THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



borg viewed the world of mind and matter 

 was a peculiar one, and docs not coirespond 

 with that from which the scientific investi- 

 gator or even the orthodox Christian of the 

 present day regards it ; but all concede, we 

 believe, that he wrote learnedly and honest- 

 ly, and with thoughts that appeal strongly 

 to certain classes of men. According to the 

 translator, the one desire and aim that ani- 

 mated the entire series of his writings was 

 the '' search for the soul." Concerning the 

 scientific bearings of his works, Mr. Sewall 

 declares that they speak " the glorious prom- 

 ise of a reward to be reached higher even 

 than that sought for ; of an end whose re- 

 alization, only blindly striven for in the 

 ascending ladders of knowledge, finally fills 

 and illumines all the subordinate science 

 Avith a light, a warmth, a beauty inconceiv- 

 able before. . . . The scientists of the pres- 

 ent daj', with their careful elaboration of 

 the facts of sensuous knowledge, are build- 

 ing wiser than they know ; their own aims, 

 the particular theories they seek to establish, 

 are of minor account — they are the baubles 

 placed before it to induce it to walk " — 

 leading them on, of course, toward the re- 

 alization of higher discoveries. 



Another new language has been con- 

 structed, and is described by the inventor, 

 Eiias Molcc, in his Pica for an Amerikan 

 Language (the author, Bristol, D. T., $1.25). 

 This language is based on English, reject- 

 ing all words not of Germanic origin, and 

 with its spelling made phonetic by the aid 

 of new letters, and its inflections made reg- 

 ular. Vowels have been preferred to con- 

 sonants for inflectional endings, in order to 

 give the new language more euphony than 

 English has. The author claims that his 

 Amei'ikan or Germanic-English language 

 has the same excellences as Volapiik, and 

 is better adapted for use by the Germanic 

 race. 



The Report of the New York Agricult- 

 ural Experiment Station for 18S7, E. L. 

 Sturfevanf, Director, embodies the results 

 of experiments in quite a wide range of 

 subjects. Considerable work on the move- 

 ments of soil-water and on the cultivation 

 of the potato is reported. This volume 

 contains also descriptions of varieties of 

 twelve important vegetables, with classifi- 

 cation,, etc., nearly all of the varieties de- 



scribed having been grown at the station 

 more than one season. Many minor topics 

 have also received attention. 



Dr. Williatn H. Holcombe's pamphlet 

 entitled Condensed Thoughts about Chris- 

 tian Science (Purdy Publishing Company) 

 differs from the common run of expositions 

 of this doctrine in being written in good 

 English, and in showing for its author some 

 ability to think. It presents a fairly clear 

 view of the not very clear theory of " Chris- 

 tian science," or rather the author's inter- 

 pretation of that theory, for hardly two 

 writers on the subject agree with any close- 

 ness. 



Fever -Nursing^ by J. C. Wilson (J. B. 

 Lippincott Company), is one of a series of 

 " Practical Lessons in Nursing," by differ- 

 ent authors, published by the same house. 

 It is designed for the use of professional 

 and other nurses, and especially as a text- 

 book for nurses in training. The instruc- 

 tions were first given in courses of lectures 

 given before the nurse class at the Phila- 

 delphia Hospital. In them the author has 

 sought to treat the subject in plain words 

 and from the standpoint of the physician, 

 and to teach not only how fever-patients 

 are to be cared for, but why they must be 

 cared for in particular ways. 



The Outlines of Practiced Physiology of 

 Mr. William Stirling (P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 

 $2.25) was designed primarily for the use 

 of students in that branch in Owens Col- 

 lege, and is now published in the belief 

 that it will be found useful to other stu- 

 dents as it has been to them. The peculiar 

 feature of the book, as among students' 

 manuals, is the prominence which is given 

 to actual experimental work. It is, in 

 fact, almost wholly a list and description 

 of experiments, which the reader is expect- 

 ed to perform, according to the directions, 

 for himself. They have been performed by 

 the author in illustration of his lectures, and 

 also by every member of his class. None 

 of them, however, involve the infliction of 

 pain upon living animals. 



Elodisme (lodism), by Elizabeth N.Brad- 

 ley, of Dobbs Ferry (G. Steinhcil, Paris), em- 

 bodies in a volume of 168 pages the results 

 of careful studies of the action of iodine 

 upon the system, and the effects it produces 



