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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fruit of these researches is a library of ex- 

 ploration, which forms a most valuable ad- 

 dition to our Biblical literature, not only for 

 the knowledge it gives of sacred geography, 

 but of the whole religious, social, and politi- 

 cal economy of the Hebrews. While these 

 great works, the monuments of so much 

 learning, occupy the attention of scholars, 

 other readers may be interested in turning 

 over a portfolio of sketches, which claims 

 only to present a few pictures of the des- 

 ert." 



From this point of view we have found 

 the work extremely interesting. It is writ- 

 ten in an easy and familiar style, and 

 abounds in pleasant descriptions and com- 

 mon-sense reflections relating to the scenery 

 of the country, the associations of promi- 

 nent places, and the character and habits of 

 the people that came under the author's ob- 

 servation. The first two chapters, devoted 

 to Egypt and its relations to England, give 

 an excellent summary of what is known as 

 the "Egyptian question," and form an in- 

 structive preliminary to the subsequent 

 chapters on the wanderings of a people so 

 intimately associated as were the old He- 

 brews with the ancient Egyptians. 



It was the object of our traveler to go 

 over the ground traversed by the Hebrew 

 people after their flight from Egypt. He 

 accordingly crossed the desert by camel 

 navigation, following their track, and linger- 

 ing to observe the various locations that 

 have derived their interest from the sacred 

 history. Starting from Suez, the first point 

 of interest reached was the wells of Moses 

 at a mile or two od, and from this station 

 the party pursued the route to Mount Sinai, 

 a distance of one hundred and fifty-three 

 miles, at the rate of twenty to twenty-five 

 miles a day, the usual " camel's journey." 

 After spending some time among the inter- 

 esting scenes of Mount Sinai, they start- 

 ed through the mountains and struck into 

 the great wilderness in which the children 

 of Israel wandered for thirty-seven years 

 before reaching the land of promise. The 

 narrative then proceeds with its detail of 

 incidents of tent-life, camping, and march- 

 ing, and the description of desert scenes 

 and memorable localities until the terrible 

 wilderness is crossed, and the travelers 

 emerge into the crude civilization of Pales- 



tine in the neighborhood of Gaza. From 

 this point they proceeded through the hill 

 country to Bethlehem, "the place where 

 Christ was born " a town, at present, of 

 some five thousand inhabitants and the 

 chapter devoted to it is perhaps the most 

 interesting in the book. 



Of course, Dr. Field, as a good, sound, 

 orthodox man, will not suffer his reader to 

 suppose that he has taken this excursion 

 from mere idle curiosity, but because of his 

 profound religious interest in the history 

 with which his observations are associated. 

 The thread of narration is, therefore, once 

 broken by an episode in which he goes into 

 a discussion and a defense of the Hebrew 

 polity which has been the subject of much 

 criticism in these skeptical times. It is 

 not so much his object to maintain the in- 

 spiration of Moses as to vindicate his wis- 

 dom and humanity as a lawgiver. His 

 chapter on " Theocracy and Democracy," in 

 relation to the Hebrew system of govern- 

 ment, is readable and suggestive, but we 

 suspect that the philosophy of the subject 

 will not be cleared up until it is studied in 

 the light of the great law of social evolu- 

 tion. 



Home Gymnastics ; with a Short Method 

 of acquiring the art of swimming. by 

 T. J. Hartelius, M. D. Translated by 

 C. Lofving. J. B. Lippincott & Co., 

 Phila. Pp. 94. Price, 60 cents. 



Of course, the importance of exercise to 

 health is by no means a modern physiologi- 

 cal discovery, but we undoubtedly owe to 

 Ling, of Sweden, the most ingenious system 

 of gymnastics, calculated to produce a har- 

 monious development of the human organ- 

 ism, and to insure the preservation of health 

 as well as the cure of diseases. It is said 

 that Ling never used a movement of which 

 he could not scientifically demonstrate the 

 physiological effects, and there can be little 

 doubt of the important influence it has 

 exerted during the half-century that has 

 elapsed since the promulgation of the 

 " movement-cure." 



The editor of this volume remarks that 

 "it is dawning more and more upon the 

 minds of physiologists and practitioners that 

 ' motion is the principal agent in the whole 

 process of life,' and that systematic muscu- 

 lar exercise is one of the best means for 



