Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 13.djvu/126

Myths and Marvels of Astronomy. By Richard A. Proctor. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 363. Price, $4.

This volume contains an excellent selection of some of the most readable of Mr. Proctor's popular essays. While not systematic studies in strict science, they contain a great deal of scientific information, and are, moreover, enriched by an erudition of side considerations which come from extensive reading, and the assiduous collection of the historic curiosities of the various subjects treated. The subjects of the present volume are—1. "Astronomy;" 2. "The Religion of the Great Pyramid;" 3. "The Mystery of the Pyramids;" 4. "Swedenborg vs Vision of other Worlds;" 5. "Other Worlds and other Universes;" 6. "Suns in Flames;" 1. "The Rings of Saturn;" 8. "Comets as Portents;" 9. "The Lunar Hoax;" 10. "On some Astronomical Paradoxes;" 11. "On some Astronomical Myths;" 12. "The Origin of the Constellation Figures."

The Creed of Christendom; Its Foundations contrasted with its Superstructure. By William Rathbone Greg. With a New Introduction. In Two Volumes. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co. Pp. 549. Price, $7.

This work has been before the public some thirty years, and is now announced as in the fifth edition. It has been extensively read, and ranks among the leading books of modern criticism upon the history and character of the Christian Scriptures. The new introduction, made to the third edition, is dated 1873, and contains 94 pages. It is interesting, as a comprehensive review of the contributions of Colenso, Renan, the author of "Ecce Homo," and Matthew Arnold, to the same general subject, and all made after the original publication of Mr. Greg's book. The main idea of the work is that Christianity has undergone the most profound changes since its first promulgation; and this idea is very impressively reiterated in the closing passages to the author's last introduction, of which the following is a part:

"I have but one word more to say—and that is an expression of unfeigned Amazement—so strong as almost to throw into the shade every other sentiment, and increasing with every year of reflection, and every renewed perusal of the genuine words and life of Jesus—that, out of anything so simple, so beautiful, so just, so loving, and so grand, could have grown up or been extracted anything so marvelously unlike its original as the current creeds of Christendom; that so turbid a torrent could have flowed from so pure a fountain, and yet persist in claiming that fountain as its source; that any combination of human passion, perversity, and misconception could have reared such a superstructure upon such foundations. Out of the teaching of perhaps the most sternly anti-sacerdotal prophet who ever inaugurated a new religion, has been built up (among the Catholics and their imitators here) about the most pretentious and oppressive priesthood that ever weighed down the enterprise and the energy of the human mind. Out of the life and words of a Master, whose every act and accent breathed love and mercy and confiding hope to the whole race of man, has been distilled (among Calvinists and their cognates) a creed of general damnation and of black despair. Christ set at naught 'observances,' and trampled upon those prescribed with a rudeness that bordered on contempt—Christian worship, in its most prevailing form, has been made to consist in rites and ceremonies, in sacraments and feasts, and fasts and periodic prayers. Christ preached personal righteousness, with its roots going deep into the inner nature, as the one thing needful—his accredited messengers and professed followers say: No! purity and virtue are filthy rags; salvation is to be purchased only through vicarious merits and 'imputed' holiness," etc.

The Aneroid Barometer: Its Construction and Use. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 106. Price, 50 cents.

It is generally understood that the aneroid barometer is a little instrument, the size of a watch, which depends for its action upon the changes in form of a thin metallic box, partially exhausted of air. As the pressure of the atmosphere varies, the thin walls of the vacuum-chamber move, and the motion is taken up by a suitable mechanism and indicated by a hand on a dial-plate. Captain Fawcett, who has had much experience with the instrument, says the value of the aneroid, as a handy and portable instrument for rapidly obtaining relative heights in surveys, has been underrated. The point chiefly valuable in an aneroid is its portability, as in the pocket it takes up no more room than a watch. Its calculations can be done quickly, and its indications may be generally relied upon within ten or twenty feet. In traveling and making geographical observations, especially in hilly or mountainous regions, it is extremely