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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A Handbook of Hygiene and Sanitary 

 Science. By George Wilson, M. A., 

 M. D., and C. M. (Edin.), F. C. S. Fourth 

 edition. Philadelphia : Lindsay & Blakis- 

 ton. 1880. Pp. 458. Price, $2.75. 



In issuing a fourth edition of his valu- 

 able work on hygiene, Dr. Wilson has care- 

 fully revised the book and enlarged it by 

 some new matter. A new introductory 

 chapter, giving a brief sketch of the prog- 

 ress of sanitary science, has been substi- 

 tuted for that in the previous editions. The 

 work considers a large number of subjects, 

 giving the latest and most authentic knowl- 

 edge in an interesting form. 



The subject of food is considered very 

 fully with regard to its function, constit- 

 uents, nutritive value, relation to work, and 

 its effects upon public health when it is in- 

 sufficient or unwholesome. Under this head 

 are also considered the value of preserved 

 foods, the comparative value of different 

 kinds of food, and the construction of dieta- 

 ries. Air, its impurities and their effects 

 upon public health ; the conditions of warm- 

 ing and ventilation ; water and its impuri- 

 ties, sources of pollution and modes of de- 

 tection ; the removal of sewage, its purifica- 

 tion and utilization ; together with a large 

 amount of other matter bearing upon the 

 general question of healthy living, make up 

 the contents of this very excellent treatise. 

 Dealing with subjects of such prime impor- 

 tance to the family, it should find a place in 

 every household. 



A Handbook of Double Stars. With a 

 Catalogue of Twelve Hundred Double 

 Stars, and Extensive Lists of Measures. 

 With Additional Notes bringing the 

 Measures up to 1879. For the Use of 

 Amateurs. By Edward Crossley, F. It. 

 A. S. ; Joseph Gledhill, F. R. A. S. ; and 

 James M. Wilson, M. A., F. R. A. S. 

 New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 464. 

 Price, $6. 



This work is intended to facilitate the 

 labors of future students of sidereal astron- 

 omy, by supplying the materials for the study 

 of double stars in a convenient form, and as 

 complete as its painstaking authors could 

 make it. It has arisen out of their wants as 

 students, as there does not exist any other 

 book which gives information sufficiently de- 

 tailed to be of value to any one who serious- 

 ly takes up this study. The student must 



hunt through scores and hundreds of vol- 

 umes if he wishes to get an accurate and 

 complete list of the previous measures of 

 any particular double star. These mea- 

 sures are scattered up and down the astro- 

 nomical periodicals of all nations ; and if 

 he desires to know with what instruments, 

 with what apertures, and what micrometers, 

 these measures were taken, a fresh research 

 awaits him. And, if he proceeds to attempt 

 an orbit, he will fail unless he is a tolerably 

 expert mathematician, for want of sufficient 

 guidance and detail in the various mathe- 

 matical papers and pamphlets that have 

 been devoted to this subject. The authors 

 express the hope that this manual will be of 

 use in guiding amateurs in their work, in 

 pointing out what stars are of especial in- 

 terest, what stars have had few or conflict- 

 in" - measures taken of them, at what times 

 observations of certain stars are especially 

 needful, and what stars have been so fre- 

 quently and satisfactorily measured that for 

 the present they need no attention. The 

 work is appropriate to the present time, as 

 there has been great activity in this field 

 of observation during the last six or seven 

 years. It embodies the results of an im- 

 mense amount of careful and accurate labor, 

 and can not fail to be of much use to prac- 

 tical astronomers. 



Pay Hospitals and Paying Wards 

 throughout the world. by henry 

 C. Burdett. Philadelphia : Presley Bla- 

 kiston. 1880. Pp. 169. Price, $2.25. 



This is a consideration of the hospital 

 systems of the world, with a view to showing 

 the advantages of pay hospitals and pay 

 wards in general charitable hospitals. In 

 England the system is to have only chari- 

 table hospitals, and this results in depriving 

 large classes of the great advantages of a 

 well-appointed medical institution, while it 

 at the same time allows many, who can afford 

 to pay for treatment, to obtain it gratuitous- 

 ly. Mr. Burdett states that from thirty to 

 sixty per cent, of those who receive out-door 

 relief are not fit subjects for charity, while 

 a smaller but still considerable percentage 

 of those who are treated within a hospital 

 belong to the same class. He thinks that a 

 stricter inquiry should be made into the cir- 

 cumstances of those applying for charitable 

 relief, confining the advantages of such in- 



