# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 41/May 1892/Literary Notices

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New Fragments. By John Tyndall, F. R. S. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 500. Price, $2.
The contents of this volume consist of essays and addresses prepared for various occasions and embracing a considerable range of topics. Among those dealing with natural science are a review of Goethe's Farbenlehre, a magazine article on Atoms, Molecules, and Ether Waves, another with the title About Common Water, and a paper on the Origin, Propagation, and Prevention of Phthisis. Tyndall's well-known power of making scientific subjects luminous and fascinating is abundantly shown throughout this volume. Take this passage from About Common Water:
The wonderful style above illustrated contributes a great part to the effectiveness of Prof. Tyndall's teachings in science. Many a student, using one of Tyndall's treatises on Heat, Light, or Electricity as a text-book, has found himself drawn on to read far beyond the limits set for the next lesson. Obviously the books that get themselves read are the ones that produce results; hence it is probably safe to say that no book has done more to spread an understanding of the nature and behavior of one of the great forces of Nature than his Heat as a Mode of Motion.
Tyndall is still more fascinating and becomes even inspiring when he discourses of his favorite recreation, climbing the Alps. There are two essays dealing with Alpine experiences in this collection, and many of the phenomena of glaciers, snow-fields, and mountain mists are introduced into the scientific papers. The following is a description of the sort with which his Alpine chapters abound:
Among the New Fragments are several biographical sketches, and these are fully as vivid as the essays already mentioned. The power of expression that can so greatly enliven inanimate objects is naturally no less potent in dealing with subjects that have lived. It is well for science that Tyndall's bent was turned so strongly toward scientific matters, for otherwise biography would long since have monopolized him. In reading his sketch of Count Rumford one is made to feel that the investigator of a century ago was also a man, and, moreover, what manner of man he was. The same applies to the account of Thomas Young; and when our author speaks of one whom he has known in the flesh, as in his Personal Recollections of Thomas Carlyle, and his address on unveiling the statue of Carlyle, the image of his subject stands out with marvelous distinctness.
Among the miscellaneous papers in this ​volume should be mentioned an address on the Sabbath, in which a strict and dismal mode of observing the day is deprecated; and an address delivered at the Birkbeck Institution, which tells much of Tyndall's own student-life. Persons who have read the Fragments of Science by Tyndall will find the present volume no less interesting.
A Treatise on the Ligation of the Great Arteries in Continuity, with Observations on the Nature, Progress, and Treatment of Aneurism. By Charles A. Ballance, F. R. C. S., and Walter Edmunds, F. R. C. S. London and New York: Macmillian & Co. Pp. 568. Price, $10.
This elegant volume embodies the results of extended researches and of many experiments upon the lower animals undertaken with the view of lessening the liability to hæmorrhage after the ligation of an artery. After two brief introductory chapters the nature of arteries and the processes of physiological occlusion and pathological obliteration are described. Then the conduct and fate of the corpuscles, the clot, the coats, and the ligature are successively discussed. The phenomena of suppuration and hæmorrhage are next examined, and a chapter on the conduct and fate of the aneurism follows. Taking up the surgery of the arteries in detail, the authors give the views and practice of the earlier and later surgeons, and discuss the choice of the operation, the ligature, the knot, and the force. A concluding chapter treats of the conduct of the operation and the fate of the patient. The work is printed in large type, with wide margins, and is illustrated with ten plates, including a frontispiece portrait of Scarpa, and 232 figures.
The Genesis of Genesis. A Study of the Documentary Sources of the First Book of Moses, in Accordance with the Results of Critical Science, illustrating the Presence of Bibles within the Bible. By Benjamin Wisner Bacon. Hartford: The Student Publishing Company. Pp. 352. Price, $2.50.
In preparing this book, the author has assumed that the reading public are entitled to judge for themselves concerning the value of what is called the higher criticism. For this end they require, not controversial argument, but explanation; and he does not consider it necessary that the presentation of the case should be made from the point of view of hostility to the new theory, or even from one of indifference. An introduction by Prof. George F. Moore, of Andover Theological Seminary, gives the history of the higher criticism, or of questions of the authorship of Genesis from the time it was started by Aben Ezra, in the twelfth century. The introductory part of the work proper contains chapters on Higher Criticism and the Science of Documentary Analysis, The Science of Biblical Criticism, and The Documentary Theory of To-day. In Part II is shown the text of Genesis according to the Revised Version, in varieties of type to exhibit the constituent sources and method of their compilation according to the general consensus of critical analysis, with notes explanatory of the phenomena of reduction. Part III presents the separate documents designated as J, E, and P, conjecturally restored, with revised translation according to emended text and conjectural readings of good authority. In the appendix are given "the great flood interpolation and connected passages, placed in juxtaposition with a translation of their cuneiform parallels."
A Text-Book of Bacteriology. By Carl Fraenkel, M. D., Professor of Hygiene, University of Kbnigsberg. Translated and edited from the third German edition by J. H. Linsley, M. D., Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in the University of Vermont. New York: William Wood & Co. Pp. 380. Price, $3.75.
Systematic study of the bacteria is included at present not only in the curriculum of medical schools, but also forms part of a biological course in many of our universities. Its interpretation of the causes of disease has led to a sense of its value, and the methods of German and French investigators are followed with increasing eagerness by students. A considerable number of volumes consisting of translations and original lectures upon the subject is already accessible in English, but no one of these is perhaps an adequate text-book. Dr. Linsley has therefore translated and adapted to use Fraenkel's Grundriss der Bakterienkunde, a manual whose worth is attested by its rendering into six different languages.
In this work little space is allowed for ​argument. The bacteria are classified at once as "the lowest members of the vegetable kingdom, closely related to the algæ."
Separate species are found among them, differentiated by growth and shape. According to their forms they are divided into the globular bacteria or micrococci, the rodshaped or bacilli, and the screw-like or spirilla. Their structure, multiplication, conditions necessary for growth, and resultant phenomena are next considered.
The benefits of oil immersion and of the Abbe illuminating apparatus are unfolded in Methods of Investigation, and the learner is instructed in the handling of the microscope and making of stains. Even the common errors of beginners are outlined for the student, and he is warned not to mistake the broken nuclei of white blood-cells for bacilli, when the glasses have been too hastily pulled apart, or to fancy he has discovered a colony of micrococci when some plasma-cells betray idiosyncrasies in absorbing aniline colors.
Full directions are given for the various processes involved in successful breeding, sterilization, and the preparation of liquid and solid food media.
The noxious character of pathogenic bacteria is shown to consist not in the mechanical effect of their presence, nor in the hospitality they may exact from their host, but in the alkaloidal poisons they generate. Fraenkel inclines to the belief that the organism resists through a germ-killing power which resides in the living albumin of the serum, and that victory over invading bacilli is a chemical one and not the pitched battle of the phayocytes. Some of the interesting experiments of Metschnikoff in defense of his theory are not quoted, but his views are fairly represented. The author admits as pathogenic bacteria only those which comply with three conditions: first, that they are invariably present with the morbid affection; second, that they can be cultivated outside of the organism; thirdly, when the same pathological effects follow inoculation of the artificial culture. Petri's method of finding the number of bacteria in a given quantity of air is preferred. Only three to five germs in a litre is the average amount computed for an ordinary dwelling. Bacteriological examination of the soil is complicated and of little use, but that of water is extremely important, although the determination of species is difficult. "Water may be harmless and contain five thousand germs of the hay bacillus to the cubic centimetre, but ten germs among which are two cholera vibrios and two typhoid bacilli render it dangerous."
The principal mold and yeast fungi are briefly noticed in the appendix. The book is indexed, but lacks illustrations. Minute descriptions atone for this; however, the student is expected to illustrate for himself in the best way by observation of the living object.
The Electric Railway in Theory and Practice. By Oscar T. Crosby and Louis Bell, Ph. D. New York: W. J. Johnston Co., Limited. Pp. 400. Illustrated. Price, $2.50.
Although electric traction in the United States only dates from 1884, its development has been so rapid that for public transit in towns and cities it would seem that the days of the horse are numbered. Of electric locomotion as a science and art this book is a clear and thorough presentation. Beginning with an outline of electrical theory, the authors proceed at once to practical details. The considerations which should determine the placing of a station are first discussed, as also the economical adaptation of plant to a specific volume of traffic and frequency of service. Steam-engines and water-wheels of the best models are described and their merits carefully discriminated. Motors and car equipment are then canvassed, and the various approved methods of building lines and track are illustrated. The trolley, underground conduit, and storage-battery systems are next compared, with a complete array of evidence pro and con.
Mr. Crosby, one of the authors, has conducted the only series of experiments ever undertaken with intent to double railroad speeds. In one of the most interesting chapters in the book he gives all the facts in the case, with cautiously deduced estimates. His conclusion is, that with electric motors of the highest efficiency, there is an advantage over the locomotive at all speeds. This advantage is fifteen per cent at twenty miles an hour, and steadily increases as the rate is quickened. Where motors are liable to a ​loss of one fifth in efficiency they are on an equality with locomatives at sixty miles an hour; below that speed the locomotive is to be preferred; beyond it, the motor is the cheaper servant.
While this work shows evidence on every page of the scientific mastery of its subject, the authors are plainly men desirous of meeting the practical difficulties which the operation of electric railways presents every day. They are also fully aware that the investor is less interested in the analysis of electrical machinery than in the simple question, Will it pay? Commercial considerations receive full and sensible treatment. Others than superintendents and investors can read this work with profit. It is as good an example as American literature contains of scientific principles applied to the solution of practical problems—problems, too, as important in their social as in their commercial bearings. Progress in electric traction means the relief of congested cities, the expansion of wholesome suburbs, on a scale impossible to the steam locomotive. In long-distance service it stands for an advance second only to that due to George Stephenson.
Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley. Edited, with Copious Notes, by Henry Carrington Bolton. New York: privately printed. Pp. 240. Price, $2.50. E. F. Brown, 180 Warren Street, Brooklyn, Agent.
The "Father of Pneumatic Chemistry" expected to be remembered chiefly for the theological views which he put forth, having been in early life a Unitarian minister, and a writer on theological subjects throughout his career. Hence his modest autobiography, which was expanded into two volumes, with the addition of several hundred letters, by his son and J. T. Rutt, contains almost nothing about his scientific investigations. To supply the lack of material relating to his work in the latter field, Dr. Bolton has collected ninety-seven letters, nearly all written by Priestley, his correspondents being Josiah Wedgwood, Captain James Keir, Sir Joseph Banks, and others in England, and Dr. Benjamin Rush and others in America after he came to this country. They contain many interesting details concerning the progress of his researches on the gases, several of the most important of which were discovered by him. The letters are supplemented by many biographical, bibliographical, and explanatory notes by the editor, and the volume contains a portrait of Priestley and one of Josiah Wedgwood. There is also a synopsis of correspondence of Dr. Priestley, consisting chiefly of letters from him to his brother-in-law, Mr. Wilkinson, from 1790 to 1802. An appendix contains a descriptive list of the likenesses of Joseph Priestley in oil, ink, marble, and metal, embracing ninety-three items; an account of the Lunar Society, in Birmingham, founded by Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, and others, and of which Priestley was a member; and an inventory of Dr. Priestley's laboratory, which was sacked by rioters in 1791.
Diphtheria: its Natural History and Pretention. By R. Thorne Thorne, F. R. S. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 266. Price, $2.
Statistics show that the death-rate from diphtheria in England and Wales has been increasing during the last twenty years, and more rapidly in the cities than in the country. This disease thus presents a contrast to the majority of zymotic diseases, the death rate from which has been lessened as physicians have gained more knowledge of their nature and as sanitary conditions have been improved. In view of its fatal and little understood character, the author has undertaken to collect what is known in regard to diphtheria. It appears that the broad geological features of a district have no influence on the development or diffusion of the disease. A chart prepared by Dr. G. B. Longstaff shows that the death-rate has been high in some counties and low in others on the same geological formation. Yet the author is convinced that a surface soil which retains wetness and organic refuse, together with an aspect exposed to cold wet winds, tend to the fatality of diphtheria. He further discusses the general nature of the disease, its relation to scarlet fever and to croup, the influence of schools in spreading the infection, and milk as a vehicle in which it may be carried. The measures of prevention which are suggested by his study of the subject are stated in detail, and his general conclusions as to the natural history of diphtheria are also given. The volume contains ​three folded plates illustrating the relation of diphtheria to geology and topography.
Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the initiative and referendum. By J. W. Sullivan. New York: Twentieth Century Co. Pp. 120. Price, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 25 cents.
When an American learns that Switzerland is far in the lead of her sister republics in the practice of democratic government, many questions arise in his mind. This little book is designed to answer them. Mr. Sullivan concisely recounts the progress of Switzerland in direct legislation during the past sixty years, and shows the remarkable influence of this legislation on the institutions of the country. The statistics he cites prove a very notable diffusion of prosperity. He next shows that to a considerable length direct legislation is practiced in the United States in township, county, and State governments, as well as in the national trades and labor organizations. In his concluding chapter Mr. Sullivan, although a strenuous individualist, argues that in direct legislation lies an open way to a peaceful political and economic revolution. To the Swiss referendum it is often objected that many legislative questions are above the ordinary voter's comprehension, and demand the specially trained mind of his representative. But would not this check of comprehensibility keep law-making within legitimate bounds, and abolish the antagonism which so often exists between the interests of the people and those of their legislators?
Elementary Text-Book of Zoölogy. By Dr. C. Claus. Translated and edited by Prof. Adam Sedgwick. Second edition. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Two vols. Price, $8.
Among the German scientific text-books that have won high favor among American instructors is this work on zoölogy by Dr. Claus. It is in two volumes, the first comprising the General Part and the first Special Part—Protozoa to Insecta; the second volume containing the other Special Part—Mollusca to Man. In the General Part a bird's-eye view of the organization and development of animals in general is given, and this is followed by a brief historical review of the science of zoology, an explanation of the classification of the present day, and a statement of the evidence in favor of Darwin's theory of descent. In the special chapters which constitute the rest of the work, types of the several families are described with considerable detail. The text is illustrated with seven hundred and six woodcuts in Volume I and two hundred and five in the smaller Volume II.
Besides the list of towns and cities having water-works, and accounts of their works, The Manual of American Water-Works contains summaries and statistical information of great value to persons who are concerned in this subject. From it we learn that there were 2,037 water-works in operation on July 1, 1891, supplying 2,187 cities, towns, and villages; while in Canada there are 95 works, supplying 102 towns. Tables are given showing the distribution of this supply in the several States and provinces and groups of the same; towns having more than one plant; summaries of populations supplied; miles of mains, etc., also by States and groups. The last tables show that 22,814,061, or about 36 per cent of the inhabitants of the United States, live in towns having public water-works, and that only a few towns having 8,000 or more inhabitants are without works. The reported cost of 1,802 of the water-works in the United States and Canada aggregates $504,035,492. Other tables represent growth by number of works and populations supplied; dates of construction by groups of States and half decades; like summaries of works completed or under construction since 1880, and of works projected; information respecting the management of public water-works and tenure of office of governing bodies; consumption of water and use of metres; ownership, whether by the public or by private companies; franchises of water-works companies; and other facts of related character. The main part of the book comprises the list of water-works, given by States according to their geographical arrangement and by towns alphabetically, and comprising the items of history, source of supply, mechanism, financial condition, and managing boards.
A Preliminary Report on the Coal Deposits of Missouri has been prepared by the State Geologist, Arthur Winslow, in order ​that something may be at hand to meet immediate calls upon the survey for information concerning the coal deposits of the State. It embodies part of the results of such observations in the coal-fields as the author was able personally to make in 1890 and 1891. While the descriptions of the details of sections, the correlation of the different coal beds, the definition of the individual areas of the coal-beds, and the adaptabilities of the coals for steaming purposes are reserved for future reports or only briefly touched upon, and the report is not exhaustive or elaborate, it is comprehensive. It aims to present, in general terms, an outline of the conditions of occurrence and distribution of coal in the entire State, and contains a descriptive reference to every county in which coal is known to exist. Special effort has been made to obtain and include all information and results particularly relating to coal that were not obtainable at the time the earlier surveys of the State were in operation. Of especial value are the records of the various deep shafts and drill-holes which are included in the report. The well executed sectional diagrams of the several coal mines described contribute much to the satisfactory impression made by the report.
The principles of sound physical development, graceful carriage, and easy posture are taught in the little manual on Delsarlean Physical Culture, which has been prepared for seminaries, classes, private teachers, and individuals by Carrica Le Favre, and is published by the Fowler & Wells Company. The rules and exercises prescribed are simple and plain, and such as, with patience and attention, are easily carried out.
In The Modern Cook-book (Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick, Springfield, Ohio) an acceptable addition has been made to this class of books by Mrs. T. J. Kirkpatrick. The recipes are numerous, various, and simple, and are classified. The author has found that all the cook-books that have come under her observation lack something of completeness, and has endeavored to fill the want so far as she could by presenting a book containing a moderate number of recipes, all practical and working. The recipes are tabulated wherever it is possible; the bills of fare are not for state occasions, but for plain, every-day cooking; and the directions are full, minute, and systematic.
In the series of catalogues compiled by W. M. Griswold (Cambridge, Mass.), we notice the Descriptive List of Romantic Novels, the object of which is to direct readers, who would enjoy books of this kind, to a number of novels, easily obtainable, but which, in many cases, have been forgotten within a year or two after publication. The purpose has been to include only such works as are well written, interesting, and free from sensationalism, sentimentality, and pretense. The list is alphabetical, by titles, and is supplemented by an alphabetical index of authors.
A pamphlet on Roads Improvement, published by the League of American Wheelmen, contains three papers enforcing the importance of good roads, and showing by citations of what has been accomplished abroad what can be done toward making them. The papers are: The Common Roads of Europe and America, by Isaac B. Potter; Highways and National Prosperity, by Edward P. North; and The Importance of Good Wagonroads, by Prof. Lewis M. Haupt. The arguments of these papers are re-enforced in the most striking style by contrasted photographic views of scenes on the common roads of the United States, even near large cities, and the finished highways, even in rural districts, of England, Ireland, and Brittany.
A summary of Recent Advances in Electricity, Electric Lighting, Magnetism, Telegraphy, Telephony, etc., edited by Henry Greer and published at the New York Agent College of Electrical Engineering, contains articles on The Storage of Electricity; The Brush Storage System; other notices of storage batteries, accumulators, etc.; Telegraphing from a Moving Railway Train (Phelps's system); Navigable Trains of Air-ships (electricity being the motive power); and Edison's paper on his Pyromagnetic Dynamo, or machine for producing electricity directly from fuel, Price, $1.
A second series of Papers in Penology, compiled by the Editor of the Summary, and published at the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, contains papers on The Prisons of Great Britain, by Jay S. Butler; Modern Prison Science, by Prof. Charles A. ​Collin; The Philosophy of Crime, by William T. Harris; Criminal Anthropology, by Hamilton D. Wey; New York's Prison Laws, by Eugene Smith; Prison Labor Systems; and The Elmira Reformatory of To-day. The mechanical work upon the publication, including the etching of the cover, has been done by inmates of the reformatory.
The Report on the Coal Measures of the Plateau Region of Alabama, made to the State Geologist by Mr. Henry McCalley, treats of all the coal measures of the plateau region, except those that were included in the Report of the Warrior Coal-field, published in 1886; and also speaks of the coal measures of St. Clair and Shelby Counties, whose measures are principally of plateau strata, and have not been considered as a whole in any previous report. A general description of the plateau region is given in the introduction; and notes and a short report by General A. M. Gibson are added on the Coal Measures of Blount and Berry Mountains. Some parts of this plateau region are likely to prove important coal areas. A map of the coal-fields and two geological sections are inserted in the volume.
The Report of S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year ending with June, 1891, includes the work placed under its charge by Congress in the National Museum, the Bureau of Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, and the Astro-Physical Observatory. By saving in other quarters, the Institution has been able to revert in some measure to an early practice of offering aid in original research. It has made grants for work on a universal standard of measure, founded on the wave-length of light; for determinations of the densities of oxygen and hydrogen; for photographs of the moon; and for investigations upon chemical compounds. In the Bureau of Ethnology efforts are made to secure records of Indian languages before they pass away.
A Catalogue of Prehistoric Works East of the Rocky Mountains, preliminary to a complete and thorough catalogue to be made as soon as the work can be accomplished, has been prepared by Dr. Cyrus Thomas, and is published by the Bureau of Ethnology. It contains lists of all the works within the territory described, of which mention has been found in any books or reports, as accurately located and described as the accounts given in the original or other best authorities will permit. The notices are perhaps often indefinite and frequently incorrect, on account of defects in these original authorities; but it is hoped that their appearance in the present shape will lead to more careful examination and to the preparation of the complete catalogue which it is hoped to make. The list is accompanied by a map of the distribution of mounds in the United States, and by State maps showing the location of prehistoric works.
The Report of the Botanical Department of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, by Byron D. Halsted, botanist, is one of the most valuable publications that have yet issued from the experiment stations. A considerable part of the report is devoted to the record of the study of fungus forms injurious to crops, made during a season in which fungoid growths were very prevalent including cranberry scald, sweet-potato rots, etc. The causes of the failure of the peach crop in 1890 are investigated. Considerable space is devoted to the account of the work done on the weeds of the State, including a listing of them with botanical and local names, estimates by different observers of their relative degrees of noxiousness, and twenty-four page plates of the worst weeds.
In a Doctor's Thesis on The Right of the State to Be, an attempt is made by Prof. F. M. Taylor to determine the ultimate human prerogative on which government rests. The author assumes that most previous efforts to answer the question presented in the title have referred to incidentals and have not been sufficiently directed to the main question. He seeks the solution of this. First, he maintains the reality of the problem and defines its nature; next he reviews previous theories, and points out their defects; and, finally, he explains and defends his own theory. This theory bases the right on the prerogative which is assumed to belong to every person as such to rule, or to interfere coercively with the liberty of other persons in order to maintain his version of the jural ideal. Government then becomes the collective exercise by the community of ​their individual prerogatives combined into a single authority.
The third edition of Prof. Simon Henry Gage's manual of The Microscope and Histology has been entirely rewritten, enlarged, and more fully illustrated; and, while elementary matters have received fuller treatment than in previous editions, special effort has been made in this to give more adequate accounts of certain apparatus which are coming to be used more and more in the higher fields of investigation in pure science and in practical medicine. In order to encourage students to do their own work, exercises illustrating the principles of the microscope and the methods of employing it have been made an integral part of the treatise. To this branch of the subject the volume now before us, constituting Part I of the work The Microscope and Microscopical Methods is largely devoted. (Printed and for sale by Andrus & Church, Ithaca, N. Y. Price $1.)
In the report of Mr. Theodore B. Comstock, On the Geology and Mineral Resources of the Central Mineral Region of Texas for 1890, about a thousand miles are added to the area given in the previous report as that of the pre-carboniferous rocks comprising the regions described, Silurian and Cambrian strata having been discovered in fields that were supposed to be covered by the Cretaceous. In order to give special prominence to economical results, the outline of the stratigraphy introduced is prepared with the primary object of affording a kind of key to those whose practical needs preclude the task of selecting from the mass of technical description the particular details which apply to individual cases. For the benefit of the same class of persons a most useful series of directions are given for finding in the report at once the information concerning the reader's particular locality, by the aid of which he may judge what method of development may be most economical and profitable.
Part II of the fourth volume of The Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan, contains seven papers, five of which are by Japanese authors, while one is a joint production. They are On some Fossil Plants from the Coal-bearing Series of Nagato, and On some Cretaceous Fossils from Shikoku, by Matajiro Yokoyama; Comparison of Earthquake Measurements made in a Pit and on the Surface Ground, by Prof. S. Sekiya; Laboratory Notes, by Prof. C. G. Knott; Diffraction Phenomena produced by an Aperture on a Curved Surface, and Effect of Magnetization on the Permanent Twist of Nickel Wire, by H. Nagaoka; and On Certain Thermo-electric Effects of Stress in Iron, by Prof. Knott and S. Kimura.
Edward Flügel's study of Thomas Carlyle's Moral and Religious Development is published in a translation by Jessica Gilbert Tyler, by M. L. Holbrook & Co. The main object of the book is defined by the author to be to consider Carlyle as a moral force. Before turning attention, however, to his moral and religious views, a brief consideration is given to the history of his inner life, especially with reference to its moral and religious side. In this sense chapters are given among the others to Carlyle's Belief, his Relation to Christianity, his Position with Reference to Science, and especially to Philosophy, to Poetry, and Art, his Attitude toward History, and his Ethics.
A series of articles upon the trees of Salem, Mass., and its neighborhood, prepared by Mr. John Robinson, in 1890 and 1891, for one of the newspapers of that city, have been published by the Essex Institution in book form under the title of Our Trees. They give a popular account of the trees in the streets and gardens of the city and of the native trees of Essex County, with the location of the trees and historical and botanical notes. They were written wholly with an eye to popular entertainment and instruction, but prepared with considerable care and a regard to scientific accuracy. In them we have accounts of the character of the magnolias, tulip tree, lindens, tamarix, sumachs, horse-chestnuts, maples, locusts, apples, pears, cherries, dogwoods, tupelo, witchhazel, ashes, catalpa, sassafras, elms, boxtree, mulberries, buttonwood, walnuts, hickories, birches, hornbeams, chestnut, beech, oaks, willows, poplars, pines, spruces, fir, hemlock, larches, cedar, gingko, and yew. One hundred and fifteen species grow in the region, of which fifty-six are natives of Essex County.
A collection of papers on the Quaternary Geology of the Hudson River Valley is intended as a preliminary contribution by Mr. ​Frederick J. H. Merrill to that subject. The papers relate to the historic and economic geology of the field. The first paper, on the Post-Glacial History of the Valley, is the result of several seasons' study by the author. The papers on Brick Clays and the Manufacture of Brick were prepared under the author's direction by Mr. Heinrich Ries, after a detailed investigation of the region between Croton and Albany.
A study of the Evolution of the Myth of Satan is presented by Mr. William Henry Hudson in a paper which was originally delivered as a Sunday evening lecture, on The Satan of Theology and how we came by him. The author finds that the Satan of the Book of Job bears no resemblance to the spirit of evil in our modern theology, while the tempter, or serpent in the garden of Eden, was not identified with Satan till Persian influence had begun to operate. The real origin of the theological devil is then sought in the dualistic conception of the Zoroastrian religion, which was transplanted into Judaism and has been built upon till it has grown into the present accepted figure.
Of two Addresses on Anatomy, reprinted by the author, Dr. Harrison Allen, of the University of Pennsylvania, for more convenience in reading, the first, On Comparative Anatomy as a Part of the Medical Curriculum, was delivered before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its Boston meeting, in 1880; and the second, On the Teaching of Anatomy to Advanced Students, before the Association of American Anatomists, at Washington, in 1891. The second address outlines a plan for a thorough fundamental course of instruction in the science, representing the idea which the author has long cherished for having medical biologists as systematically trained as those who elect the more general field of natural history.