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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tion ; and this emotional tendency, more or 

 less strong in the human race, we call reli- 

 gious feeling or religion." Admirable ! but 

 how far accepted ? We hope that the 

 agreement of Messrs. Brownson, Hill, Wash- 

 burn, Deems, Fiske, and Co., in denouncing 

 the groundlessness of the " conflict," will 

 not be construed as implying any agree- 

 ment among the parties as to what religion 

 is. If these gentlemen will get together and 

 settle the point, an important step will be 

 gained ; and The Popular Science Monthly 

 will gladly pay the expenses of a convention 

 of reasonable length for such a purpose, but 

 we stipulate not to foot the bills until they 

 reach an agreement. 



A Short History of Natural Science and 

 of the Progress of Discovery from the 

 Time of the Greeks to the Present 

 Day. For the Use of Schools and Young 

 Persons. With Illustrations. Pp. 467. 

 D. Appleton & Co. Price, $2. 



We called attention recently to the in- 

 fluence of the Centennial in stimulating the 

 study of political history, and expressed 

 the hope that the gathering together of the 

 products of art, science, and industry, of 

 all nations, at the Great Exhibition in 

 Philadelphia, would have the effect of pro- 

 moting the historical study of this class 

 " of subjects in American schools. It was 

 pointed out that this line of literature has 

 been greatly neglected, and is so backward 

 that students desiring to attend to it would 

 be much perplexed to find suitable text- 

 books for the purpose. An important and 

 very successful step has, however, been tak- 

 en to supply this deficiency. The work 

 now published under the above title, con- 

 sidering that it is the first attempt to treat 

 the history of science in a brief and popular 

 way for educational purposes, is of very su- 

 perior merit. We took it up with doubt, 

 we read it with a growing interest, and cor- 

 dially recommend it both for general read- 

 ing and as a school-book. The authoress 

 has made no scientific discoveries ; and we 

 question if there are many who have done 

 so who could make so judicious a compond 

 of general scientific history as she has done. 

 But, if she has not made a name as an ex- 

 plorer, she has been a careful student of 

 science, and, having been for many years 

 secretary to the late Sir Charles Lyell, and 



brought into contact with many of the 

 leading scientific men of the day, she had 

 peculiar opportunities of qualifying her- 

 self for the task of writing a popular scien- 

 tific history. Her style is clear and di- 

 rect, and her power of explanation we think 

 something quite unusual, while the propor- 

 tions in which the subjects are treated evince 

 good artistic judgment in the work of book- 

 making. Illustrations are introduced with 

 discretion, to help the text, and brief bio- 

 graphical notices are interspersed which 

 give interest to the course of the narra- 

 tive, and the exposition of scientific work. 

 The book is, moreover, essentially ac- 

 curate and trustworthy ; and executed with 

 far more faithfulness than is usual in com- 

 pilations. Miss Buckley's volume ought to 

 be unhesitatingly and extensively adopted 

 in our schools, and kept there until super- 

 seded by a better, which we suspect will 

 not be very soon. We do not recommend 

 it to be memorized, or made a matter of 

 formal recitation, so much as for a reading- 

 book to be gone over by suitable classes, 

 with such questions and suggestions as an 

 intelligent teacher can impart. So used, 

 its influence in schools .cannot be otherwise 

 than valuable. 



Diseases of Modern Life. By B. W. 



Richardson, M. D., P. R. S. Pp. 520. 



New York : D. Appleton & Co. Price, 



$2. 



We have already given some excerpts 

 from advance-sheets of this book, which is 

 just issued. Dr. Richardson was led to the 

 treatment of the subject by having first 

 given special attention to the diseases of 

 overworked men. He printed some essays 

 on this topic, and followed them by others 

 on diseases induced by various occupations 

 and by indulgence in the use of alcohol 

 and tobacco. These articles, having under- 

 gone revision and considerable extension, 

 make up the present volume. The author 

 carefully abstains from infringing upon 

 the proper -art of curing disease which be- 

 longs to the medical practitioner, and con- 

 fines himself mainly to the symptoms and 

 causes of modern maladies, and to hints 

 toward their prevention. While the Jbook 

 will not be without value to physicians, it 

 is carefully adapted to the wants and capa- 

 city of general readers. We have simply 



