# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 24/March 1884/Literary Notices

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Excursions of an Evolutionist. By John Fiske. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 379. $2.
Mr. Fiske has laid the reading public under many obligations by the reissue of these more recent papers, which embody his matured views on a wide and varied range of topics. Nothing need be said in commendation of the literary work of a writer who has been long recognized as unrivaled in the art of lucid, effective, and pleasing exposition. But we are not to forget that these accomplishments have been put to the noblest service, and make him the most admirable interpreter of a new epoch in the advance of human thought. Mr. Fiske's writings belong eminently to a transition era in philosophic and scientific progress, and are in a high sense authoritative representations of it. And this is much to say of any one man's relation to a mental movement more comprehensive in its bearings upon widely received opinion than any that has ever before taken place.
There can be no doubt that Mr. Fiske's "Cosmic Philosophy" must rank first among the few masterpieces of expository statement contributed by this age on the subject of evolution. It is the book for the people upon this subject. It is not only an eminently instructive but a most charming work. ​The author handles the great problems involved with originality and power, and at the same time with a clearness, a felicity of illustration, and a fascination of style, that give the work an unequaled claim upon popular regard. And we do not for a moment mean by this that the treatise is lowered in quality to adapt it to uncultivated minds. Its peculiar excellence is, that while it treats of abstract and difficult questions, in such a way that the uninitiated may pursue the discussions with satisfaction, the most adept minds will also be profoundly interested. "We have seen a school-boy absorbed in the work; and Mr. Charles Darwin, after having gone slowly and carefully through it, wrote to the author, "I never in my life read so lucid an expositor—and therefore thinker—as you are"; and he adds, "It pleased me to find that here and there I had arrived from my own crude thoughts at some of the same conclusions with you, though I could seldom or never have given my reasons for such conclusions." The testimony of Mr. Darwin is corroborated by that of many others, the effect of which is to accord to Mr. Fiske an eminent and enviable place among those who have command of the questions that are now occupying the most earnest attention of the thinking world.
These considerations are important in their bearing upon our estimate of the present volume. The most fertile conception ever launched into the intellectual sphere is that of universal evolution. As deep as the forces of nature, it is as broad as the phenomena of nature. It is a new view of the movement of things, a new interpretation of their most comprehensive relations. There is hardly any great subject that escapes its influence. It has necessitated a recasting of the sciences, and a thorough-going reorganization of knowledge. So productive and all-influential an idea can be but partially dealt with in the most systematic and elaborate treatises; outstanding problems still remain to be solved and new applications of the doctrine worked out. Mr. Fiske has pursued the subject, after the publication of his elaborate book several years ago, in various aspects and in new directions, developing many points that were there but briefly touched upon. The volume before us consists mainly of these supplemental excursions in various directions, but all animated and characterized by the fundamental doctrine to which his first work was devoted. We recommend it to all students of the course of modern thought and the critical questions of the time, and can give our readers no better idea of the variety and instructiveness of its contents than by quoting the titles of the subjects treated. These are:
1. Europe before the Arrival of Man. 2. The Arrival of Man in Europe. 3. Our Aryan Forefathers. 4. What we learn from Old Aryan Words. 5. Was there a Primitive Mother-Tongue? 6. Sociology and Hero-Worship. 7. Heroes of Industry. 8. The Causes of Persecution. 9. The Origins of Protestantism. 10. The True Lesson of Protestantism. 11. Evolution and Religion. 12. The Meaning of Infancy. 13. A Universe of Mind Stuff. 14. In Memoriam. Charles Darwin.
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. VOL. XLVII.
Fallacies. A View of Logic from the Practical Side. By Alfred Sidgwick, Berkeley Fellow of Owens College, Manchester. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 375. Price, $l.75.
It is curious that the subject, which is at the same time the most important, the most practical, and which involves questions of the deepest intellectual interest—that is, the science and art of correct reasoning—should somehow have come to be regarded as the dullest and heaviest of all subjects. No doubt this repulsiveness of logic is very much due to that ancient pedantic formality which was imparted to it in scholastic times and has continued ever since, and also to the fact that its practical objects have been forgotten in the development of its processes. University drill in logic has become itself the end without much reference to its reduction to utilitarian practice. Whatever may be the cause of the unattractiveness of logic, much of it must certainly be due to prejudices arising from its imperfect presentation. In his book on "Fallacies," Professor Sidgwick has made a very successful attempt to rescue the subject from its repellent forms, and to deal with it in a way that shall be interesting to the general ​reader. The book is, therefore, written as much as possible from an unprofessional point of view, and in a way to require no previous technical training. Although any treatment of fallacies must, to a great extent, deal with methods of proof, and must, therefore, demand a certain amount of general logical theory, yet by trying to keep chiefly in view the practical and applicable side of the science of logic, and subordinating all else to this, Professor Sidgwick claims to have been able to neglect the discussion of much debatable matter, and to avoid definite adherence to a school. Mill and Bain are chiefly followed, but the author has attempted to utilize their most important results without being compelled to accept the whole of their philosophy. The following passages from Professor Sidgwick's introductory chapter may serve to illustrate the point of view from which he regards his subject, and also his fresh and unconventional manner of writing upon it:
In the midst of these perplexities, it is difficult to choose a quite satisfactory course. Some excuses may, however, be offered for the line that has here been taken; and, first, I would plead, as against the charge of irregularity or presumption, the fact that I have wished to keep a single purpose in view, avoiding all questions that fail to bear directly upon it. Usually in works on logic, the object has been to say something valuable upon all the questions traditionally treated as within the field of the science, and, in attempting this, the single, practical purpose is apt to become obscured. It is only in consequence of my avoidance of side-issues that any appearance of novelty in the treatment has followed. Moreover, it is not teaching, but suggestion that is chiefly here intended. It is always allowable to write rather in the co-operative spirit than the didactic, and this has certainly been my aim throughout. And the same apology may apply to the charge of forcing verbal changes upon the reader; the novelties of statement are here put forward merely as possible aids in keeping our single purpose clear, and, in fact, I found them almost unavoidable.
A Natural History Reader. For School and Home. Compiled and arranged by James Johonnot, author of "Principles and Practice of Teaching," etc. New York: Pp. 414. D. Appleton & Co. Price, $1.25.
The work of the compiler of this volume has been executed with intelligence, taste, and good practical judgment, and he has made of it a most interesting book of natural history for general reading. It is an excellent sign of the healthy growth of an interest in science when works of this kind are called for and introduced into schools. The literature of science must ​undoubtedly precede its actual and more thorough cultivation, and a great point will have been gained when this literature secures a prominent and established place in the schools. It is a concession to the rights of knowledge. Hitherto we have stopped with rhetoric, careless of the contents of thought, and in subserviency to the dogma that style and expression are everything. Such works as this are tributes to a sounder view, and evidences of advancement in the right direction. On this subject Professor Johonnot well remarks:
"Under the later system, the truth is recognized that the object of all school exercises is to promote mental growth, to which end ideas and thoughts are indispensable. "Words, like bank-notes, are regarded not for their intrinsic but for their representative value. In so far as they clearly reveal the gold of thought, they may be taken for genuine coin, but, failing in this, they are worthless counterfeits. The kinds of ideas and thoughts are also a matter of serious moment. In each stage of the mind's growth, those only should be used that will command the attention by the interest excited, that will stimulate the reflective activities of the mind, and that will incite to further observation and investigation.
"With these objects kept clearly in view, reading and the general acquisition of language become secondary and not primary processes. They are incident to the general objects of instruction. Reading-matter is selected upon the same principles as studies that which will interest, stimulate, and incite. At every stage of growth it is such aa will best serve the present purposes of the mind, and, at the same time, promote the next step in advance. The pupil reads because he is anxious to know. His progress is rapid, because he is interested. His manner of reading is correct, because he understands the thought, and thought controls the expression."
We must add that the "Natural History Reader" is an attractive and a handsome book. It is beautifully illustrated, poems are interspersed with the prose chapters, and it is elegantly printed. Its selections are from the most recent writings of naturalists, and the information they convey will be found fresh and up to the times.
Lectures on Painting. Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy. By Edward Armitage, R. A. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 337. $1.75.
Professor Armitage has given in this book a selection of twelve from the lectures delivered by him during the term of his professorship in the Royal Academy, between 1876 and 1882. He has published them under the impression that they might be interesting to other students than those of the Royal Academy, "and possibly even to those who do not intend to follow art as a profession, but who would be glad to have a little daylight thrown on a subject which, though much written and lectured about of late years, does not seem to have been often treated in a simple, practical manner." The subjects of the lectures are, "Ancient Costume," "Byzantine and Romanesque Art," "The Painters of the Eighteenth Century," "David and his School," "The Modern Schools of Europe," "Drawing," "Color," "Decorative Painting," "Finish," "The Choice of a Subject," "The Composition of Decorative and Historical Pictures," and the "Composition of Incident Pictures."
Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (Archives of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro). Dr. Ladislao Netto, General Director. Vol. III, 1878, pp. 194, with Six Plates; Vol. IV, 1879, pp. 154, with Six Plates; Vol. V, 1880, pp. 470. Rio de Janeiro: Typographia Economica.
The "Archives" are a quarterly publication of papers on scientific subjects that properly come under the purview of the Museum. The present volumes include the publications for the second half of 1878, and for 1879 and 1880. In the third volume are included papers on the venom of the rattlesnake, by Dr. Lacerda; on the geology of the diamond-bearing region of the Province of Paraná, by Orville A. Derby; observations on geological features in the Bay of Todos os Santos, by Mr. Derby and Richard Rathbun; and other papers of a more special character. The fourth volume contains a number of anthropological and linguistic studies on the natives of the country, and papers on subjects of entomology and geology. The fifth volume is given to the "Flora Fluminensis," a Flora, in ​Latin, of the Province of Rio, composed in the last century by Fr. José Marianno da Conceição Velloso, and first published in 1825.
Tertiary History of the Grand Cañon District. By Clarence E. Dutton. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 264, with Forty-two Plates, accompanied by an Atlas of Twenty-three Plates.
The Grand Canon of the Colorado is characterized by some of the most wonderful rock-formations and the most gorgeous yet desolate scenery to be found anywhere on the earth. Captain Dutton has made the study and the description of it a labor of love, and the present volume, with its striking illustrations and the accompanying atlas with its grand panoramas and bird's-eye views, many of them, as well as the illustrations in the volume, colored according to nature, constitute one of the most welcome contributions to our literature and knowledge which the United States Geological Survey has made. Mr. Dutton's account of the geology, formation, characteristics, and scenery of the canon takes notice of every aspect in which the wonder is likely to be viewed. Among the details of the account, to which we would invite attention, are the carved niches or panels in the red-wall limestone, and the exquisite tracery of the rounded and inward curves and projected cusps of the walls, which are represented in plates 41 and 42 of the volume.
Electricity in Theory and Practice; or, the Elements of Electrical Engineering. By Lieutenant Bradley A. Fiske, U. S. N. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1883. Pp. 265. Price, $2.50.
Whoever will carefully read Lieutenant Fiske's lucid exposition will have no excuse for persistence in the hazy notions concerning the relation of electrical effects, and the power requisite to produce them, not uncommon among even the intelligent and educated public. Very few persons, perhaps, are in the position, in regard to their knowledge of electricity, of the man who wanted to know why they should have a steam-engine and a dynamo-machine to make an incandescent lamp go, or of that English couple who purchased a Swan lamp and spent much time trying to light it with a match; but the ignorance which abounds on the subject is still very considerable. With the great and increasing development of the practical application of electricity, it is especially desirable that the general public, both in its character of investor and consumer, should have definite and clear conceptions of the fundamental principles involved in these applications. These Lieutenant Fiske has essayed to furnish in the present volume.
He introduces his subject with an elementary consideration of magnetism, which he follows with a chapter upon statical electricity. The relation of work and potential, and of the different electrical units to each other, is very clearly explained. A chapter is devoted to the laws of currents, and to primary and secondary batteries. In speaking of the electric light, no attempt is made, and very properly, to describe different forms, but to explain the essential principles involved in this class of apparatus. The chapter on electrical measurements is an admirable, concise statement of the subject, as is also that on telegraphy and on the telephone. The chapters upon electro-magnetic induction and upon the dynamo are excellent; but upon the latter Lieutenant Fiske might well have devoted some little attention to the designing of dynamos. He states in his preface that he intended his book to form a bridge between the theory of electricity and its practical application. There is probably no one case in which the practical constructor finds more difficulty, in passing from theory to practice than in this of the designing of dynamos. He may know what a unit magnet-pole is and the magnetic effect of a unit-current, but he still is able to but very vaguely see his way to apply this knowledge in determining the size of his field-magnets, the amount and size of wire on them, and the like proportions of his armature, to get the best results. Very few machines, we imagine, have been built so largely by rule of thumb as the dynamo, and therefore information of this sort could not fail of being of great value.
The book closes with a chapter upon the electric railway, giving a general view of the subject, and descriptions of the systems carried out by Siemens Brothers, and that devised by Mr. Edison and S. D. Field.
The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley, historically considered. by Lucien Care, Peabody Museum. Cambridge, Mass. Pp. 107.
This essay, which, forms a part of the "Memoirs" of the Kentucky Geological Survey, is an argument in favor of the theory that the mound-builders were the ancestors of the present Indians. The advocates of the theory that the mounds were built by some other race rest to a large extent upon the assumptions that the Indians were not sufficiently advanced to execute the works that have been examined; that they were not agriculturists, as the mound-builders must have been; and that they were not subject to such central authority, or controlled by any such impelling motive, as seems to have been necessary for the construction of such extensive works. Mr. Carr's effort is to controvert these assumptions. He argues, with the aid of many citations from historians, chroniclers, and travelers, that the Indians of the Mississippi Valley lived in fixed villages, which they were in the habit of fortifying by palisades; that they raised corn in large quantities and stored it; that they all worshiped the sun, as the mound-builders are supposed to have done; and that works similar to those of the mound-builders, if not quite as extensive, are known to have been erected by Indians.
A Practical Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Roberts Bartholow, M. A., M. D., LL. D. Fifth edition, revised and enlarged. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1884. Pp. 738.
The appearance of a new edition of this well-known work so soon after the edition of 1881 is due, in part, as the author tells us in his preface, to the recent changes in the "United States Pharmacopoeia." Although the work has been adapted to the new official standard in general, we fail to find any reference to the changes in the morphia strength of the opium preparations, and the doses prescribed are the same as in the earlier editions. This is the more to be regretted since the new Pharmacopoeia does not itself give any doses.
Many additions demanded by the advance of science have been made in the body of the work, so that nearly one hundred pages in all have been added to the book, making it a complete exponent of the present state of knowledge in this direction.
In Part I the routes by which medicines are introduced into the organism are classified and briefly described. Under this head the author treats insufflation, the use of the nasal douche and atomizers, etc., and gives a valuable chapter upon hypodermatic (hypodermic) methods, with a list of the remedies, solutions, and doses employed, and cautions as to the points to be avoided in hypodermatic injections. Then follows an article on transfusion, with references, as in other cases, to the authorities consulted. In Part II the actions and uses of remedial agents are very fully described. In this part we find the uses of water, externally and internally, of heat, of air, and of massage, discussed, as well as the actions of drugs in general, and the effects of various kinds of aliments and beverages. Formulæ are given for the preparation of animal broths and diet-drinks; the koumiss-cure, whey-cure, and buttermilk-cure, each receive some attention. Directions are also given for the preparation of gruels, jellies, peptonized milk, and other restorative agents.
The various pharmacopœal preparations are briefly mentioned, their strength noted, and the dose given, while their physiological and therapeutical use receives more attention. Processes for their preparation are not given.
In addition to a very copious general index, the work is provided with a very full "clinical index," which will serve to suggest the remedies that may be employed in any particular disease, but which may also prove an injury in other ways as furnishing an aid to quackery, and offering an encouragement to "counter-prescribing" by druggists.
Human Proportion and Anthropometry. By Dr. Robert Fletcher. Cambridge, Mass.: Moses King. Pp. 37, with Plates.
This is a lecture delivered at the National Museum, Washington, D. C, and includes an examination and explanation of the ancient Egyptian and the Polykleitan canons of proportion, with a review of the results of recent anthropometric measurements.
The Motions of Fluids and Solids on the Earth's Surface. By Professor William Ferrel. Reprinted, with Notes, by Frank Waldo. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 51.
This essay, the first and most important of the valuable mathematical essays of Professor Ferrel on the motions of the atmosphere, is reprinted as the first part of a paper, the object of which is to place in the hands of the investigator and student the important writings on the subject, elucidated with notes. It is to be followed by a second part, including the writings of several European mathematicians, who have engaged in the study.
Meteorological and Physical Observations on the East Coast of British North America. By Orray Taft Sherman. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 202.
This volume contains the observations and deductions made by the meteorologist of the scientific party of the schooner Florence, which spent the winter of 1877—'78 in Cumberland Sound, latitude from 64·50° to 67°, and completes the scientific record of the expedition. The observations relate to tidal phenomena, temperature, hygrometry, the winds, atmospheric pressure, the weather, and the color of the sky, cloudiness, precipitation, and auroral phenomena.
Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-saving Service, for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1882. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 504.
The report well illustrates the efficiency and usefulness of the service to which it relates. The department has 189 stations, of which 144 are on the Atlantic, 37 on the lakes, seven on the Pacific, and one at the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky. It had cognizance, during the year covered by the present report, of 345 disasters to vessels of different classes, directly involving 2,398 persons. Of these persons, 2,386 were saved, and only twelve were lost. Of $4,766,227 of property involved, $3,106,457 were saved. Interesting statements are made respecting the success that has attended the use of the surf-boat, the self-righting and self-bailing life-boat, the breeches-buoy, the wreck-gun, the heaving-stick, the India-rubber dress, and other life-saving apparatus. Circumstantial accounts are given of each of the cases of shipwreck and rescue; statistics are shown of wrecks and casualties in American waters and disasters to American vessels in other waters, since 1879; and the instructions of the service to mariners in case of shipwreck are furnished.
Charts and Tables showing Geographical Distribution of Rainfall in the United States. By H. H. C. Dunwoody. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 51, with 13 Charts.
The charts exhibit the geographical distribution of the average monthly and average yearly rainfall in the United States, as determined by observers of the Signal Service. The tables give the actual rainfall occurring during each month at the regular Signal-Service stations and army posts, with the average rainfall for each month, season, and year, and serve to show the fluctuations of rainfall in different sections of the country during the last ten years.
The North Atlantic Cyclones of August, 1883. By Lieutenant W. H. H. Southerland, U. S. Navy. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 22.
This report includes the records of the cyclones of August 19th to August 27th, and of August 27th to September 1st, with maps of their course, compiled from the logs of vessels which came under their influence. Nautical directions are appended for manœuvring in, and avoiding the center of, cyclones in the North Atlantic.
Horological and Thermometry Bureau of Yale College Observatory. Third Annual Report. By Leonard Waldo. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. Pp. 26.
Watches continue to be received for testing from a variety of makers, and show a decided improvement in quality of performance. The establishment of a school of horology is suggested, but endowments are wanting. Time-signals are regularly transmitted from the observatory to the railroads of the State. Certificates have been issued of 5,295 thermometers, against 4,552 in 1881-'82 and 1,957 in 1880-'81.
Chemical Problems, with Brief Statements of the Principles involved. By James C. Foye, Ph. D. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 141. 50 cts.
The value of problems as means for securing accuracy in a knowledge of the subject, and as tests for attainments, is generally recognized by the best educators. The present work was prepared to meet a need felt by the author, who is a professor in Lawrence University, Wisconsin, in instructing his classes. Its plan is very simple. After defining the terms used, and briefly stating the principle to be illustrated, a typical problem is solved, and from the solution a formula of general application is deduced, which is followed by problems to be worked by the student. These, as a rule, bear upon the fundamental principles of chemistry.
Steam-Heating. An Exposition of the American Practice of warming Buildings by Steam. By Robert Briggs. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 108. 50 cts.
Unless some application of electricity is devised to supersede it, steam is, in all probability, destined to be the agent by which our houses will be heated in the future. Aside from its superior cleanliness as compared with most other methods of heating apartments, the facility with which the warming and ventilation are managed, when it is once established, is a strong recommendation in its favor. Mr. Briggs's treatise includes a great deal that the builder and householder will find useful on the subject, particularly on the practical side.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Proceeding of the Boston Society of Natural History. Vol. XXII. November, 1882, to February, 1883. Pp. 112, with Six Plates.
Summary of Progress in Mineralogy in 1883. By H. Carvill Lewis, Philadelphia. Pp. 50.
What shall we do for the Drunkard? By Orpheus Everts, M. D. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. Pp. 56.
Insects injurious to Vegetation and how to get rid of Them. By Dr. C. A. Greene, of Harrisburg, Pa. Pp. 9.
A Brief Statement of the Doctrines and Philosophy of the Social Labor Movement. By A. J. Starkweather and S. Robert Nilson. San Francisco: S. F. Truth Publishing Company. Pp. 62. 15 cents.
Shall we put Spectacles on Children? By Julian J. Chisholm, M. D., University of Maryland. Pp. 6.
Count Rumford, Originator of the Royal Institution. By Professor Tyndall. London. Pp. 48.
The Batrachia of the Permian Period of North America. By E. D. Cope. Pp. 14.
Paleontological Bulletin. No. 37. Various papers by E. D. Cope. Philadelphia: A. E. Foote, 1223 Belmont Avenue. Pp. 20.
The Evidence for Evolution in the History of the Extinct Mammalia. By E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia. Salem: Salem Press. Pp. 19.
Micrometry, Report of the National Committee, etc. R. H. Ward, Secretary. Troy, N. Y. Pp. 23.
The Bufalini Prize, U. S. Bureau of Education. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 5.
Development of a Dandelion-Flower. By John M. Coulter. Pp. 7.
The Seasons in Iowa, and a Calendar for 1884. By Gustavus Hinrichs. Iowa City, Iowa. Pp. 24.
Illinois. By William Hosea Ballou. Pp. 6.
Official Register of Dentists in Iowa. Iowa City: A. O. Hunt, D. D. S. Pp. 34.
Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic for January, with a Supplement (pp. 2) giving Position and Detail of Floating Wrecks. By Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. Hydrographic Office.
Injurious Garden Insects. By Byron D. Halstead, Sc. D. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Pp. 16. 5 cents.
The Zone of Asteroids and the Ring of Saturn. By Professor Daniel Kirkwood, Bloomington, Indiana. Pp. 4.
People and Places. By Sarah K. Bolton. Cleveland Educational Bureau, Cleveland, Ohio. Pp. 40.
American Society of Microscopists. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting, August, 1888. Buffalo: Haas & Klein. Pp. 279. $1.30.
Contributions from the Chemical Laboratory of the University of Michigan. Edited by Albert B. Prescott and Victor C. Vaughan. Vol. I, Part IL Ann Arbor, Mich. Pp. 48. 40 cents.
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences. "Contents" and "Index" of Vol. 1 and eight numbers of Vol. II. Pp. 170.
Morphology, Estimates of Intelligence, Vital Chemistry. By Frank B. Scott. Badax, Mich. Pp. 16.
Physical Studies of Lake Tahoe. By Professor John Le Conte. Pp. 37.
Hysteria. By James Hendrie Lloyd, A. M., M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 21.
Downward Displacement of the Transverse Colon. By Charles Hermon Thomas, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 4.
Of Work and Wealth: A Summary of Economics. By R. R. Bowker. New York: Society for Political Education. Pp. 48. 25 cents.
Medical Symbolism. By T. S. Sozinskey, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 11.
The Ellipticon. By J. L. Naish. New York. Pp. 2. $1.
New York Post-Graduate Medical School, New York City. Sessions of 1883-'84. Pp. 16.
The Termination of the Nerves in the Kidney. By M. L. Holbrook, M. D. New York City. Pp. 8.
Annual Report of the Hydrographer of the Navy Department. 1883. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 15.
Report of the Commission to select and locate Parks in New York City. New York: M. H. Brown, 49 Park Place. Pp. 215, with Plates.
Federal Taxation: The Urgent Necessity of Reform. By Samuel Barnett. Atlanta, Ga. Pp. 45.
Prison Contract Labor: Analysis of the Vote (New York). Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co. Pp. 22.
Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. Thirty-eighth Annual Report. By Edward C. Pickering. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son. Pp. 17.
Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. Quarterly Report to September 30, 1883. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 133.
​Physics in Pictures. With Thirty Colored Plates for Ocular Instruction. By Theodore Eckardt and A. H. Keane. London: Edward Stanford. Text, pp. 20. 7s. 6d.
Common-Sense Binder. New York Asa L. Shipman's Sons.
Hints on the Drainage and Sewerage of Dwellings. By William Paul Gerhard. New York: William f. Comstock. 1884. Pp. 302. Illustrated. $2.50.
Lund and its Pent. By Francis A. Walker, Ph.D., LL. D. Boston: Little, Brown &, Co. 1883. Pp. 232. 75 cents.
A Bachelor's Talks about Married Life and Things Adjacent. By William Aikman. D.D. New York: Fowler & Wells. 1884. Pp. 273. $1.50.
The Philosophy of Self-Consciousness. By P. F. Fitzgerald. Cincinnati: E. Clarke & Co. 1883. $1.25.
Electricity, Magnetism, and Electric Telegraphy. By Thomas D. Lockwood. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1883. Pp. 377.
For Mothers and Daughters: A Manual of Hygiene for Women and the Household. By Mrs. E. G. Cook, M.D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 392. Illustrated. $1.50.
Geological Survey of Alabama: Report for Years 1881 and 1882. By Eugene Allen Smith, Ph.D. Montgomery, Ala.: W. D. Brown & Co. 1883. Pp. 615, with Maps.
Second Biennial Report State Board of Health of Iowa for Fiscal Period ending June 30, 1883. Des Moines: George E. Roberts. 1883. Pp. 417.
The Relations of Mind and Brain. By Henry Calderwood, LL.D. Second edition. London: Macmillan & Co. 1884. Pp. 527.
Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic, with Experiments. By Charles Loudon Bloxam. From the fifth and revised English edition. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co. 1883. Pp. 738. Cloth, $3.75; leather, $4.75.
First Registration Report of the State Board of Health of Iowa, for the Year ending October 1, 1881. Des Moines: George E. Roberts. 1883. Pp. 811.
The Field of Disease: A Book of Preventive Medicine. By B. W. Richardson, M.D., F.R.S. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co. 1884. Pp. 737. Cloth, $4; leather, $5; Russia, $5.50.