peared. The other chapters of the volume are contributed by other medical men, who have given special attention to different departments of practical physiology; and the ruling idea of all the articles is to give in the clearest and plainest manner that information concerning the bodily organs and their management which is most constantly needed, and which all common readers can understand and apply. The papers of the volume were first contributed to the People's Magazine in monthly parts, running through two or three years; they were then collected and carefully revised by Dr. Hinton, and brought into the unity and completeness which they now present, in the volume form.
In several respects this book presents universal claims upon the reading public. To begin with, the style in which it is written is remarkable for its simplicity, its freedom from technical terms, and its extreme readableness. The writers seem to have constantly kept in mind that they were addressing the non-scientific public, and they have studiously refrained from any pedantic show of physiological language. There is not a chapter in the volume that any ordinary person cannot take up and peruse with facility and pleasure. The importance of this cannot be over-estimated where the object is to produce clear and lasting impressions upon the general mind.
In the next place, the selection of the subjects treated is as practical as the manner of their statement. How completely the whole ground is covered may be shown in no other way so well as by an enumeration of the subjects, which are as follows:
| I. | The Brain and its Servants. |
| II. | The Faculty of Hearing. |
| III. | The Eye and Sight. |
| IV. | The Sense of Smell. |
| V. | The Sense of Taste. |
| VI. | Digestion. |
| VII. | The Skin.––Corpulence. |
| VIII. | The Bath.––The Sense of Touch. |
| IX. | Notes on Pain. |
| X. | Respiration. |
| XI. | Taking Cold. |
| XII. | Influenza. |
| XIII. | Headache. |
| XIV. | Sleep. |
| XV. | Sleeplessness. |
| XVI. | Ventilation. |
| XVII. | The Liver and its Diseases. |
| XVIII. | The Action of Alcohol. |
| XIX. | Muscular Motion as exemplified in the Human Body. |
| XX. | Occupation and Health. |
| XXI. | Training and Gymnastics. |
In the third place, on all of these subjects it has been the aim of the writers to present that kind of information which can be made practically available for the preservation of health. There is only so much scientific physiology as is calculated to give point and effect to the useful inculcations of the work. It is the best popular hygienic treatise that we know, and is the kind of book to tell in a salutary way upon the daily conduct. It is here that our physiological text-books generally break down. The information they contain is of the wrong kind—too scientific and too unpractical. There is a good deal of excellent science in this volume, clear and accurate in its presentation; but it is all subordinated to the useful lessons and conclusions that are enforced in regard to what may be called physiological conduct and practice. Such a volume has been long wanted, and we commend it for family reading and for class-exercises in schools, as superior to any other we know.
The American Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1873. Embracing Political, Civil, Military, and Social Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry. Volume XIII. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1874, pp. 805. Price, $5.00.
This work, which is extended to thirteen volumes, forms the completest history of contemporaneous events that is now to be obtained. Year-books of science, agriculture, inventions, and arts, have latterly appeared, in response to the demand for the results of the annual progress in these departments. But something more comprehensive was needed, that should treat of what is done in all the great branches of activity. Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia is perhaps the most perfect register of the advance of civilization that we have—covering the complete ground, carefully compiled, conveniently arranged
