SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



271 



the heights about the town northwest- 

 ward " over a most lovely stretch of 

 river, with hillsides closely besetting it, 

 and with a vegetation of most striking 

 brilliancy and vigor," and of the eye 

 turned southward, losing, in conse- 

 quence of the diflferent configuration of 

 the ground, " all but the beautiful ver- 

 dant slopes which still mark out the val- 

 ley " ; of the beholder being able for hours 

 at a time to sit watching the beauty of 

 the landscape; and of the difficulty of 

 recommending to one endowed with a 

 proper appreciation for the works of 

 quiet Nature " a more enjoyable exer- 

 cise than to take in a bit of this won- 

 derful land of the North, and with it 

 a mellow sunshine that is not to be 

 found elsewhere." These pretty land- 

 scape pictures of the arctic summer are 

 followed by accounts of society at the 

 Klondike as the author found it, of the 

 trail, steamboat travel, and the routes 

 to the region; a description of the 

 placers, their occurrence, and the meth- 

 ods of mining; observations on the 

 physical history and geology of the gold 

 fields; and a summary of the laws regu- 

 lating mining. In the summary of his 

 geological discussion the author ex- 

 presses the opinion that it seems prob- 

 able that " the Ivlondike gold region is 

 merely a fractional pai't of a discontinu- 

 ously continuous auriferous tract that 

 extends in a westerly course into the 

 heart of Alaska, and southward into 

 British Columbia." 



Mr. BuUen's Idylls of the ^ea * com- 

 prises three groups of essays, each group 

 being marked by distinct characteristics. 

 The sketches in the first group, the 

 designation of which gives the name to 

 the book, answer approximately well to 

 Mr. Strachey's estimation of the whole 

 as " some of the most vivid things ever 

 written about the sea," such as only . a 

 man who really knows the sea in all its 

 humors, and " has heard all those mul- 

 titudinous voices that echo along the 

 waste spaces of the deep," could write. 

 There is something weird about them, 

 and they have the air of mystery and 

 superstitious awe with which, according 

 to tradition, the sailor regards the im- 



* Idylls of the Sea. By Frank T. Bullen. 

 With an Introduction by J. St. Loe Strachey. 

 New York: D. Appleton and Company. Price, 

 $1.25. 



perfectly understood features of the sea. 

 They are short stories of curious or 

 striking incidents of sea life. The essays 

 of the second group are real natural-his- 

 tory sketches — accounts of some oceanic 

 birds, the kraken, sharks, the devilfish, 

 etc., by a man who is well and scientifi- 

 cally acquainted with them. The third 

 group includes longer sketches of sea- 

 farers' life, rather more actual ones than 

 those of the first group, and papers 

 having a critical bearing on the present 

 conditions of British seamanship. 



The constant advance in the knowl- 

 edge of dietetics makes it desirable that 

 its results should be put in an accessible 

 form, and this is particularly the case in 

 regard to food for those in ill health, to 

 whom it may be the means of restoring 

 the normal condition. In her book on 

 Diet in Illness and Convalescence* the 

 author has endeavored to present the 

 substance of Diet for the Sick, now out 

 of print, together with recent thought 

 on the subject, especially in the treat- 

 ment of typhoid and malarial fevers, 

 which we owe in such variety to the 

 present war. An outline is given for 

 suitable food in the more common forms 

 of disease, suggestions for serving meals 

 tastefully to an invalid, and numerous 

 recipes for beverages, soups, dishes of 

 meats, vegetables, and desserts. Some of 

 these are taken from English and French 

 treatises; others are contributions of 

 American cooks, and include many novel 

 and excellent ideas. From the prepara- 

 tion of koumiss and ]\Iay wine to tlie 

 manipulation of Dixie biscuit there is 

 no want of explicitness, and one is 

 tempted to covet the state of convales- 

 cence in which he could fare upon such 

 attractive compounds as rose, violet, or 

 amethyst jelly. A word of caution is 

 inserted now and then. We are told " a 

 fritter of any kind should never be men- 

 tioned in an invalid's book." Macaroni 

 croquettes and souffle of shad roe are, 

 however, admissible. The beginning of 

 the volume is devoted by the author to 

 a brief consideration of the constituents 

 of food and processes of digestion, with 

 directions for the use of the pancreatic 

 ferments. There are unfortunately many 

 disputed points concerning a fit dietary 



* Diet in Illness and Convalescence. By Alice 

 Worthington Winthrop. New York : Harper & 

 Brothers. Pp. 286. 



