LITERARY NOTICES. 



629 



into the shape of graphic charts even the 

 most careless cannot fail to note the fluctu- 

 ations of the quantities which they repre- 

 sent. Among the matters treated of in the 

 body of the report, we would name espe- 

 cially the Municipal Hospital, water-supply^ 

 nuisances, as fat-boiling, intramural inter- 

 ments, etc. The deaths in Philadelphia for 

 the year covered by the report numbered 

 17,805, an increase of 2,567 over the pre- 

 ceding year. The exhibit of the statistics 

 of mortality among children under ten was 

 less favorable than usual ; the year 1872, 

 when small-pox committed such ravages, 

 was not as fatal to children as 1S75. Diph- 

 theria prevailed to an extent unprecedented 

 in the records of the preceding sixteen 

 years. 



Coordinate Surveying. By H. F. Wal- 

 ling, C.E. Pp.19. With Plates. (From 

 " Proceedings of" the American Society 

 of Civil Engineers.") 



The object of this essay is best stated 

 in the words of the author himself, who 

 says: "It is the object of this paper to 

 point out a simple method by which the 

 high degree of precision which accompanies 

 the Coast Survey work may be made avail- 

 able in the ordinary operations of land-sur- 

 veyors and civil engineers, in those districts 

 over which the Coast Survey triangulations 

 have been carried, and at the same time to 

 call attention to the importance of an ex- 

 tension of these triangulations over the en- 

 tire country." 



Problem of Problems. 



We noticed, not long ago, a book enti- 

 tled the " Problem of Problems," a discus- 

 sion of atheism, Darwinism, and theism, 

 which has been much praised by theological 

 authorities as an annihilating criticism of 

 Evolution and the Darwinian school. The 

 book received some damaging criticism, and 

 the rumor got started that it would be re- 

 vised. But it seems this is an error. What- 

 ever else may change in this world of muta- 

 tions, the " Problem of Problems " and its 

 solution in President Braden's book will re- 

 main unchanged. The author announces in 

 the Cincinnati Christian Standard that " it 

 will never be revised." He says, " The com- 

 mendations of the book have been such. 



and by such persons, that it would be a re- 

 flection on them to revise it." It is a great 

 satisfaction to have something at last that 

 will be stuck to and can be depended upon. 

 And, now that we have something that is to 

 stand like a lighthouse amid the storms of 

 controversy, it is well to be fully aware of 

 its value, and we notice that the Journal of 

 Speculative Philosophy, in its April issue, 

 testifies of the author that " for tilting 

 against the Darwinians, Spencerians, Com- 

 tians, Correlationists, Evolutionists, et id 

 genus omne, he is well enough accoutred, 

 and is mighty in his cause." We shall do 

 well not to forget how this puissant finality 

 in modern polemics originated. The Jour- 

 nal says of the author, " At the age of four- 

 teen he became a skeptic, and lectured in 

 public on the skeptical side of the question." 

 The precocious rogue pursued this scan- 

 dalous course for ten years, when he was 

 abruptly pulled up, and took the back track. 

 The Journal says, " At the age of twenty- 

 four he met a preacher, who converted him, 

 and he began his career as a lecturer against 

 skepticism, the fruits of which are contained 

 in the volume before us." Now, if anybody 

 wants to stop a great scientific movement, 

 he will know how to prepare for it. 



Why the Earth's Chemistry is as it is. 

 By J. N. LocKYER, F. R. S. L. New 

 York: Macmillan. Pp. 59. Price 25 

 cents. 



Three lectures by Mr. Lockyer are con- 

 tained in this volume ; they were originally 

 delivered at Manchester, before a popular 

 audience. In the first of these the author 

 gives a singularly clear account of the prin- 

 ciples and main results of spectrum analysis 

 of nebulag and comets. The second lecture 

 treats of meteorites, and the chemical con- 

 stitution of the stars and the sun. The 

 third lecture treats of the planets of our 

 system and their atmospheres, and con- 

 cludes with an exposition of the theory of 

 evolution. 



The Tailed Amphibians, including the 

 C^cilians. By W. H. Smith. Detroit : 

 Herald print. Pp. 158. 



This monograph, prepared as a thesis 

 to be presented to the Faculty of Michigan 

 University for the degree of Ph. D., very 

 succinctly describes the distinguishing char- 



