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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



gooseberry, strawberry, and pine worms ; 

 the army-worm, Colorado potato-beetle, 

 Rocky Mountain locust, etc. ; together with 

 the insects which, acting as parasites, help 

 to diminish the number of these pests. 



The illustrations are numerous, drawn 

 mostly by the author from Nature ; the sug- 

 gestions are practical, and make the reports 

 valuable to the agriculturist as well as to 

 the scientific entomologist. The locust, or 

 so-called grasshopper, naturally receives 

 the fullest attention, and certainly the fa- 

 cilities for observation have been ample 

 enough for the accumulation of information 

 that will be of use, should the West be again 

 visited by that scourge. 



Savings-Banks. A Paper read before the 

 American Social Science Association, 

 September 5, 187V. By John P. Town- 

 send. New York, 1877. 



This, as might be expected from the 

 long experience of the author, is a valuable 

 addition to savings-banks literature. 



In the history of the rise and progress 

 we had almost said decline of the system; 

 the criticism of past and present manage- 

 ment ; and the suggestions as to the proper 

 way to run such institutions, a thorough 

 familiarity with the subject is shown. The 

 remarks on the nature of investments are 

 to be commended to presidents and trustees, 

 and the plan for winding up insolvent insti- 

 tutions would, if adopted, do much to miti- 

 gate the loss and suffering which the present 

 mode of procedure involves. 



Some space is given to the details of a 

 plan for school penny savings-banks, which 

 is simple and perfectly practicable, having 

 been found to work well both in England 

 and on the Continent, cultivating habits of 

 thrift in the young, and exercising an ex- 

 cellent influence in the communities where 

 they have been started. 



Egypt as it is. By J. C. McCoan. New 

 York: Henry Holt & Co., 1877. Pp. 

 417. Price, $3.75. 



The task which Mr. McCoan has under- 

 taken is, to describe and explain the eco- 

 nomic conditions of the New Egypt, as will 

 appear from the titles of the chapters, which 

 include those on the territory, population, ad- 

 ministration, finance, commerce, agriculture, 

 public instruction, public works, manufact- 



ures, etc., with a series of appendices giving 

 statistical information about the govern- 

 ment, finances, trade, cost of living, etc. 



The author says that he found this cor- 

 ner of the field of book-making on Egypt 

 almost untouched. No material lay ready 

 to his hand, but his facilities for getting it 

 were good, and he has made excellent use 

 of them. The Government of Egypt is the 

 khedive. Legislative bodies, ministers, and 

 cabinets, are mere agents of his personal 

 will, and the recent progress is due mainly 

 to his wisdom and energy. His highness is 

 now forty-six years old, below the middle 

 height, stout, though not unwieldy, and with 

 nothing of an Eastern but the native dignity 

 and easy polish of his manners. He devotes 

 fourteen hours a day for at least three hun- 

 dred days in the year to the work of adminis- 

 tration, is familiar with all the details of na- 

 tional affairs, and in the extent and variety 

 of his information is as encyclopedic as Dom 

 Pedro himself. 



The book corrects some common mis- 

 apprehensions. Taxation of the peasantry, 

 for example, though heavy, is not so op- 

 pressive nor enforced so brutally as we 

 have been given to understand ; and the 

 system of slavery, though in itself indefen- 

 sible, is not at all such as formerly obtained 

 in the United States, and still exists in Cuba 

 and Brazil. In both these respects the con- 

 dition of Egypt is vastly better than that 

 of the nominally ruling country, Turkey. 

 An excellent map and a copious index add 

 to the value of the book. 



Heredity : Its Influence upon the Prog- 

 ress and Welfare of Mankind. By 

 E. N. Brush, M. D. Buffalo, 1877. 

 Pp. 12. 



Heredity as a Factor in Pauperism and 

 Crime. By E. H. Parker, A. M., M. D. 

 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1877. Pp. 12. 



Criminality. By W. G. Stevenson, M. D. 

 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1877. Pp. 23. 



These pamphlets are all reprints of pa- 

 pers read before medical societies, and have 

 a common object, which is to show the im- 

 portance of heredity in fixing the organic 

 characteristics of the individual, and so 

 determining the part which he shall play 

 in society characteristics which are, of 

 course, modified to a greater or less extent 

 by the environment. They are chiefly inter- 



