LITERARY NOTICES. 



129 



ous orders and multifarious proofs as it now 

 stands before the scientific mind of the age. 

 But we cordially commend Mr. Wright's 

 book as a well-intentioned and helpful con- 

 tribution, in good temper, to some of the 

 most interesting problems of the time. 



Physiognomy: A Practical and Scien- 

 tific Treatise. By Mary Olmstead 

 Stanton, San Francisco. Printed for the 

 Author: San Francisco News Company. 

 Pp. 351. Price, $3.00. 



The author counts herself among the 

 disciples of Spencer and Uaeckel. Many 

 scientific men have already accepted the 

 idea that the brain is not the sole and ex- 

 clusive mental organ ; but that the nervous 

 ganglia and plexuses of human and animal 

 organisms may also exhibit or assist in the 

 production of mental manifestations. The 

 author goes beyond this, and expresses the 

 belief that "it has been reserved for a 

 woman, however, to carry their observa- 

 tions and research to a finality," and that 

 she has been able to extend and make still 

 more comprehensive the location of mental 

 faculties, and to prove "that the viscera 

 also are instrumental in exhibiting mental 

 phenomena." The signs of character in 

 the face are reviewed in their various as- 

 pects, and the treatment of the subject is 

 continued in chapters on the "Origin and 

 Evolution of the Organs," " Signs of Health 

 and Disease in the Physiognomy," " Hy- 

 giene," and "Heredity." 



Statistics op the Population of the 

 United States by States, Counties, 

 and Minor Civil Divisions. Compiled, 

 from the Returns of the Tenth Census, 

 by Francis A. Walker. Washington : 

 Government Printing-Office. Pp. lxxxix- 

 375. With numerous Plates. 



This is one of the most interesting of 

 the many volumes of the census reports. It 

 presents in intelligible groupings, made 

 more plain by graphic aids, all the diversi- 

 fied classes of facts which are brought to 

 light in the final summing up of the reports 

 of the census. First, the progress of the 

 nation, from 1790 to 1880, is reviewed by 

 decades ; then are given the facts bearing 

 upon the settled area in 1880 ; statistics of 

 cities, and urban population ; the determi- 

 nation and position of the center of popu- 

 lation ; the elements of the population, as 

 VOL. xxii. 9 



classified by sex, race, and native or foreign 

 birth ; and the influence of physical feat- 

 ures (topography, temperature, rain-fall, lat- 

 itude, and longitude) on population. Un- 

 der these heads are presented the conclu- 

 sions arrived at, with minute explanations 

 of the reasoning and processes by which the 

 conclusions have been reached; and the 

 statements are supplemented by tables giv- 

 ing the detailed figures of statistics on 

 which the processes and conclusions are 

 based. 



The Wave-Lengths of some of the Prin- 

 cipal Fraunhofer Lines of the Solar 

 Spectrum. By T. C. Mendenhall, Ph. 

 D., Professor of Experimental Physics 

 in Tokio Daigaku. Tokio, Japan : Pub- 

 lished by the University. Pp. 27. 



The University of Tokio having received 

 from the makers, early in 1S80, an excel- 

 lent and powerful spectrometer and some 

 superior diffraction gratings, measurements 

 of the wave-lengths were made during the 

 unusually clear weather of November and 

 December. The results, which show a fair- 

 ly close agreement with those of Angstrom's 

 measurements, do not require a particular 

 notice, except in so far as the work illus- 

 trates the extent to which the most remote 

 lines of Western scientific investigation are 

 observed and followed up in the distant em- 

 pire of Japan. 



Report upon Experiments and Investiga- 

 tions to develop a System of Subma- 

 rine Mines for defending the Harbors 

 of the United States. By Lieutenant 

 Colonel Henry L. Abbott, Corps of 

 Engineers. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp. 444, with Twenty- 

 seven Plates. 



The author of this report was associated 

 with the Board of Engineers for Fortifica- 

 tions, in May, 1869, for the purpose of in- 

 vestigating and experimenting on the sub- 

 ject to which the report relates. The re- 

 sults of the experiments were embodied in a 

 manual for the use of the Engineer troops in 

 their practical duties as submarine miners, 

 which was completed in 1877, and forms 

 the basis of instruction at the School of 

 Submarine Mining at Willet's Point. The 

 present report embodies a full account of 

 the general researches undertaken in the 

 investigations, including the unsuccessful 



