LITERARY NOTICES. 



85.3 



scribed. Pp. 210. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington. 



Mr. Marsdcn Manson, C. E., has pub- 

 lished an interesting little book entitled 

 Geological and Solar Climate*, their Causes 

 and Variations. In it he attacks the pub- 

 lished opinions of some of the most eminent 

 students and writers of geology, and, al- 

 though he admits that the direct cause of 

 the Glacial epoch or Ice age was a de- 

 crease in the original heat of the globe, he 

 scores those scientists whose researches es- 

 tablished that fact because they failed " to 

 account for all the phenomena accompanying 

 the Ice age, or to account for the disappear- 

 ance of that age." Mr. Manson's theory is 

 that the direct cause of the glaciation was 

 the exclusion of solar heat from those re- 

 gions where the ice development was taking 

 place, and that the disappearance of the ice 

 northward and southward was caused by the 

 natural earth heat breaking through the ice 

 crust, after which, assisted by the solar 

 agencies, it began to gather heat and dis- 

 persed the cold toward the arctic and ant- 

 arctic regions relatively as the land area 

 predominated. The book is for sale by Wil- 

 liam Doxey, 631 Market Street, San Fran- 

 cisco. Price, 75 cents. 



Volume X of the United States Fish 

 Commission Bulletin is an important con- 

 tribution to the scientific and industrial liter- 

 ature of the fishes and fisheries of the 

 country. Besides articles on The Oyster and 

 Oyster-culture, by Bashf ord Dean, which have 

 already been noticed in these pages, it con- 

 tains a valuable paper on the Fishing Ves- 

 sels and Boats of the Pacific Coast, by Cap- 

 tain J. W. Collins ; a report on the fisheries 

 of the New England States ; and various arti- 

 cles and reports on the aquaria of the United 

 States Fish Commission and the conditions 

 of the fisheries of Kentucky, Iowa, Lake On- 

 tario, etc. 



In the article on the Fishing Craft of the 

 Pacific Coast, besides a fund of useful infor- 

 mation and suggestion, Captain Collins de- 

 scribes the appearance, construction, and 

 sea-going qualities, as well as their general 

 adaptability to the several fisheries, of all 

 kinds of boats and vessels, from the Alaskan 

 kaiak (canoe) to the perfectly appointed 

 whaler, and illustrates the text by thirteen 

 plates and four figures. The fisheries of the 



New England States are also exhaustively 

 treated, the report chiefly consisting of sta- 

 tistical tables of their condition, with an 

 analysis of the quantities of the various 

 fishes captured, the number of men and 

 boats engaged, and the amount of capital 

 invested. 



In the report of the fisheries of Lake 

 Ontario, Hugh M. Smith, M.D.,- gives an 

 interesting account of his investigations, 

 which were made with a view to the estab- 

 lishment of a fish-hatching station on the 

 lake. The volume is fully illustrated with 

 ninety-four full-page plates and ten figures 

 in the text. Pp. 436. Washington, 1892. 



A Concise History of Religion has been 

 prepared by F. J. Gould for the issues of the 

 Rationalist Press Committee of London. In 

 the first volume, the only one that yet ap- 

 peared, are given brief accounts of the prin- 

 cipal religions of the world except Judaism, 

 Christianity, and Mohammedanism, preceded 

 by an analysis exhibiting the chief phases 

 of primitive worship, and the main lines of 

 religious development. The list of religions 

 treated include about fifty. The author pro- 

 poses to follow this volume with other parts 

 dealing with the Bible, Judaism, Christianity 

 (from the point of view of a purely human 

 origin), and modern Rationalism. (London : 

 Watts & Co.) 



The book Hermetic Philosophy, vol. iii, 

 " A comedy founded on Plato's Meno, applied 

 to modern discoveries in theosophy, Chris- 

 tian science, magic, etc., and to those who 

 are seeking these discoveries," bearing the 

 signature of Styx, and published by the J. B. 

 Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, discusses the 

 question, " Can virtue and science be taught?" 

 There is a vein of levity running through the 

 whole, yet the author's purpose appears to 

 be serious. He has taken Plato for his pat- 

 tern and applied his mode of illustration to 

 modern . mental phenomena to the disi-u<- 

 sion of " the merits of a few self-appointed 

 leaders among the thousands of those who 

 feel that there is a call in the mind for them 

 to begin on the ' mighty work.' " Among 

 these pretenders are named u Adepts, Hon. 

 Magi, Mahatmas, Children of the Sun, tht> 

 Divinely anointed," and Christian scientists. 

 The author's point of view is indicated t>y 

 the question, "Is not the man who present- 

 himself for common spectacle as one pos- 



