Popular Science Monthly/Volume 30/February 1887/Literary Notices
History of the Pacific States of North America. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. XXIV. Oregon, Vol. I. San Francisco: The History Company. Pp. 789.
The more remote events in Oregon affairs have already been given in the "History of the Northwest Coast." The later volumes, to which this one belongs, deal with events that occurred within the memory of men now living. They have been wrought out from original sources, and contain a large proportion of facts which have never before appeared in print. The author has found it more difficult to treat fully and fairly this comparatively modern epoch, from crude material, than earlier ones which had been worked over by scholars. Of hundreds of personal narratives used in making the history, no two wholly agree; "and yet, to the careful student, with all the evidence before him, the truth is generally clear." The leading features of the history of Oregon, Mr. Bancroft points out, are not the pursuit of conquest, but commercial enterprise and agricultural industry, "the Fur Company, the missionaries of different sects soon converted into rival traders, and the middle class from the United States, all contributing of their several characteristics to form a society at once individual and independent. It is in the missionary, rather than in the commercial or agricultural elements, that I find that romance which underlies all human endeavor before it becomes of interest sufficient for permanent preservation in the memory of mankind. A mountain-walled plain, between the coast elevations and the northern stretch of the great Andean range, with a fertile soil, a genial climate, and picturesque scenery, through a peculiar sequence of events, becomes the Western Utopia of the American States, and kindles in the breasts of those who here lay the foundations of a commonwealth the fire of patriotism, forever sacred even when fed by fallacies. The silent conquest of this area by men and women from the border, intent on empire, is a turning-point in the destinies of the country; and it is to me no less a pleasure than a duty to recognize the heroic in this conquest, and to present one more example of the behavior of the Anglo-Saxon race under the influence of American institutions." We find these remarks to a considerable extent verified as we turn over the chapters devoted to the history of the missions, which are replete with personal adventure, and varied with incidents that might serve as the framework of many romances. Mr. Bancroft is disposed to take an optimistic view, which is nearly peculiar to the frontier, of the fate of the Indians, of which he says that, "aside from the somewhat antiquated sentiments of eternal justice and the rights of men as apart from man's power to enforce his rights, the quick extermination of the aborigines may be regarded as a blessing both to the red race and to the white. . . . And this happy consummation—the swift and sharpest means of sweeping from the earth every human incumbrance—the people of the United States have never been backward about. . . . Avarice, injustice, and inhumanity are often the most important aids to civilization. In this respect, with noble intentions and devout aspirations far higher than ordinary, the settlers of Oregon but followed their destiny. They labored for the best, and quarreled not with the inevitable." The story in the present volume begins with the application of the Flathead Indians to Mr. Clarke, Indian agent at St. Louis, in 1832, for religious men to be sent "to point their people the way to heaven," and is continued till the erection of a territorial government in 1848.
A Treatise on the Practice or Medicine. By Roberts Bartholow. Sixth edition, revised and enlarged. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 990. Price, $5.
The first edition of this book appeared in 1880, as a companion volume to the author's already published work on "Materia Medica and Therapeutics." The edition of three thousand copies was exhausted in less than a month, anticipating the judgments of the numerous medical journals of the country, and a new edition was called for, in which the text was revised and two articles of importance were added. Evidence of continued giving of satisfaction to the needs of many readers appeared in the steady, rapid sale of the work, and a third edition appeared in 1882, again revised, and with fifty pages added. A fifth edition followed close upon a fourth, in the spring of 1883, and in it the bacillus tuberculosis was noticed, and the increase of minute organisms in pathogenic importance was recognized. The book itself, in the beginning, was undertaken while the author was Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine and of Clinical Medicine in the Medical College of Ohio, on the urgency of students and practitioners who attended his lectures, and of many readers of his therapeutical treatise. The author was more inclined to the work, because the subject was one to which he had devoted all the years of his professional life, and under the most varied conditions, of army service before and during the rebellion, and an extensive practice of sixteen years at Cincinnati. With one or two exceptions, he has had personal charge of the maladies treated of in the work, and has made them the subject of clinical demonstration or post-mortem investigation. In preparing the present edition, he has sought to make it still more worthy the approbation of his readers as the most certain method by increasing its practical resources. While not overlooking the advances made in scientific medicine, he has devoted most attention to the clinical aspects of the subject; but with the effort to preserve due harmony and proportion. Some new subjects have been introduced, and preliminary chapters have been appended to the chief divisions of the work, to make the study of the diseases of the class more exact, and to enhance the practical character of the whole; and the author hopes that little properly pertaining to the domain of practice has been overlooked, and nothing superfluous has been added.
Studies in Ancient History, comprising a Reprint of "Primitive Marriage." By the late John Ferguson McLennan. A new edition. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 387. Price, $4.
The "Primitive Marriage," or "Inquiry into the Origin of the Form of Capture in Marriage Ceremonies," although confessedly only a tentative investigation, or, as the author phrased it, "an exercise in scientific history," made its mark at once when it first appeared, and has held a foremost place among works of original research for twenty years. Although republished twice within that period, it has been given both times unaltered: the first time because the author had been prevented from superseding it by the more comprehensive work he had intended, while, in the presence of the earnest demand for it, with or without revision, it was considered "better that it should be made accessible to students with its imperfections, than that it should remain inaccessible to them"; and the second time, in the present edition, as a posthumous work, for which the same demand was still current. It is, however, followed up with a second volume containing other writings of the author, "from which it will be possible to gather, in a considerable measure at least, how far the author's views had grown or been developed, how far they had changed or been added to, subsequently to the appearance of "Primitive Marriage." A few notes are given, which are confined to certain matters on which the author had announced a change of view, and to some other matters, such as Mr. Lewis H. Morgan's speculations, where circumstances had made an additional statement imperative. In an appendix to "Primitive Marriage" is given a pretty full collection of examples of the form of capture, upon the basis of a collection which the author published in 1866. The examples thus brought together suffice, at least, to show an extraordinary diffusion for this custom.
Entertainments in Chemistry: Easy Lessons and Directions for safe Experiments. By Harry W. Tyler. Chicago: The Interstate Publishing Company. 16mo. Pp. 79. Price, 60 cents.
This is another volume in the "Educational Series" published by the Interstate Publishing Company, and referred to elsewhere in these columns. The author gives a number of experiments that can be readily performed with very simple apparatus and a few cheap chemicals. His choice of subjects covers a wide range: thus, for instance, in one chapter he relates the history of a candle, in another he tells about the chemistry of yeast, in a third he treats of combustion and explosion, and in a fourth of soap. The book is well and entertainingly written, and the experiments for the main part well chosen. It seems to us, however, that in a book of this kind the experiments with hydrogen might have been better omitted, because it is questionable whether, even in the hands of a more experienced worker, such experiments can be regarded as "safe" ones.
N. W. Ayer and Son's American Newspaper Annual, 1886. Pp.1010. Price, $3.
This publication, now well known, contains full information about the newspapers published in the United States and Canada, the places where they are published, the business enterprises of those places, and their political proclivities, arranged and classified by States and counties in such a way as to be of the most benefit to advertisers, all of which is revised from year to year. The information on which the annual revision is based is collected in March of each year, and is subject to correction till the first of July, while later information is admitted in the form of advertisements up to the hour of going to press. The publishers believe that the present—the seventh—is an improvement upon any preceding volume; and the information has been more carefully gathered, and is even more trustworthy, than heretofore. There have recently been added to the headings descriptive of States and counties sections showing, from the census of 1880, the number of manufacturing establishments of all kinds at that time, with the amount of capital invested in them, the number of hands employed, and the value of their annual products, while the State headings show, in addition to the summaries of these facts, the amounts paid in wages, and the value of the raw materials used.
The Theory and Practice of Surveying. By J. B. Johnson, C. E. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 683, with Maps and 150 Text Illustrations. Price, $3.50.
The large field which the word surveying necessarily covers, renders every attempt at bringing all the different materials together in one volume a rather difficult and perplexing task. Theory and practice are, in hardly any other branch of human activity, so closely connected with each other as they are in the execution of surveyor's work, in which the most exact methods and appliances have to be used in order to secure the degree of accuracy which is always desirable, whether the surveying be done for scientific and national purposes or for the protection of private interests.
The volume under review is designed for the use of surveyors and engineers generally, for whom it will be a valuable reference-book; but it is intended especially for the use of students in engineering, who will find it a complete guide in their studies, containing all that should be familiar to them when they enter practical life as engineers or surveyors.
The text is divided into fifteen chapters, with some appendices and tables. All the apparatus described are, when necessary, shown in illustrations. The instruments used by surveyors are described in the first part, the first six chapters being devoted to instruments for measuring distances, instruments for determining directions, instruments for determining horizontal lines, instruments for measuring angles, the planetable, and additional instruments used in surveying and plotting.
The second part is devoted to the methods which find application in surveying, the separate chapters being devoted to land surveying, topographical surveying by transit and stadia, railroad surveying, hydrographic surveying, mining surveying, city surveying, the measurement of volumes, geodetic surveying, projection of maps, map-lettering, and topographical symbols. The chapters devoted to railroad, hydrographic, mining, and city surveying—the two latter of which the author acknowledges have been contributed respectively by C. A. Russell, C. E., U. S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor of Boulder, Colorado, and William Bouton, C. E., City Surveyor of St. Louis, Missouri—are of special interest even to practiced surveyors, as they treat of special branches of surveying, about which little, if any, mention is ever made in books for the use of students.
What may be called the scientific part of surveying—geodetic surveying—is fully treated and made comprehensible to those whose purpose is not to devote themselves to geodetical work exclusively, but who have, all the same, to be familiar with the scopes and purposes of geodetical measurements, as every engineer and surveyor has to be.
Of the appendices, one is on the judicial functions of surveyors, by Justice Cooley, of the Michigan Supreme Court; the second is a copy of instructions to United States Deputy Mineral Surveyors for the District of Colorado (1886), while two others contain derivations and formulas. A number of tables for easy reference and for practical use are added at the end.
Three plates accompany the text. One is an isogenic chart of the United States, containing all the data accessible up to 1885, reduced from the United States Coast Survey Chart; Plate II contains all the conventional signs for topographical maps; and Plate III is a topographical practice survey executed by the sophomore class in the Polytechnic School of Washington University. The author is Professor of Civil engineering in Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. As a whole, this "Theory and Practice of Surveying" will be found a very acceptable addition to the literature on the subject. It will be of great value to the student, who will find through it, and in a readable form, access to information which was formerly only attainable in separate books by different authors.
The Town and City Government of New Haven. By Charles H. Levermore. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp.103. Price, 50 cents.
This is one of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science." The incorporation of New Haven city was achieved in the face of no little opposition, and was wrought out through friction between several strongly defined elements in society. The process is nearly the same as that which all towns have to go through in the course of their development, and Professor Levermore's tracing of it through its several steps may be regarded as an illustration from an example typical in many respects, and as a study in a normal course of municipal evolution. The first aspect presented is that of the jealousy between "town-born" and "interlopers"; then the commercial spirit is introduced through the activity of the interlopers. The first phases of city politics are sketched in the distinctions of Patriot and Tory marking the division-lines at elections. The first municipal charter was obtained in 1784, and after that came question after question to be debated, voted upon, and decided. The charter of 1869 marked a culminating point in the constitutional development of the municipality. Previous to that time it had been a more or less thriving, overgrown village. The gradual growth of municipal power exhibited in succession many slowly shifting phases, but a typical, fundamental conservatism could be discerned. Through their nearly two hundred and fifty years of life, the town and region of New Haven have preserved a local character—a well-defined individuality, separate from those of other old colonial centers. Political affiliations have strengthened rather than diminished its exclusiveness. The rivalry between New Haven and Hartford means much more than commercial competition between two urban populations. It is the contention of regions rather than of cities. It is traceable through the whole history of the State back to the charter quarrel of 1662-'64, when one colony was pitted against the other. The dependence of the former New Haven Colony upon New York, which geographical location necessitated, was encouraged by successive animosities; and, "if a line be drawn diagonally across the State from the northwest corner to the mouth of the Connecticut River, the towns and cities to the west of that line are found to rest upon New York as an economic and social basis, just as those upon the east side derive their inspiration from Boston. Of the former of these tracts, New Haven is the capital; of the latter, Hartford. This division of influences should be borne in mind when we read that, in the Revolution, New Haven and Fairfield Counties contained many Tories, while the eastern part of the State was almost unanimously patriotic; that a Windham County mob forced the New Haven stamp-distributor to resign in 1765; and that, one hundred years later, it was, as usual, the Hartford end of he State—the eastern counties—which held the State firmly for Nation with a big "N," and neutralized, by steady and large majorities, the conservative, oligarchical, and pseudo-democratic tendencies of Southwestern Connecticut."
House-Plants as Sanitary Agents: Or, the Relation of Growing Vegetation to Health and Disease. By J. M. Anders, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.
Dr. Anders makes an apology for adding to the number of books, on the ground that he is working in "a branch of scientific literature which, in the form of a book, has not hitherto found an exponent." The apology is not necessary; the book fully justifies its appearance. The purpose of the volume is to set forth, in plain terms, the latest light regarding the effects of some of the various physiological functions in plants and flowers upon the atmosphere in general, and the air of dwellings in particular, as well as the application of this knowledge to the laws of health. Most of the conclusions put forward have been arrived at from the results of an almost continuous series of personal experiments extending over a period of eight years. These conclusions are—to sum them up into one—that plants and flowers, particularly when cultivated indoors, are worthy to be placed in the foremost rank of sanitary agencies. Further, "the mass of evidence at hand relating to the subject, in the author's opinion, establishes the complete efficacy of living plants as preventive measures in that deadly malady, consumption of the lungs, as well as the signal services they are capable of rendering in certain other conditions of disease." We do not understand the author as recommending in-door life among flowers at the expense of out-door life—if he did, we should differ with him decidedly—but as holding flowers up as a valuable sanitary element of in-door life, and as a substitute, so far as they may be a substitute, for out-door life to those who are not able to enjoy it. A chapter is added on the practical cultivation of plants in the house; and the last chapter is devoted to the consideration of the "Sanitary Influences of Forest Growth." We have to thank Dr. Anders that he has not made his book by dumping into it the magazine articles he has written on the subject, as it is too much the fashion to make books now, but that he has written it all out afresh, in harmonious arrangement, and has thereby given us a compact, symmetrical treatise.
Geological Survey of Alabama. By Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist. Bulletin No. 1. Tuscaloosa. Pp. 85, with Nine Plates.
The "Bulletin" comprises two monographs, the first being a preliminary report on the tertiary fossils of Alabama and Mississippi, by Truman H. Aldrich, and the other "Contributions to the Eocene Paleontology of Alabama and Mississippi," by Otto Meyer. Mr. Aldrich's paper is the first installment of a work which is designed to be a complete account of the paleontology of the tertiary formation in Alabama. In preparing it, the author has personally gone over the greater part of the ground, and has collected a large part of the material himself, so that he has been able to give to each species both its locality and its exact place on the stratigraphical scale. The work is, therefore, not a bare description of species, but it illustrates very fully the distribution of the species both in time and space. To it Dr. Smith adds a summary of the lithological and stratigraphical features and subdivisions of the various deposits which make up the tertiary formation in Alabama. In Dr. Meyer's paper a number of new or previously unfigured species of invertebrates are described and figured, and a very few known species are refigured for some special reasons. The type specimens of the fossils are in the author's collection.
Report of the United States National Museum, under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institution, for the Year 1884. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 458.
This report constitutes Part II of the Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. A clear account is given in the report of the assistant director of the organization, administration, and arrangement of the museum collections. In the account of the function and aims of the museum, reference is made to the attitude occupied by some special investigators who are disposed to neglect the claims of the educated public to the enjoyment and instruction which museums afford, and demand that those institutions be administered for the benefit solely of persons engaged in research, as the manifestation of a spirit which defeats its own purpose. "The experience of Europe with its magnificent educational museums, and the history of the several expositions in the United States should be quite sufficient to satisfy any one who has studied the matter that the museum is an educational power even more influential than the public library." The show of specimens in the cases was, in the year covered by the report—and presumably still is—but a feeble index to the richness of the collections, for "the development of the exhibition series is necessarily slow, since it is not considered desirable to place on exhibition specimens which arc not fully explained by printed labels, . . . The extent and nature of the work of the museum are not appreciated by persons who are not familiar with the character of the laboratory-work, and who have not access to the reserve stores. In the various departments of ethnology and industrial art, for instance, the wealth of the museum is exceedingly great, but, until cases have been built and labels printed, it is impossible properly to display it."But the museum is expected, as this work advances, to improve rapidly in attractiveness to the visitor and general student, and in convenience to the investigator and special student. Besides the general report and review of the year's work in the scientific departments by the assistant director, the special reports of the curators and acting curators of the twenty sections and departments are given: a bibliography of the museum, a list of accessions for the year, and special papers, having much interest, on "Throwing Sticks" and "Basket Work of the North American Aborigines," by Professor Otis T. Mason; "Eskimo Bows," by John Murdock; "A Spotted Dolphin" and "The Florida Muskrat," by Frederick W. True; and "The West Indian Seal," by Frederick W. True and F. A. Lucas.
Analysis of the Urine, with Special References to the Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs. By Professors Hofman and Ultzmann. Translated by T. B. Brune, M. D., and H. H. Curtis, M. D. Second edition. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 310. Price, $2.
The favor with which this work has been received in medical circles is attested by the fact that it appeared in three languages during the year of its publication. The present issue is the second edition of the English translation, and contains some additions by the pen of the translators. While the book does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatise on the diseases of the genito-urinary organs, it brings all that is essential for the student and the practitioner. Some of the subjects treated of in the different chapters into which the text is divided, are: the histology of the urinary organs, the urine, reagents and apparatus for the approximative determination of the urine constituents, general diagnosis, diagnosis of the diseases of the urinary apparatus.
Great attention and care are of course paid to the different chemical methods of testing and analyzing the urine and its constituents, and the directions are so clearly given that by attentive study and observance of these the student can speedily become proficient in the execution of analyses and in the interpretation of the results obtained.
Eight colored plates, finely finished, are added to this volume. These are not given in the German edition, but are taken from another work, by the same author, on the "Sediments of the Urine." These drawings are to serve as aids in the microscopic examination of the urine deposits, for the microscope bears a part fully as important as chemical analysis in investigations of this kind.
Oils and Varnishes. Edited by James Cameron, F. I. C. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 376. Price, $2.50.
This book, one in a series of technological hand-books, contains essentially the matter given in Cooley's "Cyclopædia" and supplemented from the latest publications. It is intended for all interested in and working with varnishes and oils, and contains a great deal of practical information. After an introductory chapter on the chemistry of oils, the animal, vegetable, and mineral oils are successively considered at length and in detail. Under the head of "Testing Oils" the different physical and chemical tests are given that can be advantageously employed; the latter tests embrace methods for both qualitative and quantitative determinations. Separate chapters are allotted to "Resins and Varnishes," and "Testing Resins." The appendix furnishes some interesting tables of prices in England of oils, tallows, essential oils, resins, and varnishes, and statistics of the quantities and values of oils there imported for some years past.
Through a Microscope. By Samuel Wells, Mary Treat, and Frederick Le Roy Sargent. Chicago and Boston: The Interstate Publishing Company. 16mo. Pp. 126. Price, 60 cents.
This little hand-book is one of a series which is designed to make young readers acquainted with and interested in the elements of natural science. The enlistment of three authors for the preparation of so small a volume seems quite formidable, but each takes up a special part of the subject and treats of that.
Mr. Wells discusses the simple outfit needed by beginners in the fascinating study of microscopy, gives suggestions as to proper objects to be studied and their preparation, and tells of some simple experiments that will entertain the young student at home in the winter-time, when snow and storms forbid the seeking of subjects for his study in field and meadow.
Mary Treat tells of some interesting plants and animals whose life-history she has observed and studied under her microscope; and Mr. Sargent's contribution is on "A Home-made Microscope, and how to use it," an article which will be sure to please boys of an inventive turn of mind. Quite a number of illustrations are given, which add considerably to the interest and value of this little treatise.
Van Nostrand's Science Series. 18mo. 50 cents each. The Luminiferous ÆTHER. By De Volson Wood, C. E., M. A. Pp. 121.
Hand-Book of Mineralogy. Determination, Description, and Classification of Minerals found in the United States. By J. C. Foye, A. M., Ph. D. Pp. 180.
Flow of Water in Open Channels, Pipes, Sewers, Conduits, etc. By P. J. Flynn, C. E. Pp. 118.
Treatise on the Theory of the Construction of Helicoidal Oblique Arches. By John L. Culley, C. E. Pp. 125.
Few properties of the luminiferous æther appear to have been accurately determined, except that of transmiting light at the rate of 186,300 miles per second, and the ability to convey a definite amount of heat energy from the sun to the earth.
Proceeding from these data, the author of the first book on our list seeks, by a long train of reasoning and considerable figuring, to determine and establish what certain other properties this æther must possess. He comes to the conclusion that its density must be such "that a volume of it, equal to about twenty volumes of the earth, would weigh one pound," that the tension is such "that the pressure on a square mile would be about one pound," and that the specific heat is such "that it would require as much heat to raise the temperature of one pound one degree Fahrenheit as it would to raise about 2,300,000,000 tons of water the same amount.
In the "Addenda" are given extracts from Newton's "Principia," and from the works of Clerk-Maxwell bearing on kindred themes.
The "Hand-Book of Mineralogy" is intended by the author as an aid in determining the minerals found in the United States. It gives briefly the prominent and distinguishing characteristics of the different minerals, and aims at presenting the classifications usually adopted in arranging cabinets,
After a few introductory remarks on the apparatus and reagents needed, and a short chapter on blow-pipe reaction, follows the part devoted to the determination of species. This comprises two tables, the first for the "preliminary examination," the other for the "final examination," by means of which tables the nature of a specimen may be readily and rapidly determined.
The remaining part of the work is given to a description of the species, to the chemical classification, and to a classification by basic elements and ores.
A copious system of cross-references is supplied.
The "Flow of Water in Open Channels" is a book of formulæ and tables designed to save time and work for hydraulic engineers who make use of the formulæ of D'Arcy, Kutter, and Bazin, in preference to the older formulæ. As the former, however, although more accurate, arc also as a rule more complicated and more troublesome in their application, a book of this kind, practically a ready method of applying the new formulæ, will probably render the use of them more general and popular.
Two objects are intended to be accomplished by the treatise on the construction of helicoidal oblique arches. In the first place, a clear and concise treatment of the construction is aimed at; and in the second place it is attempted to make plain and simple all problems connected with the theory or construction. The author believes that a thorough understanding of the process of the generation of helicoidal surfaces will remove all difficulties that usually present themselves to would-be students of this subject, and he therefore devotes the first chapter to a careful consideration of elementary principles. Appended is a brief discussion of logarithmic and ribbed oblique arches. Numerous cuts illustrate the principles explained.
The Making of Pictures. Twelve Short Talks with Young People. By Sarah W. Whitman. Chicago: The Interstate Publishing Company. Pp. 131. Price, 60 cents.
In this book the writer has undertaken to treat of the principles underlying the various processes of making pictures—oil and water-color painting, etching, wood and line engraving, photography, and the various reproductive processes.
First, the author, herself an artist, seeks to help her young friends to an understanding of what art is, and assist them to recognize that subtile "something" which marks the difference between a mere picture—no matter how well done—and a true work of art.
In this connection she speaks of the great laws that exist in art as well as in morals—which laws must be thoroughly understood and comprehended even by those who would merely look at pictures, and speak intelligently of them. Then she tells of the fundamental principles that underlie the different ways of making pictures. No attempt is made to teach how to paint in oil, or how to execute an etching, but the implements necessary are enumerated, and the modes of procedure in each process are sketched in clear, bold outlines.
Lectures and Essays by the late William Kingdon Clifford, F. R. S. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock. With an Introduction by F. Pollock. Second edition. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp.443. Price, $2.50.
Professor Clifford was a thinker and philosopher—he can hardly be called a writer except in a subsidiary sense—of the rarest qualities of mind, and some of them unique. He seemed to have the power, to a degree which is seldom exhibited, of grasping comprehensively the most abstruse subjects, seeing into them clearly and deeply, and of expressing himself lucidly and vigorously upon them. No better conception can be gained of the character of the work which he produced, including the pieces which are embodied in this volume, than by taking a few views of the representations of the various sides of his nature as they are given by his friend Mr. Pollock, in the biographical introduction. The picture, as a whole, is a charming study of a man who differed much—in excellences—from others of his kind. Clifford began to attract attention not long after he had entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a young man of extraordinary mathematical powers, and eccentric in appearance, habits, and opinions, and withal an ardent High Churchman. Mr. Pollock, his fellow-student, was early struck with the "daring versatility of his talk. Even then there was no subject on which he was not ready with something in point, generally of an unexpected kind; and his unsurpassed power of mathematical expression was already longing to find exercise." Being asked for aid in solving some elaborate geometrical theorem, he spoke, appearing "not to be working out a question, but simply telling what he saw. Without any diagram or symbolic aid, he described the geometrical conditions on which the solution depended, and they seemed to stand out visibly in space. There were no longer consequences to be deduced, but real and evident facts, which only required to be seen." This incident illustrates Clifford's theory of what teaching ought to be, and his constant way of carrying it out. He showed great taste for gymnastics, in which his accomplishments "were the only ones in which he ever manifested pride," and when he took his degree he had the distinction of being pointed out in "Bell's Life" as an example of a superior scholar who was also a superior athlete. While pre-eminently mathematical, he was at various times and in various ways marked out for honorable mention in classics, modern history, and English literature. He was fond of historical reading, but took a poetical or dramatical rather than a scientific view of the subject, and saw events "in a series of vivid pictures, which had the force of present realities, as each came in turn before the mind's eye." He did not care much, apparently, for the use of language as a fine art, although he had a great appreciation of arrangement and composition; and much of his best work was spoken before it was actually written. He had and exercised an aptitude for acquiring languages, and this probably turned, as Mr. Pollock suggests, on the fact that "a new language is a riddle before it is conquered, a power in the hand afterward; to Clifford every riddle was a challenge, and every chance of new power a divine opportunity to be seized." He prosecuted his studies in college with a view to what he wanted to learn rather than to passing the examinations, and therefore came out second wrangler, when by following the other course he might have been far in advance as first. This pursuit of knowledge for its own sake was the leading characteristic of his work throughout his life, "The discovery of truth was for him an end in itself, and the proclamation of it, or of whatever seemed to lead to it, a duty of primary and paramount obligation. This had something to do with the fascination of his teaching: he never seemed to be imposing dogmas on his hearers, but to be leading them into the enjoyment of a common possession. His affections went out to those whose lines of thought were in sympathy with his, without caring whether they agreed in results or not. Everything he said and did was straightforward; "and this, being joined to subtilty and wide range of vision, became in speculation and discussion a very formidable power. If there was anything for which he had no toleration, it was insincerity in thought, word, or deed. He expressed his own opinions plainly and strongly because he held it the duty of every man so to do; he could not discuss great subjects in a half-hearted fashion under a system of mutual conventions. As for considerations of policy or expediency that seemed to interfere in any way with the downright speaking of truth for truth's sake, he was simply incapable of entertaining them." Hence, and by reason of his charming social qualities, while it was possible to take offense at certain passages in his writings, it was "impossible not to like the man." Such was the man whose peculiar modes of thought are reflected in the essays in this volume. The papers, which are preceded by a few selections from Clifford's letters, are sixteen in number. The subjects are: "Some of the Conditions of Mental Development"; "Theories of the Physical Forces"; "The Aims and Instruments of Scientific Thought"; "Atoms"; "The First and the Last Catastrophe"; "The Unseen Universe"; "The Philosophy of the Pure Sciences"; "Body and Mind"; "The Nature of Things-in-Themselves"; "The Scientific Basis of Morals"; "Right and Wrong: the Scientific Ground of their Distinction"; "The Ethics of Belief"; "The Ethics of Religion"; "The Influence upon Morality of a Decline in Religious Belief"; "Cosmic Emotion"; and " Virchow on the Teaching of Science." The essays on "Types of Compound Statement," and "Instruments used in Measurement," which appeared in the first edition of the book, are omitted from the present one, having found a more fitting place in the volume of "Mathematical Papers," which was published in 1882.
Theory of Magnetic Measurements, with an Appendix on the Method of Least Squares. By Francis E. Nipher, A. M. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1886. Pp. 94.
This hand-book was prepared to supplement the instructions of the Coast and Geodetic Survey; it furnishes information regarding the practical details of a magnetic survey. The discussion on the method of least squares is, as the writer states in the preface, an extension of an article in Weisbach's " Mechanics."
McGee, W. J. On the Meridional Deflection of Ice-Streams, pp. 7. The Relations of Geology and Agriculture, pp. 8.
Philosophical Society of Washington. Discussion of "What is a Glacier?" pp. 3. Discussion of the Charleston Earthquake, pp. 8.
Eccles, Robert G., M. D. Drugs and Digestion. Pp. 26.
Wheeler, H. A., and Luedeklng, C. Iodine in Blowpiping. Pp. 7, with Plates.
May, Thomas J. M. D., Philadelphia. Some of tho Causes of Pulmonary Consumption viewed from a Darwinian Standpoint. Pp. 16.
Sanborn. John Wentworth. The Roots and Stems of Words in the Latin Language explained and illustrated with Examples. Albion, N. Y. Pp. 14.
New York State Reformatory, Elmira. Papers in Penology. Pp. 112.
Walker. Edwin C. Bible Temperance. New York: The Truth-Seeker Company. Pp. 48.
Baker. Walter & Co., Dorchester, Mass. Cocoa and Chocolate. Pp. 163.
Alabama Insane Hospital. Tuscaloosa: Biennial Report, 1885 and 1886. Pp. 50.
Smith, L. R. Personal Existence after Death Improbable. New York: The Truth-Seeker Company. Pp. 32.
Illinois State Board of Health. Report on the Water Supply and Sewage Disposal of Chicago. Pp. 16.
Egleston, Melville. The Land System of the New England Colonies. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 66. 50 cents.
Crooker, J. H., Madison, Wis. Unitarians as Congregationalists. Pp. 21.
Whitford, O. B. A Masonic Vindication of Right, pp. 36. The Origin of the Christian Bible, pp. 95. New York: The Truth-Seeker Company.
Heilprin, Angelo. Explorations on the West Coast of Florida and in the Okeechobee Wilderness. Philadelphia: Wagner Free Institute of Science. Pp. 127.
New York Association for improving the Condition of the Poor. Report for 1886. Pp. 87.
Biological Society of Washington. Proceedings, July, 1884 to February, 1886. Pp. 186.
Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science. Proceedings at Buffalo Meeting, 1836. Pp. 83.
Lloyd, James Hendrie, Philadelphia. Moral Insanity. Pp. 17.
United States Bureau of Education. The Study of Music in Public Schools, Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 78.
Agricultural College of Michigan. Lessons on Growing Forest-Trees. Pp. 6.
Writings and Services of the Founder of Christian Science. Boston: Hanover P. Smith. Pp. 52. 25 cents.
Chamberlin, T. C. An Inventory of our Glacial Drift. Pp. 20.
Valin. M.D. The American Journal of Biology. Quarterly. November, 1886. Pp 42. $1 a year.
Brinton. Daniel G. The Conception of Love in some American Languages. Pp. 18.
Modern Language Association of America. Proceedings. 1884-1885. Pp. 250.
McCalley Henry. On the Warrior Coal-Field. Geological Survey of Alabama. Montgomery, Ala. Pp. 571.
Philbrick, P. H. Beams and Girders. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 159. 50 cents.
Wells. David A. A Study of Mexico. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 254. §1.
United States Fish Commission. Report, 1884. Pp. 1204, with Plates.
Gould B. A. Resultados del Observatorio Nacional Argentino en Cordoba. (Results of the National Argentine Observatory in Cordoba.) Vol. XIV. Pp. 650.
Fowler, Sada Bailey. Irene; or the Road to Freedom. Philadelphia: H. N. Fowler & Co. Pp. 608.
Laurie. S. S. The Rise and Early Constitution of Universities. New York: D. Appleton &, Co. Pp. 293. $1.50.
Heilprin Angelo. The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals. New York: D. Appleton &. Co. Pp. 435.
Plato. Talks with Socrates about Life. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 176. $1.
Cope. E. D. The Origin of the Fittest. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 467.