Popular Science Monthly/Volume 25/June 1884/Literary Notices

LITERARY NOTICES.

A Treatise on Insanity in its Medical Relations. By William A. Hammond, M.D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 767. Price, $5.

Whether insanity is on the increase throughout the civilized world, as is claimed by many and is certainly not improbable, or whether the apparent increase is due to increasing knowledge in regard to its real extent, the growing interest and importance of the subject are not to be questioned. It is impossible that science should not have made great advances in the elucidation of this most complex subject, depending as it does upon the progress of physiology, psychology, pathology, and therapeutics, and cultivated by specialists as an independent branch of practical medicine; while through the whole historic period down to quite recent times the ignorance, prejudice, and barbarism that have been displayed by society toward the most unfortunate of our fellow-creatures have been one of the darkest chapters of human experience; on the other hand, the spirit of investigation can offer no triumph so great as that which has been achieved by the medical profession in dispelling old prejudices and illusions, and giving a rational account of the conditions, causes, and diversities of mental alienation. The subject is, indeed, yet full of obscurity, and far enough from having been cleared up, but great steps forward have been taken, and in no field is there more continued activity of research. Dr. Hammond's comprehensive and able work is a contribution to the subject made in the light of the latest achievements in all its dependent branches of inquiry. We have looked through his treatise with much interest and constant instruction, and have already given in the "Monthly" some important passages from it as it was going through the press. We have been struck by one feature of the treatise, which indicates an important advance, and which involves the author's fundamental view of the subject. He draws a line between legal and medical insanity, and shows that the latter conception is far wider, taking into account slight mental failures which legislation can not recognize. His work is not on the medical jurisprudence of insanity, which deals with the subject entirely on the legal side, but it is a scientific inquiry into all grades and forms of mental aberration, and deals with the subject with reference to the treatment of mental disease rather than the responsibilities of the alienist class. We quote the author's statement in his preface of these views by which he has been guided in the preparation of the work:

I have long been convinced that the term "insanity" has hitherto been applied in altogether too limited and illogical a manner. It has been understood, both in and out of the profession, that a person, in order to be considered the subject of mental aberration, must, at some time or other, present certain marked symptoms, which he can not avoid exhibiting, and which are sufficient to indicate to the world that he is not in his right mind.

Starting from the points that all normal mental phenomena are the result of the action of a healthy-brain, and that all abnormal manifestations of mind are the result of the functionation of a diseased or deranged brain, I do not see why these latter should not be included under the designation of "insanity," as much as the former are embraced under the term "sanity." There can be no middle ground, for the brain is either in a healthy or an unhealthy condition. If healthy, the product of its action is "sanity"; if unhealthy, "insanity."

Of course very little of such insanity comes under the signification given to the word by lawyers and the public generally. But legal insanity and medical insanity are very different things, and the two standards can never and ought never to be the same. The law establishes an arbitrary and unscientific line, and declares that every act performed on one side of this line is the act of a sane mind, while all acts done on the other side result from insane minds. This line may be in one place to-day, and in an entirely different place to-morrow, at the whim or caprice of a Legislature; it may be established on a certain parallel in one country, and on an entirely different parallel in another country. In the State of New York, for instance, it is drawn at the knowledge of right and wrong; and perhaps, all things considered, this is about as correct a legal line as a due regard for the safety of society will permit to be made. But every physician knows that it is absolutely untenable from his point of view; that it is not a medical line, and that there are thousands of lunatics insane enough to believe themselves to be veritable Julius Cæsars, and yet sufficiently sane to know that a particular act is contrary to law, and to be fully aware of the nature and consequences of such act. Hence it follows that, from a medical stand-point, there is no middle ground between sanity and insanity. The line of demarkation is sharply drawn, and it is but a step from one territory to the other. There is a large proportion of the population of every civilized community composed of individuals whose insanity is known only to themselves, and perhaps to some of those who are in intimate social relations with them, who have lost none of their rights, privileges, or responsibilities as citizens, who transact their business with fidelity and accuracy, and yet who are as truly insane, though in a less degree, as the most furious maniac who dashes his head against the stone-walls of his cell. To many of these persons life is a burden they would willingly throw off, death concerned them alone, for they are painfully conscious of their actual suffering, and morbidly apprehensive in regard to the future. There are very few people who have not, at some time or other, perhaps for a moment only, been medically insane. It is time, therefore, that the horror of the word should be dissipated, and that the fact should be recognized and acted upon, that a disordered mind is just as surely the result of a disordered brain as dyspepsia is of a deranged stomach; that a scarcely appreciable increase or diminution of the blood-supply to the brain will lead as surely to mental derangement of some kind as an apparently insignificant change of the muscular tissue of the heart to fat will lead to a derangement of the circulation, and that in the one case there may be a hallucination, a delusion, a morbid impulse, or a paralysis of the will, just as in the other there may be an intermittent pulse, a vertigo, or a fainting-fit. There is no more disgrace to be attached to the one condition than to the other.

An Examination of the Philosophy of the Unknowable as expounded by Herbert Spencer. By William M. Lacy. Philadelphia: Benjamin F. Lacy. Pp. 235.

This volume is a metaphysical onslaught on Herbert Spencer's metaphysics, and may be recommended to all interested in the subject as acute, subtile, ingenious, and very well stated. A writer in "Science," reviewing the book, declares that the task of refuting Spencer's doctrine of the unknowable is merely flogging a dead horse, and he expresses surprise that "a man of extraordinary keenness and vigor of thought should waste so much speculation upon the subject." The aforesaid writer in "Science" is also greatly scandalized that the metaphysician Lacy is so grossly ignorant of the rudiments of physical science, and he takes some pains to expose the author’s blundering stupidity in regard to the first law of motion. But the curious thing about it is that the writer in "Science" is inclined to attribute the scientific incapacity of this metaphysical author to Spencer himself, or, rather, to make it a result of familiarity with Spencer's works. He says: "Meanwhile, let the case serve as a warning to those who imagine that our American public is to receive useful instruction in elementary physical science from the now popular works of the great teacher of the evolution philosophy. Here is a very good student, indeed—diligent, logical, and ingenious. What philosopher could hope for a better? He has carefully studied Mr. Spencer's works, and this is what he has got out of them." A gem of judicial criticism, truly, of which "Science" may well be proud!

Indiana: Department of Geology and Natural History. Eleventh Annual Report, 1881. Pp. 414, with 55 Plates. Twelfth Annual Report, 1882. Pp. 400, with 38 Plates. By John Collett, State Geologist. Indianapolis, Ind.

Indiana possesses much geological interest. The formations, from the Lower Silurian to the Carboniferous, are well exposed in their order from east to west, and abound in limestones and sandstones suitable for varied economical purposes, lime, cement, and coal, while the northern part of the State is deeply covered with glacial drift. Springs and streams abound. The soil in the central and northern parts is deep, and contains the elements of a prolonged fertility. As late as 1880 timber was spoken of in Professor Collett' s report as still in excess. It is of hard wood, and suitable for fine work. Coal is found in fields covering an area of 7,000 square miles, which are entered in all directions by railroads. The non-caking "block-coal" is found within an area of 600 square miles, and is a valuable metallurgical agent. The coal-mines employ a capital of $2,500,000, and the same sum represents the value of the product of 1882. The building stones are of various and excellent qualities. The oolitic limestone of Lawrence, Monroe, Owen, Crawford, Harrison, and Washington Counties is easily worked, develops in hardening a strength of from 10,000 to 12,000 pounds to the square inch, takes on an agreeable color, is of imprecedented purity, and gives a promise of durability. Pure glass sand is found in four counties, gravel is "common as air," lime and cement are "so abundant as to escape attention"; brick-clay is "as common as water"; kaolin and fire-clay occur in workable beds, natural gas is mentioned, and some salt is produced. Fine fossils abound in all the formations. Professor Collett has added much to the value of his reports by calling in the aid of persons already familiar with the geology of the State and their own counties, and of scientific experts. In these volumes and the preceding report for 1880 we have, besides the special surveys of ten counties, descriptions of fossils by Dr. J. C. McConnell, of Washington, D. C, Professor James Hall, and Dr. C. A. White; a paper on palæozoic botany, by Professor Lesquereux; a flora of the elevated region of the State; and a microscopic study of potable waters, by the Rev. Dr. Curtis. Special attention is given to archæological features.

A Text-Book of the Principles of Physics. By Alfred Daniel, M. A., Lecturer on Physics in the School of Medicine, Edinburgh. London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 653. Price, $5.

In its general method this book follows the "mode of teaching under which the whole of natural philosophy is regarded as substantially a single science, in which scattered facts are collected and coordinated by reference to the principles of dynamics and the great experimental law of the conservation of energy." The treatise confines itself strictly to the field denoted by its title, applications of principles and matters of solely historic interest being rigidly excluded. After some preliminary considerations of measurements, including the measurement of force and of energy, there is a chapter devoted to kinematics, in which waves and simple harmonic motions are treated at considerable length. The essential or general properties of matter are next stated, and then the characteristics of each of the three states of matter. The opening of the chapter on heat well illustrates the character of the book, and is as follows:

Heat is a form of energy. It would, perhaps, indeed be more correct to say that we designate under the one name heat two totally distinct forms of energy. The one of these la the energy of a wave motion in the ether, passing from a hot body to surrounding objects across the intervening space, as from the sun to our earth, or from a hot fire to the colder objects upon which it shines: this we call radiant heat. The other form is a confused oscillatory disturbance of the particles of a body: in virtue of this molecular movement a body may appear to our cutaneous sense of heat (a sense quite distinct from that of touch) to be more or less hot or warm; or, in the converse case it may, on account of the small amount of this movement, appear to be relatively cool or cold. The latter form of heat may be called sensible heat, or heat simply, and of it we shall proceed to treat in this chapter.

"Of Ether-Waves" is the heading under which the phenomena of radiation, including reflection, refraction, and interference, are treated. In defining electricity and magnetism, the author states that they "are not forms of energy; neither are they forms of matter. They may, perhaps, be provisionally defined as properties or conditions of matter; but whether this matter be the ordinary matter, or whether it be, on the other hand, that all-pervading ether by which ordinary matter is everywhere surrounded, is a question which has been under discussion, and which may now be fairly held to be settled in favor of the latter view." Although the author, in his preface to this solid volume, expresses the modest hope that it may "be found fitted to serve as an elementary introduction" to a course of wider reading and practical study, it is by no means a book for immature students. It is illustrated with about two hundred and fifty diagrams.

The Relation of Animal Diseases to the Public Health. By Frank S. Billings, D. Y. S., etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 446. Price, $4.

The subject considered in this volume is one of great practical importance both to individuals and to the community at large. The author is a veterinary surgeon of eminent standing, a graduate of the Royal Veterinary Institute of Berlin, and honored by various kindred institutions and societies. In addition to the qualifications thus attested. Dr. Billings has another excellent requisite for the task he has undertaken, which is deep feeling upon the subject—an interest inspired of large knowledge—in fact, an intense enthusiasm well suited to the kind of work he has in hand. He writes with vigor, and often with a vehemence that might involve exaggerated statement; but we must remember that his work is not a treatise on veterinary practice, or a manual of medical and surgical treatment of diseased animals, addressed to the profession. It is a work on the prevention of disease, addressed to the general intelligence of the community, and designed to draw attention to questions and to stir up a popular interest in them that shall lead to private and public action, and for this purpose strong language is entirely justifiable. His subject, moreover, is one upon which there is not only much ignorance among otherwise well-informed people, but upon which there is also a great deal of narrow and unworthy prejudice, deserving of unsparing exposure and severe denunciation.

The work is divided into three parts. The first, of 208 pages, is devoted to "The Diseases of Domestic Animals"; Part II, of 155 pages, describes the "History of Veterinary Medicine" and the establishment of veterinary schools; Part III, of 51 pages, treats of "The Means of Prevention" by veterinary schools and institutes and a veterinary police system in the United States. The first part is taken up with a consideration of some of the most important infectious and contagious diseases of animals—those which require both scientific knowledge and official authority for examination and repression. An intelligent writer in "The Journal of Comparative Medicine and Surgery" thus refers to the subjects here discussed:

"Trichiniasis" in men and animals is dealt with in pages 1 to 40, and is a capital study indeed. The ready detection of the disease in slaughtered hogs, about the pillars of the diaphragm, is especially important. But the author has Bismarckian views about the "great American hog," which may raise an unjust howl from those whose pockets will be touched. We hope they will, for the intrepid doctor is fully capable of dealing with them, and he should have his chance. It will be a hard fight and a good one. Before Government acts in the matter, all large pork-packers should have skilled examiners, licensed from some good veterinary college, to inspect and mark their products. These will find a more ready sale, at higher prices, than less well-attested articles. These certificates will doubtless have a higher standing than those of some Government officials, appointed for some political reasons only or mainly.

Next to hogs, trichinæ are apt to infest rats, and the doctor says: "Continued examinations of rats should be made in all parts of the country, and their slaughter encouraged in all legal ways. In this regard we can even look upon the rat-pit as serving a useful public purpose, and the rat-invasion theory, with reference to hogs, will receive a sooner final settlement." But Mr. Bergh will surely interfere here, and, when Greek meets Greek, will come the tug of war. The directions for the prevention of trichinæ in swine, p. 31, are excellent, although little is said about disinfection, above which cleanliness, inspection, branding diseased hogs, etc., are preferred.

"Hog-cholera" occupies pages 41 to 50. This chapter is short, but excellent. The cause of the disease, Bacillus suis, is well tracked down, the microscopical examinations well given, and the preventive measures thorough—down, in extreme cases, to slaughtering the infected animals in their own pens, and burning the latter, with all contaminated wooden utensils. Sheep and rabbits are subject to what is called "hog-cholera," and require attention in places where the disease prevails.

"Tape-worm" in hogs and cattle is treated of in a short but masterly way. The Tœnia medio-canellata comes from beef, which is especially dangerous when eaten raw or very rare. Tœnia solium comes from pork, and affects those who eat raw ham and underdone pork, and slightly smoked and cooked sausages. This chapter should have had a distinct heading, which is lacking, and may be overlooked by all who do not read the book regularly and carefully through. The same suggestion applies to the chapter on "Foot-and-Mouth Disease," or contagious eczema of cattle. This infection is also apt to implicate sheep, swine, goats, deer, occasionally horses, and sometimes dogs and turkeys. Cases in children in New York have occurred, apparently from the use of contaminated milk; and the disease is cropping up in various parts of the country, both far North and far West. It has possibly been imported by English cattle which have escaped quarantine inspection, although the spontaneous generation of a similar disease, where cattle live in marshes and filth, can not well be denied. Eczema, or salt-rheum, is the most common skin affection in human beings, and how much of it comes from cattle is not yet determined. Bollinger says: "Notwithstanding the ruling opinion to the contrary, the disease is much more common among human beings than is suspected." The suggestion of Dr. Billings, that milk should be examined for much more than mere dilution with more or less pure water, is worthy of all consideration. This suggestion receives still greater emphasis in the chapter on "Tuberculosis in Cattle," pages 52 to 74, which is all too short, although pregnant with information. The credit of first calling attention to this dire disease is given to Gerlach, to whom Dr. Billings has dedicated his book. The notion that pulmonary consumption may be conveyed by the milk of tuberculosis in cows is not a pleasant one. In the opinion of the reviewer, consumption is often a foul-air disease, caused quite as much, and even oftener, by inhaling foul air. as from mere exposure to cold and wet. Dr. Billings says, "In Germany, where the majority of the milch-cows are stall-fed, and that, too, in poorly-ventilated, ill-arranged, and filthy stables, this disease has acquired an extension of which we can at present make no appreciation in this country," although we have an inkling of it among swill-fed cows. Bollinger reproduced the disease in pigs, calves, lambs, and rabbits, fed on milk from tuberculous cows. Billings is undoubtedly right when he says, page 78, that "such milk does contain elements of a specifically infectious character, and there is no question that laws should be made, and executed also, to prevent the sale of such milk for human consumption, either by itself, or mixed with other milk, in no matter how small quantities. No such milk should be sold. The specific infection of milk from tuberculous cows is no trifling matter; it is one of life and death." Consumption, scrofula, and marasmus are only too common among the hundreds of thousands of babies that are yearly brought up on poor cow's milk. However important trichiniasis may be, this far exceeds it.

Every consumptive cow should be branded by expert men. Its milk can only be given with safety to swine, after being boiled; and, although the notion is not a nice one, the doctor thinks they should be fattened and killed, as the meat is not injurious when well cooked. It is to be presumed that even "the eaters of lights" will not consume the lungs of such animals, and the liver and kidneys also must be viewed with much suspicion.

The Relations of Mind and Brain. By Henry Calderwood, LL. D. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 527.

The metaphysician Sir William Hamilton, Professor of Logic in the University of Edinburgh, got embroiled in controversy with the phrenologists, and paused in his career of abstract speculation to make investigations into brain-structure, skull-measurement, and alleged "bumps" of faculty, and all for the confutation of phrenological doctrine. Another metaphysician of Edinburgh seems to have encountered a similar difficulty in his prosecution of the subject of mind. His main studies had been in the region of mental philosophy, as pursued by the old school, without especial reference to its corporeal foundations in the nervous structures of organized beings. But the modern scientific movement set so strongly in the direction of physiological inquiries, or the extension of cerebral psychology, that Dr. Calderwood found it necessary to pause, as his great predecessor had done before, and give attention to the new questions that have arisen from the study of the organic side of the subject.

Dr. Calderwood is unquestionably well imbued with the spirit of the scientific method, as is shown both by his recognition of the necessity for the systematic study of bodily conditions to any one who would arrive at a true understanding of mental phenomena, and also by the systematic character and evident thoroughness of his studies in the nervous system. His volume has interest from this point of view, quite independent of any special conclusions at which he has arrived. The first edition was published in 1879, and met with so favorable a reception that he has found it desirable, from his own ripening views and from important contributions that have been recently made to the subject of animal intelligence, to revise it, and publish the second edition, which has now appeared. While Dr. Calderwood has, of course, a large appreciation of the importance of the organic factors in psychical science, it need hardly be said that he writes very much in the interest of the old mental philosophy, and against what he regards as the inordinate claims of materialistic doctrine. The object of his book, as he says, "is to ascertain what theory of mental life is warranted on strictly scientific evidence," and nothing certainly can be more significant of the progress of mental philosophy than this unreserved acceptance of the strictly scientific method in its pursuit, and the acknowledged necessity there is of studying organic derangements in connection with mental aberrations, and of studying the psychical manifestations of inferior animals, if a valid and comprehensive theory of mind is to be reached.

The Fertilization of Flowers. By Professor Hermann Müller, translated and edited by D'Arcy W. Thompson, B. A. With a Preface by Charles Darwin. Illustrated. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 669. Price, $5.

This comprehensive book is a collection of all the latest information upon a subject which pertains to the relations of two sciences—botany and entomology. It was not until the close of the last century that the true nature and significance of flowers began to be perceived, and we are indebted to Sprengel for the earliest true explanations of the most important phenomena in the life of flowers. From that time onward observations have accumulated and explanations multiplied until the present age, when the whole subject received a new impulse and took a new direction under the influence of the Darwinian school. Of the book before us, which is quite a cyclopædia of the subject, Mr. Darwin says in the prefatory notice, which was one of the very last of his writings:

The publication of a translation of Hermann Muller's "Die Befruchtung der Blumen," etc., will without doubt be a great service to every English botanist or entomologist who is interested in general biological problems. The book contains an enormous mass of original observations on the fertilization of flowers, and on the part which insects play in the work, given with much clearness and illustrated with many excellent woodcuts. It includes references to everything which has been written on the subject; and in this respect the English edition will greatly exceed in value even the original German edition of 1878, as Müller has completed the references up to the present time. No one else could have done the latter work so well, as he has kept a full account of all additions to our knowledge on this subject. Any one who will carefully study the present work, and then observe for himself, will be sure to make some interesting discoveries; and, as the references to all that has been observed are so complete, he will be saved the disappointment of finding that which he thought was new was an already well-known fact.

The Unity of Nature. By the Duke of Argyll. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 571. Price, $2.50.

This work is a sequel to "The Reign of Law," published in 1866. It is of philosophical import, and devoted to the discussion of many of the most important questions and problems concerning the order and government of nature, which have come into great prominence in new forms in the present age. It is written from the orthodox stand-point, is full of acute criticisms, displays a wide familiarity with the results of science, is full of controversy, and is an elegantly printed and very handsome book—as becomes its ducal authorship.

For Mothers and Daughters: A Manual OF Hygiene for the Household. By Mrs. E. G. Cook, M. D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 292. Price, $1.50.

The author has spent many years in studying the causes of the sufferings of women and trying to relieve them. Believing that they came of ignorance or violation of Nature's laws, she has composed this work to point out those laws, and direct such women as it can influence to return to them. In it are discussed, briefly, the ordinary subjects of hygiene, and the special functions of women, and such principles are inculcated as may induce women to take care of their health, and make themselves fit for the proper and effective accomplishment of the purpose around which the objects of their life center.

An Essay on the Philosophy of Self-Consciousness. By P. F. Fitzgerald. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. Pp. 154. Price, $1.25.

In this essay the author has aimed to give an analysis of reason and the rationale of love. He believes he has made three discoveries regarding the intellectual, the affectional, and the moral nature of man: 1. "That the substance or hypostasis of thought is Being—the Being of the individual Ego being in every case the stand-point of rational judgment"; 2. That the affections or emotions are essentially correlative and reciprocal in their nature—or that attraction in the spiritual world is reciprocal and complementary; and, 3. That in the rational being, "joy of life is only completely attained through realization of the ideals of feeling, thought, and will."

Hand-Book of Tree-Planting. By Nathaniel H. Egleston. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 126. Price, 75 cents.

The author of this "Hand-Book" will be remembered by the readers of "The Popular Science Monthly" as having contributed to it, in 1881, 1882, and 1883, a number of valuable articles on subjects relating to forestry. The present book relates to the same subject, that is, to the planting of trees in masses, and aims to meet the wants of land-owners, more especially of those whose lot is cast in portions of the country destitute, or nearly so, of trees, and who feel the need of them, but are inexperienced in their cultivation. It is divided into four parts—"Why to plant; when to plant; what to plant; and how to plant"—the questions coming under each of which heads are answered clearly and in a plain, practical, common-sense manner. The treatise, besides having the qualities just referred to, is lucid and simple in its literary construction, brief, interesting, instructive, comprehensive, and withal convenient in size for the hand or the pocket; and it offers a complete exemplification of what a manual on any practical subject for plain men ought to be.

Protection to Young Industries, as applied in the United States. A Study in Economic History. By F. W. Taussig, Ph. D., Instructor in Political Economy in Harvard College. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 72.

This instructive monograph on one of the most prominent points in the political economy of protection was originally written in competition for the Toppan Prize in Political Science at Harvard University, and received that prize in October, 1882. The writer carefully examines the history of the cotton, the woolen, and the iron manufactures of this country, with reference to the influences that have been operative in their development, and the result is thus given in his concluding remarks.

The three most important branches of industry to which protection has been applied have now been examined. It has appeared that the introduction of the cotton-manufacture took place before the era of protection, and that—looking aside from the anomalous conditions of the period of restriction from 1803 to 1815—its early progress, though perhaps somewhat promoted by the minimum duty of 1816, would hardly have been much retarded in the absence of protective duties. The manufacture of woolens received little direct assistance before it reached that stage at which it could maintain itself without help, if it were for the advantage of the country that it should be maintained. In the iron-manufacture, twenty years of heavy protection did not materially alter the proportion of home and foreign supply, and brought about no change in methods of production. It is not possible, and hardly necessary, to carry the inquiry much further. Detailed accounts can not be obtained of other industries to which protection was applied; but, so far as can be seen, the same course of events took place in them as in the three whose history we have followed. The same general conditions affected the manufactures of glass, of earthenware, of paper, of cotton-bagging, sail-duck, cordage, and other articles to which protection was applied during this time with more or less vigor. We may assume that the same general effect, or absence of effect, followed in these as in the other cases.

Federal Taxation. By Samuel Barnett. Pp. 45. Richmond, Va.: Andrew Baptist & Co.

This pamphlet is made up of a collection of editorials which appeared in the "Atlanta Constitution." They consist of independent criticisms of our national policy in regard to taxation, expressed with great force and freedom. The writer places a high estimate on the value of the Federal Union, but thinks it would be worth more if it cost less. While its benefits are inexpensive, its abuses are costly. Free trade between the States, which Mr. Barnett thinks the chief advantage of the Federal Union, costs nothing; while "protection" is more expensive than the government itself. The tax policy of the Federal Government, carried on by protection, he declares to be bad in theory and even worse in practice; and that few, of even public men, have the faintest conception of how bad it is. Mr. Barnett proclaims a very important truth when he says that "nothing short of a quantitative study of its impositions can properly expose them; the pretty fallacies of protection melt like wax in the fire of quantitative analysis." The treatment of the several topics is rather suggestive than systematic, but the pages are full of telling facts, and many hard blows are dealt upon the system of organized corruption which shelters itself under the false pretense of protection.

"The Kansas City Review of Science and Industry." Edited by Theodore S. Case. Kansas City, Mo.: Monthly, 64 pp. Price, $2.50 a year.

With its May number this magazine begins its eighth year. The "Review" is doing an excellent work in stimulating an interest in science in the rapidly growing country west of the Mississippi. But very few of its articles are solely of local interest; a wide range of sciences is represented in its pages, while manufactures and the arts based upon science, including education, are by no means neglected.

"The Canadian Record of Natural History and Geology, with Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Montreal." Vol. I, No. 1. J. T. Donald, M. A., Editor. Montreal, January, 1884.

This magazine takes the place of "The Canadian Naturalist," until last June published for the above-named society by the Messrs. Dawson Brothers. The "Record" is to be published quarterly, and, in addition to the society's proceedings, will contain original papers on scientific subjects by Canadians, and reprints of scientific papers of merit published elsewhere, which deal with Canadian subjects. The first number contains a report of the second annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada, held at Ottawa in May, 1883; two short papers on geological subjects, by Principal J. W. Dawson; and an extended account of "The Athabasca District of the Canadian North-west Territory," by the Rev. Émile Petitot. There are also three short papers by the editor, and part of a memorial address on the late James Richardson.

A Text-Book of Inorganic Chemistry. By Professor Victor von Richter, University of Breslau. Translated by Edgar F. Smith, A.M., Ph.D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 424. Price, $2.

Professor von Richter's treatment of his subject is characterized by an effort to show how the possession of a few facts leads to the formation of scientific theories, and the theories in turn show the investigator where to look for new facts. "The Periodic System of the Elements," or "Mendelejeff's Table," is made the basis of the work, and considerable attention is given to thermo-chemical phenomena, the periodicity of which is brought prominently forward. There is a short chapter on "Crystallography," with diagrams, and one on "Spectrum Analysis." The volume is illustrated with a colored plate of spectra, and eighty-nine woodcuts.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

The Past and the Present of Political Economy. By Richard T. Ely, Ph.D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 64.

"The Journal of Physiology." Vol. V, No. 1. Edited by Michael Foster, M.D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. xii-484. $5 a year.

An Investigation locating the Strongest of the Bronzes. By W. H. Ernest H. Jobbins, M. E. Pp. 43.

Aneurism of the Femoral Artery, and a Knife-Wound of the Intestines. By W. O. Roberts, M.D. Louisville, Ky. Pp. 11.

Esplorazione di un Shell-mound Indiano presso Nueva Orleans, Luisiana. (Exploration of a Shell-Mound near New Orleans, La.) By K. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army. Florence, Italy. Pp. 11.

Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. H. Newell Martin, D. Sc, and W. K. Brooks, Ph.D., Editors. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 48, with Six Plates. 70 cents.

The Glacial Boundary in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. By Professor G. Frederick Wright. Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve Historical Society. Pp. 86.

The Determination of the Flashing Point of Petroleum. By John T. Stoddard. Pp. 6.

What and Why. By Charles E. Pratt. Boston: Pope Manufacturing Company. Pp. 72.

The Mormon Question. By J. W. Stillman. Boston: J. P. Mendum. Pp. 40.

Massachusetts Agricultural College, Report for 1883. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Company. Pp. 73.

Sanitary Drainage of Tenement-Houses. By William Paul Gerhard, C. E. Hartford: Cox, Lockwood, and Brainard Company. Pp. 40.

Methods of Historical Study. By Herbert B. Adams, Ph.D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 186. 50 cents.

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