854 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



object of this book is to give an idea of the 

 way in which certain elements of our weather 

 and the mortality from some well-known dis- 

 eases have varied in recent years. The mode 

 of exposition adopted is that of graphic 

 cur^-es. For instance, on page 57, a whooping- 

 cough table is given which covers the period 

 from ISSV to 1894. A curve is plotted from 

 a careful study of the mortality statistics, 

 thus giving a picture which accurately repre- 

 sents the variations of the death-rate in this 

 disease during practically the last fifty years ; 

 this table can then be compared with a 

 similarly constructed one, representing the 

 variations in temperature and rainfall for 

 the same period, and the relation between 

 the two series made out. 



The sudden rise into prominence of mas- 

 sage as a therapeutic agent has already caused 

 the growth of a quite extensive literature 

 on the subject. The last volume to reach 

 us, The Practice of Maasage, by A. Si/mons 

 Eccles (Macmillan, Vs. 6t?.), is in a general 

 way a treatise on the more recent as well as 

 the earlier contributions to our knowledge of 

 the effects, uses, and limitations of massage, 

 so far as they have appeared to be fairly well 

 established by actual results. The author 

 has besides, however, set down the record of 

 his own personal observation and practice. 

 The appropriate manipulations for the vari- 

 ous diseases are given in detail, and the book 

 is closed with a very good bibliography of 

 the subject. 



With the beginning of the new year and 

 of its fourteenth volume, the Pharmaceutische 

 Rundschau became the Pharmaceutical Re- 

 view, and was removed to Milwaukee. It 

 will also henceforth be printed chiefly in the 

 English language, although articles from Ger- 

 man contributors that would suffer by trans- 

 lation will continue to appear in German, and 

 sometimes in both languages. 



The embodiment of a vivid narrative and 

 the dress of a handsomely printed and illus- 

 trated volume have been provided by John 

 (Tri Lloyd, of Cincinnati, for the philosoph- 

 ical reflections and scientific hypotheses that 

 a lifetime has matured in his mind. In a 

 preliminary statement Prof. Lloyd says that 

 his study of the material (he ranks high 

 among American pharmaceutical chemists) 

 has discredited materialism for him, and the 



leading ideas of his book, to which he has 

 given the anagrammatic title Midorhpa, are 

 that " force and spirit are neither less real 

 than the other, and that matter is not more 

 substantial than either," while pure and 

 noble love is man's highest good, whether 

 here or hereafter. The story reminds one 

 strongly of Jules Verne. It describes a 

 journey underground in the care of an eye- 

 less guide, among colossal fungi, monstrous 

 cubical crystals, hideous reptiles, and beau- 

 tiful flowers, over crags and precipices and 

 across a crystal lake, until the " end of 

 earth " is reached. At one point Etidorhpa, 

 with a train of other beautiful beings, comes 

 before the pilgrim and asserts her sovereignty. 

 The results of the author's reflections upon 

 gravitation, matter, force, life, volcanoes, in- 

 temperance, and future life are incidentally 

 introduced. The illustrations, by J. Augustus 

 Knapp, deserve high praise. Prof. Lloyd 

 has issued a limited edition of the book at a 

 subscription price of $4. 



Except a few pages occupied by adminis- 

 trative reports the fourth volume of the ICe- 

 port of the Iowa Geological Survey is devoted 

 to descriptions of the geology of six counties 

 Allamakee, Linn, Van Buren, Keokuk, Ma- 

 haska, and Montgomery. The stratigraphy 

 and economic products of each county are 

 given with considerable fullness, and the 

 physiography more briefly. There are good 

 beds of coal in one or two of these counties 

 and more or less building stone, brick clay, 

 lime, etc., but so few deposits of metals as 

 to afford little inducement for prospecting. 

 The volume is handsomely printed and con- 

 tains illustrations and county maps. 



We have received a copy of the second 

 edition of Prof. Sadtlcr^s Handbook of Indus- 

 trial Organic Chemistry (Lippincott, $5), the 

 first edition of which we noticed in our Janu- 

 ary issue for 1892. "The fact that a large 

 edition of the book has been exhausted in 

 about three years and a half, and that it has 

 been temporarily out of print, leads me to 

 think," says the author, " that the plan of 

 treatment adopted was an acceptable one, 

 and that such a book was needed." In the 

 present edition the bibliography has been re- 

 written and brought carefully up to date. 

 While the body of the text has not been al- 

 tered, numerous corrections have been made. 



