LITERARY NOTICES. 



279 



quil state, and secure adequate rest and sleep. 

 "For health, as well as happiness, moderation 

 and diversity of pursuits arc essential requi- 

 sites." Tenth and last law : " No inter- 

 marriage of blood relations." The principle 

 is kept in view and enforced by frequent 

 repetition that violations of any of these 

 laws work injury from the beginning, the 

 evil increasing as the violations become ha- 

 bitual, and that for years, perhaps, before 

 the sinner perceives that anything of the 

 kind is taking place ; even while he may be 

 boastful of his strength and his superiority 

 to the bad effects of his wrong-doing ; and 

 that, when the injury is at last revealed, it 

 is generally past remedy. 



The injunctions in the second part of the 

 book, for preventing the spread of infectious 

 diseases by stamping them out within the 

 sick-room, are based on the germ theory of 

 disease. The principles on which they are 

 justified, concisely stated, are, that " persons 

 sick of infectious diseases are the breed- 

 ing hot-beds from which the germs issue; 

 that these germs make of air, drinks, and 

 foods, mediums by which they are carried 

 into the bodies of others; and, that when 

 they once pervade the air, mix with foods 

 and drinks, they can neither be detected nor 

 destroyed ; and, as a corollary, that the only 

 time effectually to destroy them is at the 

 bedside as they pass from the bodies of the 

 sick." To wait, as is too often done, till 

 they have escaped, expecting then by stern- 

 er measures to stop the spread of disease, " is 

 like waiting until a fire becomes an alarming 

 conflagration before making systematic ef- 

 forts to subdue it " and " even far worse." 

 The directions for enforcing this summary 

 disinfection are plain and practical. 



Resultados del Observatorio Nacional 

 Argentino en Cordoba. (Results of 

 the Argentine National Observatory in 

 Cordoba.) By Benjamin A. Gould, Di- 

 rector. Vols. II, III, IV, VII, and VIII. 

 Spanish and English. Buenos Ayres and 

 Cordoba. Tp. (total) 2,243. 



We have already (March, 18S2) given a 

 sketch of Professor Gould's life and astro- 

 nomical work, both at home and in Cordoba, 

 and a notice of the first publication of the 

 results of his observations in the southern 

 hemisphere, in the " Uranometria of the 

 Southern Heavens." The present volumes 



embrace a part of the record of his work at 

 Cordoba as it has been pursued, in consid- 

 erable but not complete detail. At the 

 beginning, the author entertained the hope 

 of being able to publish all the observa- 

 tions in essentially the same form as they 

 had been made, affixing the instrumental 

 corrections separately. The observations 

 of the years lS72-'73 were prepared for 

 the press in this form, but the im possibility 

 of carrying out the plan became manifest 

 as the number of results increased ; and 

 at last anxiety arose lest it might not be 

 possible to secure a prompt publication of 

 the results in any shape whatsoever. The 

 observations for the catalogue have there- 

 fore been given in the compact form adapt- 

 ed to the requirements of the case ; and 

 those of the zones with only so much de- 

 tail as seemed needful when a large propor- 

 tion of the stars had been observed but 

 once. The original observations and all 

 the calculations have been preserved for 

 reference. The zones which have been sur- 

 veyed in these observations cover a breadth 

 of 52' 20' in declination, extending from 

 23 to 80 south. Previous determinations 

 of position by zone-observations have been 

 essentially differential in their character, in 

 one co-ordinate, at least, when not in both ; 

 in the present undertaking, Dr. Gould has 

 endeavored to obtain so-called absolute de- 

 terminations for all the stars observed. 

 During the eight and a half years of work 

 up to the close of 1880, more than 250,000 

 stellar observations were made with the 

 meridian-circle ; and the number of differ- 

 ent stars observed is estimated at 35,000 

 all belonging to the southern hemisphere. 

 Among the special observations was a care- 

 ful determination, of positions and proper 

 motion, of fifty-four circumpolar stars for 

 determination of the azimuthal errors of the 

 instrument. Vol. II of the present scries 

 contains the observations made in 1872; 

 Vols. Ill and IV, those made in 1873; and 

 Vols. VII and VIII, the zone-observations 

 made in 1875. In making these observa- 

 tions, between declinations 23 and 47, the 

 normal width of the zone was two degrees, 

 with 10' additional at each margin and 

 extremity for overlap ; from 47 to 75, 

 their width increased with the declination ; 

 until, finally, the last five degrees, 75 to 



