SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 413 



metaphysical. Technological applications appear only by way of illustra- 

 tion. The volume contains some fifty diagrams and a frontispiece plate. 



For an elementary and thoroughly popular account of electrical phe- 

 nomena the reader should go to the Library of Useful Stories. We feel 

 safe in saying that every electrical contrivance known to the general pub- 

 lic is described and explained in the little book by Mr, Munro* The 

 chapters on applications of electricity are preceded by accounts of the ap- 

 paratus and processes employed in the sevei-al modes of generating the 

 electric force. Throughout the volume is enough of history and anecdote 

 to justify the title of " Story," and enough of fundamental principles to 

 base an intelligent acquaintance with the phenomena of this branch of 

 science upon. Where the history of discoveries and inventions is being 

 told, the reader should remember that the author is English, and has a full 

 share of the amusing insular notion that everything worth mentioning was 

 done first by an Englishman. In the matter of terminology the book has 

 been edited so as to make it conform to American usage ; some changes 

 have been made in the cuts also, and new matter has been added to the 

 same end. There are a hundred illustrations and an adequate index. 



It is a little startling to see a renowned chemist described in the title of 

 a biography as " Poet and Philosopher. " t Davy, however, was certainly 

 occupied with " natural philosophy," and the designation of poet is far from 

 misapplied. The pleasing character of the Century Science Series is ad- 

 mirably maintained by the attractive life-history of him that Dr. Thorpe 

 has prepared. Of the talents that characterized Davy's adult life the first 

 to be manifested in his boyhood was his poetic faculty. His best school 

 exercises, we are told, were his translations into English verse, and he was 

 often called upon by his schoolmates to write valentines and similar effu- 

 sions for them. Later it was undoubtedly the vivid' imagery and sympa- 

 thetic mode of expression derived from this faculty which made his popular 

 lectures the salvation of the Royal Institution before that establishment 

 had his brilliant discoveries to lean upon. Our author evidently has as- 

 sumed that his readers wish to know about Davy's scientific career, and 

 this thread runs unbroken throughout the volume. At the same time the 

 human side of the man is shown in references to his fondness for angling, 

 his devotion to his mother, his friendship with Coleridge, Maria Edgeworth, 

 and other persons of intellect, the incidents of his marriage, and the charac- 

 teristics of his disposition. Davy's last important discovery, the principle 

 of the miner's safety lamp, as well as his first, the anaesthetic property of 

 laughing gas, have a practical value that easily commands popular ajjpre- 

 ciation, while his isolation of the metals of the alkalies, his demonstration 

 of the elementary character of chlorine, and his researches on iodine give 

 him a permanently high rank among chemists. Dr. Thorpe has relied 

 largely upon the memoirs of Dr. Paris and of Dr. John Davy, brother of 

 Sir Humphry, carefully weighing one against the other where they dis- 

 agree, and he has had much other material in the form of letters, journals, 



* The Story of Electricity. By John Miiiiro. New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 187, 16mo. 

 Price, 40 cents. 



t Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher. By T. E. Thorpe, LL. D., F. R. S. New York : The 

 MacmiUan Company. Pp. 240, 12mo. Price, $1.35. 



