LITERARY NOTICES. 



707 



" Proceedings " has been begun, and four 

 papers intended for it are in the hands of 

 the printers. Notice is taken of the fact 

 that the indebtedness on the building of 

 the Academy has been paid, and the for- 

 mation of a permanent endowment fund 

 has been begun. Two chapters of the 

 Agassiz Association of America for the 

 study of natural history, and a "Hum- 

 boldt Society," which seeks to unite philo- 

 sophical speculations with scientific inves- 

 tigations, have been formed in Davenport, 

 and hold their meetings in the rooms of 

 the Academy. It is observed that the 

 membership of these organizations is made 

 up wholly of young men and women, large- 

 ly students in the public schools of the 

 city. These facts, and everything connect- 

 ed with this volume, speak well for the 

 earnest interest that prevails at Davenport 

 in the study of science. 



On Small Differences of Sensation. By 

 C. S. Peirce and J. Jastrow. Pp. 11. 



A record of experiments to determine 

 the point at which differences in the inten- 

 sities of nerve excitations cease to be per- 

 ceptible. Among the points brought out is 

 the probability that we gather what is pass- 

 ing in one another's minds in large measure 

 from sensations so faint that we are not fair- 

 ly aware of having them, and can give no ac- 

 count of how we reach our conclusions about 

 such matters. The insight of women as well 

 as certain " telepathic " phenomena may be 

 explained in this way. 



A Treatise on the Diseases of the Nerv- 

 ous System. By William A. Hammond, 

 M. D. Eighth edition ; with Corrections 

 and Additions. New York : D. Apple- 

 ton & Co. Pp. 945. Price, $5. 



It would be hardly possible to give a 

 better evidence of the merit of this work 

 than is afforded by the appearance of this, 

 the eighth edition, testifying that during the 

 fifteen years it has been before the public 

 it has been tried and found not wanting. 

 The first edition was published in 1871, as 

 resting to a great extent on the author's 

 own experience. Its declared purpose was 

 to be a treatise which, without being super- 

 ficial, should be concise and explicit, and, 

 without claiming to be exhaustive, should 

 be sufficiently complete for the instruction 



and guidance of those who might consult it. 

 The 6ixth edition, in 1876, was entirely re- 

 modeled and greatly enlarged. The seventh 

 edition received extensive additions, and 

 was translated into Italian under the su- 

 pervision of Professor Borrelli, of Naples. 

 The opportunity given by the appearance 

 of this eighth edition has been improved to 

 revise the work thoroughly, make several 

 changes, and add a section on " Certain Ob- 

 scure Diseases of the Nervous System." 



A Critical History of the Sabbath and 

 the Sunday in the Christian Church. 

 By A. H. Lewis, D. D. Alfred Centre, 

 New York : The American Sabbath Tract 

 Society. Pp. 583. Price, $1.25. 



Dr. Lewis is a prominent minister of 

 the Seventh - Day Baptist Church, which 

 teaches, according to his own statement, 

 " that the law of God as contained in the 

 Decalogue is eternal and universal, both as 

 to its letter and its spirit; therefore, the 

 seventh day is the only Sabbath ; that un- 

 der the gospel it should be observed with 

 Christian freedom and not Judaic strictness, 

 but that the change which Christ taught was 

 a change in the spirit and manner of the 

 observance, and not in the day to be ob- 

 served." The argument pursued in this 

 work is exclusively historical, and is in- 

 tended to show that no authority worthy 

 of respect exists or ever existed for the 

 change that has been made in the day to 

 be observed from the seventh day to the 

 first. The evidence, which is intended to 

 be full and continuous from the gospels 

 down, is given in the exact words of the 

 texts cited, and in all the words that bear 

 on the subject, and not in paraphrases or 

 abstracts, so that, if any mistake be made in 

 its import, it shall not be the author's fault. 

 In this way Dr. Lewis attempts to show that 

 no change is authorized in the Gospels, or in 

 the words of any of the apostles ; that the 

 change was not made or recognized in the 

 first two centuries ; that the first signs of it 

 appear in the days of Constantine, when the 

 seventh day was still observed as the Sab- 

 bath, and Sunday, being the day of the res- 

 urrection, was celebrated in addition, as a 

 religious festival ; that Sunday observance 

 gradually grew at the expense of the sev- 

 enth-day observance, particularly under the 

 auspices of the Latin Church, and under the 



