April 27, 1876J 



MATURE 



509 



by the time they had reached its top, we had mounted the 

 third. In such a competition as this the increasing diffi- 

 culty of respiration soon warns a man to stop, but in the 

 life-long struggle for existence it is not so easy for one to 

 know when he is getting out of breath and to relax his exer- 

 tions in time. As a help to do this Dr. Richardson's work is 

 most valuable, for he paints in vivid colours the symptoms 

 of disease from worry and mental strain, beginning with 

 the slighter ones of restlessness, irritability, and " an over- 

 weening desire to do more and yet more work," and end- 

 ing with dementia, diabetes, &c. He gives a most salu- 

 tary warning to those who strive to counteract the effects 

 of mental overwork by adding to it hard bodily exercise, 

 and his remarks on physical strain should be carefully 

 perused by all young athletes. If his cautions were con- 

 stantly attended to, we would have fewer instances of 

 break-down either mental or physical. The effects of the 

 passions on the body are next taken up, and then the 

 action of alcohol and tobacco discussed at length. 



Dn Richardson seems to regard alcohol as an unmiti- 

 gated evil, and although he acknowledges that sometimes 

 tobacco may be useful in soothing the excited brain, he 

 omits this beneficial action from the summary which he 

 gives of the effects of smoking, and includes only the 

 baneful effects which follow the abuse of the weed. This 

 part of his book recalls to our mind a lecture in which 

 the late Prof. Hughes Bennett denounced pastry as one 

 of the chief causes of consumption. No one can doubt 

 that pastry, alcohol, and tobacco are all capable of abuse, 

 but whether their use is to be entirely prohibited on that 

 account is an entirely different question. 



The chapters on disease from the use of narcotics, and 

 from late hours and broken sleep are especially interest- 

 ing and instructive ; and that on disease from food con- 

 tains some most useful remarks on the injurious effects of 

 too much tea, coffee, soda-water, seltzer, and sweets, as 

 well as on the consequences of over-eating. 



In treating of diseases from impurity of air the author 

 mentions the bad effects of stoves, but he might also with 

 advantage have drawn attention to the languor and 

 inability to work which may be induced by burning much 

 gas in the room where one is thinking or writing. He 

 might have mentioned the Italian proverb, that when you 

 have built a house you should make your enemy live in it 

 for the first year, your friend for the second, and should 

 inhabit it yourself in the third ; but his observation of the 

 occurrence of eight cases of consumption and fourteen of 

 rheumatic fever in one row of pretty houses during the 

 first two years after they were built may perhaps convince 

 people of the danger of inhabiting damp dwellings, with- 

 out any additional testimony. 



Other chapters deal with diseases incident to some occu- 

 pations, disease from sloth and idleness, from errors of 

 dress, from imitation and moral contagion, automatic 

 disease and hypochondriasis, and intermarriage of dis- 

 ease. The book concludes with a summary of practical 

 applications or short directions how to avoid or counteract 

 the sources of disease already discussed. 



The work is of great value as a practical guide to enable 

 the readers to detect and avoid various sources of disease, 

 and it contains in addition several introductory chapters on 

 natural life and natural death, the phenomena of disease, 

 disease antecedent to birth, and on the effects of the sea- 



Sons, of atmospheric temperature, of atmospheric pressure, 

 of moisture, winds, and atmospheric chemical changes, 

 which are of great general interest In several points we 

 do not agree with Dr. Richardson ; we would like him 

 sometimes to give fuller reasons for his dogmatic state- 

 ments ; we think he has perhaps pictured the effects of 

 overwork in too glaring colours, and we think he has 

 been somewhat unfair to alcohol and tobacco. But his 

 book is most suggestive ; it is written in a most attractive 

 style, and it may assist the work and prolong the days of 

 some who are unwittingly destroying their health, if they 

 will only learn and attend to its warnings and counsels. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Over the Sea and Far Away, being a Narrative of 

 Wanderings Round the World. By Thomas Wood- 

 bine HinchlifT, M.A., F.R.G.S., President of the Alpine 

 Club. With Fourteen Illustrations. (London : Long- 

 mans and Co., 1876.) 



Mr. HiNXHLiFF, who is already known as the author of 

 one or two pleasant narratives of travel, managed, in one 

 year, to do 36,000 miles of ocean, besides spending a 

 considerable time in exploring various regions of Ame- 

 rica and Asia. His reasons for writing this considerable 

 book on his tour of the world are to induce other tourists 

 to follow hi3 example, not in writing a book, but in leav- 

 ing the beaten paths and learning something about and 

 enjoying the many beauties of South America especially, 

 and also because he believes there is abundant room for 

 a further and more detailed account of the natural aspect 

 of many of the countries visited, " especially with regard 

 to their scenery, their flowers, ferns, and fruits." We 

 are bound to say that Mr. Hinchlifif, from these points of 

 view, has fairly justified the publication of the present 

 work. He writes in excellent spirits, tells clearly what 

 he saw, keeps up the interest from beginning to end, and 

 the general reader, at all events, will find many things in 

 the book quite new to him. Mr. HinchlifT spent most of 

 his time in Western North America, in California, and the 

 Yosemit^ Valley especially, in Brazil, Peru, and Japan. 

 He is a good and enthusiastic botanist, a shrewd observer, 

 and a clear narrator. He managed to see a great deal 

 that was well worth seeing of the countries visited, their 

 products, and their inhabitants, and although he opened 

 up no new ground, he has been able to suggest aspects 

 and describe phases that, we daresay, even those familiar 

 with the literature of travel will recognise as original. 

 The illustrations are good and appropriate, and altogether 

 we can recommend the work as a really interesting and 

 instructive record of a long tour. 



"t/>/^ Riforme Geometrique. Introduction <J la Geometric 

 descriptive des Cristalloides. Par le C'« Leopold Hugo. 

 (Paris, 1874.) 

 Geometric Hngodomoidale, anhellenique, viais Philoso- 



phique et Architectonique. 

 La Question de V Equidomoide et des Cristalloides Gco- 

 mctriqiies. Par le C"= Leopold Hugo. (Paris, 1875.) 



Equidomoide : Sphere : : Prisme : Cylindre. " Equido- 

 moide, c'est en efTet le nom que j'ai propose pour la figure 

 ■ polvgonale qui se place avant la sphere, comme le prisme 

 et la pyramide se placent avant le cylindre et le cone en 

 vraie philosophie. 11 y a done des equidomoi'des trigo- 

 naux, tetragonaux, pentagonaux, et ainsi de suite 

 jusqu'h. ce qu'on arrive k la sphere, leur soeur cadette . . . 

 mon nouveau systeme, envisageant toutes les figures poly- 

 gonales qui sont les ain^es de famille de tes (the extract 

 is taken from a hypothetical address to Archimedes), 

 spheroides et conoides, leur donne le nom ge'ndrique de 

 domoides; puis j'y fais adjonction, comme pr^fixe, des 



