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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tralasia, passed by. And the history of 

 all these countries, whether east or west, 

 is brought down to date. Even our re- 

 cent war with Spain is briefly told. In- 

 deed, the value of the book as a work of 

 reference lies in the fact that it encom- 

 passes all the world's history, giving in 

 compact, handy form the chief data in 

 the progress of the human race, that 

 otherwise must be sought for in a dozen 

 different places. Another valuable fea- 

 ture of the book, attainable only on the 

 plan of rigid selection of salient points, 

 is the connection between the different 

 peoples. Their interdependence, the 

 sequence of their appearance on the 

 stage of action, and their decline, are 

 most vividly realized in such a bird's- 

 eye view. The book has maps and a full 

 index. 



The essays comprised in Mr. Wil- 

 liam M. Bryant's volume entitled Life, 

 Death, and Immortality, and Kindred 

 Essays * have developed, as he ex- 

 presses it, one by one during a number 

 of years past. The term developed is 

 a happy one, for the papers were cer- 

 tainly not made to order, but read like 

 results of systematic, continuous think- 

 ing. They concern the religious aspect 

 of human nature. The author thinks 

 that negative criticism has for the time 

 being exhausted its resources, and the 

 time has come for further positive in- 

 terpretation of the fundamental con- 

 ceptions of the Christian doctrine as to 

 man's nature and destiny. A reference 

 to a few of the points in the first essay, 

 which gives the title to the book, will 

 afford a view of the author's method. 

 Men of science are constantly insisting 

 that the total quantity of energy is 

 changeless, and nothing can be added to 

 it and nothing taken away. What are 

 the " total quantity of energy " and the 

 " great first cause " but the same, to the 

 activity of which is due every phase 

 of reality? This being changeless, it 

 could not at some period " have ere 

 ated a world and afterward left it to 

 spin on of its own accord ' without in 

 terference.' " Mind is a form of energy 

 consequently indestructible and undy 

 ing, and the question of immortality is 

 reduced to the form " whether in re 



* Life, Death, and Immortality, and Kindrec 

 Essays. By William M. Bryant. New York 

 The Baker & Taylor Company. 



spect of man's essential nature as a 

 .hulking unit, death can ever be more 

 han transition from one to another 

 ;rade of life." Other essays are on 

 Oriental Religions, Church Organiza- 

 ion, The Heresy of Non-Progressive 

 Orthodoxy, Christian Ethics and those 

 of other religions, and Eternity. 



Professor Merriman's Elements of 

 Sanitary Engineering * is a thoroughly 

 practical treatise setting forth the prin- 

 cipal rules and laws relating to sani- 

 tation, both individual and municipal, 

 as it is practiced to-day. A brief his- 

 torical introduction is followed by a 

 classification of diseases, and a general 

 consideration of such questions as 

 filth and disease, impure air and dis- 

 ease, drinking water and disease, etc. 

 The second chapter takes up the ques- 

 tion of the purification of water. Chap- 

 ter III discusses the practical aspects, 

 for a municipality, of water-supply sys- 

 tems. Consumption of water, capacity 

 of storage reservoirs, pipe lines, pump- 

 ing engines, tanks and stand pipes and 

 street mains are among the special 

 headings. Sewerage systems are next 

 dealt with. A discussion of questions 

 connected with the disposal of garbage 

 and sewage forms the fifth and last 

 chapter of the book. An item which 

 adds value to the volume is the series of 

 exercises and problems, practically ap- 

 plying the laws set forth, which follows 

 each chapter. 



An Epitome of Human Histology t 

 has been written by Mr. Weysse to 

 meet the difficulty in which the con- 

 scientious student of microscopic anat- 

 omy is placed who finds himself in pos- 

 session of a great many isolated facts 

 about the minute structure of the body, 

 but with rather an indefinite conception 

 of the relation of those facts to one an- 

 other and of the subject as a whole. In 

 the writing the author has sought to 

 present all the facts that are of real 

 importance to the student; to express 

 them in the briefest and clearest lan- 

 guage, omitting whatever is not strictly 

 required; and to arrange them in such 



* Elements of Santary Engineering-. By Mans- 

 field Merriman. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 

 London: Chapman & Hall, Limited. Pp. 16. $2. 



t An Epitome of Human Histology. By 

 Arthur W. Weysse. New York : Longmans, 

 Green & Co. Pp. 90. Price, $1.60. 



