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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



paid. He points out the dangers that arise from the misapplication and 

 abuse of the taxing power, and indicates the peculiar evils to which such 

 abuses will lead under our form of government." The complaint for which 

 the schemes in question are offered as a remedy is defined by the author as 

 being that after all proper allowances are made the differences in the distri- 

 bution of the comforts and enjoyments of life are excessive and unjust. 

 The argument opposed to this idea recognizes the fact that socialism implies 

 the surrender of the freedom of the laborer, with the expectation that it will 

 be more than made up for by the increase of his compensation. Existing 

 conditions and relations are then surveyed to find whether any substitute 

 for the existing organization can be adopted that will work better. If not, 

 " meddling will cause more injustice than it will remove." Besides the rela- 

 tions of individual employers and corporations and their employed, monop- 

 oly privileges, the partnership theory, the limitation of the rate of wages, 

 and the nature of profits and the effects of reducing them are reviewed. 

 Social improvement must come, ultimately, through the increase of integ- 

 rity and honesty among men. Honesty will not be likely to increase when 

 the principle of regard for property and respect for existing rights ceases to 

 be cherished. Conscientious and cultivated men are warned of the respon- 

 sibility that rests upon them. The movement toward the establishment of 

 socialism will leave ineradicable traces in the shape of laws that can hardly 

 be repealed, institutions that will be permanently mischievous, and debts 

 that will burden children yet unborn. The greatest danger that threatens 

 our republic lies in this tendency. 



GENEEAL NOTICES. 



The authors of the Manual of Bacteri- 

 ology * are both university lecturers ; Mr. 

 Muir on pathological bacteriology at Edin- 

 burgh, and Mr. Ritchie on pathology at Ox- 

 ford. They explain that the science has 

 become so extensive that in a book of this 

 "size the treatment must be restricted to some 

 special departments, or it will be superficial. 

 The present work being intended first for 

 medical students and practitioners, they have 

 considered in it only those bacteria associated 

 with disease in man. The effort has been 

 made to render the work of practical utility 

 for beginners, and elementary details have 

 been given in the accounts of the more im- 

 portant methods. The evidence of certain 

 bacteria having serological relationships with 

 corresponding diseases, the general laws gov- 

 erning their action as producers of disease 

 and the effects of various modifying circum- 

 stances are considered. The subject is treated 



* Manual of Bacteriology. By Robert Muir 

 and James Ritchie. With 108 Illustrations. Edin- 

 burgh and London : Young J. Pentland. New 

 York : The Macmillan Company. Pp. 519. Price, 

 $3.25. 



under the heads of general morphology and 

 biology of bacteria, methods of cultivation, 

 nonpathogenic micro-organisms, the produc- 

 tion of toxines, suppuration and allied condi- 

 tions, the relations of bacteria to disease, and, 

 in detail, the more important diseases in which 

 they have been proved to make their effects 

 felt. In the appendix four diseases — small- 

 pox, hydrophobia, malarial fever, and dysen- 

 tery — are treated of, in two of which the 

 causal organism is not a bacterium, while in 

 the other two its nature is not yet deter- 

 mined. 



Amid the countless impressions which 

 crowd upon the brain, not only by every 

 avenue of sense, but also in connection with 

 organic action, it is not to be wondered at 

 that a large number should escape our recog- 

 nition. These are faithfully registered, how- 

 ever, no less than the ones to which we attend 

 and in time form a background of memory, 

 a Subconscious Self,* which may influence or 



* The Subconscious Self and its Relation to 

 Education and Health. By Louis Waldstein, M. D. 

 New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 171. 

 Price, $1.25. 



