A Guide to the Microscopical Examination of Drinking-Water. By J. D. Macdonald, M. D., F. R. S. Pp. 113. With twenty-four Lithographic Plates. Price, $3. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1875.
This volume is an important contribution to our knowledge of the extent and nature of the impurities found in drinking-water, and the most ready means of detecting and classifying them. In clearness of method and statement, and style of its illustrations, the work is admirable. The author does not attempt to link particular forms of impurity with specific sanitary effects, but says further observation may show their deep sanitary significance.
No one now hesitates to condemn a water containing bacteria and fungi, or swarming with the lower forms of life.
The means by which sediments and floating impurities in water may be best obtained and studied is pointed out in a brief introduction.
Section 1 treats of the mineral matters found in drinking-water; section 2 gives an account of the dead and decaying, section 3 of the living forms found in water.
The twenty-four plates comprise over four hundred figures; frequently, however, the same object is presented under different forms. The volume is an excellent handbook, and will greatly facilitate the study of the important subject of which it treats.
Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 291.
This is the first installment of Major J. W. Powell's exploration and survey of the Colorado River region. The book consists of three parts, in the first of which we have a journal of the exploration of the canons of the Colorado in the year 1869; in the second, an account of the physical features of the valley of the Colorado; and in the third, three chapters on the zoölogy of the region explored. The two chapters of the second part were published in the Monthly last summer. Major Powell kindly permitting us to copy from advanced sheets, and supplying us with the woodcuts. The present volume is an exceptionally interesting and instructive description of the strange and picturesque country explored.
The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. Pp. 1025. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
Contains reports made to the Treasury Department by Dr. Woodworth, superintendent surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service, and to the War Department by Dr. J. K. Barnes, Surgeon-General U. S. Army. Dr. Woodworth's report is brief, and traces the history of the introduction of cholera through the agency of the mercantile marine. The War Department report is divided into three parts, the first being written by Dr. Ely McClellan, U. S. Army. This gives a history of the epidemic of 1873 in the United States. The second part, by Drs. J. C. Peters and Ely McClellan, is devoted to the history of the travels of Asiatic cholera. In the third part is given the bibliography of cholera by Dr. J. S. Billings, U. S. Army.
Notes on Certain Explosive Agents. By Walter N. Hill, S. B. Boston: John Allyn, 1875. Pp. 71.
This pamphlet contains a large amount of practical information about several of the more important explosives now in common use, such as nitro-glycerine and its various preparations, gun-cotton, and the picrates and fulminates. Their chemical composition, mode of preparation, manner of firing, and the reactions which occur during explosion, are clearly set forth, and tables are also given exhibiting their relative explosive power.
The Taxidermist's Manual: or, The Art or collecting, preparing, and preserving Objects of Natural History. By Thomas Brown, F. L. S. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 150. Price, $1.25.
This is a practical guide to the art of taxidermy, giving detailed directions for all the operations required in the preparation and mounting of natural history specimens. It contains several plates and a full index.
Soul Problems, with Other Papers. By Joseph E. Peck. New York: Charles P. Somerby. Pp. 63. Price, 70 cents.
The problems considered in this essay are the materiality or immateriality of the mind, and future personality. The other papers are on "The Theological Amendment," and "The State Personality Idea."
