7S 6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Pnysics of the Infectious Diseases. Com- 

 prehending a Discussion of Certain Phys- 

 ical Phenomena in Connection with the 

 Acute Infectious Diseases. By C. A. 

 Logan, M. D. Chicago : Jansen, McClurg 

 & Co. Pp. 212. Price, $1.50. 



The author of this work spent four years 

 on the west coast of South America, a re- 

 gion remarkable for two things : 1. Certain 

 peculiar physical features and aspects ; and, 

 2. A marked exemption from infectious dis- 

 eases. He assumes a connection between 

 these two facts, and has aimed to trace it out, 

 and to derive important medical conclusions 

 from the results. The problem of the influ- 

 ence of physical conditions upon health and 

 disease is fundamental but at present ob- 

 scure, and, while its investigation is of the 

 greatest moment, advanced conclusions built 

 upon it must be received with caution. The 

 volume is instructive, and opens a special 

 inquiry, which will no doubt be followed up 

 by medical observers. 



A Science Primer; on the Nature of 

 Things. By John G. MacVickar, D. D. 

 Edinburgh : Blackwood & Sons. Pp. 112. 



This little book may claim the position 

 of distinguished preeminence in absurdity 

 among the mass of absurd publications with 

 which we have been lately deluged, under 

 the title of " Science Primers." We by no 

 means intimate that those little books are 

 without merit, but as rudimentary treatises, 

 as books for beginners, as primers, they are 

 with hardly an exception ridiculous. He 

 who writes a primer of science should know 

 two things the subject he deals with, and 

 the state of mind to which such a book is 

 addressed. It matters nothing how sound 

 and careful and accurate and trustworthy 

 the writer's statement may be in itself; if it 

 is not adapted to the mental condition of 

 those ignorant of the subject, it will be a 

 senseless and stupid failure. Our science 

 primers are nearly all of this kind. They 

 are written by men who seem to have not 

 the slightest notion of what is needed for 

 the minds of the young, and are in fact ad- 

 dressed to adult minds, and for these they 

 are generally instructive and valuable. 



Dr. MacVickar's " Science Primer on the 

 Nature of Things," we might almost sup- 

 pose, had been written as a burlesque on 

 this class of books. It deals throughout 



with the most profound and abstract sub- 

 jects, with remote and contested questions 

 of cosmical science, with knotty problems 

 of theology, and with speculations on chem- 

 ism, ethers, and the geometrical constitution 

 of molecules. The writer seems, indeed, to 

 be not unconscious of the absurd misappro- 

 priateness of his work, and excuses it on 

 the plea that all science is a good deal of a 

 humbug. He says in his preface : " It may, 

 indeed, be alleged that these primers pre- 

 sent to their readers merely a smattering 

 of science. But may it not with truth be 

 replied, in similar terms, that the actual sci- 

 ence of the day, in all its details, when 

 viewed in reference to a satisfactory view 

 of Nature and its economy, is itself merely 

 a smattering ? " 



Putnam's Art Hand-Books. Edited by 

 Susan M. Carter, Superintendent of the 

 Woman's Art School, Cooper Union. I. 

 The Art of Sketching from Nature. By 

 Thomas Rowbotham. 27 Illustrations. 

 Pp. 74. Price, 50 cents. II. The Art 

 of Landscape-Painting in Oil-Colors. By 

 W. Williams. Pp. 74. Price, 50 cents. 



These neat little hand-books, which have 

 gone through many editions in England, are 

 now reprinted for the use of American art- 

 students, and are to be soon followed by 

 others on " Flower-Painting," " Figure- 

 Drawing," and " An Artistic Treatise on the 

 Human Figure." They seem to be prepared 

 by experienced artists, and the name of the 

 editor is a guarantee that they will prove 

 useful to the cultivators of practical art in 

 this country. 



The Principles of Light and Color. In- 

 cluding among other Things the Har- 

 monic Laws of the Universe, the Etherio- 

 Atomic Philosophy of Force, Chromo- 

 Chemistry, Chromo - Therapeutics, and 

 the General Philosophy of the Fine 

 Forces, together with Numerous Discov- 

 eries and Practical Applications. Illus- 

 trated by 204 Exquisite Photo-Engrav- 

 ings, besides Four Superb Colored Plates 

 printed on Seven Plates each. By Ed- 

 win D. Babbitt. Science Hall, New 

 York : Babbitt & Co. Pp. 560. Price, 

 $4. 



This is an elaborate and elegantly illus- 

 trated volume which we have not yet had 

 time to read. The writer is a bold specu- 

 lator, and seems to differ very widely and 



