Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/580

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
564
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

comprise." In commenting upon the incident of the budget, the biographer says, "Both he and she were noble and generous, but his was the soft heart, and hers the stern one." The letters and extracts from Carlyle's journal concern his literary work, health, visitors, journeys to Scotland and also on the Continent, his religious belief, public policy, etc., etc. His letters to his wife are warmly affectionate, and the entry in his journal relating to her death is wonderfully tender. The criticisms on the "First Forty Years," and the "Letters and Memorials" were apparently the occasion of the introduction to this work, giving Mr. Fronde's view of his duty as Carlyle's chosen biographer, with a detailed account of the manner in which the material was put in his possession, and the directions given him in regard to its publication.

Women, Plumbers, and Doctors; or, Household Sanitation. By Mrs. H. M. Plunkett. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 248. Price, $1.25.

The author of this book is one of those who believe that woman's sphere should be extended; but the extension which she herein advocates is in the line of the usual duties performed by the mistress of the home. She sees no knowledge more befitting woman, no activity more worthy of her abilities, than that which serves to protect the family from disease and untimely death. After a few pages on sanitation in general, Mrs. Plunkett describes the dangers which lurk in wet house-sites and inadequate foundations, and then proceeds with the arrangement of the house for securing sufficient warmth, ventilation, and sunshine. The next chapter deals with lighting, and contains many facts in relation to dangerous burning oils that every housewife should thoroughly know. Various ways in which water may become unwholesome are told, with directions for tests and measures of protection. The requirements of a good system of plumbing are stated, examples of defective work are given, and some explanation of the nature of sewer-gas and disease-germs is added. As many eminent physicians have declared that cholera will certainly come to America in 1885, a memorandum of the New York State Board of Health relating to the prevention of the disease has been introduced, together with directions for home treatment, including recipes for medicines. These directions are quoted from Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, who has treated hundreds of cases in the four epidemics which he has seen in Constantinople. The necessity of enforcing public sanitation is urged, both on charitable grounds and because our neighbor's carelessness may often make our own precautions unavailing. The volume contains fifty cuts, showing unsanitary conditions in Washington and New York houses, and elsewhere; elaborate plumbing in the houses of S. J. Tilden and W. K. Vanderbilt; the filtration of water through earth, sewage fungi, etc. The writer has kept house both in the country and the city, and writes with knowledge of the conditions in both locations. The command of the subject which she has gained is a sufficient contradiction of any notion that preventive medicine is too difficult for woman's comprehension. The book, though aiming especially to interest women, is addressed to all readers who desire a popular and practical presentation of this important subject; quotations from the writings of able physicians and sanitarians have been freely used, and evidently care has been taken to make a useful and reliable book.

The American Psychological Journal, Quarterly. Volume I. Edited by Joseph Parrish, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. $2 a year.

This magazine is issued by the National Association for the Protection of the Insane and Prevention of Insanity, and its scope is indicated by the name of the association. The first volume contained articles on both the medical and legal aspects of insanity; W. W. Godding, M. D., contributed a series of papers entitled "Our Insane Neighbor: his Rights and Ours"; T. D. Crothers, M. D., discussed some phases of insanity as related to inebriety; and many letters were published describing the treatment employed in various asylums, the lunacy laws of several States, and the courses of study on mental diseases provided in prominent medical colleges. A few of the other articles are "The Rights of the Insane, and their Enforcement"; "Are Suicides Lunatics?" "Employment as a Remedy for Insanity"; and "The Prevention of Insanity."