their virtue to many of the class, being borrowed directly from the Gnosis or from the older creeds out of which the latter was constructed. Their employment, and the notions generating them, have been here described, showing the derivation of many of the mediæval examples from the Gnostic class; and by following out the same principle, it has been attempted to find a key to their cabalistic legends which may fit them better than any hitherto offered by their interpreters." The illustrations are drawn entirely from engraved stones, for the Gnostic societies erected no monuments to attract public attention. They include various types of the god Abraxas, Cnuphic and Scrapie emblems, Egyptian types, Mithraic subjects, talismans, Hindoo symbols, and Mason's marks. The book promises to be of great value to the student, but can hardly be comprehended without some previous knowledge of the subject.
Elementary Psychology and Education. By Joseph Baldwin, of Texas. International Education Series. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 287. Price, $1.50
This work is intended expressly for elementary classes. The author says: "Our literature is rich in psychologies adapted to colleges and senior classes in our normal schools, but is destitute of a text-book suitable for our high schools and for the lower classes in our normal schools. The want of such a text-book is widely felt. The author has given the best years of his life to the effort to prepare such a text-book and thus meet the want. Each lesson here submitted has been given scores of times to large classes with highly satisfactory results. Short sentences in plain Anglo-Saxon is the rule. Object-lessons, bold type, outlines, study-hints, examples to work out, original analysis, original definitions, original applications, and helpful illustrations, are called into constant requisition."
The plan of the work is to deal in Introductory Lessons with Attention, Instinct, and Sensation; in Part II with the Perceptive Powers; in Part III with the Representative Powers; in Part IV with the Thought Powers; in Part V with the Feelings; and in Part VI with the Will Powers. Diagrams for the purposes of illustration are abundant. Topical analyses are made at the close of each chapter, together with Suggestive Study-Hints, The typography of the book is excellent,
Boston School-Kitchen Text-Book. By Mrs. D. A. Lincoln. Boston: Roberta Brothers. Pp. 27 + 237. Price, $1.
The purpose of this manual is a very important one, for it aims to supply what many young women undertake the management of a home without—namely, a ​knowledge of the proper methods of preparing and combining foods, and especially the reasons for these methods. Recipes have their place in the book, but more prominence is given to general principles—to explanations of the nature and uses of food, of the changes effected by the several modes of cooking—baking, boiling, steaming, and broiling—and to principles for adapting the diet to age, occupation, climate, and means. The practical directions include the care of the fire, and the cleaning of utensils, the names of the cuts of beef, with diagrams, the care of food before and after cooking, and laying and waiting on the table. Invalid cookery also receives attention. Tables of the cost of meats and fish, and charts showing the average composition of some common foods are given. The language is adapted to the understanding of young girls, and the book is indorsed by the Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools as being the outgrowth of practical teaching in the cooking class-rooms connected with the public schools of that city.
Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Containing the Nahuatl Text of Twenty-seven Ancient Mexican Poems. With a Translation, Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary. By Daniel G. Brinton. Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton. Pp. 177. Price, $3.
The Nahuatl tongue is one of the most highly developed of American aboriginal languages, and is represented in a relatively rich literature, of which the present volume embodies perhaps, some of the most important specimens. The race who spoke it cultivated song, music, and the dance, with passionate love, and held the profession of poet in the highest honor. The poets' works were recited by themselves or by professional singers at public meetings and on festal occasions, as were those of Homer, the troubadours, and the Welsh bards. The old love of the song and the dance are continued. Dr. Brinton tells us, in the Indian villages to this day, with changed themes, but in forms which have undergone but little alteration. The more important songs were written down by the Nahuas, according to Sahagun, in their books, and from these were taught to the youth in the schools. The sound as well as the sense of the sentences and verses was also preserved by the method of writing which Dr. Brinton has described in a monograph that has been noticed in the "Monthly" as ikonomatic. By these methods, a large body of poetic chants was in existence when the Nahuatl-speaking tribes were subjugated by the Europeans. Some of them were translated into Spanish by Sahagun, and others were preserved in the original tongue; and thus they came to the knowledge of European writers. The question having been raised whether any ancient Mexican poetry is now extant. Dr. Brinton explains that his text is taken from a copy made by the late Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, from a manuscript volume in the library of the University of Mexico, composed of various pieces in different characters, which were attributed by the antiquary, Don Jose F. Ramirez, to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the editor's view they are from different sources and of different epochs. The collection includes a notice of the LX songs of the royal poet King Nezahualcoyotl, who died in 1472, with translations of four of the poems, and the text and translations of the twenty-seven songs mentioned in the title, which are of various moods. Not a line of these songs, the editor asserts, has ever before been rendered into a European tongue. The introduction includes notes on the Nahuatl national love of poetry, the status of the Nahuatl poet and his work, the themes and classes prosody, and vocal delivery of the songs, the instrumental accompaniment, the preservation of the ancient songs, and the history of the present collection. The thanks of all students are owing to Dr. Brinton for the diligence and enthusiasm—with no little self-sacrifice, we judge—which he has displayed in bringing this aboriginal literature series to its present fulness. The publication can not be supposed to be a profitable or paying one, yet he has kept it up without discouragement and without depreciating the quality of the work. Abundant material remains in his hands for a continuation of the series, and other works of a similar character with those that have already appeared will be issued from time to time if sufficient interest is manifested to meet the cost of publishing them. We ​hope that this interest will be shown, and the enterprise not allowed to become a burden to the editor.
History of the Pacific States of North America. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. XXXII. Popular Tribunals. Vol. II. San Francisco: The History Company. New York: Frank M. Derby, Eastern agent. Pp. 772. Price, $5.
The present volume of Mr. Bancroft's great work is devoted to the history of the second Vigilance Committee of San Francisco, or that of 1856, and is dedicated to its president, William T. Coleman, who is styled the "chief of the greatest popular tribunal the world has ever witnessed." The Vigilance Committee of 1856, while it was of similar composition and of the same character and spirit of that of 1851, rose under different circumstances, and to meet a different emergency. At the time of the earlier committee, law had not been established, but San Francisco was still the prey of ruffians who had been attracted from all quarters by the stories of the gold-diggings to which it was the gate, and who overrode all legal restrictions by brute force. In 1856 government had been organized, and might have been strong enough if it had chosen to exert itself, but was under the control of political tricksters, assisted by the roughs. Hence there was more apparent reason in 1856 in favor of the plea that reform should be sought through legal measures, and for the clear difference of opinion which existed between evidently honest and well-meaning men as to the propriety of the Vigilance Committee's existence and the justification of its measures. Hence, also, a more temperate style than the author of this history has permitted himself to use through most of his work would have been more becoming its sober purpose. The Vigilance Committee of 1856 was a movement by the vast majority of the people of San Francisco against systematic ballot-box stuffing, which made fair elections impossible and all elections burlesques, universal thievery, and political terrorism intensified by frequent murder; all tolerated and said to be encouraged by public officers who depended on such outrages to reach and hold their positions. These Abuses had grown up since the former Vigilance Committee had finished its career five years before, in consequence of the easygoing citizens leaving politics to the politicians. It was called into being by the murder of James King, of William, editor of the "Bulletin," by James Casey, following close upon the murder of United States Marshall Richardson by Charles Cora, an Italian gambler. King's offense was denunciation of the wrongs, and particularly of Cora's crime, and attacks upon Casey, who had interested himself in Cora's defense. Casey was believed to be backed by prominent politicians, including Judge McGowan of one of the city courts, himself a formerly convicted bank-robber. As it seemed morally certain that these criminals would not, be punished, as others like them were not, the substantial citizens took matters into their own hands, and at a public meeting reorganized the Vigilance Committee, which had never formally surrendered its life. This committee was a public affair, the names of its members were known, its acts were open, and its proceedings governed by fixed rules. During the three months of its activity—from the middle of May to the 18th of August, 1856—it hanged four men, banished about thirty, rescued—that is, took possession of—two prisoners from the county jail, and held a judge of the Supreme Court under arrest, waiting the death or convalescence of his victim. Its proceedings were objected to, as those of the Committee of 1851 do not seem to have been, by a considerable party of good citizens, whose quality may be judged from the fact that William Tecumseh Sherman was one of them' The city authorities were against it, of course; the Governor of the State made feeble and futile attempts to suppress it, and efforts were made to embroil it with the United States authorities. In spite of all it went on with its work, and when it had done, adjourned sine die. It must be judged by its fruits. Seven years after King's death, the People's Reform Party were able to show in an appeal to voters which is too long to quote here, but which is given in full in the 656th and 657th pages of the volume, that San Francisco had, from being the very focus of peculation, disorder, robbery, and murder, under uninterrupted honest rule, become one of the best ordered, ​safest, and most prosperous cities in the world. This was accomplished while national politics were kept out of city affairs. Then the people's party, under the pressure of a great national emergency, adopted a political resolution—and its usefulness was gone. In this simple fact lies a plain and impressive lesson, which is taught throughout the history; and for the sake of this lesson, if for no other reason, the study is a most valuable one.
Science Sketches. By David Starr Jordan. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. Pp. 2'76. Price, §1.50.
Professor Jordan presents in this volume a collection of scientific essays, some of which have appeared previously in "The Popular Science Monthly" and elsewhere, the others being addresses not before published. A majority of the papers are on fishes, the study of which has been the scientific specialty of the author. Among these are "The Story of a Salmon," "Johnny Darters," and "The Dispersion of Fresh-Water Fishes." There are also three sketches of a biographical character on Darwin, "An Eccentric Naturalist" (Rafinesque), and "A Cuban Fisherman "(Poey). The other papers comprise "The Nomenclature of American Birds," "The Story of a Stone," "An Ascent of the Matterhorn," and "The Evolution of the College Curriculum." These are all of a popular character, and written in a pleasing style, though without sacrificing scientific accuracy. A list of the author's scientific papers, numbering two hundred and fourteen, is appended.
Elements of Modern Chemistry. By Adolphe Wurtz. Third American from the fifth French edition. Translated and edited by William H. Greene, M. D. With 132 Illustrations. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. Pp. 770. Price, $2.50.
The most striking feature of this book is its comprehensiveness. The natural occurrence and extraction or laboratory preparations and the properties of the elements and their compounds are described with great fullness, and enough subjects are presented to occupy an academy or college class for at least two years. Most of the theoretical matter is included in the first fifty pages, but a few topics are inserted at later points. Nearly half of the volume is devoted to the compounds of carbon. la choosing which facts of organic chemistry to present, the author was guided by "the historical importance and the theoretical and practical interest of the compounds described." In each of the three American editions, the editor has rearranged and added to the matter in order to better adapt the work for American use. "The present edition contains additional matter embracing the more important advances of chemistry in the last three years. Among the additions may be mentioned the history of the isolation of fluorine, the monoxide of silicon, the Castner sodium process, and the electrical furnace. Wherever new investigations have shown statements accepted formerly to be erroneous, corresponding corrections have been made."
Decisive Battles since Waterloo. By Thomas W. Knox. Illustrated. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 477. Price, $2.50.
This work is designed to cover the period since 1815 in the same manner as Professor Creasy's "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" covered the period "from Marathon to Waterloo." The fact that Mr. Knox finds twenty-five "decisive battles" in the annals of the past seventy years, seems to indicate either that the world is not really passing out of a military into an industrial stage, as has been asserted, or that our author has been more comprehensive than discriminating. Some ground for the second alternative is given by the statement in the preface that "the book has, however, for its further purpose, the idea of presenting an outline survey of the history of the nineteenth century, considered from the point of view of its chief military events." These words describe the book better than its title, for each chapter includes, besides the account of an important battle, also a sketch of the whole campaign in which the battle occurred, and in several cases minor wars, which were marked by no battle of a decisive character, are touched upon in order to give continuity to the record. The first battle described is that of Ayacucho, in 182-1, which terminated ​the Spanish rule in South America. The battles of Prome, in Burmah, and of Staoueli, in Algiers, and the siege of Silistria, on the Danube, are among the less known operations which are included. Four battles of our civil war are ranked as decisive, viz., that between the Monitor and the Merrimac, Gettysburg, the capture of Vicksburg, and Five Forks; two of the Franco-Prussian war, Gravelotte and Sedan; and two recent British disasters in Egypt, El Obeid, and the fall of Khartoum. The author partly disarms criticism as to his selection, by saying that it is unlikely that any unanimity of opinion could be found among historical students of the present day on this subject. Mr. Knox is best known as a writer of juvenile books of travel and biography, and his style in this volume is popular, displaying much of the picturesqueness which fascinates his younger readers. A general statement of his sources of information is given in the preface, but there are no specific references to authorities in the text. The volume has no index.
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part XIII. Report of the Commissioner for 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 112 + 1108.
This bulky volume testifies to the industry of the Fish Commission during 1885. The report gives a general survey of the work of the year, and to it are appended thirteen reports of steamers and stations, including one on the thermometers used by the Commission, by Dr. J. H. Kidder, and twelve other papers on special topics. Among the latter is an account, by Captain J. W. Collins, of the fishing-grounds examined during a cruise along the coast of the South Atlantic States and in the Gulf of Mexico. This paper contains much information in regard to the methods and results of the sponge, turtle, and other fisheries of Key West and the fisheries of Western Florida, in which the red snapper, pompano, sheep's-head, Spanish mackerel, mullet, etc., are caught. Under the head of scientific investigation are two papers on the development of the cetaceæ and of osseous fishes, by John A. Ryder; one on the decapod Crustacea of the Albatross dredgings, by Sidney I. Smith; one on the Annelida chœlopoda from Eastport, Maine, by H. E. Webster and James E. Benedict, and another by John Murray and A. Renard, read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on the nomenclature, origin, and distribution of deep-sea deposits. There is a catalogue by David S. Johnson, supplementary to the "Synopsis of the Fishes of North America," issued in 1883, and comprising additions and corrections accumulated during 1883 and 1884, and also a list, with descriptions, of patents of 1882-'84 relating to fish and fisheries, illustrated with one hundred and fifty plates. Many of the other papers are copiously illustrated.
Second Annual Report of the School of Expression, Boston: S. S. Curry, Dean. Pp. 3.
The School of Expression has grown out of the work of the School of Oratory which was opened at Boston University some fourteen years ago. Its aim is not merely to educate one phase of the delivery, but to include training for the complete control of the body and the whole mechanism used in speech, and also to give practical discipline of the imaginative, sympathetic, logical, and dramatic instincts. The first endeavor is to secure correct intellectual, emotional, and volitional action in all kinds of reading and speaking. The mechanism used in speech is developed, and ease, agility, and precision of action without waste of the vital force are sought through careful and thorough vocal training; while other exercises look to the development of poise, ease, precision, and harmony, flexibility, and strength in the whole organism. The theory of the school is, in short, "to secure control of every agent and develop its distinct function in expression."
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Vol. III., July 1, 1884, to February 6, 1886. Pp. 180.
Besides the journals of the several meetings of the society, this volume contains the annual presidential addresses of Dr. C. A. White (1883) on "The Application of Biology to Geological History," and of G. Brown Goode (1886) on "The Beginnings of Natural History in America." Dr. White elucidates, in opposition to the European theory of the synchronous character of similar ​deposits of fossils, the idea of homotaxy, as proposed by Professor Huxley to express the existence of close biological relationship between formations in different parts of the world which might not, or could not, have been contemporaneously deposited. Dr. Goode's address we have found extremely interesting. It gives a clear account of the progress of observation and the growth of science in this country from the first observations of Oviedo y Valdes in 1525, and Thomas Harriott, of Virginia, in 1590, through a considerable list of original contributors, to the end of the last century. The men whose names are mentioned, the author says, "were the intellectual ancestors of the naturalists of to-day." The volume also contains lists additional and supplementary to those heretofore published, of flora of Washington and vicinity.
United States Department of Agriculture. Report of the Entomologist for 1886. By C. V. Riley. Pp. 144, with Plates. Reports of Experiments with Various Insecticide Substances. Pp. 34. Our Shade Trees and their Insect Defoliators. By C. V. Riley. Pp. 69. Washington: Government Printing-office.
Besides the general review of the work of his bureau by the Entomologist, the "Report" contains papers on the "Cottony Cushion Scale," "Buffalo Gnats," the "Fall Web-worm," and "Joint-worms"; each paper embodying a description of the insect, an account of its depredations, and suggestions of remedies. A paper on "Silk Culture" represents the prospects of this business in the United States as not yet hopeful, but speaks well of the Osage orange as a food-plant for the silk-worm. Reports of agents are given upon various insects affecting small grains and grasses; and the last paper is a "Report on Experiments in Agriculture." The experiments with insecticide substances of which the second pamphlet gives accounts, were directed chiefly to insects affecting garden-crops, and were performed at Ames, Iowa, Lafayette, Indiana, and Trenton, New Jersey, with ice-water, chemical solutions, and vegetable decoctions. They are described in detail. The insect defoliators of shade-trees whose cases are considered in the third pamphlet are the imported elm-leaf beetle, the bag-worm, the white-marked tussock-moth, and the fall web-worm. The information given is full. As "one simple preventive remedy for all," spraying the trees with arsenical mixtures in the middle of May, and once or twice at intervals of a fortnight later in the season, is recommended.
Modern American Methods of Copper-Smelting. By Edward D. Peters, Jr. Illustrated. New York: Scientific Publishing Co. Pp. 342.
It has been the intention of the author of this book to confine what he wrote, with few exceptions, to his own experience, and to present no more of the theory of the subject than is essential for understanding practical operations. A feature of the work is the estimates of cost, both of plant and of operating, which the author has presented in considerable detail. In order to keep the volume within moderate size, the so-called "wet methods" have been excluded. After a description of the methods of copper-assaying practiced in this country, he describes the several ways of roasting lump-ore and matte, recommending for the building of roasting-stalls "slag-brick" molded in sand. The calcining of fine ore and matte is then treated, and a short chapter is given to the chemistry of the calcining process. The smelting of copper comes next in order, and this naturally falls into the divisions of smelting in blast-furnaces and in reverberatory furnaces. Dr. Peters maintains the general excellence of the American form of the blast-furnace process, while admitting the necessity of using reverberatories for certain portions of the matte concentration in many cases. A few pages on separating the precious metals from copper, and on Bessemerizing copper mattes are added.
The Conception of Love in Some American Languages. By Daniel G. Brinton. Philadelphia: McCalla & Stavely. Pp. 18.
Premising that the words which denote love picture the heart of those who use them, the author has studied their history and derivation in the American languages as furnishing evidence of the development of the altruistic principle among the races, and as illustrating the wonderful parallelism ​which everywhere presents itself in the operations of the human mind. The most prominent words relating to love in the Aryan languages may, in the author's view, be traced back to one or two ruling ideas—one intimating a similarity or likeness between the persons loving, and the other a wish or desire; the former conveying the notion that the feeling is mutual, the latter that it is stronger on one side than on the other. The subject is studied from this point of view in the Algonquin, Nahuatl, Maya, Qquichua, and Tapi-Guarani languages.
The Relations of Geology and Agriculture. By W. J. McGee, Washington: Judd & Detweiler.
This paper is an address which was delivered at the meeting of the Iowa State Horticultural Society in 1882. The author's object is to point out the importance of applying geologic principles to the investigation of the soil. It is premised that the soils of the earth are immediately derived, through mechanical and chemical action, from the underlying deposits forming the subsoil—pre-eminently the agencies with which the geologist has to deal. The application of the principle is illustrated by citations from the author's studies of the drift of Iowa.
An Inquiry into the Transmission of Infectious Disease through the Medium of Rags. By Charles F. Withington, M. D. Pp. 69.
The author concludes that small-pox has been transmitted through the medium of rags, to an extent which though not great, is sufficient to show that there is real danger in the matter; and that the source of the infection is more frequently domestic than foreign rags. Among the rarer means whereby cholera is transmitted are textile fabrics infected with choleraic discharges. A solitary case is reported, but not fully accredited, of transmission by paper rags; if substantiated, it also will be an offense by domestic rags. Cases have occurred of an epidemic affection of anthrax called "rag sorter's disease" caused by handling rags. Authenticated cases have not been found in which the other infectious diseases have been transmitted through rags; and there is no evidence to show that rag-sorters as a class are essentially less healthy than other persons engaged in indoor operations. Still precaution should be taken against possible danger from rags coming from epidemically infected places, and paper-mills should have means for purifying their rags, and ventilating means for guarding against dust poisoning; and whatever precautions are used should be applied as much to domestic as to foreign rags.
Bulletin of the Iowa Agricultural College, from the Botanical Department. Byron D. Halsted, Sc. D., Professor of Botany.
The study of botany is pursued in regular course in the college beginning with the second half of the freshman year. The instruction consists of observations of actual plants assisted by Gray's text-books, beginning with leaves and flowers, their forms and arrangement. The studies in the sophomore year are taken up before the opening of spring, upon branches and buds. During the spring, each student prepares an herbarium of fifty species, collected and determined by himself. The work is continued during the year in morphology and the general characteristics of plants; and the pupils are exercised in special topics of research in which they prepare papers from their own observations. In the junior year cryptogams and vegetable physiology are studied; a course in applied botany is given, and three hours a week of laboratory work are provided for. A variety of experiments are recorded, and numerous special papers, mostly brief, are published in the second part of the "Bulletin."
The Best Reading. Third Series. A Priced and Classified Bibliography, for Easy Reference, of the more Important English and American Publications for the five years ending December 1, 1886. Edited by Lynds E. Jones. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 108. Price, $1.
Every one who knows the first and second series of this work will eagerly welcome the present volume. To those who have not used the preceding volumes, it may be said that no bookseller, no one who buys books for his own or for a public library, and no one who reads systematically, ​or has occasion to direct the reading of others, can afford to be without "The Best Reading." An explanation of the letters and stars used to indicate the character of books should have been inserted in this volume.
Winter: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau. Edited by H. G. O. Blake. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 439. Price, $1.50.
This volume is made up of passages entered by Thoreau in his journal during the winter months from 1850 to 1860, with occasional entries of earlier dates. The scenes alluded to are along the Concord River and about Lake Walden, with occasional visits to other places. These pages reveal how much of interest a lover of Nature can find in the fields and waters during the season when Nature is commonly said to be asleep, and are interspersed with reflections suggested by winter objects.
Astronomical Revelations. New York: Edward Dexter. Pp. 62. Half morocco. Price, $2.
This is a contribution to theoretical astronomy, in which the author confidently claims that "the true physical causes of the precession of the equinoctial points, the apparent secular acceleration of the moon's mean motion, the decrease in the obliquity of the ecliptic, the apparent aberration of the stars, and the apparent nutation of the earth's axis, are now for the first time made known and explained." A theory of the physical nature of the fixed stars is added, which regards them as reflections from the diversified surface of a solid shell inclosing the solar system.
Stories of our Country. Historical Series, Book HI, Part I. Compiled and Arranged by James Johonnot. Illustrated. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 207. Price, 47 cents.
The design of this book is clearly expressed in the preface: "By the use of this little work, the pupil has all the aids to reading which characterize ordinary reading books—lessons for practice, variety in style, and all the necessities of elementary elocution. Besides these, he gets all the interest that the story excites, the knowledge which it unfolds, and the sentiment which it imparts, and the reading-lesson becomes a potent force in mental and moral development." The selections relate to the early explorations of America, to colonial times, and the Revolution, with a few stories of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. They have an intensely vivid character, which is heightened by the spirited illustrations. Such a book as this can not fail to fascinate the pupils for whom it is prepared, and turn the lesson which was a hated drudgery with the old-fashioned reading books into a delightful exercise.
Second Annual Report of the Forest Commission of the State of New York. 1886. Albany. Pp. 177.
The secretary of the commission, Mr. A. L. Train, who prepared this report, states in a prefatory note that as the commission has not been supplied with funds for investigations, experiments, surveys, etc., information obtainable only by such means can not be expected in the report. He has accordingly presented an account of what work the commission has been able to do since its appointment, together with a compilation of facts and opinions bearing on the subject of forestry, which might enlist "the aid of the people more earnestly in the important effort to maintain the remnant of the forest area still left to them." The commission has already secured the payment into the State treasury of $14,057.09 for trespasses, and for timber illegally cut on State lands, and has stopped, probably permanently, these illegal practices. Another result of its work is the suppression of forest fires during the past year.
Cottage Residences. By A. J. Downing. Edited by George E. Harney. Illustrated. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 261.
The original wide scope, refined taste, and practical character of this work made it of lasting value, and its worth was increased by the revision and enlargement which were given to its fifth edition in 1873. The guiding principle of the author was to combine the beauty of sentiment and of propriety with fitness, and with each design is given a suggestion as to the character of the natural surroundings to which it is best
​adapted, together with directions and diagrams for laying out ornamental grounds, kitchen-gardens, and orchards. The revision of the book comprised the modifying of the estimates of cost to agree with changed prices of labor and materials, the substitution of new lists of plants and trees for those formerly given, together with the additions of twelve new designs for buildings some further hints on gardens and grounds and remarks on the employment of architects and contractors.
Manual of Clinical Diagnosis. By Otto Seifert and Friedrich Müller. Translated from the third (revised) edition by William B. Canfield. With Sixty Illustrations. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 173. Price, $1.25.
This manual comprises concise directions for the various clinical examinations which yield the data for medical diagnosis. It contains, also, facts and figures which the physician should always have available, yet which are too numerous to be remembered correctly, and too widely scattered through books and periodicals to be readily referred to. The favor with which the book has been received in Germany has led to this translation.
An extended and richly illustrated work on "The Fishes of North America" is announced by Mr. William C. Harris, editor of the "American Angler," who has spent five years in collecting the material for it. Many months of this time were spent on selected fishing waters, with a skilled artist in company with the author, who, working upon the shore or in the stern of the boat, painted the portraits of the specimens immediately after they were caught, while the lively coloring and evanescent sheen were still upon them. The portraits are given in an upright position, as in the act of swimming, with all the markings, even to the exact number of spines in the fins, faithfully reproduced. The publication will be issued in monthly parts, with pages twelve by seventeen inches in size, which will contain each: Two portraits of fishes, colored as in life; scientific classification and description; local names and habitat; when and where caught; method of capture; tackle and lures used; and striking incidents of capture. The work will be issued in forty parts, containing the portraits, etc., of eighty fishes. Price, $1.50 a number.
Wilde, Oscar. Editor. The Woman's World. Monthly. Vol. I, No. 1. December, 1887. London and New York; Cassell & Co. Pp. 48. 85 cents, $3.50 a year.
Shufeldt, Dr. R. W.. U. S. A. On a Collection of Birds' Sterna and Skulls, by Dr. Thomas H. Streets, U. S. N. Pp. 12.
Greene, W. L. & Co., Boston. "The Congregationalist" Manual, for 1888. Pp. 40.
Mills, T. Wesley, Montreal. A Physiological Basis for an Improved Cardiac Pathology. Pp. 23.
United States Navy Department Hydrographic Office. Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean. Monthly. December, 1887. Maritime Exchange, Hanover Street, New York.
Loisette, Professor A. New York. Loisettian School of Memory. Pp. 80.
Bradley, Elisabeth N. L'Iodisme (Iodism). Paris: G. Steinheil. Pp. 168.
Imperial University of Japan. Journal of the College of Science. Vol. I, Part IV. Tokyo, Japan. Pp. 48, with Plates.
Adams, Herbert B. Seminary Libraries and University Extension. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 33. 25 cents.
Le Baron, M. The Germinal Aureac Theory. Pp. 16.
Peierce, C. N., Philadelphia. The Deciduous Teeth; their Eruption and Removal. Pp. 12.
Nichols, Edward L., and Franklin, W. S. On the Destruction of the Passivity of Iron in Nitric Acid by Magnetization. Pp. 9.
The American Geologist. Vol. I, No. I. January, 1888. Minneapolis, Minn. Pp. 68. 35 cents, $3 a year.
Cattel, James McKeen, Leipsic, Germany. The Time taken up by Cerebral Operations. Pp. 22. The Inertia of the Eye and Brain. Pp. 20.
Foster, Michael and others, editors. The Journal of Physiology. Vol. VIII, No. 6, December, 1887. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company's Works. Pp. 100 + viii, with Plates. $5 a volume.
Pope Manufacturing Company. Boston, The Columbia Bicycling Calendar Pad for 18888.
Stark, E. D. Nature of Value, with Criticisms of Current Opinions on the Monty Question. Cleveland. Ohio. Pp. 12.
Tiliinghast, Isaac F. How to Grow Cabbage and Celery. Pp. 32. 20 cents.
Upham, Warren. The Upper Beaches and Deltas of the Glacial Lake Agassiz. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 84.
Averell, William D. . Editor. Philadelphia. The Conchologists' Exchange. Monthly. November, 1887. Pp. 16. 5 cents, 50 cents a year.
Lockyer, J. Norman. Outlines of Physiography. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 130. 60 cents.
Whitman, C. O. . and Allis, Edward Phelps, Jr. Journal of Morphology. Vol. I, No. I. September, 1887. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. 226, with Plates.
Dolbear, Professor E. A. The Art of Projecting. A Manual of Experimentation in Physics, Chemistry, and Natural History, with the Porte Lumière and Magic Lantern. Boston: Lee & Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. Pp. 178.
Binet, Alfred and Féré, Charles. Animal Magnetism. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 378.
​Foulke, William O. Slav or Saxon. A Study of the Growth and Tendencies of Russian Civilization. New York: G. P. Putnam's & Sons. Pp. 148. $1.
Kelley. Hon. William D. The Old South and the New. New York.: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 162. $1.25.
Muir, M. M. Pattison, and Slater, Charles. Elementary Chemistry. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press. Pp. 368. $1.25.
Muir, M. M. Pattison, and Carnegie, Douglas. Practical Chemistry. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press. Pp. 224. 80 cents.
Saintsbury, George. A History of Elizabethan Literature. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 471. $1.75.
Hornaday, William T. Free Rum on the Congo, and What it is Doing There. Pp. 145. 75 cents. Larcom, Lucy. The Cross and the Grail. Poems. With Plates. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publication Association.
Gunton, George. Wealth and Progress. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 382.
Everett. J. D. Outlines of Natural Philosophy. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp 335. $1.
Bert, Paul. Introductory Steps in Science. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 363. $1.50.
Mitchel, F. A. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Astronomer and General. A Biographical Narrative. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. Pp. 392.
Langley, Samuel Pierpont. The New Astronomy. Boston: Ticknor & Co. Pp. 260. $5.
Day, David T. Mineral Resources of the United States, 1886. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 813.
Emmons, Samuel Franklin. Geology and Mining Industry of Leadville, Colorado, with Atlas. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 770.
Scott, Lucy A. Boys and other Boys. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publication Association. Pp. 100.
Hellprin. Angelo. Philadelphia: The Classification of the Post-Cretaceous Deposits. Pp. 9.
Oestlund, O. W. Synopsis of the Aphididæ of Minnesota. Pp. 100.
Darwin, Francis. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Including an Autobiographical Chapter. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 2 vols., Pp. 558 and 562. $4.50.