826 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing stout. " The quieting effects of a few 

 pounds of fat " gave him a " clew to much 

 of the restless activity of Americans " ; this 

 led to " much thought " during the next ten 

 years on the subject of " physiological feed- 

 ing," and, as one of the results, we have the 

 present book. All there is of value in its 

 sixty pages could be better said in as many 

 lines, and they would then contain nothing 

 beyond the merest commonplaces of physi- 

 ology. 



What is the Bible ? By J. T. Sundekland. 

 New York : Putnam's Sons. 1878. Pp. 

 189. $1. 



The object of the author in composing 

 this book was to help readers of the Bible to 

 be intelligent readers, not only in the small 

 and meager sense of knowing by heart a mul- 

 titude of texts, but also in the larger and 

 more worthy way of understanding that 

 book as a whole — whence it came, how it 

 came, what it is, and what relation it bears 

 to other sacred books of the race. The 

 Bible is treated with a reverent spirit by 

 Mr. Sunderland, but that reverence does 

 not prevent him from discerning and point- 

 ing out its blemishes. He compares the 

 book to a gold mine, rich indeed in the 

 precious metal, but still a mine. There are 

 fools who insist that the whole " output " 

 of this mine is pure gold ; no less is the 

 folly of others who, because they see earth 

 and quartz mixed with the gold, declare 

 that the mine contains no gold. " The part 

 of rational men and women," says the author, 

 "surely is to delve earnestly in the mine, 

 casting out, without hesitation, what plainly 

 is not gold, but saving and treasuring up 

 what clearly is gold." 



How TO parse. By Rev. E. A. Abbott, D. D. 

 Boston; Roberts Brothers. 1878. Pp. 

 34-3. $1. 



The title of this book is not a very 

 attractive one, and will repel, we fancy, 

 rather than win readers. "Parsing" has 

 fallen into disrepute, and few persons will 

 care to know how it should be performed. 

 But if, overlooking the title, we examine 

 the book, it will be found to contain a 

 great deal of valuable information. What 

 is more, it will serve to give the student an 

 insight into the scientific principles of Eng- 

 lish grammar. 



The Natural History of the Agricul- 

 tural Ant of Texas. By Henry Chris- 

 topher McCooK. Philadelphia : The au- 

 thor (Academy of Natural Sciences). 

 1879. Pp. 310, with 24 Lithographic 

 Plates. $4. 



A MORE instructive and entertaining 

 matter of study than the ant tribe it would 

 not be easy to find in the whole animal 

 kingdom outside of man ; and, of all the 

 ants, certainly none are more worthy of our 

 attention than the species described in Mr. 

 McCook's present work. A naturalist resi- 

 dent in Texas, the late Dr. Gideon Lince- 

 cum, had at sundry times between 1861 and 

 the period of his death, some five or six 

 years ago, contributed to the proceedings of 

 various learned societies notes on the habits 

 of the agricultural ant, but his observations, 

 as we learn from Mr. McCook, were dis- 

 credited by not a few entomological writers. 

 It was the author's good fortune to confirm 

 in almost every particular the results of the 

 Texas naturahst, and to add to them a mul- 

 titude of fresh observatious of his own. 

 We therefore heartily welcome the volume, 

 not only on account of the information it 

 contains touching the agricultural ant, but 

 also because it is a triumphant vindication 

 of one of the most ingenious of American 

 naturalists. Mr. McCook, in successive chap- 

 ters, treats of the surface architecture and 

 work of the agricultural ants, their har- 

 vesting habits, their subterranean architec- 

 ture, their modes of mining, their food and 

 feeding, their " toilet, sleeping, and funeral 

 habits," their social and (if the term be 

 allowable) their political relations, their mi- 

 grations and movements, their wars ; and, 

 finally, he gives a detailed description of 

 their anatomy. 



House Air the Cause and Promoter of 



Disease. By Frank Donaldson, M. D. 



Baltimore : Innes & Co. print. 1878. 



Pp. 23. 



The author insists on the necessity of 

 frequently renewing the air of inhabited 

 rooms. To the objection that fuel is too 

 costly, and people can not afford to let in the 

 cold air, he replies : " True, more fuel must 

 be consumed. But is not the additional ex- 

 pense a small matter compared with the 

 healthfulness resulting from it ? Fresh air 

 is better worth paying for than even Jood; it 

 is more essential to health.^'' 



