LITERARY NOTICES. 



853 



"the duties on iron during the generation 

 after 1815 formed a heavy tax on con- 

 sumers ; that they impeded, so far as they 

 went, the industrial development of the 

 country ; and that no compensatory benefits 

 were obtained to offset these disadvantages." 

 The history shows also that three different 

 arguments have been urged at different 

 times in favor of protection. First was 

 the " young industries " argument, which be- 

 gan to lose strength shortly after 1832 ; 

 next was the " home market " argument, to 

 which the situation during the War of 1812 

 gave some vigor ; and last was the argu- 

 ment based on the difference in wages in 

 Europe and the United States, which, cu- 

 riously, was first a free-trade weapon before 

 the protectionists took it up. As a whole, 

 "one does not find in the popular discus- 

 sions of fifty years ago, more than in those 

 of the present, precision of thought or ex- 

 pression." Through all tariff changes and 

 discussions our manufactures kept on grow- 

 ing, as they would have done under any cir- 

 cumstances, Prof. Taussig seems to believe, 

 by the sheer force of the nature of things. 

 The history of the existing tariff is given 

 with considerable fullness. 



Ptomaines and Leucomaines. By Victor C. 

 Vaughan, Ph. D., M. D., and Frederick 

 G. NovY., M. S. Philadelphia : Lea 

 Brothers & Co. Pp. 316. Price, $1.75. 



Toxicology, the field in which the three 

 domains of the chemist, the doctor, and the 

 lawyer come together, has had its boundaries 

 enlarged within the past ten years by the ad- 

 dition of the putrefactive and the physio- 

 logical alkaloids. In this short period the 

 activity of various investigators has brought 

 to light a large number of facts concerning 

 these substances. To collect, arrange, and 

 systematize these discoveries, the reports of 

 which were scattered through many jour- 

 nals, transactions, and other publications, 

 has been the first object of the authors of 

 this volume. 



The work opens with a historical sketch 

 of the subject, which is followed by a chap- 

 ter of cases of poisoning by foods containing 

 poisonous ptomaines. Poisoning by cheese 

 and milk is treated with especial fullness. 

 Prof. Vaughan being especially qualified to 

 speak on this subject, since he is the dis- 



coverer of tyrotoxicon. The relation of 

 ptomaines to disease is next taken up, and 

 five theories which have been proposed in 

 answer to the question. How do micro-organ- 

 isms produce disease ? are examined. The 

 theory that the symptoms of infectious dis- 

 ease are caused by chemical poisons, pto- 

 maines, which the bacilli produce by split- 

 ting up complex compounds in the body, is 

 deemed by the authors practically demon- 

 strated, and they cite the evidence for this 

 theory as regards anthrax, cholera, tetanus, 

 and other diseases. In the next chapter cer- 

 tain ptomaines which resemble in their reac- 

 tions the vegetable alkaloids are described, 

 and the danger of mistaking the former for 

 the latter is pointed out. Several methods 

 of extracting ptomaines are given, and the 

 chemical descriptions of a large number of 

 these substances follow. Similar descrip- 

 tions of the leucomaines are given, and a 

 twenty-page bibliography of the two classes 

 of substances closes the volume. 



Vol. IV, No. IV, of Studies from the 

 Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins 

 University (N. Murray, Baltimore, $1), opens 

 with a short paper by Prof. W. K. Brooks, 

 on " The Life - History of Epenthesis Mc- 

 Cradyi," a species of hydro-medusa, illus- 

 trated with three plates. This is followed 

 by "Observations on the Development of 

 Cephalopods : Homology of the Germ-Lay- 

 ers," by S. Watase, with two plates. There 

 are also two papers by F. Mall, M. D., one 

 on " Development of the Ear of the Chick," 

 with two plates, and the other on " The 

 Branchial Clefts of the Dog, with Special 

 Reference to the Origin of the Thymus 

 Gland," with three plates. Mr. T. H. Mor- 

 gan reports some " Experiments with Chitin 

 Solvents." 



The California Florist (Santa Barbara, 

 Cal., $1 a year) is an illustrated monthly 

 devoted to Pacific coast floriculture. It is 

 popular and practical in character, and is 

 edited with intelligence and good taste. The 

 first number was that for May, 1888. 



Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft has prepared, 

 and the History Company, San Francisco, 

 publishes, uniform with the scries of the 

 " History of the Pacific States of North 

 America," California inter Pocula, or " Call- 



