LITERARY NOTICES, 



563 



eluding the discovery of the royal mummies 

 near Thebes, and the excavations of M. Na- 

 ville at Pithom-Succoth, or the latest that 

 had been done till excavations were begun 

 at Zoan last March. Dr. Os horn's style is 

 not always happy, and his references to the 

 work of later investigators are frequently 

 not so clear as the reader would desire them 

 to be. 



Bilateral Asymmetry of Ffnction. By 

 G. Stanley Hall and E. M. IIartwell. 

 Pp. 17. 



Ths subject relates to supposed differ- 

 ences, essential or casual, in the power of 

 similar organs on the different sides of the 

 body ; as, between the right and left eyes, 

 ears, arms, or legs, or the right and left 

 sides of internal organs. Numerous observa- 

 tions by different investigators are noticed 

 briefly, and then the present authors de- 

 scribe their own experiments. From them 

 they draw the conclusions that every devi- 

 ation from perfect bilateral symmetry of 

 form or function is to be accounted for with- 

 out recourse to occult causes of any sort ; 

 that the key to the entire bilateral problem 

 which shall reveal a common principle for 

 all the various paired organs is to be sought 

 in the study of bilateral muscle tension, the 

 only act of will ; and that the solution of 

 this problem, when reached, will probably 

 shed light on the nature of consciousness. 



The Railroad as an Element in Educa- 

 tion. An Address before the State 

 Teachers' Association of Texas. By 

 Professor Alexander Hogg, M. A. 

 Louisville : Printed for the Author. 



This brief pamphlet is filled with a great 

 deal of interesting railroad information, its 

 predominant idea being that railroads are 

 a great factor of civilization, and help on 

 the work of general amelioration and im- 

 provement in many ways. There is a brief 

 sketch of the course of inventions that pre- 

 pared for railroad constructions, some ex- 

 amination of the public influence of trans- 

 continental railway systems, some defense 

 of railroads against charges of monopoly, 

 some account of the great " breakwaters " 

 of the world, and finally an argument in 

 favor of the construction of such a work at 

 Galveston, in Texas, that shall give it deep- 

 er water and improve it as a seaport. 



A Manual of Psychological Medicine 

 and Allied Nervous Diseases. By 

 Edward C. Mann. With Phototype 

 Plates and other Hlustrations. Phila- 

 delphia : P. Blakiston, Son &; Co. Pp. 

 099. Price, $5. 



This comprehensive treatise aims to 

 " present the subject of insanity and allied 

 nervous diseases in a scientific, cUnical, and 

 forensic light, and in so concise a form as 

 to be available for the student and general 

 practitioner." It is therefore addressed to 

 the profession as a manual of medical prac- 

 tice, and a systematic text-book of medical 

 education. Physicians must, therefore, be 

 the best judges of its adaptation to their 

 wants, but the work bears evidence through- 

 out of matured knowledge, wide experi- 

 ence, and assiduous, painstaking labor. 

 But while the work is thus designed for 

 the uses of medical men, such is the pro- 

 found interest and great importance of the 

 questions which it discusses, that in many 

 aspects it will be found instructive and 

 valuable to general readers who are con- 

 cerned with the great question of the con- 

 ditions and causes of insanity, and the 

 hygienic precautions that are needed for the 

 maintenance of soundness and integrity of 

 mind. Dr. Mann is evidently no extremist 

 and no alarmist, but he recognizes that 

 mental derangement in various forms is 

 undoubtedly on the increase, and that its 

 extension can be checked only by the widest 

 diffusion of knowledge upon the subject, 

 and some corresponding improvement in 

 those habits of life which are promotive of 

 mental deterioration. Dr. Mann emphasizes 

 in his preface a most important fact, which 

 is too generally overlooked, when he points 

 out the long interval of time that may 

 elapse between the slight initial perversions 

 of cerebral activity and the distant conse- 

 quences that often result from them. It is 

 too commonly thought that if pupils leave 

 school without becoming lunatics outright, 

 all the talk about mental over - exertion 

 amounts to nothing, yet we have here to do 

 with causes and effects that work slowly, 

 and require time for their full disclosure. 

 Dr. Mann says : 



A very important point relating to the preven- 

 tion of mental disorders and the modern nervous 

 diseases is, tliat the growth of mental function is 

 as gradual as that of bodily power, and that brain- 

 tissue degenerations and mental diseases may be 



