at the home acre, that he may the better end by inculcating an intelligent patriotism which regards the whole country. In his concluding chapters he passes from exposition to appeal. He shows how much government means in modern life, and insists, none too strongly, on the necessity that government be purified. He declares that millions of citizens stand ready to die for their country who refuse to make the daily sacrifice of time and comfort demanded for the honest and competent discharge of public trusts.
Civic virtue, indeed, is no mere plaint of the moralist, it is the sole condition upon which scientific advance can come to its fruitage—upon which public health and safety can be enjoyed. America, for example, lags far behind Europe in civic engineering, simply because to extend the scope of municipal administration would but widen the field for official incapacity and corruption.
The Wilder Quarter-Century Book: Original Scientific Papers, dedicated to Prof. Burt Green Wilder. By some of his Former Students of Cornell University. Ithaca, N. Y.: Comstock Publishing Company. Pp. 493. Price, $5.
No more graceful tribute could well be conceived nor ample volume designed for the purpose intended than The Wilder Quarter-Century Book—1868-1893. In fact, seventeen of Prof. Wilder's former Cornell pupils, who have since become more or less famous in sundry scientific departments, have Joined hands and pens in dedicating to their worthy professor anything but a perfunctory work. This assumes the form of a collection of papers on physiological subjects, including vertebrate zoölogy and neurology. Their dedication to Prof. Wilder, B. S., M. D., is declared as "a testimonial of their appreciation of his unselfish devotion to the university and in grateful remembrance of the inspiration of his teaching and example." The book itself is well printed and profusely illustrated, several excellent plates being noticeable throughout. A finely executed portrait of Prof. Wilder by John P. Davis, Secretary of the Society of American Wood Engravers, constitutes the frontispiece. The President of the Leland Stanford Junior University, David Starr Jordan, LL. D., contributes the first article—Temperature and Vertebræ: a Study in Evolution—which discusses with clearness the relations of the numbers of vertebræ among fishes to the temperature of water and the character of the struggle for existence. An essay by John Henry Comstock, B. S., Professor of Entomology and General Invertebrate Zoölogy in Cornell University, on the application of the theory of natural selection in the classification of animals and plants, illustrated by a study of the evolution of insects' wings, completes another important paper. The Vital Equation of the Colored Race and its Future in the United States is contributed by Dr. Rollin Corson, B. S., and Theobald Smith, Ph. B., M. D., Professor of Bacteriology and Hygiene in Columbian University, Washington, D. C, treats of the Fermentation Tube, with special reference to anaërobiosis and gas production among bacteria. Muscular Atrophy is considered as a symptom by Dr. William Krauss, B. S.; and Prof. Biggs, M. A., M. D., of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, invites the reader to a bacterial study of acute cerebral and cerebro-spinal lepto-meningitis. An interesting and important essay is that by Veranus A. Moore, B. S., M. D., of the United States Department of Agriculture, on the character of the Flagella on the Bacillus Choleræ Suis; while Grant Sherman Hopkins, D. Sc, of Cornell University, unfolds the nature of the lymphatics and enteric epithelium of Amia calva The instructor of vertebrate zoölogy in Cornell University, Pierre Augustine Fish, B. S., adds a highly thoughtful paper on Brain Preservation, giving a résumé of some old and new methods.
While other essays of import go to make up the work, the engravings of moths and some fine plates by Anna Botsford Comstock, B. S., natural-history artist, may, from an art point of view, be regarded as possessing a high order of merit. Preceding a table showing the courses given by Prof. Wilder, we obtain also an intimate acquaintance with Dr. Wilder's numerous and miscellaneous writings from 1861 to 1893. These include published works, essays, papers read, and many important reviews. The volume before us lacks nothing in completeness and the style throughout is clear, very often fascinating, and always of varying importance. Within certain limitation, the work will
