192 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XVII. No. 426 



same author's analysis of the American flood myths in his " Myths 

 of the New World." 



We do not expect much from European writers when they deal 

 with American subjects; but certainly Andrea should have turned 

 to Jensen's worli, rather than to Haupt's, for his version of the 

 Babylonian myth. 



Passing over these shortcomings in his authorities, the scheme 

 of the volume is satisfactorily carried out. After narrating 

 briefly the myths from the various continents, he shows that they 

 have no one common origin, though many ai-e borrowed from 

 others, as the biblical is borrowed from the Babylonian. The 

 natural events that prompted their invention are described at some 

 length ; but the psychological elements at the base of many of 

 them are not adverted to. While his work is thus a useful con- 

 tribution to the subject, it falls short in several important points 

 of what it should be. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



Among the contents of Outing for April, 1891, may be men- 

 tioned "Whaling among the Esquimaux," by H. L. Aldrich; 

 "The Athletics of Ancient Greece," by Dr. Harold Williams; 

 " Evolution in Yacht-Building," by Capt. M. Roosevelt Schuyler; 

 and "Composite Photography," by W. I. Lincoln Adams. 



— In The Atlantic Monthly for April, we note Mr. Lowell's 

 "Note: An Unexplored Corner of Japan," and Francis Park man's 

 second paper on " The Capture of Louisbourg by the New Eng- 

 land Militia." One of the most important papers in the number 

 is " Prehistoric Man on the Pacific Coast," by Professor George 

 Frederick Wright of Oberlin, in which he gives us the results of 

 his investigations on the subject of the Nampa Image. The Hon. 

 S. G. W. Benjamin, for some years United States minister to 

 Persia, has a timely consideration of ' ' The Armenians and the 

 Porte." 



— " The Soldier's First Aid Handbook," by Capt. and Assistant 

 Surgeon William D. Dietz, U.S.A., just published by John 

 Wiley & Sons, consists 'm the main of a series of lectures delivered 

 to members of the hospital corps and company bearers, and covers 

 the ground indicated in existing army orders. No claim is made 

 for originality, but the author has succeeded in presenting his 

 subject in the form best adapted for his purpose, and in a manner 

 calculated to make it useful to the medical officer in the prepara- 

 tion of his lectures to erdisted men. The work will also be of 

 use to line officers, who, in command of detachments, may have 

 to meet emergencies in the absence of the surgeon. 



— Mr. Francis A. Shoup has published a work entitled " Mech- 

 anism and Personality," in which he endeavors to harmonize the 

 latest biological theories with the metaphysics of Kant and Lotze. 

 We cannot say, however, that the work is very successful, the 

 author's ideas being too vague and confused, and his views on 

 some points too uncertain. Thus he includes under the term 

 " personality " not only the mind, but the body, and he repeatedly 

 confounds the relation between the mind and its various states 

 with that between the one and the many. Indeed, he expressly 

 says that this conception of the mind is the keynote of his 

 book, which is obviously a mistake. The relation between the 

 mind and its states is that of substance and attribute, and not 

 that of number. Other examples of confused and mistaken 

 thought might easily be pointed out; yet the book contains some 

 good points, and is much simpler in style than the majority of 

 philosophical works. It is published by Ginn & Co. 



— The February number (No. 49) of the Riverside Literature 

 Series (published quarterly during the present school year at 15 

 cents a single number, by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., Boston) con- 

 tains Part I. of " Hans Andersen's Stories," newly translated. This 

 book contains eleven stories, among which are " The Ugly Duck- 

 ling," " The Princess on the Pea," " The Little Match-Girl," and 

 " The Constant Tin Soldier." The publishers have felt that too 

 little attention has been paid hitherto to the importance of bring- 

 ing to children of the lowest-reader grades as good literature as 

 has been supplied for the higher grades, and with this end in view 

 they have this year issued the numbers of the Riverside Literature 



Series especially for the second-reader grade. To quote from the 

 account of Andersen and his work in the preface of the translator, 

 " It is this nice sympathy held by Andersen with the peculiar 

 phase of childhood which makes his writings so eminently fit 

 for the reading of children : in entering his world they do not 

 pass out of their own, but enlarge it, for by the means of his art 

 they are introduced to the larger art of imaginative literature." 



— Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. announce that they have 

 recently published an entirely new Atlantic portrait of Mr. James 

 Russell Lowell. This new portrait replaces one which, although 

 a favorite for some years, is not now a good likeness of Mr. Low- 

 ell. The new portrait is from a photograph taken by Gutekunsfc 

 in 1889, and is an almost full-face likeness of the poet, the head 

 being slightly turned towards the left. 



— In view of the approaching centennial of the founding of the 

 Patent Office in Washington, James Shepard's article, " The United 

 States Patent System," in the New England Magazine for April, 

 will be of interest to many. Mr. Shepard's article sheds light 

 upon many of the knotty points which make our patent laws such 

 a mystery to inventore, and such a gold-mine to their legal ad- 

 visers. The article urges vsdth special strenuousness the crying 

 necessity of extending the existing facilities of the Patent Office, 

 and enlarging the staff of this much-overburdened department. 



— Some years ago, while prosecuting investigations along sci- 

 entific lines, which resulted in a number of publications in English 

 and in German, Professor Gore of the Columbian University ex- 

 perienced in reading technical German those difficulties which 

 usually come to students who have studied only literary German. 

 In the absence of any adequate aid for acquiring proficiency in 

 the former style, he decided to prepare a handbook for technical 

 German, and during repeated residences in Germany he collected 

 material. In the light of this experience, he has prepared a 

 "German Science Reader," which will be issued next month by 

 D. C. Heath & Co. This book will contain an introductory chapter 

 on the peculiarities of construction of technical German, followed 

 by a graded collection of short essays on all branches of science, 

 with notes, and a vocabulary of scientific words. 



— The April number of the Quarterly Journal of Economics 

 will contain two articles on the application of the doctrine of 

 economic rent to capital and labor as well as to land, — one by Pro- 

 fessor J. B. Clark of Smith College, and the other by J. A. Hobson 

 of London, — the two writers having come to similar results inde- 

 pendently and simultaneously. Professor Adolph Wagner of 

 Berlin contributes an important article on Marshall's " Principles 

 of Economics," and Dr. WiUiam Cunningham reviews Gross's 

 work on the " Gild Merchant."" There will be an unusual number 

 of shorter articles and communications, the regular bibliography, 

 and a survey of the social and economic legislation of the several 

 States in 1890, prepared by W. B. Shaw of Albany. 



— Messrs. Macmillan & Co. will shortly be issuing Landor's 

 " Imaginary Conversations," in six volumes, the first to be issued 

 in April, and the remainder at intervals. It is hoped that the 

 whole publication will be completed by December. The edition 

 is by Mr. C. G. Crump, who edited the " Pericles and Aspasia " 

 for the Temple Library Series. The text wiU be a reprint from 

 the complete edition of Landor's works published in 1876, com- 

 pared with previous editions, and a bibliography is added to each 

 conversation showing the various forms in which it was originally 

 published. There wOl be short explanatory notes. A limited 

 edition on large paper will also be published. 



— In The Century for April, in the California Series, Mr. Julius 

 H. Pratt gives a description of the emigration to California by 

 way of Panama in '49. The pictures are striking, having been 

 drawn by Gilbert Gaul, after originals made from life by an artist 

 in 1850. In this connection is a paper of historical value by the 

 late Gen. J. C. Fremont on his own part in the " Conquest of 

 California." Several briefer papers on the general subject accom- 

 pany the more important contributions of the series. In this 

 number TheCentury's Mountain-Climbing Series, appropriate to the 

 summer season, is begun, with papers on two separate expeditions 



