LITERARY NOTICES. 



847 



its last meeting in Copenhagen, in August, 

 18S3. In it Dr. Brinton shows that the na- 

 tive Americans had a literary faculty, which 

 is indicated by a vivid imagination, a love 

 of narration, and an ample, appropriate, and 

 logically developed vocabulary. They have 

 left behind them a creditable literature of 

 considerable extent which would have been 

 larger, but much of it was wantonly de- 

 stroyed by their self-styled civilized con- 

 querors. They wrote in their own language, 

 in Spanish, and in Latin, narrative, didac- 

 tic, and oratorical works, poems, and dra- 

 mas, the general character of which is brief- 

 ly sketched and a partial list given. The 

 Northern Indians are less fully represented 

 in this literature than the Mexican and South 

 American. 



Cassell's Family Magazine, American edi- 

 tion. January and February, 1884. New 

 York: Cassell & Co., Limited. Pp. 64 

 each. Price, 15 cents a number ; $1.50 

 per year. 



" Cassell's Magazine" is conducted with 

 reference to the taste3 of the family, and is 

 designed to furnish that which will profit as 

 well as amuse. Well-selected fiction is pro- 

 vided, in serial stories as well as in those 

 that are completed in one number ; and in 

 addition to this are given, regularly, papers 

 on " Household Management," " Domestic 

 Cookery," " Gardening," " Education and 

 Recreation," the " Family Doctor's Papers " ; 

 a department for the discussion of social 

 questions of the day, papers on remunera- 

 tive employment for women, records of use- 

 ful inventions and discoveries, and numer- 

 ous illustrations. 



Natural Philosophy. By Isaac Sharp- 

 less, Sc. D., and G. M. Philips, A. M. 

 Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co. 

 1884. Pp. 350. 



So many text-books on natural philoso- 

 phy have appeared within the past few years 

 that the teacher of to-day is embarrassed by 

 the surplus of riches. In most of these an 

 effort may be observed to introduce the only 

 true method, that of personal experimenta- 

 tion. Many difficulties remain to be over- 

 come, and the task is not an easy one. Al- 

 though the authors state in their introduc- 

 tion that this treatise differs from others in 

 the large number of practical experiments 



and exercises which it contains, we are some- 

 what disappointed at the small number of 

 novel and simple experiments adapted to 

 the average school-room, while more diffi- 

 cult and dangerous experiments are given in 

 detail, such as the preparation of cyanide of 

 silver from a silver coin for electro-plating. 

 In other cases there is a lack of fullness, as 

 for example, under electrolysis of water no 

 mention is made of the kind or size of bat- 

 tery required ; under electrophorus the com- 

 position of the rosin-cake is not given, and 

 the pupil is led to infer that it is pure rosin. 

 Neither the Holtz nor Windhurst electrical 

 machines is pictured and described, but the 

 old cylindrical machine takes their place. 

 The Morse registering apparatus is illus- 

 trated instead of the sounder actually in use, 

 and the duplex, quadruplex, and ocean-cable 

 systems are referred to in a manner neither 

 satisfying nor instructive. Notwithstanding 

 these obvious defects, there is much to 

 recommend the book as quite equal to the 

 average text-books on this subject, and in 

 some respects it is an improvement on 

 them. The illustrations are excellent, the 

 type clear, and the paper good. 



Transactions of the American Dermato- 

 logical Association at the Seventh An- 

 nual Meeting, August, 1883. By Dr. 

 Arthur Van Harlingen. Baltimore : 

 Thomas & Evans. Pp. 49. 



The pamphlet contains the official report 

 of the proceedings of the Association, with 

 abstracts of the papers read, a list of publi- 

 cations and writings of members of the As- 

 sociation during the year ending in July, 

 1883, and a statistical report of cases treat- 

 ed. 



The "Winter Resorts of Florida, South 

 Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, California, 

 Mexico, and Cuba. By John Temple 

 Graves. Published by the Passenger 

 Deparment of the Savannah, Florida, and 

 Western Railway Company. Pp. 103, 

 with Maps and Illustrations. 



An attractive and popular guide-book to 

 a whole region of health resorts and winter 

 residences that are every year attracting 

 more attention. It furnishes brief descrip- 

 tions of the points of interest to the tourist, 

 invalid, immigrant, or sportsman, and of the 

 way to reach them. 



