LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



gether in Siberia and in the Swiss valleys. 

 Some species have their familiar parasites, 

 others find food purveyors in certain fungi. 

 The ruthless destruction of forests has occa- 

 sionally involved that of nations, while the 

 planting of pines has brought prosperity to 

 barren lands. The subsidence and shriveling 

 of the earth's crust result in mountain ridges ; 

 the lofty cones of volcanoes, however, are 

 formed from accumulations of lava, and the 

 causes of eruption are local. Rivers are 

 older than mountains ; to trace their origin 

 involves a study of geological changes and 

 the folding of the strata. When the slope 

 is acute, they widen their valleys through the 

 rocks ; with a slight fall they may run upon 

 an elevated bed of their own sediment. 

 While the land undergoes constant change, 

 the sea remains the same for us, and contains 

 all manner of strange creatures — enormous 

 cuttlefish, and medusas which color leagues 

 of ocean. The fauna of the depths differ 

 entirely from those of the surface, and 

 species which are found in both situations 

 undergo modifications in the great abyss. 

 Some possess luminous organs, in others the 

 eyes are absent. 



Science has given to us a fuller idea of 

 the immensity and beauty of the starry 

 heavens. Not only have our own planetary 

 relations been unfolded to us, but innumer- 

 able systems have been made visible. The 

 distant stars shine upon us through the tele- 

 scope with multicolored light, and by their 

 spectra we detect their movements and chem- 

 ical constitution. 



So, through this pleasant and instructive 

 discourse on " the wonders of the world we 

 live in," does Sir John Lubbock fully per- 

 suade us that science is a fairy godmother 

 with untold treasures at her command. 



Mr. David T. Day's Report on the Min- 

 eral Resources of the United States for 1889 

 and 1891, its contributors having been nearly 

 all engaged in preparing the volume on the 

 mineral industries for the eleventh census, 

 contains substantially the statistics of the 

 Census Office. A few minor exceptions con- 

 sist of the cases in which the mineral report 

 for the Census Office did not consider certain 

 industries which are usually included in the 

 reports of this series. The statistical tables 

 of former years have been carried forward. 



The scope of the present volume has been 

 lessened slightly in the effort to include more 

 complete and accurate statistics from all 

 producers in the subjects of coal, iron ores, 

 and other important products. The total 

 product indicated for 1890 was $654,604,698, 

 an increase far beyond the total of any previ- 

 ous year. 



Chemists and sanitarians will find in The 

 Coal-tar Colors, ivith Especial Reference to 

 their Injurious Qualities, by Theodore Weyl 

 (Blakiston, $1.50), definite information as to 

 how far these substances are poisonous. The 

 book tells what colors have been found to 

 injure the health of workmen employed in 

 making them, what regulations concerning 

 the use of poisonous colors have been made 

 in Europe, what results have been obtained 

 from experiments with various colors on ani- 

 mals, and other related facts. The essay 

 was translated by Dr. Henry Leffmann. 



Dr. Franklin H. Martin has prepared for 

 medical students and practitioners a treatise 

 on Electricity in Diseases of Women and Ob- 

 stetrics (Keener). It embraces a statement 

 of the general principles of electricity, fully 

 illustrated descriptions of electrical apparatus 

 designed for the physician's use, and ac- 

 counts of the author's mode of using elec- 

 tricity in his specialty, with notes of cases. 

 The volume contains seventy-nine illustra- 

 tions and has an alphabetical index. 



The treatise on Rectal and Anal Sur- 

 gery, by Edmund and Edward W. Andrevjs 

 (Keener), which has now reached its third 

 edition, has the two objects of instructing 

 physicians in its special subject, and of ex- 

 posing the methods of a class of itinerant 

 pile-curers that has flourished in the West. 

 In the new edition nearly every part of the 

 work has been rewritten and enlarged, a 

 compact formulary has been added, and 

 other additions have been made. The vol- 

 ume contains fifty-three illustrations. 



In a well-written little volume entitled 

 Fermentation, Infection, and Immunity, Dr. 

 J. W. McLaughlin, of Austin, Texas, re- 

 views the chief known facts concerning these 

 subjects, and advances a new theory to ac- 

 count for them. His book is based upon 

 partial statements of his theory in medical 

 journals, which have received encouraging 

 attention, and will doubtless prove of in- 

 terest to biologists. 



