LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



tion of articles which he has contributed to 

 the "Uniao Medica" and the "Jornal do 

 Commercio " of that city, on such subjects 

 as " Animal Emanations," " The Sewers of 

 Rio de Janeiro and their Influence upon the 

 Public Health," and " Popular Counsels on 

 Matters of Hygiene." 



Dangers to Health : A Pictorial Guide to 

 Domestic Sanitary Defects. By T. Prid- 

 gin Teale, M. A'., Surgeon to the Gen- 

 eral Infirmary at Leeds. Fourth edition. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 163. 

 Price, $3. 



A most vivid presentation of the ills 

 which follow in the track of the botching 

 plumber and drain-builder is this by Dr. 

 Teale. Convinced that pictures are more 

 effective than words, the author depicts in 

 seventy plates various faults of sewerage, 

 most of them actual cases, and accompanies 

 each with a few paragraphs of explanation 

 or history. The course of sewer-gas is indi- 

 cated by blue arrows, and the flow, the leak- 

 age, and infiltration of sewage are also repre- 

 sented in blue. Among the faults described 

 are untrapped waste and overflow pipes 

 passing directly into a soil-pipe, traps emp- 

 tied by evaporation or by the flow of water 

 past their outlets, drain-pipes of poor quali- 

 ty or badly joined, and drains running up- 

 hill. A particularly striking group of pict- 

 ures, entitled " How People drink Sewage," 

 shows the danger to be expected from drains 

 passing near or over wells. Among the in- 

 teresting histories is the following : " Enteric 

 (typhoid) fever broke out in a gentleman's 

 house, from which it spread into the village. 

 On examination I found that the water- 

 closet was in the center of the house, and 

 that the soil-pipe discharged into a common 

 stone drain running under a tiled entrance- 

 hall. This drain was almost without fall, 

 so much so that it had become blocked, and 

 the sewage had found its way under the 

 flooring of the passage and rooms. It goes 

 to a man's heart to take up a tiled hall in 

 order to inspect a drain. Moral the drain 

 ought never to have been placed under the 

 hall." Some twenty additional defects are 

 noted without plates, and methods for de- 

 tecting the escape of sewer-gas are given. 

 The book contains also some hints on venti- 

 lating houses and carriages. 



History and Uses of Limestones and Mar- 

 bles. By S. M. Burnham. Boston : 

 S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 392, with Forty- 

 eight Chromo-lithographs. 



The modest aim of the author of this 

 book has been, in the absence of any work 

 exclusively devoted to limestones and mar- 

 bles known to him, to present the facts and 

 speculations of original writers " so selected 

 and arranged as to illustrate the value of 

 limestones in some departments of geology, 

 but more especially their use in the me- 

 chanic and fine arts, and their history in 

 civilization." These stones are so abun- 

 dant and so diversified, their uses are so mul- 

 tifarious, and they play so important a part 

 m every field, that there is certainly room 

 and use for a book of this kind. Mr. Burn- 

 ham does not claim that he has entirely 

 filled the vacant place. That would be 

 more than it were possible for one compiler 

 to do at a first effort. But he has made a 

 creditable attempt, and has produced a book 

 embodying a large amount of authentic in- 

 formation concerning limestones in all parts 

 of the globe, and their uses in all periods of 

 history. The first chapters are devoted to 

 a scientific consideration of limestones, de- 

 scribing the different classes, the fossils so 

 abundant in them, and of which many of 

 them are so largely composed, and the gen- 

 eral divisions of geological time. The 

 more particular account of the several 

 classes of limestones and marbles follows, 

 beginning with those of the United States, 

 which are grouped by " regions " Atlantic, 

 Mississippi, and the Rocky Mountains and 

 Pacific coast. Other limestones are classi- 

 fied and described as those of British Ameri- 

 ca, the West India Islands, Mexico, and South 

 America. European stones are similarly 

 described, by countries, as well as those of 

 Asia, Australia, and Africa. The descrip- 

 tion of the Grecian marbles is accompanied 

 with a few remarks on their application in 

 Greek art; and in the later chapters are 

 given accounts of the " Antique Marbles," 

 " Antique Alabasters, Serpentines, Basalts, 

 Granites, and Porphyries," " Antique Stones 

 and "Works of Art in Modern Rome," and 

 "Antique Stones used to decorate Roman 

 Churches." The appendix gives tabular 

 views of the " Age and Locality of the Prin- 

 cipal Limestones," "French Marbles," and 



