LITERARY NOTICES. 



565 



able tables, has been added ; also, tables and 

 descriptions by which an observation for 

 azimuth may be made on Polaris at any 

 hour ; and a description of Porro's telescope 

 has been inserted in the chapter on topo- 

 graphical surveying. 



In the Report of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, for 1SS9, the secretary states that the 

 Records of Scientific Progress in each of 

 several branches of science, which the In- 

 stitution has published for some years, have 

 been discontinued. In place of these there 

 will be published "memoirs of a special 

 interest and permanent value, which have 

 already appeared elsewhere, and which are 

 sufficiently untechnical to be readily appre- 

 hended by readers fairly representative of 

 the intelligent and educated class among 

 the constituents of the members of Con- 

 gress, by whom they are chiefly distributed. 

 Among the subjects treated in such papers 

 appended to this report are, Hertz's re- 

 searches on electrical oscillations, progress 

 of meteorology and of anthropology in 1889, 

 national scientific institutions at Berlin, 

 movements of the earth's crust, geograph- 

 ical latitude, last steps in the genealogy of 

 man, time-keeping in Greece and Rome, 

 the life-work of Pasteur, and memoirs of 

 Fleischer and Kirchhoff. 



An Address 071 behalf of the Indians has 

 been issued by representatives of the Reli- 

 gious Society of Friends for Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, and Delaware (Friends' Book- 

 store, Philadelphia). Its object is to show 

 that our troubles with the Indians of late 

 years have been due to aggressions of front- 

 ier whites upon the Indians, and to faith- 

 less and neglectful treatment by the officers 

 of the War Department and the Indian 

 Bureau. The address is temperate and dig- 

 nified in tone, and its statements are sup- 

 ported by extracts from Government re- 

 ports, the words of intelligent Indian chiefs, 

 and the testimony of persons who have 

 worked among the Indians. 



A little volume of " essays against super- 

 stition " has been published by E. C. Ken- 

 neu, under the title Ghosts, Devils, Angels, 

 and Sun Gods (the author, Truxton, New 

 York, 25 cents). He explains the origin of 

 beliefs in supernatural beings among primi- 

 tive men, and shows that many of these 

 myths have persisted in more or less 



changed forms to the present day. He in- 

 terprets the story of the Garden of Eden 

 and that of the Deluge on a natural basis, 

 draws a parallel between Gautama and 

 Jesus Christ, and discusses the fatal num- 

 ber thirteen and the mystic three. The 

 closing chapter is an arraignment of secta- 

 rian control over education. The book 

 is temperate in tone, and is in agree- 

 ment with the results of modern investi- 

 gation. 



For the first time in its history the Re- 

 port on Medical Education, issued by the 

 Illinois State Board of Health, embraces the 

 medical institutions of the whole world. 

 This is a feature that will be an assistance 

 to medical boards that have to determine 

 the value and validity of a medical diploma. 

 As regards medical education in the Unit- 

 ed States, the report shows the marked 

 changes for the better that have taken place 

 in the past ten years, and it is seen that 

 more progress will be made within the next 

 two years. The report shows a marked in- 

 crease in requirements as to preliminary 

 education during the year 1890. It shows 

 also that the movement for four years' 

 study and three courses of lectures is an 

 assured success, and a list is given of the 

 colleges that have adopted or will soon 

 adopt the requirements of longer terms of 

 study. 



Plain Talks on Electricity and Batteries, 

 by Horatio R. Bigelow, M. D. (Blakiston), 

 is a manual for physicians, describing the 

 medical use of electricity, and the instru- 

 ments and apparatus employed in this 

 branch of therapeutics. Various forms of 

 electrical machines, meters, and electrodes 

 are figured, and the names of the makers are 

 given. There are also figures showing the 

 mode of applying electricity to various parts 

 of the body. 



A monograph on The Modern Antipyret- 

 ics has been published by Isaac Ott, M. D. 

 (E. D. Vogel, Easton, Pa.). It embraces a 

 discussion of the nature of fever, a descrip- 

 tion of the chemical character and the phys- 

 iological action of pyridin, quinolin, kairin, 

 and thallin, a statement of the therapeutic 

 action of each of the known antipyretics, 

 and some observations on the value of anti- 

 thermics in typhoid fever. 



A pamphlet giving a brief history of 



