122 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



can any progress be made. This portion of 

 the work is of high value, and the informa- 

 tion it contains is nowhere else accessible, 

 at least in the English language. 



The remaining 400 pages are devoted to 

 explaining the mode of investigating the 

 fluids and tissues of organisms, etc. The 

 author's method here is, first, to ascertain 

 the normal conditions of tissues, organs, etc., 

 and then to study diseased conditions, the 

 pathological structure always more or less 

 repeating the normal. As far as we have 

 had an opportunity of judging, the trans- 

 lator's work appears to be well done. 



The Depths of the Sea. By C. Wyville 

 Thompson, LL. D., etc. London and 

 New York: Macmillan & Co., 1873. 



Certain new and very interesting re- 

 sults, in regard to the distribution of life, 

 have been arrived at within the last few 

 years, by dredging the bottom of the sea. 

 Twenty years ago it was believed that at 

 certain depths the greatness of the pressure, 

 the lowness of the temperature, and the de- 

 ficiency of light and aeration, made it impos- 

 sible for life to subsist. The alleged cases of 

 living creatures being drawn up from these 

 great depths were discredited. The opera- 

 tions of cable-laying and cable-raising have, 

 however, increased our familiarity with the 

 bottom of the sea, and the improved ma- 

 nipulations have been turned to account in 

 exploring its life. The result was, the es- 

 tablishment of the truth that there is an 

 order of life belonging to the sea-bed in the 

 profound abysess of the ocean. The rec- 

 ognition of this fact led to systematic at- 

 tempts to carry on deep-sea explorations. 

 In 1868 the steamer Lightning was placed 

 by the British Government at the disposal 

 of Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Wyville Thomp- 

 son for the express purpose of submarine 

 research, and the Porcupine was afterward 

 assigned, for a more extensive series of sur- 

 veys, to the same gentlemen, with the addi- 

 tion of Mr Gwyn Jeffreys, in the summers 

 of 1869 and 1870. In the first of these 

 cruises the greatest depth reached was 1,500 

 fathoms, but in the second they went to the 

 depth of 2,500 or 3,000 fathoms. The pres- 

 ent volume is a record of the results attained 

 in these expeditions. It gives an account 

 of the apparatus and instruments employed, 



of the forms of organization discovered, 

 and much information regarding the physics 

 of the ocean. It is splendidly illustrated 

 and popularly written, with much humor, 

 and the treatment, like the subject, is any 

 thing but dry; it is a volume altogether 

 worthy the interest and importance of its 

 subject. 



Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering 

 Magazine. New York : D. Van Nos- 

 trand, 23 Murray Street. 



We call the attention of mechanics, en- 

 gineers, manufacturers, and scientific stu- 

 dents, to this able and valuable periodical, 

 now in its eighth volume. It treats of the 

 applications of science, constructions, min- 

 ing, and technical processes, and gives the 

 solid literature of these subjects from all 

 sources. It is edited with excellent dis- 

 crimination, and the bound volumes of the 

 series would form a most useful cyclopaedia 

 of recent authentic information upon the 

 subjects to which it is devoted. 



Historical Statement of the Business 



AND CONniTION OF THE MCTCAL LlFE 



Insurance Company, of New York, 

 for Thirty Years, from 1843 to 1872. 



The company did well to state, in the 

 beginning of this pamphlet, that its matter 

 is important ; since, owing to the style in 

 which it is presented, few will be likely to 

 discover that fact in any other way. Its 

 contents are put in the shape of a fac- 

 simile of the original statement, signatures 

 and all, a form to which probably not one 

 in a hundred will attach any special value, 

 and that involves a useless waste of time 

 and patience on the part of the reader. 

 What policy-holders and the public want is 

 clear and explicit information that is readily 

 accessible, and this appears to be just what 

 the insurance companies are unable or un- 

 willing to furnish. 



Hygiene : a Fortnightly Journal of Sanitary 

 Science. New York : Putnam. Two 

 dollars per year. 



This is a publication that was much 

 needed, for the first of all our interests, that 

 of health, is the one concerning which peo- 

 ple are most careless and indifferent. It is 

 amazing the amount of ignorance displayed, 

 even by cultured people, with regard to the 





