418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Heredity, Health, and Personal Beauty. 

 By John V. Shoemaker, M. D. Phila- 

 delphia and London : F. A. Davis. Pp. 

 422. Price, $2.50. 



In this book the author presents his 

 subjects in a conversational rather than a 

 formal style, and varies the statement of 

 the scientific principles on which every such 

 treatise must rest with practical directions 

 and illustrative incident. The book can be 

 read with pleasure and amusement as well 

 as with instruction ; and if sticklers for 

 form object that in some parts it is hardly 

 dignified enough for science, the author 

 may reply that his book conveys useful 

 knowledge which is none the less knowledge 

 or useful because it is so presented as to be 

 entertaining and easy reading. In the first 

 chapters, which deal with evolution, the 

 Law of Life and Growth, Man's Spiritual 

 and Physical Place in Nature, and kindred 

 topics, are discussed. Weissmann's views 

 on the hereditability of acquired faculties 

 are often referred to, with a disposition to 

 dissent from Weissmann and accept the doc- 

 trine of hereditability. The source of the 

 beauty of the fair sex, and the effect of 

 environment and training on the physique, 

 are considered ; then the elements of grace, 

 with a chapter on the Art of Walking ; the 

 care of the skin and the breath ; cosmetic 

 art as applied to the face, hands, feet, hair, 

 and teeth ; the care of the eye, ear, and 

 nose ; food, clothing, and ventilation ; the 

 circulation and digestion ; and, in the latter 

 chapters, lists of cosmetic articles, medicated 

 soaps, and household remedies are given. 



The Daughter : Her Health, Education, 

 and Wedlock. By William M. Capp, 

 M. D. Philadelphia and London : F. A. 

 Davis. Pp. 144. Price, $1. 

 The matter of this book was written by 

 special request for a young wife whose edu- 

 cation on subjects bearing on her prospect- 

 ive duties as a mother had been insufficient. 

 It furnishes suggestions on subjects of gen- 

 eral and obvious interest which might be 

 advantageously worked out in daily home 

 life. Its aim is to enable the mother to sec- 

 ond more intelligently the efforts of the 

 medical adviser when he comes profession- 

 ally into the family, and to offer some prac- 

 tical considerations affecting woman in her 

 family relation. The successive sections of 



the book treat of the care of the infant 

 from the moment of birth; the child, its 

 training and education ; the girl at the age 

 of puberty, and the instruction it is proper 

 to give her then ; the wife ; and general 

 suggestions upon health. 



An Introduction to the Study of Petrol- 

 ogy : The Igneous Rocks. By Fred- 

 erick H. Hatch, F. G. S. Second edition. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 128. 

 Price, 90 cents. 



The author has undertaken in this little 

 book to describe briefly the mineral constit- 

 uents and internal structures of the igneous 

 rocks, their mode of occurrence at the sur- 

 face, and their origin beneath the crust of the 

 earth. After a few pages of introductory 

 matter, he begins the particular descriptions 

 of the rocks, taking them by groups. Each 

 rock receives a paragraph, in which its chem- 

 ical composition, crystalline form, hardness, 

 and other characteristics are given, and its 

 mode of occurrence is stated. There is also 

 an extended chapter on the classification and 

 description of the igneous rocks, which gives 

 the distribution of each group in the British 

 Isles. The volume contains forty-three illus- 

 trations. 



Chapters on the Theory and History 



of Banking. By Charles F. Dunbar. 



New York and London : G. P. Putnam's 



Sons. Pp. 199. 



These chapters have been prepared un- 

 der a feeling of the need of some conven- 

 ient statement of ordinary banking opera- 

 tions, experienced by the writer when lect- 

 uring upon banking to a large class of stu- 

 dents in political economy. To the chap- 

 ters devoted to such operations it was found 

 useful to add a series of historical chapters 

 on certain of the great banks and banking 

 systems. Special chapters have also been 

 added on combined reserves, or the system 

 of clearing-house loan certificates, and the 

 Bank of Amsterdam ; and the whole has been 

 revised and the notices of current history have 

 been brought down to the present date. 



It is hard to speak too highly of the 

 value of Appalachia, the periodical and or- 

 gan of the Appalachian Mountain Club. It 

 serves, in one department of geographical 

 science, a similar purpose with the Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Geographical Society, and 



