LITERARY NOTICES. 



247 



entific papers will be found chiefly in the 

 first two volumes ; descriptions of improved 

 methods of warming and cooking occupy 

 the third ; and the greater part of the last 

 is devoted to philanthropic essays ; but this 

 also contains the scientific papers on light. 

 The volumes are splendidly illustrated and 

 elegantly printed. The American Academy 

 of Sciences could have given no worthier 

 tribute to the fame of this man than to fur- 

 nish the world with so excellent an edition 

 of his writings. 



Like-Histories of the Birds of Eastern 

 Pennsylvania. By Thomas Gentry. 

 In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Pp. 400. 

 Philadelphia : The author. 



This work is intended to present more 

 fully than has been done before the habits, 

 food, migrations, and other characteristics 

 of the birds of Eastern Pennsylvania. 



Especial attention is given to the build- 

 ing of nests; showing wherein they vary, 

 and the causes for such variations. 



The labor of nidification ; the periods 

 of incubation, and the part which the male 

 takes in it ; the age when the young quit 

 their nests ; the character of the sexes be- 

 fore and after incubation ; and the food, as 

 insects, seeds, and berries, on which the 

 birds, old and young, depend, are carefully 

 considered by the patient and indefatigable 

 author. 



Very much of value is thus added to 

 our knowledge of bird-life, and what is 

 specially important to our knowledge of the 

 instincts and mental constitution and emo- 

 tions of birds. 



We look for good results from the labors 

 of Mr. Gentry. The system of classifica- 

 tion he adopts is the same as that of Br. 

 Elliott Coues in his " Key to North Amer- 

 ican Birds." 



Eeport of the Trustees of the Harvard 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



Gives an account of all changes and 

 additions in the various sections of the Mu- 

 seum during 1875. From the report on 

 instruction in zoology, it appears that dur- 

 ing the year 1874-75 there were eighteen 

 students attending the lectures of Prof. Mc- 

 Crady. A detailed statement is made of 

 the condition of the Agassiz Memorial 

 Fund. 



The Physiology of the Circulation in 

 Plants, in the Lower Animals, and in 

 Man. By J. Bell Pettigrew, M. D., 

 F. R. S. London and New York: Mac- 

 iiiillan. Pp. 329. Price, $4. 



In this work we have what the Lancet 

 justly calls "the first serious attempt at a 

 great generalization on an avowedly diffi- 

 cult subject." The author has undertaken 

 no less a task than to show that the circu- 

 lation, as it takes place in plants, animals, 

 and man, is essentially the same in kind ; 

 differing mainly in the degree of complexity 

 attained by the organs which carry it on, 

 and of the resulting movements of the cir- 

 culating fluids. 



The book opens with a brief history of 

 the growth of the subject, from the fanciful 

 notions held centuries ago by the Chinese 

 that " the circulation of the vital heat and 

 radical humors commenced at three o'clock 

 in the morning, reached the lungs in the 

 course of the day, and terminated in the 

 liver at the end of twenty-four hours," up 

 to the exact scientific demonstrations of 

 Harvey and Malpighi. " The term ' circula- 

 tion,' in the present day," says the author, 

 " is employed in a double sense. In its 

 wider signification it embraces the course of 

 the nutritious juices through plants and the 

 lower order of animals; in its more limited 

 signification, and as applied to man and the 

 higher orders of animated beings, it indi- 

 cates the course of the blood from the heart 

 to the capillaries, and from these back 

 again to the heart. The word ' circulation ' 

 literally means a flowing round, a going and 

 returning ; and it is well to bear the original 

 meaning in mind, as we shall find that a 

 single circle aptly represents the circulation 

 in most of the lower animals, a circle with 

 one or more accessory loops, representing 

 the circulation in the higher ones." 



The circulation in plants is first de- 

 scribed, the ascent, descent, and lateral dis- 

 tribution of the sap, and the forces which 

 maintain the flow, being each fully treated. 

 Many curious resemblances between the cir- 

 culation in plants and that in animals are 

 pointed out in this section of the work. On 

 this point the author says : " I now proceed 

 to a consideration of the circulation as it 

 exists in animals ; and an attentive exami- 

 nation of the subject not only induces me 

 to believe that there is a striking analogy 



