SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



417 



second, to arrange them in an order calcu- 

 lated to lead up by the most natural and 

 easiest steps to a knowledge of the science ; 

 third, to make the subject fascinating by 

 giving just enough information and sugges- 

 tion to interest the experimenter, and to 

 make him work for the knowledge to be 

 gained. Finally, the author has aimed to 

 make the book simple enough for the dull 

 and slow pupil, and, by the introduction of 

 supplementary and original work, elaborate 

 enough for the most acute." In the analyt- 

 ical part the reactions are given first for 

 each metal of a group separately, thus show- 

 ing why each reagent is added, and the 

 whole group is then treated in the same 

 way. The value of this method will doubt- 

 less be generally admitted. All the right- 

 hand pages of the volume are left blank for 

 notes or memoranda ; there are lists of appa- 

 ratus and chemicals required, directions for 

 making solutions, suggestions for work and 

 note-taking, and a plan of the laboratory of 

 the Boston English High School, where the 

 author is instructor in chemistry. There are 

 thirty-nine cuts of apparatus. 



The Practical Inorganic Chemistry, re- 

 cently prepared by Dr. G. 8. Turpin, of 

 Swansea (Macmillan, 60 cents), is a small 

 experimental manual for beginners, which 

 opens with laboratory exercises that might 

 classed as either physics or chemistry, 

 id after some drill on setting up apparatus 

 >ceeds through a series of simple chemical 

 cperiments, including three or four in which 

 tantitative results are required, up to sys- 

 smatic qualitative analysis. The exercises 

 to one hundred and sixteen in number, 

 id there are sixty-one figures of apparatus 



The Subliminal Self (a part of our mind 

 or faculty which apparently exists below the 

 ordinary consciousness) is the chief subject 

 considered in Part XXIX of the Proceedings 

 of the Incorporated Society for Psychical Re- 

 earch. (Secretaries' offices, 19 Buckingham 

 reet, Adelphi, W. C, London, and 5 Boyl- 

 m Place, Boston, Mass. ; 4s.) In preced- 

 ig parts of the Proceedings, issued in 1891, 

 1892, and 1893, Mr. F. W. H. Myers has pub- 

 shed seven chapters on this subject, and 

 low in Chapters VIII and IX he continues 

 ie presentation and discussion of evidence 

 upon it. He states the general 



VOL. XLIX. 34 



characteristic of the occurrences recorded as 

 " to show us fragments of knowledge com- 

 ing to us in obscure and often symbolical 

 ways, and extending over a wider tract of 

 time than any faculty known to us can be 

 stretched to cover. On the one side there 

 is retrocognition, or knowledge of the past, 

 extending back beyond the reach of our 

 ordinary memory; on the other side there 

 is precognition, or knowledge of the future, 

 extending onward beyond the scope of our 

 ordinary inference." Instances of retrocog- 

 nition differ from those usually classed as 

 telepathy mainly in occurring after instead 

 of at the time of the event. Those of pre- 

 cognition have been known before under the 

 name of premonitions or warnings. A brief 

 note in the same part states that a series of 

 experiments tried by a committee with an 

 Italian spiritualist medium had resulted in 

 revealing nothing but systematic trickery. 

 There is also a brief report of the Hypnotic 

 Committee, a list of members, etc. 



A bulletin of much practical value, on 

 Timber, prepared by Filibert Roth, has been 

 issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. It gives the structure and 

 appearance of hard and soft woods, and 

 describes their mechanical properties and 

 the methods employed for testing them. 

 Other characteristics dealt with in less space 

 are weight, moisture, shrinkage in seasoning, 

 chemical properties, durability, and decay. 

 Directions for distinguishing the different 

 kinds of wood are given, and there are an 

 analytical key to the more important woods 

 of North America and an alphabetical de- 

 scriptive list of the same. The pamphlet is 

 fully illustrated. 



The Manual of Phonography prepared by 

 Norman P. Heffley (American Book Com- 

 pany, $1.25) is designed especially for class 

 use, but may be used for self-instruction. 

 It is based on the ninth edition of Isaac Pit- 

 man's Phonography, but embodies many im- 

 provements in teaching that have been made 

 in recent years. The book is thus described 

 by the author: " The ' corrresponding ' and 

 ' reporting ' styles have been blended into a 

 natural and orderly method, each principle 

 when introduced being thoroughly explained 

 and its application illustrated by ample prac- 

 tice in reading and writing. . . . The num- 



