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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Half-Hour Recreations in Natural His- 

 tory. Boston : Estes & Lauriat. Pp. 

 31. Price, 25 cents. 

 This is Part III. of Mr. Packard's series, 

 " Half-Hours with Insects," which we have 

 already mentioned in the Monthly. The 

 author here considers the relations of in- 

 sects to man. Of course those insects which 

 live by preying on human kind receive spe- 

 cial attention. "We do not remember ever 

 before to have heard that the Cimex, or bed- 

 bug, is originally a parasite of birds, espe- 

 cially doves and swallows. " The opin- 

 ion," says Prof. Packard, "that the bed- 

 bug originally lived under the feathers of 

 semi-domestic birds is strengthened by the 

 fact that a European species of Cimex lives 

 on the body of the swallow, another on the 

 bat, while a third is found in pigeon-houses." 

 Insects that are of service to man are also 

 considered, and, singularly enough, we find 

 in this category the cockroach, which, in- 

 stead of being the unmitigated nuisance 

 generally thought, is the mortal foe of the 

 bedbug, and really does good work in rid- 

 ding our houses of that disgusting pest. The 

 pamphlet is full of useful information, and is 

 well illustrated. 



Community of Disease in Man and oth- 

 er Animals. By W. Lauder Lindsay, 

 M. D. Pp. 3*7. 



The author of this little essay was 

 laughed at by eminent medical authorities 

 in Edinburgh, when, some twenty years ago, 

 he ventured publicly to affirm that certain 

 human diseases may be artificially produced 

 in the lower animals. Things have changed 

 since then, and the identity of various dis- 

 eases in man and animals is now admitted. 

 Nor is this true of physical diseases only ; 

 Dr. Lindsay has found that the lower ani- 

 mals, or at least some of them, not only pos- 

 sess mind resembling that of man, but are 

 subject to the same classes of mental disor- 

 der, produced by the same predisposing and 

 exciting causes. The work before us gives 

 a long catalogue of bodily and mental mala- 

 dies that are known to be common to man 

 and animals. The list includes typhus, yel- 

 low fever, puerperal fever, gout, hysteria, 

 mania, idiocy, goitre, asthma, quinsy, and 

 Bright's disease ; and he shows that various 

 poisons affect animals in the same way as 

 they affect man. 



Metamorphism produced by the Burning 

 of Lignite-Beds in Dakota and Mon- 

 tana. By J. A. Allen. Pp. 19. 



Tins paper is reprinted from the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History," 1874. The <p<m'-volcanic meta- 

 morphisms of which it treats are singularly 

 interesting, and here for the first time ade- 

 quately described. In the "Bad Lands" 

 of the Upper Missouri there exist highly- 

 metamorphosed beds of clays and sands, 

 accompanied by pumiceous and lava-like 

 materials, which closely resemble volcanic 

 products. Still the efficient cause was sim- 

 ply the burning of the underlying beds of 

 lignite. Over hundreds and even thousands 

 of square miles the evidences of these fires 

 are to be seen in the mountain-ridges and 

 buttes. There are frequent indications of 

 the bursting through of these subterranean 

 fires to the surface. Thus we find multi- 

 tudes of jagged, chimney-like mounds of 

 volcanic brescia. These were little volca- 

 noes, having their seat of action in the 

 burning coal-seam, ten, fifteen, or perhaps 

 fifty feet below. The paper is one of rare 

 value. 



A Ramble round the World. 1871. By 

 M. Le Baron de Hubner. Translated 

 by Lady Herbert. New York: Mac- 

 millan&Co. 657 pages. Price, $2.50. 



Excursions round the world are now 

 made with such facility and regularity that 

 the number of those who undertake them 

 is rapidly increasing, while the variety 

 and vivid contrast of the traveler's expe- 

 riences, as he passes from continent to 

 continent, offer an equal temptation to 

 edify the stay-at-homes with a book de- 

 scribing the tour. A definite round-the- 

 world literature of travel may thu3 be ex- 

 pected to grow up, and if it all proves to 

 be as pleasant and instructive as Baron 

 de Hiibner's book, there will be no rea- 

 son for regret. The present work is, how- 

 ever, more than an ordinary narrative of 

 observation and traveling adventure. Its 

 author, an Austrian nobleman, a man of 

 culture and with wide experience of char- 

 acter, manners, and institutions, travels as 

 a thinker, as well as a looker-on, and gives 

 to his pages something of the insight of 

 study as well as vivacity of narration. Of 

 course it is impossible to go round the world 



