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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



charge of the maladies treated of in the 

 work, and has made them the subject of 

 clinical demonstration or post-mortem in- 

 vestigation. In preparing the present edi- 

 tion, he has sought to make it still more 

 worthy the approbation of his readers as 

 the most certain method by increasing its 

 practical resources. While not overlooking 

 the advances made in scientific medicine, he 

 has devoted most attention to the clinical 

 aspects of the subject ; but with the effort 

 to preserve due harmony and proportion. 

 Some new subjects have been introduced, 

 and preliminary chapters have been append- 

 ed to the chief divisions of the work, to 

 make the study of the diseases of the class 

 more exact, and to enhance the practical 

 character of the whole; and the author 

 hopes that little properly pertaining to the 

 domain of practice has been overlooked, and 

 nothing superfluous has been added. 



Studies in Ancient History, comprising a 

 Reprint of "Primitive Marriage." By 

 the late John Ferguson McLennan. A 

 new edition. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 387. Price, $4. 



The " Primitive Marriage," or " Inquiry 

 into the Origin of the Form of Capture in 

 Marriage Ceremonies," although confessedly 

 only a tentative investigation, or, as the 

 author phrased it, " an exercise in scientific 

 history," made its mark at once when it 

 first appeared, and has held a foremost 

 place among works of original research for 

 twenty years. Although republished twice 

 within that period, it has been given both 

 times unaltered : the first time because the 

 author had been prevented from supersed- 

 ing it by the more comprehensive work he 

 had intended, while, in the presence of the 

 earnest demand for it, with or without re- 

 vision, it was considered " better that it 

 should be made accessible to students with 

 its imperfections, than that it should re- 

 main inaccessible to them " ; and the second 

 time, in the present edition, as a posthu- 

 mous work, for which the same demand was 

 still current. It is, however, followed up 

 with a second volume containing other writ- 

 ings of the author, "from which it will be 

 possible to gather, in a considerable meas- 

 ure at least, how far the author's views had 

 grown or been developed, how far they had 

 changed or been added to, subsequently to 



the appearance of "Primitive Marriage." 

 A few notes are given, which are confined 

 to certain matters on which the author had 

 announced a change of view, and to some 

 other matters, such as Mr. Lewis H. Mor- 

 gan's speculations, where circumstances had 

 made an additional statement imperative. 

 In an appendix to " Primitive Marriage " is 

 given a pretty full collection of examples of 

 the form of capture, upon the basis of a col- 

 lection which the author published in lSGtl. 

 The examples thus brought together suffice, 

 at least, to show an extraordinary diffusion 

 for this custom. 



Entertainments in Chemistry : Easy Les- 

 sons and Directions for safe Experi- 

 ments. By Harry W. Tyler. Chicago: 

 The Interstate Publishing Company. 

 16mo. Pp. 79. Price, CO cents. 

 This is another volume in the " Educa- 

 tional Series" published by the Interstate 

 Publishing Company, and referred to else- 

 where in these columns. The author gives a 

 number of experiments that can be readily 

 performed with very simple apparatus and 

 a few cheap chemicals. Bis choice of sub- 

 jects covers a wide range : thus, for instance, 

 in one chapter he relates the history of a 

 candle, in another he tells about the chem- 

 istry of yeast, in a third he treats of com- 

 bustion and explosion, and in a fourth of 

 soap. The book is well and entertainingly 

 written, and the experiments for the main 

 part well chosen. It seems to us, however, 

 that in a book of this kind the experiments 

 with hydrogen might have been better omit- 

 ted, because it is questionable whether, even 

 in the hands of a more experienced worker, 

 such experiments can be regarded as " safe" 

 ones. 



N. W. Ayer and Son's American Newspa- 

 per Annual, 1886. Pp. 1010. Price, $3. 



This publication, now well known, con- 

 tains full information about the newspa- 

 pers published in the United States and 

 Canada, the places where they are pub- 

 lished, the business enterprises of those 

 places, and their political proclivities, ar- 

 ranged and classified by States and counties 

 in such a way as to be of the most benefit 

 to advertisers, all of which is revised from 

 year to year. The information on which 

 the annual revision is based is collected in 



