October 4, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



455 



are concerned, England is peculiarly fortu- 

 nate in having such a number and variety of 

 them on the southern coast, which presents 

 great differences in outline, soil and climatic in- 

 fluences of various kinds. Dr. Ord remarks 

 that ' ' where a ridge comes down from high in- 

 land into the sea, its shelving sides are found 

 to embrace great differences of climate within a 

 small area. We may find one side of a bay ex- 

 posed to east winds, with an air which is found 

 to be tonic and bracing, while, on the other 

 side, with a westerly or southwesterly aspect, 

 the sun pours in on a beach lying at the foot of 

 high cliff's with almost tropical warmth ; and 

 one side of a headland may be so warm as to be 

 held to be relaxing, while the other is cool and 

 invigorating. ' ' 



In the section on the Climate of Devonshire 

 attention is called to the fact that for years this 

 region has been considered as specially favora- 

 ble for those suffering fi-om all forms of respira- 

 tory trouble, and the reporters, Dr. Symes 

 Thompson and Dr. Lazarus-Barlow, say "from 

 this cause it comes about that a large propor- 

 tion of the permanent residents have become 

 such from either some actvial or hereditary ten- 

 dency to diseases of the respiratory type." To 

 this it might be added that so far as consump- 

 tion is concerned, any locality to which large 

 numbers of persons affected with pulminary 

 tuberculosis have resorted for a number of 

 years is specially liable to be infected with the 

 specific bacillus fi-om dried sputa, wherever 

 this has been deposited in more or less dark 

 places. 



In speaking of one locality the significant re- 

 mark is made that "typhoid fever has virtually 

 disappeared from Sandown since the new water 

 supply was established in 1863." 



The really valuable thermal and mineral 

 springs of Great Britain are comparatively few 

 in number. There are no alkaline waters. 

 Bath and Buxton are the only thermal waters 

 of importance. Harrogate and Strathpeflfer 

 are the chief sulphurous spas, and the strongest 

 saline waters are those of Droitwich and Nant- 

 wich. There are no chalybeate springs of great 

 reputation, but there are several which have 

 considerable value. 



Considering the great number and variety of 



thermal and mineral waters in the United 

 States, many of the springs containing consid- 

 erable quantities of salts, having important 

 therapeutic qualities, it is much to be desired 

 that a scientific, impartial report upon them, 

 similar to the one above referred to, should be 

 prepared and published for the benefit not only 

 of our own people, but of the world at large. 

 No doubt at present it would be impossible to 

 obtain the requisite data, for while we have a 

 fair amount of reliable chemical analyses of the 

 different waters, the statistics of disease and 

 death are for the most part wanting and the 

 meteorological data are still incomplete, al- 

 though much has been done in this direction 

 within the last ten years. 



In the meantime, until we can have such a 

 report of our own, those who are interested in 

 health resorts, whether as physicians, patients, 

 or friends of the sick, will find much in this vol- 

 ume to interest and instruct them. 



J. S. Billings. 



Leitfadenfilr Mstiologische Untersuchungen. Von 

 Dr. Bernhaed Rawitz, Privatdozenten an 

 der Uuiversitat Berlin. Zweite umgearbeitete 

 und vermehrte Auflage. Pp. 148, no figures. 

 Verlag von Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1895. 

 The purpose of this work, as the title states, 

 is to furnish a guide to histological investigation. 

 It is divided into two main sections. The first 

 is devoted to the methods of histology, fixing, 

 hardening, sectioning, staining, etc., and the 

 principles involved in these proceedings. The 

 second part takes up all of the tissues and or- 

 gans and shows how the methods are applied. 

 Cross references are constantly given, so that 

 only a minimum of repetition is necessary. 



The author's preparation for the task has 

 been excellent. Besides the training of the 

 German laboratories, he has prepared an excel- 

 lent manual of histology and has written several 

 papers giving the results of his own histological 

 investigations. 



In going carefully over the methods one can 

 see the discrimination that has been exercised 

 by the author in selecting, from the great num- 

 ber of possible methods, those that his own ex- 

 perience and that of others have found most reli- 

 able and most capable of giving the best gen- 



