LITERARY NOTICES, 



^S7 



purpose of introducing better methods of 

 instruction into the public schools. Besides 

 the annals of the meetings and work of the 

 Society, the memorial contains notices of the 

 lives and labors of its members, officers, and 

 benefactors, who have died during its ex- 

 istence, accompanied with nine portraits. In 

 the '* special scientific papers " are included 

 articles on "The Classification of Lavas," 

 by N. S. Shaler ; the " Species of Planorbis 

 at Steinheim," by Alpheus Hyatt ; " The 

 Devonian Insects of New Brunswick," by 

 S. H. Scudder ; " The Cedar-Apples of the 

 United States," by W. G. Farlow ; "A 

 Structural Feature in Deep-Sea Ophiuri- 

 ans," by Theodore Lyman; "The Develop- 

 ment of the Squid," by W. K. Brooks ; 

 " Limulus Polyphemus," by A. S. Packard, 

 Jr. ; " The Milkweed Butterfly," by Edward 

 Burgess ; " The Development of Double- 

 headed Vertebrates," by Samuel F. Clarke ; 

 " The Tongues of Reptiles and Birds," by C. 

 S. Minot ; " A Special Anatomical Study in 

 Birds," by E. S. Morse; "The Crania of 

 New England Indians," by Lucien Carr ; and 

 " The Feeling of Effort," by William James. 



Indigestiox, Biliousness, and Gout in its 

 Protean Aspects. Part I. Indiges- 

 tion AND Biliousness. By J. Milner 

 FoTHERGiLL, M. D., Member of the Royal 

 College of Physicians of London. New 

 York : AYilliam Wood & Co. Pp. 320. 

 Price, $2. 



This is a book for the medical profes- 

 sion, and a very valuable one, as it is based 

 upon the latest scientific knowledge brought 

 to the test of practice. Physiology and 

 animal chemistry have made sure and very 

 important advances in late years, so that 

 the fundamental changes of digestion, nu- 

 trition, and excretion are far more clearly 

 understood than formerly. Physiology, 

 treating of the normal operations of the 

 living system, is the basis of all knowledge 

 of perverted or diseased action, and this 

 book is written from a strictly physiological 

 standpoint. It opens with an excellent his- 

 tory of the processes of natural digestion 

 in their several stages, including, of course, 

 the constitution of foods, and their trans- 

 formations under the influence of the di- 

 gestive secretions. From this point the 

 author passes on in successive chapters to 

 the consideration of Primary Indigestion, 



Artificial Digestion, Ferments, Tissue Nu- 

 trition, Secondary Indigestion, Diet and 

 Drink, the Functions of the Liver, Liver 

 Disturbance, Biliousness, and the iledicinal 

 and Dietetic Treatment of Liver Derange- 

 ments. The subject will be pursued in an- 

 other volume devoted to the consideration 

 of Gout. 



The author holds that disturbances of 

 digestion are terribly on the increase in the 

 present day, and he adds a valuable appen- 

 dix on " the failure of the digestive organs 

 at the present time," and on the "failure of 

 nutrition in children." 



We have said that this volume has been 

 made for physicians, but it would be a mis- 

 take to infer that it had been exclusively 

 prepared for them, and will not be of great 

 value to non-professional readers. The in- 

 formation it contains ought to be widely dif- 

 fused, and persons of ordinary intelligence 

 can learn a great deal from it that will be 

 of the highest practical use. It can not, of 

 course, be mastered without study, but no 

 subject will better repay careful attention. 

 The general ignorance in relation to foods, 

 their composition, preparation, and physio- 

 logical effects, and the causes of indigestion 

 in its various forms, is something lament- 

 able, and the daily practice that results 

 from this ignorance is almost heathenish. 

 There are, moreover, abundance of quack- 

 ish books on these subjects which so mis- 

 lead people that they are worse than nothing. 

 It is, therefore, important that the circula- 

 tion of really valuable volumes on such top- 

 ics as the one before us should be in every 

 way promoted. 



Ranthorpe. By George Henry Lewes. 

 New York: William S. Gottsberger. 

 Pp. 326. Price, 75 cents. 



There are not many novels that survive 

 their generation; they generally fall into 

 an early and deserved oblivion. Mr. Lewes 

 was not eminent as a novelist, his efforts 

 in this direction being, indeed, regarded 

 rather as failures than successes ; but, after 

 the lapse of a generation, his first essay of 

 this kind reappears in a new and Ameri- 

 can edition. Mr. Lewes began with novel- 

 writing, went on into dramatic composition, 

 passed from this to philosophy, and finally 

 emerged in the field of science. His novels, 



