126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



dence and business, are related with much 

 ingenuity and irrepressible humor. The 

 father at school and finding out how he 

 likes it is, however, the main figure, and the 

 book at once takes rank as a first-class 

 satire on English boarding-school life. 



The Coming Democracy. By G. Harwood, 

 Author of " Disestablishment." Mao 

 millan & Co. Pp. 390. Price, 



We have not been able to get interested 

 in this volume. It seems to be written from 

 the high Tory and the High Church point of 

 view, and professes to consider the growing 

 tendency of modern democracy in relation 

 to English institutions. The author first 

 takes up democracy in relation to foreign 

 politics, and then in relation to home poli- 

 tics, in which he considers its relation to 

 the crown, the House of Lords, the House 

 of Commons, the upper classes, the middle 

 classes, and the lower classes. Perhaps the 

 English may find some utility in the discus- 

 sion, but we can not share their discern- 

 ment. 



The Change of Life, in Health and 

 Disease. A Clinical Treatise on the Dis- 

 eases of the Ganglionic Nervous System 

 incidental to Women at the Change of 

 Life. By Edward John Tilt, M. D., 

 Past President of the Obstetrical So- 

 ciety of London. Philadelphia : P. Blak- 

 iston, Son & Co. Pp. 184. 



An important work on a subject that 

 is too little understood and is not treated 

 with anything like adequate thoroughness 

 in ordinary medical works. It treats the 

 subject intelligently and intelligibly in its 

 various aspects, beginning with the physi- 

 ology and general pathology of the change 

 of life, and discussing afterward the special 

 pathology under the several heads of " dis- 

 eases of the ganglionic nervous system," 

 "diseases of the brain," "neuralgic affec- 

 tions," " diseases of the reproductive or- 

 gans," "diseases of the gastro-intestinal 

 organs," " diseases of the skin," and " other 

 diseases." 



The Cornell University Register, 1881 

 '82. Ithaca, New York. Pp. 120. 



The university was attended during the 

 year by 384 students. In the science de- 

 partments, the collection of apparatus for 

 physics has been increased by the expendi- 



ture of about $15,000; a new, spacious, and 

 thoroughly equipped building for the de- 

 partments of chemistry and physics has 

 been begun, and will be ready for occupa- 

 tion about January, 18S3 ; large and impor- 

 tant additions have been made to the litho- 

 logieal collections ; and the organization 

 of a party of students for geological and 

 paleontological exploration during the sum- 

 mer vacation was contemplated. Special 

 attention is invited to the conditions on 

 which the State scholarships, 128 in num- 

 ber, are granted, and the construction, gen- 

 erally favorable to the candidate, which the 

 authorities of the university put upon them. 

 The right, especially, of every person who is 

 qualified, to enter the examination for the 

 scholarships, and to have it held, is insisted 

 upon. 



Light : A Course of Experimental Optics 



CHIEFLY WITH THE LANTERN. By LEWIS 



Wright. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 367. 

 Price, $2. 



The purpose of this volume, as declared 

 by the author, is to make a very full and 

 vivid presentation of the body of experi- 

 mental facts upon which the principles of 

 the science of optics are based. Avowedly 

 following Professor Tyndall, the author 

 adopts the experimental method of teach- 

 ing, and maintains that projection upon a 

 screen, with the use of a eommon lantern, is 

 far superior in general effect to any other 

 method of demonstration, besides having 

 the advantage of exhibiting the phenomena 

 to a whole class or to a large audience at 

 the same time. But while the magnificent 

 apparatus of the Royal Institution, by which 

 Professor Tyndall has carried lantern dem- 

 onstration to an extent and perfection 

 never before attained, is far too costly for 

 general use, the author maintains that the 

 greater number of experiments can be 

 shown satisfactorily to at least a science 

 class with only a good gas-burner, while a 

 satisfactory lantern can be made at small 

 expense, and is a very efficient piece of 

 apparatus. Though the work is based 

 throughout upon experiment, which implies 

 that the student should become familiar 

 with actual optical effects, yet it is very 

 profusely and elegantly illustrated, and the 

 numerous colored plates will be held to go 



