SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



565 



and that all ideas of anything else existing 

 or acting conveyed by the terms and concep- 

 tions which we in the imperfection of our 

 knowledge and capacity have invented to 

 account for the things we see, are false. Mr. 

 Atwood writes as one possessed of strong 

 convictions. 



The Annual Report of the Operations of 

 the United States Life-Saving Service for the 

 year ending June 30, 1896, presents statistics 

 exhibiting the most satisfactory results yet 

 accomplished by the service. While the total 

 number of disasters was greater than in any 

 prior year, the percentage of lives and prop- 

 erty lost was less. The average annual 

 loss of life from 1877, when the service was 

 generally extended to the sea and lake coasts, 

 till June 30, 1896 (excepting the year 1878, 

 when an exceptional mortality attended the 

 disaster to the steamer Metropolis), has been 

 one out of every one hundred and twelve 

 persons on board vessels involved in disaster, 

 and tbe loss of property twenty-one per cent 

 of tbe value imperiled. 



In his essay on Value (Chicago : Rand, 

 McNally & Co., $1) John Borden presents a 

 sober discussion of the principles on which 

 value is founded, with its incidents — utility, 

 use, value, relative exchange, market, nature, 

 and money value ; to which he adds A Short 

 Account of American Currency, giving its 

 history, and a chapter on A National Cur- 

 rency. His exposition of money value is 

 sound, simply expressed, and forcible, show- 

 ing how there can be but one standard, and 

 that representing the intrinsic value of the 

 bullion contained in the piece, and that coin- 

 age is merely a certification that metal to 

 that value is there, not making the value or 

 adding to it. He differs, however, from the 

 majority of the gold-standard men in that he 

 insists that if there is to be paper money 

 (which must be merely representative of 

 actual money behind it), the Government 

 alone should issue it. 



The sixth volume of the Proceedings of 

 the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences 

 covers the period from December, 1892, to 

 the beginning of 1897. One of the most 

 emphasized features observed in reading it 

 is that it records the death of so many of 

 the members who took part in the founda- 

 tion of the academy and contributed to its 



usefulness and fame. The most important 

 papers contained in the volume are a sum- 

 mary of the archaeology of Iowa and a bibli- 

 ography of Iowa antiquities, by Prof. Fred- 

 erick Starr ; a list of coleoptera from the 

 southern shore of Lake Superior, by Prof. 

 H. F. Wickham ; and a revision of the Trex- 

 alinee (grasshoppers) of North America, by 

 Prof. Jerome McNeil. Shorter papers of in- 

 terest relate to local and special subjects. 

 Further, the minutes of the several meetings 

 of the academy and the annual addi esses of 

 the presidents are given ; also a portrait and 

 biographical sketch of Prof. G. C. Parry, and 

 a bibliography of his works. 



The Eighth Annual Report of the Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden contains papers by 

 William Tielease and J. Cardot, with fine 

 plate illustrations, on the Mosses of the 

 Azores and Madeira and botanical observa- 

 tions on the Azores, embodying the results 

 of the visit of Mr. Trelease to thos-e islands. 

 The belief is expressed that by the system 

 of distribution adopted, papers published in 

 the garden reports are within the reach of 

 more working botanists than those in any 

 other similar publication on this side of the 

 Atlantic. The garden suffered great damage 

 by the tornado of May 27, 1896, and has 

 been at considerable expense in repairing it. 

 Plans are under consideration for making 

 large additions to the grounds. The educa- 

 tional facilities offered by the garden are 

 appreciated and utilized, but not so much as 

 they ought to be. 



Ten Noble Poems in English literature is 

 the title of a pamphlet by J. T. Jones giving 

 the result of a number of inquiries sent to va- 

 rious prominent literary people. The poems 

 receiving the most votes were as follows : 

 Intimations of Mortality ; Saul ; Elegy writ- 

 ten in a Country Churchyard; Rabbi Beu 

 Ezra ; Ode to a Skylark ; Harvard Commemo- 

 ration Ode ; The Rime of the Ancient Mari- 

 ner; Thanatopsis; The Eternal Goodness; 

 Lines on Tintern Abbey (Unity Publishing 

 Company, Chicago). 



In Health of Body and Mind (Eagle Press, 

 Brooklyn) T. \V. 2'opham, M. D., gives us a 

 discussion of the ethics of disease, in which 

 he takes the position advocated by Mr. Spen- 

 cer — that the care of the body is just as 

 much a duty as is the care of the mind ; that 



