558 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



embraces testing the optical power, the spheri- 

 cal and the chromatic aberration, the flatness 

 of the field of view, and the centering. The 

 theory of microscopic observation, or the in- 

 terpreting of microscopical images, is treated 

 with much thoroughness. Technical micros- 

 copy receives due attention, and there are 

 chapters on the simple microscope and the 

 lantern microscope. The volume closes with 

 an account of the phenomena of polarization. 

 Over two hundred figures and diagrams illus- 

 trate the text. 



Laboratory Manual of Chemistry. By 

 James E. Armstrong and James H. Nor- 

 ton. American Book Company. Pp. 75. 

 Price, 50 cents. 



This manual consists of directions for 

 one hundred and sixty-four experiments, ac- 

 companied by questions designed to call the 

 attention of pupils to the principles which 

 the experiments reveal. It is designed to be 

 used with Eliot and Storer's Manual of Chem- 

 istry, or any other good text-book of element- 

 ary chemistry. The course here laid out is 

 designed to occupy a class three hours a week 

 for forty weeks. There are as many blank 

 pages for notes as printed pages in the vol- 

 ume, and thirty cuts showing the forms and 

 use of apparatus are given. The experiments 

 include the tests commonly used in qualita- 

 tive analysis. 



The Plant World. By George Massee. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 222. 

 Price, $1. 



The adult who wishes to obtain a general 

 view of the vegetable kingdom will find this 

 book a very competent guide. Its seven 

 chapters deal respectively with plant archi- 

 tecture, chemistry and physics of plant life, 

 protective arrangements, reproduction, re- 

 lationship, geographical distribution, and 

 fossil plants. The workings of evolution in 

 the vegetable world are made especially 

 prominent in this volume, and the conception 

 of a plant as a living organism is strongly 

 insisted upon. The text is illustrated with 

 fifty-six cuts. 



Fossil Botany. By H. Graf zu Solms- 

 Laubach. New York : Macmillan & Co. 

 Pp. 413. Price, $4.50. 



In the translator's preface this treatise is 

 described as " the only critical digest as yet 



published of our present knowledge of fossil 

 plants from the point of view of botanical 

 morphology." It is based upon university 

 lectures delivered by Count Solms-Laubach 

 in Gottingen. The ground covered by this 

 work comprises the thallophytes, archego- 

 niatae, and gymnosperms, but excluding the 

 angiosperms. There are forty-nine illustra- 

 tions, and the volume has a bibliography of 

 seventeen pages and an index. 



The Jew at Home. Impressions of a Sum- 

 mer and Autumn spent with Him. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 105. 



The author, who professes to have gone 

 to southeastern Europe in the summer of 

 1891 with no thought of the Jew or his af- 

 fairs in his head, by some fortune saw him 

 almost daily for five months under all con- 

 ditions of life, at Brody and Lemburg, in Aus- 

 trian Poland ; at Maramaros Sziget, in Hun- 

 gary ; at Berdicheff and Kiev, in Russia ; and 

 at other places, and formed a very poor opin- 

 ion of him and his manner of living. He 

 describes what he saw, or rather, perhaps, his 

 impressions of what he saw, in very strong 

 language, and illustrates his descriptions with 

 pictures which are, at least, strongly charac- 

 teristic. The result of the whole is the repre- 

 sentation of " The Jew at Home " as an odi- 

 ous and repulsive object, whose habits make 

 him deserving of the scorn that he receives. 

 Grant that this is so and we have enough 

 representatives among us of that class of 

 Hebrews who are not pleasant associates 

 the race has in other regions furnished enough 

 high-minded and enterprising citizens, and 

 has distinguished itself sufficiently by liberal 

 and benevolent enterprises, to enable us to 

 know that it is still capable of better things. 

 The author acknowledges this in substance, 

 and in view of the fact and of his acknowl- 

 edgment, we regret that he could not, while 

 truthfully, as he claims to have done, de- 

 scribing the degradation to which centuries of 

 contumely and maltreatment have reduced 

 certain classes of Jews, have spoken of them 

 in less harsh terms and with more hopeful- 

 ness of their ultimate redemption under more 

 favoring circumstances. One view he sug- 

 gests, however, is worth considering, and is 

 of weight proportioned to the degree of truth- 

 fulness contained in it: that is, that these 

 Jews are not real, pure Jews, but a mixed 



