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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" disease is the result of violated law, a wrong 

 done to Nature, and whether we are respon- 

 sible for it or not, the fact remains still po- 

 tent for our consideration of the greatest of 

 all problems, that the sick man is a sinner 

 against Nature, and that he will have to pay 

 the penalty to the last farthing, both for his 

 own and his ancestors' misconduct." Among 

 special chapter- headings we find the follow- 

 ing : Why We are Sick ; The Tension caused 

 by Worry ; Athletics ; Self-Control ; Breath- 

 ing as a Means of Health ; A Plea for the 

 Baby ; The Reduction of Fat ; and Pain. A 

 number of special exercises are described 

 and pictured. 



The Induction Coil in Practical Work, by 

 Lewis Wright (Macmillan, $1.25), was writ- 

 ten, says the author, simply and solely as a 

 practical help to the efficient and safe use of 

 an induction coil, with some special refer- 

 ence to the revived and extensive use of that 

 apparatus in surgical and physiological work 

 with Rontgen rays. This new field of ex- 

 periment has brought many into personal 

 contact with coils who have never had any 

 acquaintance with such instruments before, 

 and it is thought that some will like to have 

 a convenient outline of the many other im- 

 pressive and beautiful experiments in which 

 the induction coil bears a part. There are 

 eight chapters which, starting with a general 

 consideration of electrical induction, go on 

 to a special consideration of the structure of 

 the induction coil, its manipulation and care, 

 the discharges in partial and high vacua, and 

 finally spectrum work and X rays, which 

 seem to cover the ground fairly well in an 

 elementary way. There are numerous dia- 

 grams and several well executed plates. 



We have recently received a reprint from 

 the eighth annual report of the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden, entitled Botanical Obser- 

 vations on the Azores. Mr. William Trelease, 

 the author, seems to have done an immense 

 amount of work in the time which he was 

 able to give his subject two short leaves of 

 absence in the summers of 1894 and 1896. 

 The volume consists mainly of a catalogue of 

 plants, which is followed by a very instruc- 

 tive series of plates. 



The third annual report of the Lake Mo- 

 honk Conference on International Arbitra- 

 ion consists chiefly of the addresses delivered 



at the meeting which opened on June 2, 

 1897. Among the speakers were the Hon. 

 George F. Edmunds, Rev. E. E. Hale, Presi- 

 dent Dreher, Hon. E. P. Wheeler, Rev. Theo- 

 dore L. Cuyler, Hon. George F. Seward, Colo- 

 nel George E. Waring, Jr., Prof. U. P. 

 Gilman, and General James Grant Wilson. 

 The platform adopted by the meeting de- 

 plores the failure of the recent treaty be- 

 tween Great Britain and the United States, 

 but rejoices at the rapid popular growth of 

 the arbitration idea, and looks forward to 

 the establishment in the near future of an 

 Arbitration Commission, to which all inter- 

 national disputes shall be submitted. 



Students of Hebrew literature and cus- 

 toms will be interested in the pamphlet con- 

 taining tracts Shekalim and Rosh Hashana 

 of The Babylonian Talmud, original text 

 and English translation, with notes and ex- 

 planations, by Michael L. JRodkinsen. The 

 notes seem to be ample and satisfactory, and 

 a great relief from the technicalities and ob- 

 scurities of the text. Published in New 

 York, 54 East 106th Street, by the New Tal- 

 mud Publishing Company. 



Mr. Maximilian P. E. Groszman's Work 

 ing System of Child Study for Schools (Syra- 

 cuse, N. Y. : C. W. Bardeen, 50 cents) is, as 

 its title indicates, a manual of suggestions as 

 to the method in which the study may be 

 conducted. The author perceives that a 

 systematic method of child study is begin- 

 ning to be evolved, and shows his apprecia- 

 tion of the matter by declaring that the new 

 pedagogy must be based upon it; but we 

 must not wait until the results of all the re- 

 searches have been collected, for that would 

 be to wait a long time. There is enough 

 material already on hand for the new educa- 

 tion to begin at once. The author has a 

 great advantage in that he is able to present 

 his suggestions in the light of his experience 

 in the New York schools of ethical culture 

 and of the working of the methods pursued 

 there. His precepts are re-enforced by the 

 citation of cases which have been studied 

 there. 



"The Philosophy of the Undeniable" is 

 the catching phrase by which Mr. Dwight 

 H. Olmstead designates the doctrines con- 

 tained in a booklet just issued by him (G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons) under the title The Prot- 



