LITERARY NOTICES. 



421 



Abstract of Transactions of the Anthro- 

 POLOGICAL Society of Washington, D. 

 C, with the Annual Address of the 

 President, for the First Year, ending Jan- 

 uary, 1880, and for the Second Year, 

 ending January IS, 1881. Prepared by 

 J. W. Powell. Washington. Pp. 150. 



The President's address reviews the 

 work of the Society during two years, and 

 describes generally the papers that were 

 read, according to the particular department 

 of anthropological science to which they 

 severally relate. The papers for the most 

 part concern American subjects, and are 

 founded on original observations. The 

 summaries contain much that endows the 

 subject with interest and is adapted to stim- 

 ulate continued investigations. 



Thoughts on Agricultural Education. 

 By E. Lewis Sturtevant, M. D., South 

 Framingham, Massachusetts. Pp. 19. 



Dr. Sturtevant explains in an address 

 the purpose and scheme of an agricultural 

 college. In the discussion following the 

 address, a minute of which is published 

 with it, the teaching of agriculture in the 

 common schools and the relative importance 

 to farmers of instruction in advanced arith- 

 metic and agricultural chemistry are con- 

 sidered. 



The Nature of Vibration in Extended 

 Media and the Polarization of Sound. 

 By S. W. Robinson, Professor of Phys- 

 ics and Mathematics, Ohio State Univer- 

 sity. 



This is mainly an argument, based upon 

 experiments made by the author in effecting 

 the polarization of sound, to show that the 

 phenomena of polarization of light, here- 

 tofore supposed to be due to transversal 

 vibrations, can be explained on the basis of 

 longitudinal vibrations alone. This done, 

 no reason is left for assuming that the 

 waves of light differ in character from other 

 waves which are the result of longitudinal 

 vibrations. The experiments and their re- 

 sults are described in detail. 



History of the Christian Religion to the 

 Year 200. By Charles B. Waite, A. 

 M. Chicago : C. Y. Waite & Co. Pp. 

 455. Price, 82.50. 



This work is the result of years of labo- 

 rious study, in which the author professes to 



have consulted all the writings of the first 

 two centuries, and the works of the fathers of 

 the Church, " in the interest of no church, 

 creed, or dogma," but for his own satisfac- 

 tion. In it he discusses the origin and his- 

 tory of all the gospels, those which are 

 called apocryphal, forty in number, as well 

 as those which have become canonical, and 

 has compared three of the most famous of 

 the apocryphal gospels in parallel pas- 

 sages with the canonical records. He adds 

 sketches of nearly a hundred Christian writ- 

 ers of the first two centuries, with notices 

 of their works, and a history of Christian 

 doctrine for the same period, and declares 

 his conclusions as to what is genuine. 



A Practical Tteatise on Nervous Ex- 

 haustion (Neurosthenia) ; its Symp- 

 toms, Nature, Sequences, Treatment. 

 By George M. Beard, M. D. Second 

 and revised edition. New York: Wil- 

 liam Wood & Co. 1880. Pp.198. Price, 

 $1.75. 



Nervous exhaustion, according to Dr. 

 Beard, is more common in this country than 

 any other form of nervous disease, and, with 

 other forms toward which it tends, constitutes 

 a family of functional disorders that are of 

 comparatively recent development, and that 

 especially abound in the northern and east- 

 ern part of the United States. The author 

 gives, in this volume, the result of the study 

 and experience of his entire professional 

 life on the subject. He describes the symp- 

 toms of the disease, showing their relations 

 and interdependence, distinguishing them 

 from the of ten closely resembling symptoms 

 of other diseases, and discusses the complex 

 developments and manifestations of the mal- 

 ady, its pathology, treatment, and hygiene. 

 The consideration of the causes of the dis- 

 order is left for another volume. 



PUBLICATIONS EECEIV^D. 



On Philidelphite. By Henry Carvill Lewi. 

 Reprinted from the "Proceedings of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences," of Philadelphia. 

 18Ta Pp. 16. 



Extinct Cats of North America. 1880. Pp. 

 25. Some New Batrachia and Reptilia from the 

 Permian Beds of Texas, etc. ISSl. Pp. 45. 

 The Systematic Arrangement of the Order Peris- 

 sodactyla. 1=81. Pp. 26. Second Contribution 

 to the History of the Vertebrata of the Permian 

 Formation of Texas. 1881. Figures. By Pro- 

 fessor E. D. Cope. 



The Bolometer. By Professor S. P. Langley. 



