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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



increase among all civilized peoples, whether 

 their racial predisposition be great or small, 

 and as racial proclivity remains fixed, the 

 author concludes that all, or nearly all, the 

 increase must be the outcome of the acquired 

 or pathological character. 



The influences of race, of climate and sea- 

 son, of religion, and of sex and age are con- 

 sidered as factors in causing suicide. 



In regard to the stand taken by the law 

 in reference to suicide, the author says that 

 he does not believe that pronouncing suicide a 

 crime has ever stayed the hand of a single 

 individual bent on self-destruction, and the 

 law has never been able to punish the crimi- 

 nal in a single instance, nor can it hope to. 

 There are only two logical courses open to 

 those who would reform this legislative ab- 

 surdity. One is to sweep away all legislation 

 upon the subject so far as it relates to the 

 individual himself, no longer consider suicide 

 a crime, and ignore attempts thereat. The 

 other is to enact that all attempts at suicide, 

 whether successful or not, be in themselves 

 conclusive evidence of dangerous insanity. 

 The author, agreeing with the Sophists, Sto- 

 ics, Epicureans, and Platonists, believes that 

 the first of these two is the more just and 

 sensible course. 



The author considers the theological, nat- 

 uralistic, sociological, and moral objections to 

 suicide, and concludes with old Dr. Donne 

 that " self -homicide is not so naturally sin 

 that it may never be otherwise." 



The author has presented a very interest- 

 ing and unbiased study of a topic that is en- 

 gaging more and more attention, for it is not 

 one of the least of the charges against mod- 

 ern society that its organization is such that 

 men and women are unwilling to continue as 

 associates thereof. 



The Technique of Post-mortem Examina- 

 tion. By LuDviG Hektoen, M. D., Pa- 

 thologist to the Cook County Hospital, 



Chicago. 



Chicago: The W. T. Keener 



Company, 1894. Price, $1.76. 



The author is to be congratulated on this 

 little work that is a concise exposition of the 

 various matters connected with the perform- 

 ance of post-mortem examinations. He has 

 not endeavored to enter into a systematic 

 and minute consideration of the pathological 

 changes in the organs, but rather he has 



made it his aim to give such general and 

 comprehensive information as is needed by 

 the examiner. 



As no State in the Union has prescribed 

 regulations to guide and direct the practi- 

 tioner in the method of making necropsies 

 in medico legal cases, it is believed that the 

 systematic procedure detailed in this book 

 will make it useful to all practitioners of 

 medicine likely to be called upon to perform 

 such duty. 



The work is admirably printed and illus- 

 trated, and is one of the best books on this 

 topic with which we are acquainted. 



Myths of Greece and Rome. By H. A. 

 GuERBER. New York: American Book 

 Company. Pp. 428. Price, $1.50. 



Students of literature and ai-t will find a 

 most attractive handbook in this volume. 



While it does not take the place of a dic- 

 tionary of reference, where every dryad may 

 be traced to her favored tree by the classical 

 scholar, it includes all the more important 

 myths celebrated in song, sculpture, or paint- 

 ing. 



The illustrations alone comprise seventy- 

 one reproductions of famous works of art. 

 The text is bright and interesting, and in 

 conclusion an analysis of myths is given, the 

 philological interpretation receiving the pref- 

 erence. The work is also generously fur- 

 nished with aids to the reader, containing a 

 classical map and genealogical chart as well 

 as glossary and index. 



William Kitchen Parker, F. R. S. A. Bio- 

 graphical Sketch. By his Son, T. Jef- 

 FERY Parker. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 145. Price, $1.50. 



Although naturalists generally are im- 

 pelled to their life work by an ardent love of 

 Nature, it is rare to find among them in early 

 youth such glowing enthusiasm as that ex- 

 hibited by William Kitchen Parker. 



The son of an English farmer, only a 

 scanty education had been afforded him when 

 he began, as a lad, his loving study of bird 

 and flower in his father's field. Apprenticed 

 at the age of fifteen to a druggist, he read 

 physiology while compounding sheep oint- 

 ment, and rose at four o'clock in the morn. 

 ing to have three hours' botanizing in the 

 woods. In two summers he had collected 



