October i6, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



and, if we may judge from the names of the books and authors 

 giFen in the prospectus, are likely to be of real value. The vol- 

 ume before us is by the editor of the series, and is devoted to a 

 history of esthetics from the days of the Greek philosophers to the 

 present time. Another volume is projected by the author, in 

 which he will discuss the subjects of beauty and art themselves, 

 and will present a constructive theory of his own. The present 

 work is a succinct but useful summary of the teachings of previ- 

 ous writers, presented with impartiality and in a clear and attract- 

 ive style. The ancient writers are first treated of, Plato and Ar- 

 istotle occupying the foremost places; and then, after a brief 

 glance at certain mediaeval philosophers, the esthetic writers of 

 modern times are taken up, those of each nation being grouped 

 together. Thus the philosophy of Germany from the earliest 

 times to the present is first dealt with, then those of France, Italy, 

 Holland, Britain, and America. This arrangement enables us to 

 see the effect of national genius on the philosophy and criticism 

 of art, but fails to show with equal clearness what the writers of 

 one nation have owed to those of another. The principal fault of 

 Professor Knight's work, as it seems to us, is the attention given 

 to insignificant authors, who contributed nothing to the subject, 

 either by philosophy or by criticism, and who might better have 

 been passed over in silence. The impression produced on the 

 mind by the book is in one respect discouraging, for it seems to 

 show that little real advance in the philosophy of beauty has been 

 made since ancient days. The theory, first promulgated by Plato 

 and afterwards adopted by Aristotle, that the essence of beauty 

 consists in harmony and proportion, still holds its ground; but the 

 dispute between Aristotelian realism and Platonic idealism is as 

 unsettled as ever. We commend Professor Knight's book to stu- 

 dents of esthetics, and shall look with interest for his second vol- 

 ume. 



Electricity and Magnetism. Translated from the French of 

 Amedee Gtjillemin. Revised and edited by Silvanus P. 

 Thompson. London and New York, Macmillan. 8". $8. 



This is certainly as fine a piece of book making in the line of 

 the physical sciences as we remember having seen for some time. 

 A few French writers have in the past brought out these hand- 

 some volumes in popular exposition of this or that branch of sci- 

 ence, and occasionally these have been translated. But there 

 have been few published in English except as translations. 



That Professor Silvanus P. Thompson is known as the writer of 

 good books in electrical science goes without saying, and his 

 standing as a physicist is unquestioned, as has been recognized by 

 his election not many years ago as a Fellow of the Royal Society. 

 The editor, however, claims responsibility on but a few points. 

 The chapters on dynamo-electric machines and on the telephone 

 were largely rewritten by him, and brought into accordance with 

 modern knowledge ; and throughout the book frequent editorial 

 notes in brackets are inserted that bring the statements up to 

 date. 



The book is not intended for the student, but as a popular, sim- 

 ple, non-mathematical exposition of the science which now at- 

 tracts such general interest. The volume is certainly one on 

 which a great amount of labor and money must have been ex- 

 pended, but there has been left in a great deal of matter of purely 

 historical interest, matter not of a character likely to please any 

 one looking only for the latest information. Electrical science 

 has moved considerably in the past ten years, and it has been dif- 

 ficult for the editor to conceal the evident influence of the Pan- 

 Electrical Exposition of 1881 as a recent event on the French 

 original. 



When one is asked for a popular book on electricity and mag- 

 netism, the answer is a diflBcult one, since such valuable manuals 

 as the "Principles of Electricity and Magnetism,"' by Professor 

 Thompson, may prove too formally scientific for the untrained 

 reader. There is certainly no other work in English that treats 

 electricity and magnetism in so untechnical a way as does this by 

 Guillemin ; we only question whether it might not have been of 

 half the size and served its purpose as well. The first part of the 

 volume is devoted to the pure science, the second to the applica- 

 tions in the industries. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, announces a new edition (the four- 

 teenth) of his ''Brockhaus' Konversation-Lexikon." The first 

 volume of the first edition was published in 1796, so that the 

 present is projected as a sort of century-jubilee edition. The 

 work will be very much enlarged and printed in a sumptuous 

 manner. It may be had in 356 weekly parts or in sixteen bound 

 volumes. 



— Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. are about to publish "Freeland: 

 A Social Anticipation," by Dr. Theodor Hertzka, a book which 

 has been called the German "Looking Backward." This work 

 describes an imaginary colony in equatorial Africa, in which Dr. 

 Hertzka's economic system of land and capital nationalization, 

 combined with absolutely untrammelled industrial competition, is 

 carried out. The book has given rise already to local societies in 

 Vienna, Buda Pest, Prague, Czerarowitz, Berlin, Hambuig, 

 Brunswick, Hanover, and some fourteen other places, which will 

 ultimately be united into an International Free Society for the 

 purpose of establishing such a colony as is described in the book. 



— Babyhood contains the following among other articles in its 

 October issue: "The Management and Care of Near-Sighted 

 Eyes," by J. M. Mills, M.D. ; "The Airing and Exercise of In- 

 fants," by Alfred Stengel, M.D.; "The Bones in Childhood," by 

 Harriet Brooke Smith, M.D. ; " Nursery Ventilation; " •' The 

 Nursery Chair; " "Sweets;" "From One to Five;" "How to 

 Carry the Baby;" "Neglect of Milk Crust;" "Fat Babies vs. 

 Lean Babies;" "Blowing Baby's Nose;" "A Night Jacket:'" 

 "Washing Baby's Flannels;" "Contagion from Whooping 

 Cough ;" " Buying a Cow for the Baby;" " Condensed Milk f(ir 

 a Long Journey ; " " Quantity of Food at One Year ; " "Hard and 

 Soft Water as Affecting Teeth; "' " A Cure for the Green Apple 

 Habit." 



— "Seas and Lands " is the title Sir Edwin Arnold has given to 

 the account of his recent travels, which the Longmans will pub- 

 lish at once. The earlier chapters are devoted to Canada and the 

 United States, but the bulk of the book is given up to Japan as it 

 impressed the author of the " Light of Asia" day by day. There 

 are more than forty full page illustrations from photographs. The 

 same firm will issue at once Canon Farrar's new copyright 

 novel, "Darkness and Dawn; or. Scenes in the Days of Nero." 

 This historic tale is the author's first venture into fiction for many 

 years, and it is the result of his investigation into the early history 

 of Christianity. He has stuck more closely to the facts than most 

 writers of fiction, and he declares that the " outline of his story is 

 determined by the actual events of pagan and Christian history." 



— In the Magazine of American History for October an article 

 by the editor, " A Group of Columbus Portraits," deals with facts 

 and picture-pedigrees, giving fac-similes of the oldest and rarest 

 engraved prints of Columbus portraiture extant, with much other 

 data of timely consequence. The double-headed contemporary 

 print of the portraits of Ferdinand and Isabella is included; 

 and Mrs. Lamb adds to her essay suggestive sketches of those 

 sovereigns and their great military triumphs in connection with 

 Columbus and the dawn of America upon the map of the world. 

 W. F. Ganong follows with a paper on " The St. Croix of the 

 Northeastern Boundary," and four illustrative maps. "Hugh 

 McCulloch on Daniel Webster" is an excerpt of interest. The 

 longest article in the number is a study by Right Reverend M. F. 

 Howley, D.D., P. A., of Newfoundland, on " Cabot's Landfall," the 

 scene of which he traces, according to his judgment, in an elabo- 

 rate accompanying map. Then comes a contribution pertinent to 

 the approaching World's Fair, " The Sultan of Turkey and the 

 Chicago Exhibition," by Frederick Diodati Thompson, touching on 

 the calamities and historic growth of Chicago, and presenting 

 many facts about Turkey and its ruler, whose visit to America on 

 the opening of the Columbian exposition is foreshadowed. Other 

 articles include " Philadelphia in 1778 through Foreign Eyes,"" 

 and " Napoleon Bonaparte and Peace with America." 



— Dr. De Ki-oustckofE, an eminent chemist and mineralogist of 

 St. Petersburg, recently paid a visit of some weeks to the United 

 States, charged with a scientific mission by the Russian Govern- 



