LITERARY NOTICES. 



393 



ever, required, that should give the latest 

 scientific information respecting foods, so 

 clearly and simply written as to be under- 

 stood by common people, and that should 

 combine fulness of statement with com- 

 pactness of form and a moderate price. Dr. 

 Smith has realized these difficult conditions 

 in a very remarkable degree in the volume 

 now prepared. Adopting a classification 

 that is recommended by its simplicity, he 

 goes over the whole field and describes 

 the properties, composition, preparations, 

 and adaptations of all the alimentary sub- 

 stances now employed by civilized man. In 

 his preface, the author remarks : " Largely- 

 increased commercial intercourse with dis- 

 tant countries, associated with a marked 

 improvement in the purchasing power of 

 the masses of the people, and the rapid in- 

 crease of wealth generally, have attracted 

 public attention to the subject of foods and 

 dietaries in an unusual degree, so that not 

 only is there a greater importation of for- 

 eign productions than formerly, but new 

 foods, or preparations of foods, are pro- 

 duced almost daily, some of which are spe- 

 cially fitted for certain classes of persons, 

 as children, while others are of general use. 

 Hence our food-supplies, whether natural 

 or prepared, offer increased variety of fla- 

 vor, if not of nutritive qualities, and foods 

 which were formerly restricted to the few 

 are now commonly found on the tables of 

 the many. 



" Scientific research in every civilized 

 nation has also diligently busied itself in 

 the elucidation of the subject, and our 

 knowledge has been increased in reference 

 to the chemical composition, preparation, 

 and physiological effects of food. 



" With so many causes of change since 

 the issue of my work on 'Practical Dieta- 

 ry,' it seemed desirable to produce another 

 which should embrace all the generally 

 known and some less known foods, and 

 contain the latest scientific knowledge re- 

 specting them, while at the same time the 

 subject should be treated in a popular 

 manner. 



" It was originally intended to include 

 both foods and diets in one work, but the 

 subject has now become so large that it 

 was found necessary to limit the present 

 volume to foods alone, and to reserve the 



subject of diets and dietaries for a future 

 occasion." 



The amount of information that Dr. 

 Smith has contrived to compress into this 

 little volnme is quite surprising ; it seems, 

 indeed, to have the completeness of a regu- 

 lar cyclopaedia of the subject. Besides giv- 

 ing the pith of what is known of the whole 

 range of aliments proper, simple and com- 

 pound, he includes those outlying groups 

 of bodies which, whether or not they be 

 properly foods, are habitually taken into 

 the system, and have great physiological 

 importance. The properties of water, of 

 air, of wines and spirituous liquors, are 

 well summed up in their relations to the 

 living organism. The volume contains 

 many illustrations and valuable tables, with 

 full-page diagrams, representing graphically 

 the effects of various alimentary agents 

 upon the system in different times and cir- 

 cumstances. Dr. Smith's work will be a 

 standard manual upon the important sub- 

 ject of foods. 



Theoretical Navigation and Nautical 

 Astronomy. By Lewis Clark, Lieuten- 

 ant-Commander U. S. N. New York : 

 D. Van Nostrand, 1872. 



This is a book written, as the introduc- 

 tion informs us, " for use at the United 

 States Naval Academy." It is, then, in- 

 tended to be used by young pupils as a 

 first book, and must be judged by the rules 

 which apply to the ordinary text-book : 

 that is to say, it must be, before all things, 

 clear, eminently accurate, and it must be 

 calculated to develop in the student a 

 habit of exactness ; and, since it is a text- 

 book of so practical a subject as naviga- 

 tion, it must be a book of reference which 

 the graduated midshipman can safely use. 

 These are the tests which any one, who 

 writes a book on navigation and nautical 

 astronomy, must attempt to satisfy, and 

 which, it seems, should be easily satisfied, 

 since the subject is an old one, and since 

 such a writer has many works of able pred- 

 ecessors to consult. 



These conditions this volume in no wise 

 fulfils. Indeed, it3 author tells us, in the 

 early portions of his book, that, in the work 

 of interpolating from the " Nautical Alma- 

 nac," formula; have been given to meet each 



