852 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



possible remove from a materialistic concep- 

 tion. The antithesis between matter and 

 property is absolute." But, if the other view 

 is accepted, that there is aa element mind, 

 thought, or spirit " that can detach itself 

 from the personality to whom it normally be- 

 longs, or remain in space performing me- 

 chanical operations upon material objects," 

 it is difficult to see how the charge of mate- 

 rialism can be avoided. 



llie Political Ethics of Herbert Spencer 

 is the substance of a paper submitted to the 

 American Academy of Political and Social 

 Science, in which the author, Lester F. 

 Ward, presents the results of his careful ex- 

 amination of Mr. Spencer's works, in a review 

 criticising and impugning the more promi- 

 nent features of his ethical system. His so- 

 ciological system is declared to " proceed 

 from so low and so narrow a standpoint as 

 to constitute a protest against all attempts 

 to deal scientifically with the subject," and 

 it is pronounced " astonishing that the great 

 exponent of the law of evolution in other 

 departments should so signally fail to grasp 

 that law in this highest department" ; and, 

 instead of carrying his system up symmetric- 

 ally and crowning it with the science of man, 

 he is said to have " tapered it off and flat- 

 tened it out at the summit." 



The Magazine of Travel is a new monthly 

 publication which will be devoted to articles 

 and discussions relating to travel in its 

 broadest sense. The publishers promise that 

 each number will be an improvement upon 

 its predecessor. The first number, January, 

 1895, has articles on American and Foreign 

 Travel Compared, by Hon. Chauncey M. 

 Depew ; Mexico : its Attractions for the 

 Tourist, by E. H. Talbott ; The New Educa- 

 tion, by Edwin Fowler ; A Summer in 

 Alaskan Waters, by W. G. Cutler, United 

 States Navy ; Christmas on the Limited, a 

 story, by Frank Chaffee ; The Mountain 

 Paradise of Virginia, by Charles D. Lanier; 

 Hunting in the Cattle Country, by the Hon. 

 Theodore Roosevelt ; and In Southern Cali- 

 fornia, by G. M. Allen. (The Magazine of 

 Travel Publishing Company, E. H. Talbott, 

 President and Manager, 10 Astor Place, New 

 York ; 25 cents, $3 a year.) 



The results of Af. H. SavilWs studies of 

 the Ceremonial Year of the Maya Codex 

 Cortcsianus, as summarized by him in a paper 



read before the American Association, are that 

 there was a time series of two hundred and 

 sixty days, divided into thirteens, begin- 

 ning with 1 Imix, and making a sacred cere- 

 monial year ; that the glyphs in the part of 

 the codex relating to this series are to be read 

 from left to right through a series of pages 

 in an alternating manner; that the pictures 

 and glyphs accompanying this time series ex- 

 plain ceremonies that were to take place at 

 intervals during the ceremonial year; and 

 that the coincidence of a sinistral circuit of 

 glyphs perhaps indicates the quarter in which 

 ceremonies were observed during the last 

 four days of the year. The author hopes 

 that his paper may accomplish at least so 

 much as to indicate a fruitful source of in- 

 vestigation for students of the Maya codices 

 in studying the pictures and glyphs associ- 

 ated with this time series. 



A Practical System of Studying the Ger- 

 man Language is designed by the author. Dr. 

 Albert Pick, for the use of physicians and 

 medical students in self-instruction. It is 

 observed that while one can learn by the aid 

 of the usual text-books to converse in Ger- 

 man about everyday affairs or to read literary 

 German, or may become acquainted with the 

 details of the grammar, none of them are 

 competent to assist him in reading medical 

 books, conversing with patients, or listening 

 to medical lectures. The present system is 

 for teaching the German medical language, 

 and accustoming him to the long, coherent 

 sentences used in medical treatises, talks, etc. 

 It consists of short essays on anatomy, physi- 

 ology, pathology, medical and surgical dis- 

 eases, examination of patients, etc. Each 

 lesson is in two parts ; one being a short 

 essay on the subject in " medical German," 

 and the other a conversation on practical 

 everyday subjects. A few lessons are given 

 in applied or practical grammar alone. A 

 key to the pronunciation and a translation 

 accompany every word, wherever it appears. 

 The work is in twelve paper parts, convenient 

 to be put in the pocket, so that it may be car- 

 ried along and consulted at any time or place. 

 (Published by Pick & Tamier, Newtonville, 

 Mass.) 



The Sixth Annual Report on the Statistics 

 of Railways in the United States of the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission represents the 

 year ending June 30, 1893, and is distributed 



