516 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 223. 



tion of a difficult subject. We are glad to re- 

 ceive ' The Briefer Course ' (Holt), revised by 

 Professor G. W. Fitz, of Harvard University, 

 and to commend it cordially. The book has 

 been corrected throughout and a chapter added 

 on growth and nutrition. The three apendices, 

 which occupy nearly one fourth of the book, are 

 all open to criticism. They are on ' Emer- 

 gencies,' ' Alcohol and Tobacco ' and ' Demon- 

 strations and Experiments.' 'Emergencies' 

 make up part of the examination in physiology 

 which may be taken for entrance to Harvard 

 College, but it is not evident that a school boy 

 will profit intellectually or practically by being 

 told how to treat apoplexy. The demonstra- 

 tions and experiments, also part of the Har- 

 vard examination, may in their present form 

 be useful for the teacher, but scarcely for 

 the student. The reviser states that the 

 appendix on narcotics is retained against 

 his judgment. The injurious eflTects of nar- 

 cotics must by foolish laws be taught in 

 most public school courses on physiology ; but 

 it would be possible to prepare a statement that 

 would be scientifically correct, even though its 

 teaching might be ethically obnoxious. The 

 statements in this book are not exactly incor- 

 rect, but they would produce false impressions 

 on young students. The results of excess are 

 pictured, and the boy is left to infer that the 

 final state of his father, who drinks a glass of 

 wine for dinner, will be delirium tremens. But 

 the boy will be more likely to conclude that 

 physiology is not an ' exact ' science. 



MiNEEVA, ' A Yearbook of the Learned 

 World,' is indispensable to the editor and useful 

 to every one who wishes to keep informed on 

 the progress of education and science. As is 

 well known, the book contains accounts of uni- 

 versities, libraries, museums, learned societies, 

 etc., throughout the world. The names of 

 over 25,000 officers of these institutions are 

 given, and with an accuracy that is truly re- 

 markable. The eighth volume, 1899, which 

 reaches us from Messrs. Lemcke and Buechner 

 (12 Broadway, New York City), is thoroughly 

 revised from official sources, and is enlarged 

 and improved in several respects, including the 

 addition of a number of Canadian institutions. 

 Programs of the various international scientific 



congresses are promised for next year. The 

 importance of the great universities of the 

 world cannot be judged from the number of 

 students, as the data are not comparable, but 

 in this respect the order of the first ten is given 

 as follows : Paris, 12,047 ; Berlin, 10,306; Mad- 

 rid, 6,143 ; Vienna, 5,710 ; Naples, 5,103; Mos- 

 cow, 4,461 ; Budapesth, 4,407 ; Munich, 3,997 ; 

 Harvard, 3,674; St. Petersburg, 3,615. As a 

 matter of fact. Harvard, with over 5,000 stu- 

 dents all told, is probably now the fourth in 

 size of the universities of the world, being sur- 

 passed only by Paris, Berlin and Vienna. There 

 are thirty universities having over 2,000 stu- 

 dents, and, of these, nine are in the United 

 States, four in Eussia and in Great Britain, 

 three in France, in Germany and in Austria- 

 Hungary, two in Italy and one in Spain and in 

 Greece. 



Anotheb, useful work of reference is Tflio's 

 Who? edited by Mr. Douglas Sladen and pub- 

 lished by Black in London and by Macmillan in 

 New York. It contains brief bibliographies of 

 people talked about in Great Britain, including 

 all the leading men of science and a complete 

 list of the members of the Royal Society. 

 Americans are also noticed, but only in small 

 numbers. Presidents Gilman and Harper are 

 included, but not President Eliot. The late 

 Professor Marsh is the only American man 

 of science whose name we have noted. 



BOOKS EECEIVED. 



Report of the Seventh Meeting of the Australasian Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, held at Sydney. 

 Edited by A. Liveesidge. Sydney, Published by 

 the Association. Pp. lii-)-1161. 10s. 6d. 



Elements de Boianique. Ph. Van Tieghem. Paris, 

 Masson et Cie. 1898. 3d edition, revised and 

 enlarged. Vol. I., pp. xvi-|-559. Vol. II., pp. 

 XV -1-612. 



The Fairy Land of Science. ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY 

 New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1899. Pp. x+ 

 252. 



Hoio to Knoio the Ferns. Francis Theodora Par- 

 sons. New York, Charles Soribner's Sons. 1899. 

 Pp. xiv-1-210. $1.50. 



Papers and Addresses. N. Y. State Veterinary Col- 

 lege, 1896-1898. Ithaca, N. Y. 1898. 



