SSa THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Kov., 



After devoting 40 pages to general methods, such as cutting, 

 staining, clearing, and maceration, the microchemistry of or- 

 ganic and of inorganic compounds is treated in about 100 pages 

 in the most thorough and exhaustive manner. One will be as- 

 tonished, in looking it over, at the immense amount of knowl- 

 edge of the subject that has been created in the past 25 years. 

 The new words, which were not in any dictionary in i860, must 

 number several score. This research, as any one will see from 

 the list of authorities cited in the appendix has been very largely 

 made by the Germans. 



A third part of tlie book (110 pp). covers methods for investi- 

 gation of the cell-wall and of the various cell-contents, especial 

 attention being given to the protoplasm and cell-sap. Here we 

 strike a perfect mine of useful and enchanting study. The ways 

 of approach to the biologic problems of vegetable life are shown 

 to be multifarious. So many new and enticing methods being 

 given, must stimulate students to a general assault upon these 

 questions lying at or near the origin of vegetal existence. Here- 

 after, one will need to publish his discoveries promptly or he 

 will be antedated by others in the same field. Every chemist 

 as well as every microscopist will find useful information in tnis 

 volume which closes with a chapter on Bacteria and a fine index. 



New Truths in Ophthalmology. By G. C. Savage, M. D. 8° 

 square. 152 pp. 32 illustrations. Nashville, Tenn. Published 

 by the Author. 



Dr. Savage, who is Professor of Ophthalmology in the Medi- 

 cal Department of the University of Nashville and Vanderbilt 

 University, is an acknowledged authority upon all matters re- 

 lating to the eye. He has written this book for eye specialists 

 and not for laymen. We are not competent, therefore, to criti- 

 cise it but an occulist has assured us that this book constitutes 

 the greatest contribution to the science of Ophthalmology that 

 has appeared during the past twenty-years. 



Mechanically the book is excellent, but we see no reason for 

 adopting the square form. There are none of the illustrations 

 but might have been engraved to fit the usual octavo pag-^. A 

 glossary of the many technical terms employed would help to 

 make the book more intelligible even to the practicing physi- 

 cian and an index of three or four pages length would improve 

 the book. 



