712 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lege. The time for literary training being 

 limited in such an institution, a course had 

 to be provided that would be most helpful to 

 students who had net time to study all the 

 niceties of literary expression, and could, at 

 best, master only the elementary principles 

 of rhetoric and make themselves familiar, in 

 a general way, with the ordinary forms of 

 prose composition. Their work would require 

 proficiency in description, clear and sound 

 reasoning, and the cogent presentation of 

 what they would want others to accept as 

 true. Adapting his course to this condition, 

 the author made it largely one in argumenta- 

 tion, with the result of a more rapid develop- 

 ment of the student's power of reflection and 

 greater facility and accuracy of expression. 

 The present book follows the plan of the 

 course thus described. While adapting his 

 work largely to the practical questions of the 

 day, the author has inserted model examples 

 of argument from every source, whether 

 new or old, affording illustrations that would 

 illustrate. Famous passages from Webster 

 and Burke, from Shakespeare's oratory, and 

 from Huxley's addresses are accompanied by 

 minute analyses of their parts, qualities, and 

 points ; and a list of more than two hundred 

 propositions for argument or debate, and a 

 glossary of terms, are given. 



La Indtififria Agricola is a new agricul- 

 tural paper started at Caracas, Venezuela, 

 with Sefior Guillermo Delgado Palacios as ed- 

 itor. Of the thirty-two pages of the first num- 

 ber six are devoted to the exposition of the 

 purposes of the magazine and the bearing of 

 science on agriculture ; five to the agricul- 

 tural bureaus and societies of Venezuela; 

 ten to the agricultural staples of the coun- 

 try, wheat, sugar cane, and corn ; two to 

 agricultural items from the United States ; 

 and the rest to industrial novelties and mis- 

 cellaneous articles. 



L^Intermediaire des Biolof/istes (The Biol- 

 ogists' Intermediary) is a useful semimonth- 

 ly international organ of zoology, botany, 

 physiology, and psychology, published in 

 Paris under the editorial direction of MM. 

 Alfred Binet and Victor Henri, with numer- 

 ous colaborers of equal scientific standing, 

 which has just completed its first year. The 

 number before us has as its leading original 

 articles papers on the sexuality of aphides, 



by E. G. Balbini, and on the Colorability of 

 Living Protoplasm, by F. Henneguy ; and 

 these are followed by two pages seeking an- 

 swers from correspondents, seven pages of 

 answers to previous questions — the notes and 

 query feature being one of the most promi- 

 nent of the publication — and classified sum- 

 maries of the biological contents of period- 

 icals. Price, 12 francs (.$2.50) a year. 



The Philosophy of the Humanities includes 

 three addresses delivered on separate occa- 

 sions and to different bodies by Thomas 

 Fitzhugh, professor of Latin in the L^niver- 

 sity of Texas. They discuss the evolution of 

 classic culture and its pedagogic treatment, 

 and inquire into the philosophic basis of the 

 humanities. The subjects are The Evolu- 

 tion of Culture, The Pedagogic Aspect of 

 Culture Evolution ; Organization of the Latin 

 Humanities in College, and Organization of 

 the Latin Humanities in Secondary Educa- 

 tion. The author is a sturdy advocate of 

 the study of Latin. (University of Chicago 

 press.) 



A Bibliog7'aphy and Index of North 

 American Geology, Palaeontology, and Min- 

 eralogy for 1892 and 1893, compiled hy Fred 

 Boughton Weeks, and constituting Bulletin 

 No. 130 of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, contains 1,121 titles. The index is com- 

 plete and elaborate, classified by States and 

 main subjects, and arranged alphabetically 

 throughout. A list of publications examined 

 is appended. 



In the comparative study of L/ Evolution 

 regressive en Biologie et en Sociologie (Re- 

 gressive Evolution in Biology and Sociology), 

 the ground is taken by the authors (MM. 

 Jea7i Demoor, Jean 3Iassart, and Mnile Van- 

 derveldc) that the word evolution does not 

 in itself imply either progression or re- 

 gression, but designates all transformations, 

 whether favorable or unfavorable, and they 

 have applied themselves to the study of the 

 latter kind. They have conducted the re- 

 sults of their several special researches in 

 the biological and social fields so as to show 

 how the regressive feature is manifested in 

 both, and that every transformation involves 

 a loss as well as a gain ; that " regression is 

 not an accident of evolution, but is the in- 

 verse of progressive evolution, the necessary 

 complement of all transformation, organic or 



