LITERARY NOTICES. 



277 



gable lands, and on the physical features of 

 the lands of Utah. There is also a paper 

 by Captain C. E. Dutton on the irrigable 

 lands of the valley of the Frazer River; 

 and one by Professor A. H. Thompson on 

 the irrigable lands of that portion of Utah 

 drained by the Colorado River and its tribu- 

 taries. The concluding chapter of the vol- 

 ume, by Willis Drummond, Jr., discusses the 

 question of land grants as aids to internal 

 improvement. The interest and value of 

 the report are shown by the fact that the 

 first edition was soon exhausted, and a sec- 

 ond one called for. 



Studies in Fermentation; the Diseases 

 of Beer ; their Causes and the Means 

 of preventing Them. By L. Pasteur, 

 Member of the Institute of France, the 

 Royal Society of London, etc. Trans- 

 lated by Frank Faulkner and D. Con- 

 stable Robbe. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 

 418. Price, $6.50. 



There are but few subjects that would 

 seem less attractive than the scientific in- 

 vestigation of ferments and the processes 

 of fermentation, yet the book before us is 

 alive with interest from beginning to end. 

 This is due to the genius of the author, the 

 scientific importance of his inquiry, the 

 spirited controversies which have recently 

 grown out of the inquiry, and its important 

 practical results. Pasteur is a man re- 

 markably endowed for subtile research. His 

 investigation of the diseases of the silk- 

 worm was one of the most difficult, refined, 

 and successful of modern researches. A 

 delicate experimenter, a sharp observer, 

 and a man of keen insight and careful judg- 

 ment, he has taken the acknowledged lead 

 in investigating the obscure phenomena of 

 microscopic life at the present time. The 

 questions opened are the deepest in modern 

 thought, involving nothing less than the 

 origin of life-forms, and the method of Na- 

 ture regarding vital phenomena. Pasteur 

 has been in the center of the battle of spon- 

 taneous generation, and yet so practical 

 have been his investigations that the brew- 

 ers are of all men most interested in them. 

 The present work deals with the diseases of 

 beer, and those deteriorations of its processes 

 that are involved in the changes of fermen- 

 tation ; and its leading translator is an au- 

 thor of the " Art of Brewing." The work 



will be of great interest, therefore, to all 

 engaged in this branch of manufacturing in- 

 dustry, not only by throwing light upon the 

 theory of brewing, but by the solutions it 

 gives of serious practical difficulties hither- 

 to encountered in the brewer's art. Pas- 

 teur's elucidations of fermentative action 

 bear also upon the operations of wine-mak- 

 ing and vinegar-making, as well as beer- 

 making. 



A Text-Book of Physiology. By M. Fos- 

 ter, M. A., M. D., F. R. S., Pra3lector in 

 Physiology and Fellow of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Cambridge. With Illustrations. 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 720. Price, $3.50. 



The writing of his " Physiology " by Dr. 

 Foster was far from being a case of book- 

 making in the ordinary sense. He is a man 

 not only devoted to his subject, but espe- 

 cially and assiduously devoted to its prog- 

 ress, so that the preparation of his text- 

 book was but an incident in his studies, 

 and has, moreover, been a continuous work 

 with him for several years. The third edi- 

 tion, revised and enlarged, is now issued ; 

 and it represents, perhaps, better than any 

 other book the recent advance and present 

 condition of physiological science. Dr. Fos- 

 ter is at the head of the new physiological 

 laboratory at Cambridge, England, where the 

 experimental method of physiological in- 

 quiry is vigorously pursued ; and his text- 

 book is, of course, prepared from that point 

 of view. Under this method, physiological 

 science is slowly acquiring certainty and in- 

 creasing precision in its conclusions, as no 

 one can fail to see who compares Dr. Foster's 

 text-book with the standard treatises of a 

 few years ago. We agree with Professor 

 Burt Wilder that this is " in some respects 

 the best physiology in the English language." 

 We note that a cheap students' edition of 

 the work is to be issued in a short time. 



A Forbidden Land ; Voyages to the 

 Core a. By Ernest Oppert. With 21 

 Illustrations and Two Charts. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1880. 

 Pp. 334. Price, $3. 



This is an interesting account of a little 

 known country in Eastern Asia. The pres- 

 ent kingdom of Corea consists of a large 

 peninsula east of the Chinese Empire, ex- 

 tending from 42 north latitude to the 



