LITERARY NOTICES. 



133 



that is too often neglected or ignorantly at- 

 tended to. 



A paper on Faith- Healing in the Six- 

 teenth and Seventeenth Centuries, read before 

 the American Folk-lore Society by Charles 

 F. Cox, is intended to draw a parallel be- 

 tween the superstitious modes of cure and 

 practices of the period named and the 

 faith-cures, etc., of the present, and to show 

 that the latter are what are called, in the 

 theory of evolution, survivals. Illustrations 

 are drawn from the career of Paracelsus, 

 the weapon-salve of Robert Fludd, and the 

 sympathetic powder of Sir Kenelm Digby. 

 The influence of suggestion is supposed to 

 have played a considerable part in such suc- 

 cess as the charlatans practicing these cures 

 may have had. The author avows the be- 

 lief that cures have been, and are nowadays, 

 effected by the methods employed by the 

 different species of faith-healers, and explains 

 them on the theories expounded by Dr. W. 

 B. Carpenter, or as cases of hypnotism. 



The Rules and the Application of Rcich- 

 erfs Hamometer, an instrument designed 

 to ascertain the amount of haemoglobin in 

 either a diseased or a normal condition of 

 the blood, are described by Frederick Gaert- 

 ner, M. D., in a paper which was read be- 

 fore the iron City Microscopical Society, 

 Pittsburg. 



Vol. XXIII of Annals of the Astronomi- 

 cal Observatory of Harvard College, of which 

 Part I is published, is devoted to the Discus- 

 sion of Observations made with the Meridian 

 Photometer during the Years 1882-18SS, by 

 Edward C. l'ickering and Oliver C. Wendell. 

 The first parts of the investigation of which 

 the continuation is recorded have appeared 

 in a previous volume, and a third volume 

 will be required to contain the whole. A 

 larger instrument than those with which the 

 earlier observations were made, but like it, 

 was applied in the present series to fainter 

 stars. The observations relate principally 

 to stars north of declination 40. The 

 work having been done at Cambridge, the 

 instrument has been sent to Peru, for obser- 

 vation of the Southern stars. The details of 

 this series will be published in another vol- 

 ume. A careful description is given of the 

 instrument and the method of using it. 



In Consumption and Liquids a theory 

 of the prophylaxis and cure of consumption 



by suralimentation of liquid food is present- 

 ed by W. H. Burt, M. D., of Chicago. The 

 author believes that his remedy is not only 

 the greatest of known prophylactics, but 

 that it will arrest and cure pulmonary con- 

 sumption ; that, when used in the first and 

 second stages of phthisis, it will enable the 

 physician to cure more than fifty per cent of 

 the patients that would have to die with the 

 best methods known to medical science up 

 to the present date ; but, in the third or last 

 stage, it will give only temporary relief. It 

 should, however, always be combined with 

 the best remedies known to medical science ; 

 and, with this in view, the author has added 

 most of the practical remedies in medical 

 literature, together with all the auxiliaries at 

 the command of the physician. Hence his 

 book contains chapters on the etiology and 

 prophylaxis of the disease, the part that 

 water occupies in the human body and its 

 therapeutic value, fruit, and specific reme- 

 dies. W. T. Keener, publisher, Chicago. 



The Geological Survey of Missouri, Ar- 

 thur Winslow, State Geologist, publishes in 

 Bulletin No. 2 A Bibliography of the Geol- 

 ogy of Missouri, compiled by F. A. Samson. 

 The author has adopted a system of classi- 

 fication of books and papers into those 

 which are products of individual investi- 

 gation with entire or with partial refer- 

 ence to Missouri ; compilations from publi- 

 cations of original investigation ; and inci- 

 dental or dependent publications. To the 

 first class belong reports of geological sur- 

 veys, of the State Board of Internal Im- 

 provements, the Bureau of Statistics, the 

 Smithsonian Institution, university and ag- 

 ricultural reports, etc., 472 titles ; to the 

 second class, compilations from those made 

 for different offices and institutions and for 

 various purposes, 162 titles; and to the 

 third class, occurring in many ways and 

 places, 167 titles. Of the publications of 

 the State of Missouri there are 144 titles; 

 of the United States Government, 65 titles ; 

 of other State surveys, 13 titles; and of 

 miscellaneous publications, 579 titles. The 

 dates of publication of these papers, by dec- 

 ades, show a regularly increasing interest 

 in the subject. Bulletin No. 3 of the same 

 office contains papers on the Clay, Stone, 

 Lime, and Sand Industries of St. Louis City 

 and County, by G. E. Ladd; and The Min~ 



