SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



129 



required for perception, " hearing in 

 school," the iufluenee of habit and atten- 

 tion, orientation of the sound, bilateral 

 sensations, effects on the nervous cen- 

 ters, etc., hearing of musical sounds, os- 

 cillations and aberrations of hearing, 

 auditive memory, obsessions, hallucina- 

 tions of the ear, and colored audition. 



Prof. Andrew C. McLavfjhlin's His- 

 tory of the American Nation * has many- 

 features to recommend it. It aims to 

 trace the main outlines of national de- 

 velopment, and to show how the Ameri- 

 can people came to be what they are. 

 These outlines involve the struggle of 

 European powers for supremacy in the 

 New World, the victory of England, the 

 growth of the English colonies and 

 their steady progress in strength and 

 self-reliance till they achieved their in- 

 dependence, the development of the 

 American idea of government, its ex- 

 tension across the continent and its in- 

 fluence abroad — all achieved in the 

 midst of stirring events, social, political, 

 and moral, at the cost sometimes of 

 wars, and accompanied by marvelous 

 growth in material prosperity and politi- 

 cal power. All this the author sets 

 forth, trying to preserve the balance of 

 the factors, in a pleasing, easy style. 

 Especial attention is paid to political 

 facts, to the rise of parties, to the de- 

 velopment of governmental machinery, 

 and to questions of government and ad- 

 ministration. In industrial history those 

 events have been selected for mention 

 which seem to have had the most 

 marked effect on the progress and make- 

 up of the nation. It is to be desired 

 that more attention had been given to 

 social aspects and changes in which the 

 development has not been less marked 

 and stirring than in the other depart- 

 ments of our history. Indeed, the field 

 for research and exposition here is ex- 

 tremely wide and almost infinitely va- 

 ried, and it has hardly yet begun to 

 be worked, and with any fullness only 

 for special regions. "When he comes to 

 recent events, Professor McLaughlin 

 naturally speaks with caution and in 

 rather general terms. It seems to us, 

 however, that in the matter of the war 

 with Spain, without violating any of the 



* A History of the American Nation. By An- 

 drew C. McLaughlin. Ne\Y York: D. Appleton 

 and Company. Pp. E87. Price, §1.40. 



VOL. LYI. 11 



proprieties, he might have given more 

 emphasis to the anxious efforts of that 

 country to comply with the demands of 

 the administration for the institution of 

 reforms in Cuba; and, in the interest of 

 historical truth, he ought not to have 

 left unmentioned the very important 

 fact that the Spanish Government of- 

 fered to refer the questions growing out 

 of the blowing up of the Maine to arbi- 

 tration and abide by the result, and 

 our Government made no answer to the 

 proposition. 



Mr. W. W. CampbeU's Elements of 

 Practical Astronomy * is an evolution. 

 It grew out of the lessons of his experi- 

 ence in teaching rather large classes in 

 astronomy in the University of Michi- 

 gan, by which he was led to the conclu- 

 sion that the extensive treatises on the 

 subject could not be used satisfactorily 

 except in special cases. Brief lecture 

 notes were employed in preference. These 

 were written out and printed for use in 

 the author's classes. The first edition of 

 the book made from them was used in 

 several colleges and universities having 

 astronomical departments of high char- 

 acter. The work now appears, slightly 

 enlarged, in a second edition. In the 

 present greatly extended field of prac- 

 tical astronomy numerous special prob- 

 lems arise, which require prolonged ef- 

 forts on the part of professional astrono- 

 mers. While for the discussion of the 

 methods employed in solving such prob- 

 lems the reader is referred to special 

 treatises and journals, these methods are 

 all developed from the elements of as- 

 tronomy and the related sciences, of 

 which it is intended that this book shall 

 contain the elements of practical astron- 

 omy, with numerous references to the 

 problems first requiring solution. The 

 author believes that the methods of ob- 

 serving employed are illustrations of the 

 best modern practice. 



In The Characters of Crystals f Prof. 

 Alfred J. Moses has attempted to de- 

 scribe, simply and concisely, the meth- 



* The Elements of Practical Astronomy. By 

 W. W. Campbell. Second edition, revised and en- 

 larged. New York : The Macmillan Company. 

 Pp. 264. Price, $2. 



+ The Characters of Crystals. An Introduc- 

 tion to Physical Crystallography. By Alfred J. 

 Moses. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company. 

 Pp 211. Price, $2. 



