yo6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Mr. Chadwick originated, is explained in 

 Part II. This combination of mental and 

 manual training we are beginning to recog- 

 nize as a better educational method than 

 mere cultivation of intellectual faculty. Mr. 

 Chadwick states as a result of trial, " where 

 there have been good approximations to the 

 proper physiological as well as psychological 

 conditions, as in the half-time industrial 

 district schools, epidemic diseases have been 

 banished and the rate of mortality reduced 

 to one third of that which prevails among 

 the general community." Among the more 

 important subjects discussed in Part III are : 

 practical remedies for intemperance, health 

 versus war, and the "connection of bankruptcy 

 with ill health. In the closing chapters the 

 financial outcome of better sanitation is 

 figured ; the lowering of the death-rate re- 

 sults in curtailment of funeral expenses, sav- 

 ing of labor and reduction of outlay in po- 

 lice and penal administration. 



The dominant idea of the book is that 

 prevention of disease, poverty, and crime is 

 more economical than cure. It is singularly 

 free from dogmatic assertion, and every 

 practical suggestion is founded upon close 

 observation or supported by careful study of 

 statistics. Dr. Richardson has performed no 

 slight labor in rendering this work accessi- 

 ble ; it occupies less than half the space of 

 Health of Nations, presents the biographical 

 sketch in a shorter form, and contains an 

 autotype portrait of the eminent sanitarian. 



Advanced Physiography. By John Thorn- 

 ton, M. A. London and New York : 

 Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 342. Price, 



$1.40. 



The scope of this volume has been made 

 to conform to the syllabus for the advanced 

 stage of physiography of the Science and 

 Art Department of the Museum at South 

 Kensington, London. The matter that it 

 includes falls largely in the field to which 

 the name New Astronomy has been given. 

 In the words of the preface : " It is con- 

 cerned more with the physical and chemical 

 constitution of the heavenly bodies than 

 with their exact positions and movements, 

 as discussed in the older department of 

 astronomy. This older branch, however, has 

 not been entirely neglected." Nearly all the 

 contents of the book could be included un- 

 der the heading astronomy, though there 



are chapters dealing with atmospheric and 

 oceanic movements, terrestrial magnetism, 

 measurement of the surface, size, and shape 

 of the earth, secular cooling of the earth, 

 and secular changes of climate. An appen- 

 dix contains several tables, a number of 

 paragraphs relating to the formation and 

 the analysis of rocks, and a list of examina- 

 tion questions. Physiography in the title 

 of this book is not equivalent to physical 

 geography as it is often intended to be else- 

 where. All the chapters are fully illustrated, 

 especially those relating to spectrum analy- 

 sis and to the constitution of the sun. A 

 colored plate of spectra is also inserted. 



Monographs of the United States Geologi- 

 cal Survey. Volume XVI. The Palaeo- 

 zoic Fishes of North America. By John 

 Strong Newberry. Washington. Pp. 

 340. Plates, 53. 



The matter of this monograph is ar- 

 ranged with the design of representing the 

 progress of fish-life in North America during 

 the golden age of the fish tribe, as illustrated 

 by the large amount of material that has 

 come into the author's hands. He has under- 

 taken to give references to all notices of our 

 older fossil fishes hitherto published, and has 

 added to them descriptions and figures of all 

 the new forms that he has met with. The 

 new material described has an important 

 bearing upon some general questions as to 

 the origin and development of fish-life on 

 the earth which are referred to as they come 

 up in the chronological arrangement of the 

 descriptions. The fishes are described in 

 the order of their geological systems, begin- 

 ning with the oldest. The review stops at 

 the top of the Coal Measures, as no Permian 

 fishes from this country have ever come un- 

 der the author's observation. 



The subject taken by the president, Les- 

 ter F. Ward, for his address at the tenth an- 

 niversary meeting of the Biological Society, 

 of Washington, was The Course of Biologic 

 Evolution. In opening, Mr. Ward spoke of 

 the common error in regard to evolution, 

 which puts every form of creature that lives 

 or ever has lived among the direct ancestors 

 of the human species. The course of biologic 

 evolution has been rather like the branching 

 growth of a tree, and Mr. Ward sets forth 

 some of the laws in accordance with which 



