LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



that has little bearing on the topic under 

 discussion. 



The chapter on epidemics adds nothing 

 whatever to our knowledge of their causes 

 or prevention, saj's not a word concerning 

 the measures requisite for their manage- 

 ment when occurring on shipboard, and 

 leaves us in doubt as to whether the author 

 is even acquainted with the results of mod- 

 ern investigations on the subject. Had he 

 been, we should scarcely expect to find 

 such a paragraph as this on epidemic influ- 

 ences : " The cause and nature of this epi- 

 demic influence are quite unknown. The 

 most ancient theory is as true as any God 

 so ordained it ; has thus organized his crea- 

 tures. Anciently, these diseases were most- 

 ly attributed to his wrath; and certainly 

 they mostly result more or less directly from 

 violations of his known laws. When we seek 

 for the instruments of his will in this mat- 

 ter, we get into a labyrinth of guesses, and 

 ingenious and plausible theories, in which 

 hydro-carbons, fermentations, organic germs, 

 microscopic animalcules, and cryptogamic 

 vegetations are made prominently to figure. 

 They nearly all refer to impurities or dis- 

 ' temperatures of the atmosphere." 



After this, we are not surprised to find 

 the following statement concerning the 

 spread of yellow fever : " In regard to the 

 question of quarantine in this disease, we 

 may safely say that all restraints that pre- 

 vent the sick from reaching a healthy local- 

 ity are absurd, and, with our present knowl- 

 edge on the subject, outrageously cruel — 

 little better than deliberate murder. A yel- 

 low-fever patient, even carrying his clothing 

 and bedding with him, has never been 

 known to communicate the disease to an- 

 other person in a healthy locality, and the 

 experiment has been tried thousands of 

 times. " 



Chapters XXIV. to XXVIII. inclusive 

 are devoted to certain endemic diseases, 

 among which scorbutus and typhus are the 

 only ones particularly liable to occur on 

 shipboard, and even in the case of these 

 there is a conspicuous absence of specific 

 directions for their prevention. "Why such 

 diseases as plica polonica, goitre, elephan- 

 tiasis, cholera infantum, milk-sickness, and 

 puerperal fever should be discussed in a 

 work on naval hvgiene, we fail to under- 



stand ; and for the addition of an appendix, 

 devoted exclusively to the subject of weights 

 and measures, there seems no other explana- 

 tion than a desire to fill up the book. In- 

 deed, from beginning to end, the idea is 

 forced upon us that bulk rather than quality 

 has been the principal object. 



As before remarked, there are scattered 

 through the pages of the book many good 

 suggestions, that might be made of use had 

 readers the time and patience to hunt them 

 out ; all, however, so far as we have ob- 

 served, may be found in other works on 

 hygiene, and in a far more accessible and 

 less costly shape. 



The Silk Goods of America : A Brief Ac- 

 count of the Recent Improvements and 

 Advances of Silk Manufacture in the 

 United States. By William C. Wykoff. 

 Published under the Auspices of the 

 Silk Association of America. New York : 

 D. VanNostrand. 1879. Pp. VlO. Price, 

 $1.50. 



The author of this work claims that 

 American silk goods are better as well as 

 cheaper than foreign, and that it is time 

 their actual merits were laid before the pub- 

 lic. Every wearer of silk goods, or con- 

 sumer of sewing-silk and twist, will be in- 

 terested in the information conveyed in the 

 various chapters upon raw silk ; upon sew- 

 ings and twist ; upon weaving ; upon black 

 dress-goods ; various piece-goods ; spun silk; 

 handkerchiefs and ribbons ; trimming and 

 passementerie; silk laces; dyeing, etc. 



From the profusion of interesting infor- 

 mation with which the pages of this volume 

 are crowded, we extract quite at random the 

 following. The lengthier statements and 

 explanations are, perhaps, more instructive 

 than the brevities we have chosen. 



We are told that the manufacturer wants 

 reeled silk and not cocoons. Its value de- 

 pends upon the way it is reeled, which is 

 best done at a filature, where cheap skilled 

 labor can be obtained. There are no fila- 

 tures in this country. Our raw silk comes 

 from abroad— about twenty-four per cent, 

 from Europe and the rest from Asia. The 

 Japanese now have filatures, and send us 

 silk equal to the best from Europe. The 

 coarse, inferior silks are kept at home, and 

 America gets the best and finest. Raw silk 

 is costlv and of small bulk, so that its freight 



