LITERARY NOTICES, 



^11 



Our Native Ferns and how to study 

 THEM, WITH Synoptical Descriptions 



OF THE XORTH AMERICAN SpECIES. By 



LuciEN M. Underwood, Ph. D. Bloora- 

 ington, Illinois. Pp. 116. Illustrated. 

 Price, 1. 



The development of interest in the study 

 of ferns is illustrated by the works treating 

 of them, or embodying illustrations of them, 

 that have been published in this country 

 during the last four years. Still, they oc- 

 cupy a subordinate place in our botanical 

 manuals, the descriptions of many species 

 are stored away in inaccessible periodicals 

 and rare books, and, till this work appeared, 

 no manual available to students had been 

 issued that classified all our native species, 

 or outlined their morphology and mode of 

 life. Professor Underwood has made, in 

 the little manual before us, a most com- 

 mendable attempt to fill this gap in botani- 

 cal literature. The descriptions of genera 

 and species are preceded by chapters de- 

 scribing in an engaging style the haunts, 

 habits, distribution, morphology, fructifica- 

 tion, structure, classification, and nomenclat- 

 ure, etc., of ferns, the germination of fern- 

 spores, " How to study Ferns," and " A 

 Little Fern Literature." 



Druos THAT enslave: The Opium, Mor- 

 phine, Chloral, and Hasheesh Hab- 

 its. By H. H. Kane, M. D. Philadel- 

 phia : Presley Blakiston. Pp. 22i. Price, 

 1.50. 



This book contains a great deal of in- 

 formation on the narcotic habit, its effects, 

 dangers, and treatment, which is derived 

 from the author's special experience as a 

 medical practitioner, from wide acquaint- 

 ance with the literature of the subject, 

 and from extensive correspondence with 

 medical men, systematically carried on for 

 the elucidation of obscure or undetermined 

 questions. Though the work aims to be a 

 contribution to medical science, and is ad- 

 dressed to the profession, it yet has a gen- 

 eral interest, from the prominence given to 

 the growing dangers of narcotic indulgence 

 among nearly all classes of society. Dr. 

 Kane maintains that a great impulse has 

 been given to the illegitimate use of opium 

 by the introduction of the hypodermic syr- 

 inge for the injection of morphine under 

 the skin into the tissues. The practice with 

 VOL. XIX. 18 



this instrument is but recent. It was in- 

 troduced into this country from England ia 

 1856, by Dr. Fordyce Barker, and has not 

 only come into universal use by physicians, 

 but it is much and increasingly employed 

 by individuals, who continue the habit as a 

 fascinating indulgence, which was begun by 

 the doctor for the relief of painful disease. 

 The book is full of examples of the dis- 

 tressing evils of narcotic indulgence, and 

 abounds in warnings against its insidious 

 approaches and deadly results. 



Reminiscences of Dr. Spurzheim and 

 George Combe. A Review of the Sci- 

 ence of Phrenology from the Time of 

 its Discovery by Dr. Gall, to the Time 

 of the Visit of George Combe to the 

 United States, in lS38-'40, with a new 

 Portrait of Spurzheim. By Nahum Ca- 

 PEN, LL. D. New York : Fowler & 

 Wells. Pp. 262. Price, 1.50. 



The author was a personal friend and 

 confidential assistant of Spurzheim during 

 his visit to the United States, and is thor- 

 oughly versed, as an active sympathizer, 

 with the school of thought of which he was 

 a conspicuous representative from the be- 

 ginning. He has prepared his reminiscences 

 in answer to what he believes to be a gen- 

 eral demand, and has incorporated in it 

 many interesting recollections concerning 

 other advocates of the phrenological school, 

 as Drs. Gall, George Combe, and Andrew 

 Combe. 



History op the Free-Trade Movement in 

 England. By Augustus Mongredieu. 

 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 188. Price, 50 cents. 



The question naturally occurs to the ob- 

 server of national progress, who is also a 

 student of political and economical litera- 

 ture, why, when the majority of the scien- 

 tific writers and thinkers of all nations 

 agree in approving the principles of free 

 trade, statesmen set them at naught, and 

 only one state, England, has yet adopted 

 them and put them in practice ; and they 

 may ask further, "What conditions have 

 prompted that country to take a different 

 course from its neighbors ? This little book 

 undertakes to answer these questions. It 

 does more. Protectionists assert that Eng- 

 land has been declining since it adopted 

 free trade. It answers these assertions by 



