278 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



we have not the slightest inclination to med- 

 dle ; but the volumes before us give evi- 

 dence that their author was a learned, criti- 

 cal, and painstaking student in his chosen 

 branch of professional inquiry. 



Fasting Girls : Their Physiology and 

 Pathology. Bv William A. Hammond, 

 M. D. New York : G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 74. Price, 75 cents. 



Dr. Hammond has done excellent service 

 in contributing this little monograph to ex- 

 pose a class of the grossest frauds that grow 

 rank in the soil of popular ignorance. He 

 has not a very high opinion of our boasted 

 enlightenment, as we gather from the fol- 

 lowing observations : " It seems that no 

 proposition that can be made is so absurd 

 or impossible but that many people, ordi- 

 narily regarded as intelligent, will be found 

 to accept it and to aid in its propagation. 

 And hence, when it is asserted that a young 

 lady has lived for fourteen years without 

 food of any kind, hundreds and thousands of 

 persons throughout the length and breadth 

 of a civilized land at once yield their belief 

 to the monstrous declaration." Dr. Ham- 

 mond gives accounts of several cases of al- 

 leged fasting girls and ingenious deceptions, 

 the collusions and credulities of surround- 

 ing parties, and the manner of ultimate 

 exposure. The final chapter, on the physi- 

 ology and pathology of inanition, is very in- 

 structive. 



Principles of Political Economy. By 

 William Eoscher, Professor of Politi- 

 cal Economy at the University of Leip- 

 sic, Corresponding Member of the In- 

 stitute of France, Privy Councilor to his 

 Majesty the King of Saxony. From the 

 thirteenth (1877) German edition, with 

 additional chapters furnished by the au- 

 thor, for this first English and Ameri- 

 can edition, on Paper Money, Interna- 

 tional Trade, and the Protective Sys- 

 tem ; and a Preliminary Essay on the 

 Historical Method in Political Economy 

 (from the French), by L. Wolowski. 

 The whole translated by John J. Lalor, 

 A. M. 2 vols. New York : Henry Holt 

 & Co. Pp. 929. Price, $7. 



The students of economic literature owe 

 hearty thanks to Mr. Lalor for rendering 

 into English the learned work of Professor 

 Roscher on political economy. It is a book 

 of inexhaustible erudition, such as a plod- 



ding and untiring German Professor alone 

 could produce. Tt abounds in curious in- 

 formation on a wide range of collateral top- 

 ics, and runs freely into social philosophy 

 as well as into strict economics. The note's 

 are copious, varied, and invaluable. 



Index Medicus. Monthly Classified Rec- 

 ord of the Current Medical Litera- 

 ture of the World. Edited by Dr. 

 J. S. Billings, Surgeon U. S. Army, 

 and Dr. R. Fletcher, M. R. C. S., Eng. 

 Monthly. New York : Leypoldt. $3 per 

 annum. 



The " Index Medicus " is a publication 

 which can hardly fail to be heartily wel- 

 comed by the medical profession. It re- 

 cords the titles of all new books on medi- 

 cine, surgery, and the collateral branches. 

 These are classed under subject-headings, 

 and are followed by the titles of valuable 

 original articles in the medical journals, and 

 the transactions of medical societies. The 

 periodicals thus indexed comprise pretty 

 nearly all the current medical journals and 

 transactions of value. At the close of each 

 yearly volume a double index of authors 

 and subjects will be added, forming a com- 

 plete bibliography of medicine during the 

 preceding year. The " Index Medicus " 

 contains about fifty pages of large quarto 

 size, clearly printed on good paper. The 

 valuable character of the work and its re- 

 markably low price must commend it to the 

 patronage of physicians. 



The Teacher. Hints on School Manage- 

 ment. By J. R. Blakiston, M. A., one 

 of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 91. 

 Price, $1. 



We take it that this will prove a very 

 helpful little work, on general schoolroom 

 tactics, to that small circle of teachers who 

 feel that they have any need of it, it being 

 the business of teachers to know and their 

 standing, and salary, and influence in school 

 and out of it depending upon their reputa- 

 tion for knowing, they can not generally 

 afford to let it be suspected that they do 

 not understand all about it whatever it is. 

 This book, by an old English school inspect- 

 or, who says that his views " are the result 

 of a personal experience of twenty-five years 

 spent in educational work by one who feels 



