710 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the United States as well as France is cursed, M. Proal says that "like cor- 

 rosive acids," they "destroy all they touch," and "like alcohol," they "in- 

 flame the blood, agitate the nerves, sear the brain, and dry up the heart." 

 Until the truth with regard to the facts of history and the questions of the 

 day is set forth scrupulously, it is needless to expect an end of political 

 crime. 



Professor Packard's elaborate Text-Book of Entomology* was pre- 

 pared w4th the wants of both the student and teacher in mind, and the 

 book has grown in part out of the writer's experience in class work. In 

 instructing small classes in the anatomy and metamorphoses of insects, it 

 was felt that the mere dissection and drawing of a few tyi^es comprising 

 some of our common insects were not sufficient for broad, thorough work. 

 Without depreciating the importance of laboratory study, it needed to be 

 supplemented by frequent explanations or formal lectures, with collateral 

 reading by the student in some general treatise in structural and develop- 

 mental entomology. The present text has been prepared to serve this 

 purpose, giving, of course, with much greater fullness and detail what was 

 roughly outlined in the class work. The aim has been to afford a broad 

 foundation for future more si^ecial research by any one who may want to 

 carry on the study of some groups of insects, or to extend in any special 

 direction our present knowledge of insect morphology and growth. The 

 number of insects in orders, families, genera, and species (they forming 

 about four fifths of the animal kingdom), their habits and ti'ausformations, 

 and the variety of ways in which they affect human interests, are given 

 as reasons why they have attracted more attention from students than any 

 other classes of animals. They ai-e represented as perhaps more compli- 

 cated in structure than any other animals. Having defined their general 

 position. Professor Packard describes the chief differences between them 

 and their neighbors — the crustaceans, trilobites, spiders, and others. Their 

 moi'phology and physiology are considered in respect to their external and 

 internal anatomy, under which head all their parts are described with 

 their several relations and functions. The second part of the book is de- 

 voted to the embryology of insects, and the third to their metamorphoses. 

 Copious bibliographical lists are appended to each of the departments, ar- 

 ranged by dates so as to give an idea of the historical development of the 

 subject. A full index completes the volume. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



In Dr. Oppenhehn' s book on The Devel- 

 opment of the Child,-\ the subject is treated 

 in a philosophical spirit. The author makes 

 a serious study of the factors that contribute 



* A Text-Book of Entomology, including the 

 Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology, and Meta- 

 morphoses of Insects. P^or Use in Agricultural 

 and Technical Schools and Colleges, as well as by 

 the Working Entomologist. By Alpheus S. Pack- 

 ard. New York : The Macmillan Company. Pp. 

 727. Price, $4.50. 



t The Development of the Child. By Nathan 

 Oppenheim. New York: The Macmillan Com- 

 pany. Pp. 206. Price, $1.25. 



to the child's development and the forma- 

 tion of his character, and seeks to find how 

 they may be most advantageously treated and 

 cultivated so as to secure the best results. 

 He makes much less account of heredity 

 than do most authors — reducing it, in fact, 

 to its lowest terms — and gives special pre- 

 dominance to the environment and nutrition. 

 " There is not enough of conviction in the 

 minds of parents and guardians," he says, 

 " that the responsibility of their children's 

 acts, good and bad, rests upon their older shoul- 

 ders ; that the final outcome of their chil- 



