LITERARY NOTICES. 



l 33 



The Art of Voice-Production, with Spe- 

 cial Reference to the Method of Cor- 

 rect Breathing. By A. A. Patton, 

 author of "The Voice as an Instru- 

 ment." New York: G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 106. Price, $1. 



Application is made in this work of the 

 investigations which have been carried on, 

 by means of the laryngoscope, into the struct- 

 ure and mode of action of the vocal organs, 

 to the study of a scientific cultivation, or, as 

 the author, with but litttle exaggeration, 

 calls it, production of voice. The founda- 

 tion of voice-culture is laid in correct breath- 

 ing. This should always be full and easy, 

 and done by the action of the muscles of the 

 diaphragm, not of the clavicle or ribs. The 

 technic consists in learning to know when 

 the voice-organs act properly, and how to 

 make them act so. Particular stress is laid 

 upon what is called the articulate action of 

 the glottis an action under which, in its 

 perfection, the individual notes of a series 

 are divided in such a manner that a com- 

 plete scale of fractional tones of very small 

 degree may be produced with perfect smooth- 

 ness, and with unchanging though naturally 

 modifying tone-quality, by the voice, as the 

 best violinists accomplish the same through 

 their instruments. To this, the author be- 

 lieves, such singers as Xilsson and Santley 

 owe their marvelous powers of execution ; 

 and, in illustration of the fineness to which 

 it is possible to reduce it, the case is cited 

 of Madame Mara, who was able to perform 

 twenty-one hundred changes of pitch within 

 the compass of three octaves, or one hun- 

 dred changes between each two notes of the 

 ordinary scale. 



The Study of Trance, Muscle-Reading, 

 and Allied Xeryous Phenomena, in 

 Europe and America. With a Letter 

 on the Moral Character of Trance-Sub- 

 jects ; and a Defense of Dr. Charcot. By 

 George M. Beard, A. M., M. D. New 

 York. Pp.' 40. 



This is a setting forth, in brief, of what 

 has been done in Europe during the past 

 two or three years, in a department of psy- 

 chology in which the author was one of the 

 earliest and is still one of the most inde- 

 fatigable workers, and offers a means of 

 comparing American (of which Dr. Beard's 

 have been the most conspicuous) and Euro- 

 pean researches in it. 



Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer. By 

 Alexander Winchell, LL. D. Chicago : 

 S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 400. Price, $2. 



This is a very pleasant volume of es- 

 says, descriptive, scientific, and philosophic, 

 though predominantly geological, and writ- 

 ten in a style intended to suit the general 

 reader. As is well known, the author has 

 command of a very entertaining style, and 

 his long and varied experience with the 

 practical study of nature has given him 

 ample materials for an attractive volume. 

 Books of this kind perform a most impor- 

 tant office, not only in awakening a feeling 

 for science, but in instructing the public on 

 many interesting topics which are hardly 

 touched in our scientific manuals. A few 

 of his titles will suggest the variety there is 

 in these pages: "Mont Blanc and its As- 

 cent," " Obliterated Continents," " A Grasp 

 of Geological Time," " Geological Seasons," 

 " Salt Enterprise in Michigan," " Huxley 

 and Evolution," and " The Metaphysics of 

 Science." We need not commit ourselves 

 to eveiything Professor Winchell says in 

 this volume, but it will prove instructive 

 and provocative of thought to most read- 

 ers, and may be therefore cordially recom- 

 mended. 



Principles of Chemical Philosophy. By 

 Josiah Parsons Cooke, of Harvard Col- 

 lege. Revised edition. Boston: John 

 Allyn. Pp. 623. Price, 83.50. 



We are glad to see that this well-known 

 standard work devoted to the higher grade 

 of chemistry has undergone careful and ex- 

 tensive revision by the author, and been so 

 largely rewritten as to make it in many 

 respects a new book. Xot only is the work 

 itself essentially improved by this further 

 elaboration, but the results of the last ten 

 years of chemical progress are thoroughly 

 embodied in its text, and many features of 

 scientific interest are here brought forward 

 for the first time. The distinctive aim of 

 the work is philosophical, that is, it presents 

 the great body of the chemical truths in a 

 closely correlated and thoroughly systema- 

 tized form. " Thus alone," says the author, 

 "can the student give breadth and dignity 

 to his knowledge, and come to know nature 

 not as a sum of certain parts, but as a grand 

 and related whole." Such a generalized 

 knowledge of chemistry this book aims to 



