# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 26/November 1884/Literary Notices

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A Naturalist's Rambles about Home. By Charles C. Abbott. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 485. Price, $1.50.
There is no denying that natural history is one of the most fascinating of subjects, and now and then there appears a book written by some enthusiastic lover of nature, who has entered into communion with the inferior animate creatures, and writes a living book so pleasing and attractive that it is sought by readers with the avidity of a romance. Such works are never compilations, never scientific treatises, in the usual sense, but always original in observation, full of instruction, life-like and agreeable in description, and abounding in sympathetic interest with the habits, peculiarities, and curious lives of that portion of the animal kingdom which is taken up.
Mr. Abbott's book belongs to this class. Its author is a working naturalist who has made animal life a systematic and scientific study, of course with the aid of books, museums, and the usual helps, but he has always been fond of making the acquaintance of all the animals within reach, watching their ways, noting their characteristics, clearing up obscurities in their history, and finding out everything he could of interest concerning them. He has been an out-of-door student, at home with all sorts of mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes that he could find in his neighborhood excursions, and the present book is a charming record of his varied observations, investigations, experiences, and adventures in his natural history excursions about home for many years.
We have often thought of that wealth of the farmer owning one or two hundred acres of land, which he never inventories when making up a statement of his property. It is wealth which ho can not sell, but does not have to buy, and he can only know of its existence or appreciate its magnitude in proportion to his intelligence regarding natural things. The soil of his hundred acres is a chemical laboratory in which he operates upon hundreds of thousands of tons of materials to carry on the most exquisite and multifarious chemical changes. Mineralogy and geology explain the depths of his estate. He may be said to own the atmosphere as far up as it extends above his grounds, with its millions of tons of gases, and if he is familiar with Sir William Thomson's paper on "The Energy of a Cubic Mile of Sunlight," he can understand the enormous amount of solar power which is necessary to drive the organic operations of his farm, and of which he may regard himself as the proprietor. Then there is a little world of vegetable life, of which he is the intellectual owner, if he knows something of botany, while his streams and ponds and earth abound with animal forms, besides the endless insect-life, the animals of field and forest, and the birds of the air, which are in a high sense his if he has enough of zoölogy to understand them. The lesson of the situation is, that there is an inexhaustible wealth and world of wonders about home to the mind so cultivated that it can discover and appreciate them.
Mr. Abbott has limited the scope of his natural history observations to his home environment, and he accordingly offers us "A Word at the Start, in Lieu of Preface," in which he describes his location and gives some clews to its interest for natural history purposes. lie lives in "the Jerseys," on Crosswicks Creek, a navigable stream that enters the Delaware River at Bordentown. His ancestor came from Nottingham two hundred years ago, and he now lives in a house built by his great-grandfather on the edge of a high terrace, and surrounded by old oaks, beeches, and locusts, under which the author declares that he chiefly lives. There is nothing romantic in the neighborhood, but it has long been a center of special interest to students of natural history. It has been much visited by botanists and zoölogists—Bertram, the poet and naturalist; Conrad the elder, botanist and mineralogist; Conrad the geologist, his son; and Rafinesque, Say, Le Seure, ​Bonaparte, Wilson, and other celebrities, visited the location; and the names of some, cut by themselves in the bark of one of the old beeches that guards a famous spring, are still to be deciphered. Such is the neighborhood which Mr. Abbott has explored for its natural history resources, and the results of which are described in these "Rambles about Home." His book is most entertaining. It is written in a simple, unaffected, and entirely untechnical style, and the reader becomes at once interested wherever he dips into the book. Mr. Abbott writes constantly of what he has himself seen, and he has been a painstaking and indefatigable searcher of all kinds of curious and interesting things in the life-history of the beasts, birds, fishes, and reptiles which belong to his immediate region. It is unnecessary to give illustrations here of his way of working, as we have already quoted from his teeming pages in the August "Monthly"; but we cordially recommend the volume to those in search of useful and agreeable reading as one of the pleasantest books of the season.
The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525. By Arthur James Weise. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 380, with Maps. Price, $4.50.
This book bears the marks of industrious research in fields that have not yet been overworked, and which offer irresistible allurements to the historical inquirer. Starting with the assertion that "America in the early ages was one of the inhabited parts of the earth," the author accepts as historical the story of Atlantis, which is said by Plato to have been told by the Egyptian priests to Solon, and repeats it, while he finds confirmation of a part, at least, of its incidents in the biblical account of the first men. He discredits the relations of the discoveries of America by the Northmen as resting "more upon conjecture than evidence." Then, reviewing briefly the stories of the voyage of the Welsh Madoc and of the discoveries of the Zeni brothers, and the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John de Mandeville, he finds himself at last upon safer ground in treating the history of the voyages of the early Portuguese navigators, and Columbus, and of those who followed them. The whole is enriched with copious citations from the mass of literature on the subject, ancient and modern, much of which is rare. On this point the author remarks that the writing of his work "required the personal examination of many old and rare books, manuscripts, and maps, besides the perusal of a large number of recent papers and publications relating to its subject. The task further demanded a careful review and comparison of the various statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons whom they believed to have been the discoverers of certain parts of America. . . . It seemed to me that some of the information contained in the different works which I had examined should be presented in the language of the writers, or in faithful translations, so that the intended significance of the information could be perceived by the reader." Thus, by its matter, and the way in which it is presented, the work is one of great value and unusual interest.
Samuel Adams, the Man of the Town-Meeting. By James K. Hosmer. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 60. Price, 35 cents.
This sketch, which is based on studies for a new life of Samuel Adams, is one of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies" in Historical and Political Science. Its aim is, first, to present a life-like picture of the New England town-meeting in its purest state as illustrated in the meetings of Boston town in colonial times; and, second, to exhibit Samuel Adams as the conspicuous leader of the town-meeting, and as one of the ablest as well as one of the purest managers of men in our, history. The tracing of Adams's work in the under-currents of politics is very clear; and from it he appears as a principal though not always an open director of the movements, in the South as well as in the North, that resulted in the Revolution.
On the Nature of Light. By George G. Stokes, M. A., F. R. S., etc. London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 133. Price, 75 cents.
Professor Stokes, having been appointed to deliver three annual courses of lectures, on the endowment of John Burnett, of Aberdeen, chose "Light" as his general subject, and devoted the four lectures of the first course to a discussion of the nature of ​light. These discourses, which constitute the present volume, were delivered in November, 1883. In the first, the emission and the undulation theories of light are stated, and the insufficiency of the former is shown. Explanations of the phenomena of interference and diffraction by means of the undulation theory follow, and, in the third and fourth lectures, double refraction, polarization, and the interference of polarized light are considered.
Chemistry: General, Medical, and Pharmaceutical, including the Chemistry of the United States Pharmacopœia. By John Attfield, F. R. S. Tenth edition, specially revised by the author for America. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co. Pp. 727.
This compact volume is, first of all, a text-book of general chemistry, in which the substances and processes used in medical and pharmaceutical chemistry have been employed in illustrating the principles of the science. "From other chemical textbooks," says the author in his preface, "it differs in three particulars: first, in the exclusion of matter relating to compounds, which at present are only of interest to the scientific chemist; secondly, in containing more or less of the chemistry of every substance recognized officially or in general practice as a remedial agent; thirdly, in the paragraphs being so cast that the volume may be used as a guide in studying the science experimentally." The book contains also directions and tables for qualitative and quantitative analyses, and in these departments, likewise, special prominence is given to substances used as drugs. Naturally, organic compounds receive more attention than in the ordinary text-book on general chemistry, and a large amount of information, valuable to the physician and the pharmacist, is distributed through the volume.
Electricity, Magnetism, and Electric Telegraphy. By Thomas D. Lockwood. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 377. Price, $2.50.
Telegraph and telephone operators, line-men, and others connected in similar capacities with the applications of electricity, have generally had scanty opportunities for education, and seldom possess sufficient understanding of electrical science to enable them to attain important and lucrative positions. It is especially for this class that the present book is written, though it is equally available for the general reader who wishes to understand the construction and operation of the electrical appliances which he sees in use. The text is arranged in the form of question and answer, the answers varying from a few lines to a couple of pages in length, and is illustrated with 152 cuts. Frictional and voltaic electricity, thermoelectricity, and magnetism, are taken up in successive chapters, questions about dynamo-electric machines are then answered, and two chapters are devoted to methods of electrical measurements, and to the terms and units used. The next eight chapters are devoted to telegraphy, beginning with the principles as exemplified in different systems, and including such subjects as line-construction and the adjustment and care of telegraph-instruments. Electric lighting, electro-metallurgy, electric bells, electro-therapeutics, and the telephone, are dealt with in single chapters, and a number of minor applications receive brief mention. Tables showing the weight and electrical resistance of various qualities of wire and other tables are appended.
The Principles of Ventilation and Heating, and their Practical Application. By John S. Billings, M. D., LL. D., Surgeon U. S. Army. New York: "The Sanitary Engineer." Pp. 214. Price, $3.
This book contains the substance of a series of articles originally published in "The Sanitary Engineer," with some new matter. It is intended to present the general principles which should guide a person in judging of various systems of, and appliances for, ventilation. Dr. Billings insists on the inseparable connection between ventilation and heating, and lays down as his first axiom, which applies especially to the large cities in our Northern States, that "in this climate it is impossible to have at the same time good ventilation, sufficient heating, and cheapness." After some preliminary considerations of heat and gases, the author takes up methods of heating, patent systems of ventilation and heating, means for removing dust and for ​supplying moisture, and chimneys. Chapters are devoted to the ventilation of halls of audience, theatres, schools, and hospitals, and to ventilation by aspiration. The volume is illustrated by seventy-two plates and diagrams.
Natural Law in the Spiritual World. By Henry Drummond, F. R. S. E., F. G. S. New York: James Pott & Co. Pp. 414. Price, $1.50.
This interesting book is directed to the problem of the relations of religion and science, and presents a new view from an advanced stand-point, which many regard as helpful and healthful in its influence. It is not to be denied that the author's purpose is an exalted one, nor that he deals with his subject in an independent and original way, and with skill and power. His object is the essential harmony of science and religion, and his method is to show that the system of law which is established in the natural world holds equally true in the spiritual world. The work is eminently liberal, not so much from any peculiarity of the author's religious opinions, as from his fundamental position that the natural world is to be studied first, and its laws worked out as scientific verities, and that this scheme of order is to be rediscovered in the spiritual world as a part of the universal system. The position taken is not that of Horace Bushnell, who describes the spiritual world as "another system of nature incommunicably separate from ours"; and further says, "God has, in fact, erected another and higher system, that of spiritual being and government, for which Nature exists, a system not under the law of cause and effect, but ruled and marshaled under other kinds of laws." After referring to the argument as presented with acknowledged ability by Mr. Murphy in "The Scientific Basis of Faith," and to the reasoning of Butler's "Analogy," Mr. Drummond remarks: "After all, then, the spiritual world as it appears at this moment is outside of natural law. Theology continues to be considered, as it has always been, a thing apart. It remains still a stupendous and splendid construction, but on lines altogether its own." It is therefore the ambition of the author to show that the natural and spiritual worlds are constructed upon the same system, so that to the degree in which we understand the method of Nature shall we be prepared to understand the method of the spiritual world. By the implications of the argument, our first concern is with science, which elucidates natural truth; and as this is a gradual process, one science after another having slowly appeared in a necessary order of succession and preparation, the higher following the lower, so theology, the master-science, and to which all others are finally tributary, is to be developed by extending and establishing the natural laws in the spiritual sphere. It is a great thesis that Mr. Drummond has undertaken to illustrate and sustain, but he brings to the task a very able command of the results of modern science, an earnest and catholic spirit, and a reverent regard for the interests of truth, whatever forms they take. As a book of reconciliations, the volume is one of the best of its class.
Forestry in Norway: with Notices of the Physical Geography of the Country. By John Croumbie Brown, LL. D. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; Montreal: Dawson Brothers. Pp. 227.
The series of Dr. Brown's books on forestry has already become quite a library (we find twelve volumes catalogued in the list prefixed to the present number), and bids fair to present all that is most important in the literature of the subject and in the experience bearing upon it. The present volume relates to a country in which the conditions are most favorable to forest-culture, and to the restoration of the woods as they are cut down. Yet the reports show that abundance has led to waste, and that, notwithstanding the great recuperative power of the Norwegian forests, they are becoming impoverished under the excessive drain that is made upon them. The greater part of the book is occupied with descriptions of the general and special features, geographical, topographical, and climatological, of Norway, and their influence upon the distribution and growth of the forests. The last chapter, on "Remedial Measures," gives account of the experimental plantations at Aas, the purchase by the Government of estates on forest-lands, and the allotment, in their several districts, of the forest officers of the government staff.
The New Physics. A Manual of Experimental Study for High Schools and Preparatory Schools for College. By John Trowbridge, Professor of Physics, Harvard University. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 367. Price, $1.50.
We have especial pleasure in calling the attention of science-teachers in our higher grades of schools to this timely and valuable text-book. Its title, "The New Physics," is appropriate in a double sense, and is, in fact, the true key to the understanding of its character and claims.
But at the outset let us say that Professor Trowbridge's book is not new in the sense of treating of all the latest scientific novelties. It is not a digest of information on physical subjects for instructive reading and convenient reference, and makes no account of "the latest things" which it is often thought desirable to get into school-books, to "bring them up to the present time."
But the work is new, in the first place, as representing a great step of advancement in the fundamental ideas and general view of the subject, which is now properly designated "the new physics." No one discovery in the whole sphere of scientific thought has ever proved to be so profound and far-reaching in its influence as what Dr. Faraday calls "the highest law in physical science"—the law of the conservation of energy. The older views of the nature and laws of forces—the radical problem in physics—have been left behind us, antiquated by the emergence of the great principle of correlation and conservation which gives us a new and grander conception of the method of Nature. Professor Trowbridge has first made this principle basal in the study of elementary physics, and has chosen a title for his book which marks the present advance of the subject, and sharply contrasts his treatment of it with that of the older expositions.
In the second place, the method of teaching adopted is new in the sense that it is a progressive step in total contrast with the old and still prevailing method. This book is a guide to the study of phenomena. The pupil is taken through a systematic course of experiment in the laboratory, doing his own observing, his own manipulating, and his own thinking, and thus making his acquisitions real. The literary method of studying science is entirely discarded, with its vague results and all the possibilities of coaching and cram. The pupil goes to work at the threshold, and with the assistance and direction of competent teachers, which it is assumed he will have, he carves his way, and becomes thoroughly grounded in the facts and principles of the subject. "The New Physics" thus conforms to the spirit and embodies the method of "the new education."
Physics can not be truly taught without a laboratory any more than chemistry; but the apparatus necessary is not very expensive. On this point Professor Trowbridge says:
It is frequently said that experimenting is more play than work, and that boys like it because it is easy. But this remark is not true of Professor Trowbridge's method of studying physics, in which, with regular manipulation, close thinking is enforced. This object is to secure that kind and measure of mental discipline which the study of physical science is capable of conferring; and that implies concentrated mental exercise upon actual laboratory processes, so as to arrive at accurate results. Of course, mathematics, the language of exactness, is indispensable, and is constantly used—arithmetic, algebra, geometry. But the amount of the latter needed to use the work is very moderate. Familiarity with simple equations and an elementary knowledge of square root are required, and, as explained by the author, as much trigonometry as can be got ​almost at a single sitting. But these powerful instruments of precision in mental work are absolutely necessary if physics is to be taught for the purpose of mental training.
Professor Trowbridge aims to raise the standard in the elementary study of physical science, and to make its acquisitions of permanent value. He introduces nothing that can ever have to be unlearned. He has selected for experimental and mathematical demonstration the fundamental truths in the several branches of the science of physics, which must endure, however great the future advances may be. If the student masters the treatise, he has a solid foundation upon which all future advances must be based. He has omitted all that can not be considered as fundamental; and any laboratory manual which may be published in the future must include the principal experiments of this text-book.
Its appearance at this time is especially opportune, as it meets something like an emergency in the higher education. It is designed for the use of high schools, and also "preparatory schools for college," and there is just now a vigorous effort to raise the standard of science-study in the period of preparation for college. Here Greek and Latin have had almost exclusive attention, but there is a growing demand for a better pre-collegiate grounding in science. "The New Physics," if properly used, will insure this result. It will give a more valuable discipline than the dead languages; and, while there will be as much hard work as in the grinding of Greek, it will not be repulsive work. By enlisting the active as well as the reflective powers there will be a greater variety of interest in the exercises, so that the course of the student, though arduous, will be pleasurable. It is a fallacy to make disgust at painful study an evidence of its disciplinary value; and one of the great advantages which we may expect from the broader and more liberal pursuit of science studies in the future will be to make education more attractive than it has been in the past.
Hand-Book of the Dominion of Canada. By S. E. Dawson. Montreal: Dawson Brothers. Pp. 335, with Pocket Map.
The "Hand-Book" was prepared for the meeting of the British Association at Montreal, and therefore devotes more attention than is usual in guide-books to the scientific aspects of the country and its economical prospects. Opening with a general account of the Dominion, its physical features, statistics, enterprises of all kinds, and the condition of science, literature, and art within it, it devotes the sections that follow to more full and detailed accounts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, the lower St. Lawrence, the Labrador coast, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. A geological map of Montreal and its environs is given, in connection with a chapter on that subject.
Excessive Saving a Cause of Commercial Distress. By Uriel H. Crocker. Boston: W. B. Clarke & Carruth. Pp. 40. Price, 50 cents.
The author of this monograph, which he characterizes as "a series of assaults upon accepted principles of political economy," is a prophet whose efforts have not been appreciated by the press. He is so unfortunate as-to hold views contrary to the fashionable ones, and which, consequently, whether they be well founded or not, can not be admitted to the best places in the paper. The substance of these views is, that if the public refuse to buy goods that are in the market or are making for it, dealers and manufacturers who are dependent on the sale of them must suffer distress which will eventually overtake the whole community. A few of the essays he has written in support of this theory have been published; others have been declined or sent to the waste-basket. All are given in this volume.
Electrical Appliances of the Present Day. By Major D. P. Heap, U. S. A. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 287, with Plates.
Major Heap was sent out by the Secretary of War to visit the Electrical Exhibition in Paris in 1881, and collect such information respecting it as would be of interest and value. The exhibition was complete in nearly every detail except in the application of electricity to torpedoes, concerning which the inventors of every nation preferred to keep their own secrets from those of other nations. It was ​particularly remarkable for the number and variety of machines for generating electricity and for the appliances used in electric lighting, and these two subjects are treated in considerable detail. In some cases a slight history of antecedent inventions is prefixed to the description of objects exhibited, to show more clearly the progress and improvement made.
The Fallacies in "Progress and Poverty," etc. By William Hanson. New York: Fowler & Wells Company. Pp. 191. Price, $1.
Besides taking issue with Mr. George on some of the points in "Progress and Poverty" and "Social Problems," the author criticises Henry Dunning Macleod's "Economics" and adds chapters of his own on the "Ethics of Protection and Free Trade" and the "Industrial Problem considered a priori." Mr. Hanson is as radical as Mr. George, but differs from him in particular features of his views, especially as they bear on "the Law of Rent" and "Interest"; that is, Mr. George is too conservative for him. He appears to suggest a solution of all difficulties in the acceptance of Christian principles as he interprets them.
Cholera, and its Preventive and Curative Treatment. By D. N. Ray. New York: A. L. Chatterton Publishing Company. Pp. 128.
The author of this treatise is a native, high-caste Indian, of English and American education, and is connected with the Dispensary of the Homœopathic Medical College in this city. He began to collect the material for his work in his native land, where he had the disease under constant observation. In his essay, in which he aims to group all the facts known respecting cholera, he considers the history of the disease, its etiology, modes of propagation, predisposing circumstances, the exciting causes, symptoms, complications, and sequelæ, and other accompanying features, the method of treatment, and the diet of the patient. Eight theories that have been brought forward to account for the origin of cholera are reviewed in the chapter on diagnosis. The treatment recommended is according to homœopathic principles.
On a New Method of recording the Motions of the Soft Palate. By Harrison Allen, M. D, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 34.
A new apparatus and its application are described in this volume, by which great delicacy is secured in transcribing the different motions, some of them extremely minute, of which the soft palate is susceptible. By it are recorded the changes that take place in the acts of swallowing, exhaling, coughing, hawking, sniffling, etc., and in articulation, even to the differences between the long and short sounds of the vowels. Dr. Allen suggests that his apparatus may have even a wider range of application than is delineated here, and that it may be made available for the comparative study of language, for the instruction of the deaf, and for the formation of a system of short-hand writing.
The Formation of Poisons by Micro-organisms. A Biological Study of the Germ Theory of Disease. By G. V. Black, M. D., D. D. S. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 178. Price, $1.50.
This volume contains a series of lectures which were delivered before the students of the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, and is divided into two parts. The first part embodies a review of the history and growth of the germ theory of disease, and is subsidiary to the second part, which is given, the author says, because he had "something to say that I thought ought to be said at the present time." The purpose of this "something to say" is to suggest a theory of the manner in which the germs act in producing disease. It is that, through the power which the bacteria possess in the remoleculization of matter, they cause the formation and diffusion through the system of organic alkalies having poisonous qualities comparable with those of strychnine.
The Orchids of New England: A Popular Monograph. By Henry Baldwin. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 158, with Plates.
The variety and strange beauty of the tropical orchids, so much sought for for greenhouses, give to the family a rare popular interest; and the effort to make our people acquainted with the other members of ​the family growing around them, many of which arc so unobtrusive in color that they might escape notice unless attention were specially called to them, is to be in every way commended. According to Mr. Baldwin, the section of the United States lying east of the Mississippi and north of North Carolina and Tennessee produces fifty-nine species and varieties of orchids, of which forty-seven are found growing in New England. The matter of the present volume is adapted to satisfy both the general reader and the inquirer for exact facts and scientific details. First, we have Mr. Baldwin's general account, free from technical terms, of the family characteristics; then, the technical synopsis of the family in New England, from Gray's "Manual." This is followed by a popular essay of living interest on the different species, from which the element of gossip is not absent, and which, adorned with many graceful woodcut illustrations, forms the bulk of the volume. At the end are given a comparative list showing the range of each species, a bibliography, and a list of students of orchids in each New England State.
Taxation in the United States, 1789-1816. By Henry Carter Adams. Pp. 79. Price, 50 cents. Institutional Beginnings in a Western State. By Jesse Macy. Pp. 38. Price, 25 cents. Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization. By William B. Weeden, A. M. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 51. Price, 50 cents.
The monographs named above are three numbers of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies of Historical and Political Science." The subject of the first work on the list is of more than usual current interest on account of its relation to the policy of so-called "protection" which still holds its grip on our national financial polity. The first measures of taxation to which the term "protective" may be applied appear from it to have been adopted when our government had hardly yet got under way, as a foil to the efforts of Great Britain to restrict our trade and prevent the growth of American commerce, and were wholly political in their aim. The beginning of systematic efforts to build up American manufactures through the operation of the tariff was of several years later date.
The second work traces the development of social and political institutions in Iowa during the period when the communities scattered over its soil were unorganized and not attached to any kind of government. The people met, voluntarily, within their own precincts and adopted such regulations as their circumstances demanded for the protection of their lives and property, and particularly for security in the possession and confirmation of their "claims." These proceedings were outside of all law, and in fact contrary to the laws of the United States relating to the public lands, but they created a custom "whose broad and beaten path leading directly across the statute obliterated every apparent vestige of its existence"; and from the foundations laid by them has been built up the present enlightened Commonwealth.
Mr. Weeden's essay gives new and enlarged ideas of the importance of wampum as a medium of trade in the early days of the colonies, and assigns it a place among real moneys having a solid value even when estimated' by the criterion by which we are accustomed to judge the gold and silver currencies of commercial nations. From this aspect of the subject the author is led to consider the relations of the two civilizations which met on our continent nearly three centuries ago, and to show that the conflicts which arose and prevailed between the whites and the Indians were not the fruits of personal hostilities, and were not dependent on ambitions or caprice, but were the inevitable results of the diverse ways of looking upon life and its duties, and of the different religious systems, to which the two parties had been bred.
Hand-Book for Horsewomen. By H. L. de Bussigny. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 75. Price, 50 cents.
A plain, practical book for teaching women to obtain and maintain a seat on the horse and to manage the animal. While advising that the English method of letting the horse to a large extent control his own movements be not neglected, it devotes particular attention to the inculcation, in addition to that, of the Continental method of bringing the animal under complete control by securing the mastery of his hind-legs. ​Recognizing that woman's seat on the horse is less secure and less convenient than man's, it assumes that she will encounter more difficulties in management, and therefore stands more in need of instruction, and of a different kind.
"Catholic;" An Essential and Exclusive Attribute of the True Church. By Right Reverend Monsignor Capel, D. D. New York: Wilcox & O'Donnell Company, and D. & J. Sadlier. Pp. 150. Price, 30 cents.
The author, an eminent English clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church, observed during his recent visit to this country that the Protestant Episcopal Church claimed to represent the Church Catholic here, as does also the Church of England in Great Britain. Believing that the title Catholic Church or Universal is exclusive and attaches of right to his own communion only, he has prepared the little work before us, "to try and establish who is the lawful possessor" of it. This he assumes to do in a spirit, not of controversy, but of "calm, honest investigation," drawing his arguments and illustrations from standard ecclesiastical authorities and history. To these he has added papers (in the version of the Oxford translations) bearing on the subject by St. Cyprian, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and St. Pacien, Bishop of Barcelona, all of the third and fourth centuries, and from Lord Macaulay, of the present century.
Manual of Biblical Geography: A TextBook of Bible History. By Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D. D.; with an Introduction by Rev. J. H. Vincent, D. D. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co. (Continental Publishing Company.) Pp. 158. Price, $4.50.
The gentlemen whose names are associated on this book are well known for their activity in the "Chautauqua" assembly and circles and in Sunday-school work. The book is designed for the use of students and teachers of the Bible and for Sunday-school instruction, to furnish a complete synopsis of Biblical and parallel contemporaneous history and of the geography of "Bible lands" at all periods, from the earliest down to apostolic times. In both plan and execution it is admirably adapted to its purpose. In clear maps, of quarto size, with pictures where they will help, and associated descriptive text in which the results of modern research are incorporated, it presents all the essential facts with reference to the countries, their physical constitution and topographical features, settlements, kingdoms, boundary and dynastic changes, migrations, and the journeys of leading Biblical characters, at each period of the history. As each epoch and each phase of the story is given a separate presentation, the occasional confusion, which is one of the prominent faults of most works of this kind, is wholly avoided.
Introduction to the Study of Modern Forest Economy. Pp. 228. Forests and Forestry in Northern Russia, and Lands beyond. Pp. 279. By John Croumbie Brown, LL. D. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; Montreal: Dawson Brothers.
These are new volumes of the series of works on forestry which Dr. Brown is giving to the public, largely as a labor of love. It is an encouraging sign of the spirit of the times, in relation to this subject, that his efforts to fix attention on it are appreciated, and his books are well received both at home and in America. The first of the volumes named here assumes that forestry, or forest science, "relates to everything connected with forests, or pertaining thereto—everything." In its three parts, which are further divided into chapters and sections covering details, are given what relate to the extensive destruction of forests, and its evil consequences; the "Elements of Modern Forest Economy"; and "Forest Administration." In the second volume are given descriptions of the forest-lands of the several forest districts of Russia and "Nova Zembla and Lands beyond"; forest exploitation as practiced upon them; and accounts of the physical geography, flora, paleontological botany, and fauna of the several regions.
South Carolina. Resources and Population, Institutions and Industries. Published by the State Board of Agriculture. Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell. Pp. 726, (Compiled by Harry Hammond.)
This volume gives a full and minute account of the State to which it relates in all ​its aspects, and by counties and towns. The general physical characteristics of South Carolina as a whole are described in the introductory chapter, while the six chapters that follow it are devoted to the several "regions" into which the State is divided, according to the character of their topographical features and products, viz.: the "Coast Region," the "Lower Pine Belt, or Savannah Region," the "Upper Pine Belt," the "Red Hill Region," the "Sand Hill Region," the "Piedmont Region," and the "Alpine Region." The ninth chapter is devoted to the water-powers, and in the three chapters that follow it are given lists of the vertebrate animals, of the invertebrate fauna and of the plants of the State. In the second part of the volume are reviewed the statistics, relations, and movements of the population, the vital statistics, and the institutions of the State; a sketch of "Education" is inserted; and full information is given respecting the churches, occupations, the insane, etc., the history and present condition of transportation, "Debt and Taxation," and the "Farms of South Carolina."
Opium Addiction among Medical Men. Pp. 9. The Genesis of Opium Addiction. Pp. 8. By Dr. J. B. Mattison, Brooklyn, N. Y.
A Periodical Painful Affection. Pp. 19. Irritation of the Prostate. Pp. 7. By Harvey Reed, M. D., Mansfield, Ohio.
The Volcanic Problem from the Point of View of Hawaiian Volcanoes. By W. L. Green, Honolulu. Pp. 7.
Man in the Tertiaries. By Edward S. Morse, Salem, Mass. Pp. 12.
"Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society," 1883-1884. J. W. Gore, Secretary, Chapel Hill, N. C. Pp. 97.
Yellow Fever at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1855. Pp. 19. Reparative Surgery. Pp. 10. By P. B. Stevenson, M. D., U. S. Navy.
Tobacco: Its Uses and Effect on the Human System. By Lemuel Clute, Ionia, Mich. Pp. 6.
Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Amherst. Bulletin No. 11. Pp. 12.
New York Agricultural Experiment Station. Report for 1883. Albany. Weed, Parsons & Co. Pp. 279.
The History and Philosophy of Atheism. By Professor A. H. Darrow, Hartford, Kansas. Pp. 71. 25 cents.
Bureau of Iowa Agricultural College, Department of Entomology. By Herbert Osborn, Ames, Iowa. Pp. 56, with Plates.
Descriptive Catalogue of Sections (Microscopical) of Rocks. By Dr. M. E. Wadsworth. Boston The Prang Educational Company. Pp. 20.
Chicago Manual Training-School. Inaugural Address of the Director, Henry H. Belfield. Pp. 15.
Proper Medical Education. By Henry Leffman, M.D. Pp. 3.
Protection and Free-Trade To-Day. By Robert P. Porter. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co. Pp. 48. 10 cents.
Diccionario Tecnológico. Part VIII. By Nestor Ponce de Leon. New York: N. Ponce de Leon. Pp. 48. 50 cents.
The True Issue (Tariff Reform). By E. J. Donnell. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 79.
A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Part XIX. By George Grove, D. C. L. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 128. $1.
Alexander the Priest. By William A. Swank. Pp. 40.
Suggestions respecting Educational Exhibit (Bureau of Education). Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 281.
Russell's Improved Process for the Lixiviation of Silver-Ores. By C. A. Statefeldt, New York. Philadelphia: Sherman & Co. Pp. 72.
On the Amount of the Atmospheric Absorption. By S. P. Langley. Pp. 18.
Fifth Annual Report of Sapporo Agricultural College. Japan, 1881. Pp. 84.
The Psychical Relation of Man to Animals. By Joseph Le Conte. Pp. 26.
Town and County Government In the English Colonies of North America. By Edward Channing. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 57. 50 cents.
Modern Low-Cost Houses: Shoppell's Building Plans. New York: Co-operative Building - Plan Association. Forty Designs. 50 cents.
The Steam-Engine Indicator and its Use. By William Barnet Le Van. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 169. 50 cents.
Ogilvie's Handy Book of Useful Information. Compiled by J. S. Ogilvie. New York: J. S. Ogilvie &, Co. Pp. 128. 25 cents.
Correspondences of the Bible. The Animals. By John Worcester. Boston: Massachusetts New Church Union. Pp. 294. $1.
Essays by Wheelbarrow. Chicago: "Radical Review." Pp. 132.
Practical Work in the School-Room. Object-Lessons on the Human Body. Now York: A. Lovell & Co. Pp. 157.
Education by Doing. By Anna Johnson. New York: E. L. Kellogg & Co. Pp. 109.
"The Jukes." Studies of Criminals. By R. L, Dugdale. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 120, with Charts. $1.25.
Tableaux de la Revolution Française (Introductory French Reader). By T. F. Crane and S. J. Brun. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 811. $1.50.
A Grammar of the German Language. By H. C. G. Brandt. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 278. $1.50.
A Reader of German Literature. By W. H. Rosenstengel. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 402. $1.50.
An Outline of the Future Religion of the World. By T. Lloyd Stanley. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 588. $3.
Life and Labor in the Far, Far West. By W. Henry Barneby. London and New York: Cassell & Co. Pp. 432. $2.
Mineral Resources of the United States. By Albert Williams, Jr. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 813.
The National Dispensatory. By Alfred Stillé, M. D., and John M. Maisch, Phar. D. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son &, Co. Pp. 1,755.
American Newspaper Annual. 1884. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son. Pp. 994. $3.
Transactions of the Linnæan Society of New York. Vol. II. New York: Published by the Society. Newbold T. Lawrence, Corresponding Secretary. Pp. 233, with Plate.