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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of comparatively recent date, and arc nearly 

 fresh, for the reason that the salts deposited 

 when the Quaternary lakes evaporated were 

 buried or absorbed by the underlying clays 

 and marls. Mr. Russell's monograph is an 

 attempt to study out the history of Lake 

 Lahontan, so far as the details of it can be 

 deduced from the geological evidences. It 

 considers the " Physiography of the Lahon- 

 tan Basin," the physical and chemical and 

 life (animals and plants) history of the 

 lake ; the climate of the Quaternary period ; 

 the geological age of the lake ; and the 

 "Post-Lahontan Orographic Movement." 



The Conflict of East and West in Egtpt. 

 Bv John Eliot Bowen, Ph. D. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 204. 

 Price, $1.25. 



This essay was prepared originally as a 

 dissertation preparatory to receiving the de- 

 gree of Doctor of Philosophy from Colum- 

 bia College. The matter of it is of public 

 interest, and, in the shaping which the au- 

 thor has given it, is presented in a form to 

 make accessible to the public and to inform 

 it concerning a subject respecting which its 

 present knowledge is rather vague. The 

 subject concerns the condition of affairs in 

 Egypt, and how they came to be in that 

 condition, together with the relations of the 

 powers to the questions at issue. Of these 

 matters, Mr. Bowen gives a concise, intelli- 

 gible account, beginning with the inception 

 of the Suez Canal enterprise in 1854, and fol- 

 lowing the events and negotiations through 

 the reigns of Said, Ismail, and Tewfik. It 

 presents M. de Lesseps's struggles to get the 

 Suez Canal under way and construct it, and 

 England's efforts to balk the work because 

 it was a French one ; the brilliant but reck- 

 less career of Ismail, his enterprising views 

 and extravagant speculations, ending in his 

 fall ; the attempts, under Tewfik, to remedy 

 the distress which Ismail had brought on; 

 the rebellion of Arabi and the raid of the 

 Mahdi, with Gordon's unfortunate career. 

 England's record, through all these events, 

 has been rather spotted, but Mr. Bowen 

 concludes that " England, in spite of all her 

 mistakes, has had a beneficent influence on 

 Egypt," and that the hope of the country 

 lianas largely on its independence of Tur- 

 key being assured. 



The Poison Problem. By Felix L. Os- 

 wald, M. D. New York : D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp. 138. Price, 75 cents. 



In this little volume, Dr. Oswald, than 

 whom no writer is braver, more pungent 

 upon occasion, or more readable, discusses 

 the cause and cure of intemperance. In 

 the beginning he calls attention to the ex- 

 tent and enormity to which the consump- 

 tion of liquors has grown, and the power 

 the liquor-traffic has acquired, which are 

 really facts to be alarmed about. The argu- 

 ment is based upon the assumption, which 

 is maintained by many considerations, that 

 alcohol is a poison without any beneficial 

 qualities to the system, the appetite for 

 which, when once acquired, grows, and can 

 not be mitigated by any measures of mere 

 temperance, or by compromises. No moral 

 or social evil is greater than those to which 

 it conduces. " Judging from secular stand- 

 points," says Dr. Oswald, " we should be in- 

 clined to think that alcohol is doing more 

 mischief in a single year than obscene liter- 

 ature has done in a century. . . . And, un- 

 happily, it also involves the loss of self- 

 respect, and thus destroys the basis on 

 which the advocate of appeals to the moral 

 instinct would found his plan of salvation. 

 The power of moral resistance is weakened 

 with every repetition of the poison-dose, and 

 we might as well besiege a bedridden con- 

 sumptive with appeals to resume his place 

 at the head of an afflicted family." The 

 banishment of alcohol from the sick-room, 

 as well as from the banquet-hall, is demand- 

 ed. " Thousands of topers owe their ruin to 

 a prescription of ' tonic bitters.' . . . Taught 

 by the logic of such experiences, the friends 

 of reform will at last recognize the truth 

 that the ' temperate ' use of alcohol is but 

 the first stage of a progressive and shame- 

 proof disease, and that, moderation and re- 

 pudiation failing, we must direct our blows 

 at the root of the upas-tree, and adopt the 

 motto of ' eradication.' Truce means defeat 

 in the struggle against an evil that will re- 

 produce its seed from the basis of any com- 

 promise." For remedies against the spread 

 of the alcohol-habit, the author proposes in- 

 struction respecting the physiological effects 

 of the drug, such as is provided for in the 

 school systems of several States ; proscrip- 

 tion of its use under all circumstances ; the 



