LITERARY NOTICES. 



709 



now being made in the forestry division, of 

 which a number of brief notices have already 

 been given. The headings under which the 

 subject is treated include the " Need of the 

 Investigation," " Scope and Historical De- 

 velopment of the Science of Timber Physics," 

 and "Organization and Methods of the 

 Timber Examinations in the Division of For- 

 estry." 



The Psychological Table prepared by Prof. 

 W. R. Benedict, of Cincinnati, on the basis of 

 the teachings of James "Ward and Prof. 

 Hoffding, presents on a single sheet at one 

 view the whole course of the development of 

 consciousness, feeling, and thought. Defin- 

 ing psychology as the science of conscious- 

 ness, it assumes that consciousness is de- 

 pendent on nerve matter, and therefore starts 

 with affections of that. There are presented 

 the beginnings of consciousness ; its develop- 

 ment by differentiation ; sensation and the 

 senses ; representation, or the return of states 

 of consciousness ; intellection, or thought ; 

 feeling ; the will ; and psychical disease, the 

 progress of which, in contrast with evolution, 

 is called devolution. 



From the annals of the Astronomical Ob- 

 servatory of Harvard College is reprinted a 

 valuable compend of the Investigations of the 

 New England Meteorological Society for 1890. 

 Reports were received from 172 different ob- 

 servers, but owing to various changes the 

 average number of observers was about the 

 same as in 1889 194. There are room and 

 need for more observers in western and 

 northern New England. In reviewing the 

 cyclone observations of the year, notice is 

 taken of the course of the storms, and as far 

 as practicable of the relations to other regions 

 of those which passed through it and north 

 and south of it. In the work of gathering 

 climatic data, the attempt to prepare such 

 general results as isothermal maps or maps of 

 mean annual rainfall has been met with the 

 two difficulties of an insufficient number of 

 reporting stations, and of insufficient time 

 since the stations have been established to 

 afford trustworthy means for a climate so 

 variable as that of New England. The society 

 hopes in time to be able to attempt the prep- 

 aration of tables and maps that shall por- 

 tray the peculiarities of local climate on a 

 finer scale than that which suffices very well 

 for the country as a whole. A careful study 



of the tornado at Lawrence, Mass., of July 

 26, 1890, is given in papers by W. M. Davis, 

 director of the society, and H. Helm Clayton, 

 of the Blue Hill Observatory. 



A pamphlet entitled Humanity's Spread- 

 ing Curse is aimed at the exposure of the 

 " Scribes and Pharisees," by One of them. 

 The characters held up to reprobation are : 

 "The Common Scribe," "The Moral 

 Scribe," "The Puritan," "The Foolism 

 Scribe," and " The Pharisee " ; the question is 

 asked, " What must we do to be saved ? " and 

 quotations are made from newspapers and 

 periodicals to enforce the author's points. 

 The characters aimed at by the author are 

 doubtless all liable to criticism ; but criticism 

 is one thing, and reckless denunciation is an- 

 other. 



The Annual Report of the Geological 

 Survey of New Jersey for 1891 (John C. 

 Smock, State Geologist) is full of valuable 

 facts and statistical data concerning the re- 

 sources of the State, and of suggestions for 

 their further development. The work of the 

 survey was carried on during the year in the 

 study of the surface or Pleistocene forma- 

 tions in the northern part of the State ; in 

 an examination of the oak-land and pine- 

 land belts of the southern part of the State ; 

 in the continued study of the stream-flows 

 and water-sheds for the report on water-sup- 

 ply and water-power ; and, in co-operation 

 with the United States Geological Survey, in 

 the study of the crystalline rocks of the 

 highlands of northern New Jersey. In ad- 

 dition to a very satisfactory presentation of 

 these subjects, articles are given on "Ar- 

 tesian Wells," " Passaic River Drainage," 

 "Iron Mines," and "Mineral Statistics." 

 The detailed study of the drift and of the 

 glacial moraine and its topographical char- 

 acteristics is full. 



A convenient manual of the Elements of 

 Materia Medica and Therapeutics, compiled 

 from the British Pharmacopoeia of 1885, and 

 its appendix of 1890, by C. E. Armand Sem- 

 ple, is published by Longmans, Green & Co., 

 New York ($3). While it treats in the main 

 only of the drugs that are official, a few illus- 

 trations of non-official plants have been in- 

 troduced here and there, in order to demon- 

 strate some particular facts. The book is 

 divided into two sections : the organic, deal- 

 ing exclusively with the vegetable and ani- 



