846 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



are pernicious, Prof. Huxley states in his 

 preface that these essays are intended to 

 combat certain of such chiims. "Unless I 

 greatly err," he says, " the arguments ad- 

 duced go a long way to prove that the ac- 

 counts of the Creation and the Deluge in the 

 Hebrew Scriptures are mere legends ; and, 

 further, that the evidence for the existence 

 and activity of a demonic world, implicitly 

 and explicitly inculcated throughout the 

 Christian Scriptures, and universally held by 

 the primitive churches, is totally inadequate 

 to justify the expression of belief in it. This 

 much on the negative side of the discussion. 

 On the positive side, the essay on the Evolu- 

 tion of Theology, as I imagine, shows cause 

 for the conclusion that the Israelitic religion, 

 in the earliest phase of which anything is 

 really known, is neither more nor less rational, 

 neither better nor worse ethically, than the 

 religions of other nations in a similar state 

 of civilization ; that in the natural course of 

 its evolution it reached, in the prophetic age, 

 an elevation and an ethical purity which 

 have never been surpassed, and that, since 

 the new birth of the prophetic spii-it, in the 

 first century of our era, the course of Chris- 

 tian dogmatic development, along its main 

 lines, has been essentially retrogressive." 



It will thus be seen that Prof. Huxley 

 aims to be not a destroyer but a purifier of 

 religion. 



Elementary Lessons in Steam Machinery 

 AND. THE Marine Steam Engine. With 

 a Short Description of the Construction 

 of a Battle Ship. By Staff-Engineer J. 

 Langmaid and Engineer H. Gainsford. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 267. 

 Price, $2. 



These lessons, prepared for the naval 

 cadets in one of the vessels of her Majesty's 

 fleet, are intended to represent a systematic 

 course of simple instruction preparatory to a 

 more thorough study of the whole subject. 

 In the earlier lessons instruction is given in 

 the elements of construction and mechanism, 

 and in those mechanical details which stu- 

 dents are usually expected to learn by work- 

 slioj) experience. The conclusions given are 

 wholly such as have been arrived at by ex- 

 perience, and the various details of marine 

 engines are illustrated by the simplest ex- 

 amples. The lessons on Construction include 

 the principles of measurements, the uses and 



qualities of the metals used, and instructions 

 concerning riveted joints, screw threads and 

 fastenings, transmission of power by shafts, 

 etc. ; conversion of motion, toothed gearing, 

 friction, stuffing boxes and packing, joints 

 of pipes, etc. ; valves and cocks, and pumps. 

 The lessons on the marine steam engine re- 

 late to boilers and boiler mountings and en- 

 gines, with the details similarly separately 

 considered. 



Aero-Therapeutics ; or, The Treatment op 

 Lung Diseases by Climate. With an Ad- 

 dress on the High Altitudes of Colorado. 

 By Charles Theodore Williams. New 

 York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 187. Price, 

 $2. 



This work, by the Senior Physician in the 

 Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of 

 the Chest, Brompton, and late President of 

 the Royal Meteorological Society, consists of 

 the Lumleian Lectures for 1893, delivered be- 

 fore the College of Physicians. In his lectures 

 the author has attempted to sketch a scientific 

 system of aero-therapeutics, based on the 

 combination of modern meteorology with 

 clinical experiment, in which each element 

 of climate is duly considered in its bearing 

 on health and disease. The lectures severally 

 relate to the factors and elements of climate, 

 temperature and moisture, and barometric 

 pressure in its relation to health and disease. 

 In the summary of results of different cli- 

 mates compared, at the close of the regular 

 lectures, a marked preponderance is found in 

 favor of high altitudes as against the English 

 home stations, the Riviera, and sea voyages. 

 The address on the high altitudes of Colorado 

 embodies a clear account of the character and 

 climate of the country, and a strong apprecia- 

 tion of its value to health. 



The Conquest of Death. By Abbot Kinney. 

 New York. Pp. 259. 



The author is struck with the deficiency 

 of children in American families and the ap- 

 parent prevalence of the habit of limiting the 

 number of children, and forebodes disaster 

 from it. " For some twenty years," he says, 

 " fact after fact has forced upon me the re- 

 luctantly received opinion that the present 

 vital movement in our population can only 

 eventuate in the elimination of the old Amer- 

 ican stock through nonreproduction. It is 

 impossible to disguise the fact that in many 



