8 54 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cookery. In it are included the flavoring 

 herbs known in our gardens ; spices, etc., 

 from abroad ; condiments prepared from 

 animal foods, mixed sauces like the Worces- 

 tershire, and ketchups and pickles. The 

 author believes that these things, properly 

 used, are aids to digestion. (Published by 

 the Hotel World, Chicago.) 



Of the Eighteenth Annual Report of the 

 Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 for 1894, Part II contains papers on the 

 availability of organic nitrogen, fungous 

 diseases and their treatment, and injurious 

 insects; Part III, Studies on the Proteids of 

 Rye and Barley and on the Chemical Nature 

 of Diastase ; and Part IV on subjects relat- 

 ing to the dairy and on tobacco. The publi- 

 cations of the station are sent free to every 

 citizen of the State who applies for them. 



Under the title Bread from Stones a 

 translation of some of the writings of Julius 

 Hensel on fertilizers has been published by 

 A. J. Tafel (1011 Arch Street, Philadelphia, 

 25 cents). Hensel declares that the current 

 theory of fertilizing is wrong. Too much 

 potash, phosphorus, and nitrogen, he says, 

 are supplied to plants, and not enough lime, 

 magnesia, silica, sulphur, or fluorine. The 

 normal soil consists of weathered rocks. 

 This is the best soil for plants, producing 

 not only vigorous growth, but also edible 

 parts of firm texture, resisting insects, and 

 valuable and wholesome for food. He 

 therefore advocates the use of finely pulver- 

 ized stone-meal as a fertilizer, and gives 

 testimony as to its efficiency. 



The Senile Heart, by George William 

 Balfour, M. D. (Macmillan, $1.50), is quite a 

 comprehensive consideration of this and 

 allied conditions in the other organs of the 

 body to which the aged are especially prone. 

 In the introductory chapter some space is 

 given to a consideration of why we get old 



1 why we so rarely die of old age, and 



this is followed in Chapter II by an exami- 

 nation of the direct effects of age on the 

 heart muscle. There are twelve chapters, 

 the last four of which deal with therapeu- 

 tics. A chapter is given to gout, and also 

 one to angina pectoris. The book contains 

 some interesting sphygmographic records. 



The consolidated school law of ls'.tl 

 made a number of important changes; but 

 as published it is a pamphlet of one hundred 



and thirty-five pages, the legal phraseology 

 and verbiage of which obscures the mean- 

 ing in many places. A Handbook for School 

 Trustees (Bardeen, 50 cents), by C. W. Bar- 

 deen, which arranges the law by subjects 

 aud gives the minor details only in notes, 

 ought to prove valuable to teachers and 

 other school officers. The differences in 

 law between the district and union schools 

 are pointed out, and directions are given for 

 the establishment of an academic department 

 under the Regents of the University. 



In a little volume, half prose half poetry, 

 entitled The Supremacy of the Spiritual 

 (Arena Publishing Company, *75 cents), Ed- 

 ward Randall Knowles, LL. D., undertakes 

 to show that the ether is spiritual rather 

 than material. 



John A. Kersey has written down under 

 the title Ethics of Literature a part of what 

 he would like to say about books and au- 

 thors a part only, for on page 570 he 

 states that he is about to close without hav- 

 ing finished (the author, Marion, Ind.). " I 

 propose to inquire," he says in his preface, 

 " what some great literary luminaries have 

 done, and to show in some instances what 

 were better left undone for the enlighten- 

 ment of mankind. And in this retrospect 

 we will observe the acknowledged Titans 

 engaged in Herculean labors to establish 

 truths which, in the nature of things and of 

 mind, are either self-evident or unprovable. 

 We will observe minds which have given 

 the world some of the most superb thought, 

 grouping the rarest gems in clusters with the 

 veriest peter-funk.' n Other instructive ob- 

 servations are also promised to the reader. 



A neat little forty-cent edition of Defoe's 

 History of the Plague in London is just is- 

 sued by the American Book Company. 

 While there is much fiction mixed up with 

 the description, Defoe being only four years 

 old at the time of the plague, there is enough 

 of actual fact to give the work a historical 

 value, and the less well authenticated por- 

 tions add much to its readableness. 



Roman Life in Latin Prose and Verse is 

 the title of a book of selections from Latin 

 writings, made by Harry Thurston Peck and 

 Robert Arrowsmith (American Book Com- 

 pany). It is intended to be used either as 

 the chief book for a short course in reading 

 Latin or as a volume for sight-reading, and 



