710 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



These notes give the location of each quarry, 

 the character and position of the rock, man- 

 ner of working, uses of the product, etc. 

 The results of tests to determine the struct- 

 ure, hardness, and comparative value of these 

 stones are deferred to another Bulletin. 



Studies from the Biological Laboralory of 

 Johns Hopkins University, Vol. Ill, No. 3, 

 contains papers, based on experiments, with 

 plates for illustration, " On the Laws of 

 Muscular Stimulation and Contraction," by 

 George T, Kemp ; and " On Tetanus and the 

 Velocity of the Contraction Wave in Striated 

 Muscle," by John P. CambcU. 



In a letter to the Prince of Boncompagni 

 on Various Faints in the History of Mathe- 

 matics, which is published at Rome and Paris 

 in French, M. Charles Henry discusses the 

 problem of inscribing a triangle within a 

 circle, as proposed in Menon ; the origins of 

 the planetary signs and the Arabic numerals, 

 and a number of other problems that have 

 engaged the attention of students at various 

 times. 



The eight lectures on Tlie Social Influ- 

 ence of Christianity, delivered by David J. 

 Hill, LL. D. (Silver, $1.25), before the New- 

 ton (Mass.) Theological Institution in 1887, 

 have been issued in book-form. The pur- 

 pose of these lectures is to show how much 

 and in what way Christianity has improved 

 the character of our civilization. In the 

 first lecture the nature of human society is 

 discussed ; the second is a summary reply to 

 the question " What has Christianity done 

 for Society ? " ; and the other lectures deal 

 respectively with the relations of Christianity 

 to the problems of labor, wealth, marriage, 

 education, legislation, and repression. Doubt- 

 less some readers would be inclined to ascribe 

 to other causes a part of the effects which 

 the author credits to Christianity. In con- 

 nection with the pictures which he gives of 

 past progress, the author frequently express- 

 es his opinions, or presents arguments, on 

 sociological questions which are to be de- 

 cided in the future. The book is methodical 

 in arrangement, scholarly in tone, and read- 

 able in style. 



77te Realities of Heaven, eight lectures 

 by the Rev. T. F. Wright (W. H. Alden, 

 Philadelphia, 40 cents), is an exposition of 

 the doctrine of resurrection and immortality. 



from the point of view of the Swedenborgian 

 or New Church. 



Opposite in point of view from the two 

 preceding volumes is The Bible of Nature, 

 by Felix L. Oswald (Truth-Seeker Company, 

 $1). This is a spirited effort to state the 

 principles of a religion of Nature, pointing 

 out incidentally many ignorant, cruel, and 

 revolting practices that have gone on under 

 the authority of Christian churches. " The 

 religion of the future," says Dr. Oswald, 

 " will preach the gospel of redemption by 

 reason, by science, and by conformity to the 

 laws of our health-protecting instincts." Its 

 principles as here set forth are comprised 

 under " Physical Maxims," viz., health, 

 strength, chastity, temperance, and skill ; 

 " Mental Maxims," viz., knowledge, inde- 

 pendence, prudence, perseverance, and free- 

 thought ; " Moral Maxims," viz., justice, 

 truth, humanity, friendship, and education ; 

 and "Objective Maxims," viz, forest -cult- 

 ure, recreation, domestic reform, legislative 

 reform, and the priesthood of secularism. 

 The author sets forth the promptings of our 

 normal instincts in regard to each of these 

 matters, states the penalties of neglecting 

 such promptings, and the rewards of con- 

 formity to them, with suggestions for re- 

 forming the present condition of society. 



The author of " A Modern Zoroastrian," 

 Mr. Samuel Laing, has issued a pamphlet 

 entitled Agnosticism and Christianity (Watts 

 & Co., London), in which he debates the ques- 

 tion whether the two subjects of his essay 

 are reconcilable. With that form of Chris- 

 tianity which disregards theological theo- 

 ries, and consists in imitation of the charac- 

 ter of Jesus of Nazareth, he says agnosti- 

 cism may well join hands, but that many of 

 the harsh and incredible doctrines of the Old 

 Testament and the churches may be, and are 

 becoming, neglected by both Christians and 

 agnostics. He does not believe that the loss 

 of faith in a system of rewards and punish- 

 ments in a future life would be a death-blow 

 to morality, for the reason that, by the evo- 

 lution of the human race, morality has be- 

 come instinctive in civilized communities. 

 He states briefly the " philosophy of polari- 

 ty," which he has found most satisfactory, 

 and closes by saying that the duty of a man 

 of the nineteenth century being to follow 

 truth at all hazards, he will find himself 



