852 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bv E. W. Hilgard ; " An Investigation of the 

 Origin of the Dandelion," by E. L. Sturte- 

 vant ; and an account of some experiments 

 on " Variation in Cultivated Plants," by W. 

 W. Tracy. In his observations on the last 

 subject, Mr. Tracy finds many illustrations 

 of variations of type which cultivators had 

 been trying to produce for years, appearing 

 in different localities and from different 

 stocks at about the same time, so as to seem 

 to indicate that variation is not an accident, 

 but a progression of the species. 



The Journal op Physiology. Edited by 

 Michal Foster and others. Vol. VII, 

 No. 1. Cambridge Scientific Instrument 

 Company's Works, Cambridge, England. 

 Pp. 80. Price, $5 a volume, of four 

 numbers. 



We notice this " Journal " at the begin- 

 ning of its new volume, because it is one of 

 the principal recognized mediums through 

 which original investigators in physiology 

 make known the results of their work. Re- 

 search in this branch of science is now very 

 active, and is distinguished by minute at- 

 tention to details. It is the custom of the 

 "Journal" to publish the particular ac- 

 counts of the experiments and conclusions 

 of investigators, with a fullness and excel- 

 lence of pictorial illustration that leave noth- 

 ing to be desired. Professor Foster, as editor 

 of this publication, is assisted in England by 

 Professor W. Rutherford, of Edinburgh, and 

 Professor J. Burdon-Sanderson, of Oxford ; 

 and in America by Professor H. P. Bowditch, 

 of Boston ; Professor H. Newell Martin, of 

 Baltimore, and Professor H. C. Wood, of 

 Philadelphia. The present number is occu- 

 pied with a paper by W. H. Gaskell, " On 

 the Structure, Distribution, and Function of 

 the Nerves which innervate the Visceral and 

 Vascular Systems." 



Science and the State. By R. W. Shtj- 

 feldt. Pp. 10. 



Dr. Shufeldt advocates patronage of 

 science by the Government, and argues that 

 it must be a good thing because the Gov- 

 ernment already fosters some dozen or more 

 scientific bureaus at its seat, and they are 

 all thriving. He would extend the scope of 

 these bureaus, and the patronage of the 

 Government, and would have organized at 

 Washington a Department of Science, with 



buildings and a dozen sections, and a Cabi- 

 net officer the Secretary of Science to 

 preside over the whole. The " Monthly's " 

 opinion of schemes of this kind and its rea- 

 sons for holding it have been often enough 

 and plainly enough expressed, and need not 

 be repeated. Happily the author although 

 his reference is to officers of the army and 

 navy already in Government employ having 

 a taste for science overruling that for their 

 real business has made a very terse state- 

 ment of the real attitude which the Govern- 

 ment should occupy toward scientific stu- 

 dents. It is that it " should offer the constant 

 opportunity to such men to do the work for 

 which they were born, molded, and designed, 

 but allow them to do it in their own way, at 

 their own times, and absolutely unhampered 

 by any but the most necessary regulations." 

 This maxim may apply to officers in time 

 of peace, when the corps are kept up merely 

 for the sake of having them on hand. 

 Broadened, and with the addition of " at 

 their own expense or that of their friends," 

 it would make a most excellent rule of uni- 

 versal application, and would convey the 

 true doctrine. 



The Country Banker : his Clients, Cares, 

 and Work. By George Rae, with an 

 American Preface by Brayton Ives. 

 New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 Pp. 320. Price, $1.50. 



This work, eminently practical in its 

 teachings, presents the results of forty 

 years' experience in banking. Its purpose 

 " is not to formulate afresh the funda- 

 mental principles of banking, but rather 

 to show those principles in operation ; to 

 exhibit, so to speak, the machinery of bank- 

 ing in motion ; . . . less to advance special 

 views of my own, than to exemplify, from 

 fresh points of observation, the accustomed 

 lines and recognized limits of prudent bank- 

 ing." The epistolary form is used the au- 

 thor taking the position of a person writing 

 instructions to the manager of the bank 

 because it gives scope to a more familiar 

 treatment of the subject, with such success 

 that Mr. Ives is able to say, in his preface 

 to the American edition, that the book is a 

 notable exception to the admitted rule that 

 the average writer on financial subjects lacks 

 the ability to treat them in an attractive 

 manner. " Without being pedantic, or too 



