484 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 333 



its existence as a product of putrefaction has been suspected ; and 

 Brieger speaks of the " muscarm dulicke Wirkimg " oi an aXks,- 

 loid isolated by hira, but is not satisfied of its identity, as this al- 

 kaloid is not included in the list of those discovered and recorded 

 by him. 



The case I have here reported is, moreover, doubtless the only 

 •one yet investigated wherein muscarine, heretofore known only as 

 a vegetable alkaloid, has been found as a decomposition-product in 

 a food the consumption of which has resulted in death, attended 

 by the well-known symptoms of muscarine-poisoning. The facts 

 observed and here recorded seem to present one more illustration 

 of the intimacy existing between the composition and decomposi- 

 tion of animal and vegetable organisms, and furnish an additional 

 proof of the interest and importance of this new field of investiga- 

 tion. Interest in the researches made in this new domain must be 

 proportional to their importance, capable as they are of developing 

 facts of so universal significance, and dealing with transformations 

 occurring not only in the food we may eat, but in any animal body 

 as well, and demanding new methods of lego-chemical investiga- 

 tion. 



During the past year I have continued the investigation begun 

 the previous season, and am now able to report the repeated isola- 

 tion of muscarine as a product of the putrefaction of the food from 

 the eating of which the four people at Chitose died, and, moreover, 

 have been so fortunate as to discover two new and heretofore un- 

 known ptomaines. One of these was obtained from the original 

 ether extract ; but, though their character has been carefully 

 studied, I prefer to reserve opinion as to identification. 



Discussion of the scientific interest and value of these facts is 

 here out of place ; but their practical value is, however, of wide- 

 spread importance and applicability, both from sanitary and legal 

 points of view. We are forced to recognize the danger of eating 

 ■either animal or vegetable food after decomposition has begun, 

 since this process may result in the development of deadly poison- 

 ous alkaloids resembling in physiological properties, strychnine, 

 morphine, brucine, and other of the most powerful poisonous al- 

 kaloids hitherto known only as products of vegetable growth. 

 Many diseases of a cholera-like character, perhaps even this most 

 dreaded malady itself, may result from the consumption of food in 

 which the process of putrefaction has begun. From a legal stand- 

 point, chemists, physicians, and jurists are now compelled to recog- 

 nize the possibility that many supposed cases of criminal poison- 

 ing are in reality the result of ptomaine-formation, either in food 

 ■or in the decomposing body after death. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Fundamental Proble7ns. By DR. Paul Carus. Chicago, Open 

 Court Publ. Co. 12". $1. 



The author of this work is the editor of the Open Court, a paper 

 professing to teach a new religion, and most of the chapters of 

 which the book consists have already appeared in the columns of 

 •that paper. The object of the book is to set forth the philosophy 

 of Dr. Carus, which, we suppose, must betaken as the basis of that 

 improved religion which the Open Court was founded to teach. 

 One merit the work certainly has : it is, except in the ethical part, 

 plainly written, and leaves no doubt as to what the author's philoso- 

 phy is. It is a crude and crass materialism. Indeed, we have 

 never seen a work in which the materialistic view was presented in 

 so extreme a form as in this of Dr. Carus. Thus, in discussmg the 

 origin of feeling, he says, " We must expect the solution of this 

 problem from biological investigations. . . . The conditions of 

 feeling must exist in the inorganic matter of our world, and the 

 appearance of the phenomena of sensation will be found to depend 

 upon a special form in which the molecules of protoplasma com- 

 bine and disintegrate " (pp. lo-li). And elsewhere he says that 

 " it is not improbable that feeling will be demonstrated as a special 

 kind of reflex action in organized substance " (p. 185). " The ego 

 ... is the result of the innumerable and complicated nerve organ- 

 isms in our body " (p. 214). And then, as if these assertions were 

 not sufficient. Dr. Carus declares " it is undeniable that immaterial 

 ireahties cannot exist. The thing exists by its being material " (p. 



86). He ridicules the idea of a First Cause, even when conceived 

 as the Unknowable, and calls it a chimerical nonentity. God is 

 variously spoken of as the All- existence and as the order of the world. 

 The doctor's ethical theory is confused and inconsistent. He rejects 

 utilitarianism, and at first adopts Kant's view that the moral law is 

 purely formal, without any reference to ends ; yet again he says that 

 man is moral " by observing and conforming to the cosmical order of 

 nature ; " and both these views are supplemented by the theory that 

 morality consists in living for the ideal, though what the ideal is 

 we are nowhere informed. Such are Dr. Carus's views ; and we 

 are constrained to say that we do not think they will revolutionize 

 either philosophy or religion. 



Hygiene of the Nursery. By Louis STARR. 2d ed. Philadel- 

 phia, Blakiston. 12°. $1. 

 When the first edition of this manual appeared, we said, that, 

 of the many books which have been published on this subject, this 

 was by far the best. This, the second edition, is, by virtue of a 

 thorough revision and numerous additions, superior to the first. It 

 has our hearty commendation. 



Statics for Beginners. By JOHN Greaves. London' and New 

 York, Macmillan. 16°. 90 cents. 

 This work on " Statics for Beginners," by John Greaves, fellow 

 and mathematical lecturer of Christ College, Cambridge, England, 

 assumes no knowledge beyond " Euclid," Books 1-6, and elemen- 

 tary algebra, with a few propositions in trigonometry. Collections 

 of easy examples are inserted after the more important proposi- 

 tions, while examples of greater difficulty are given at the ends of 

 the chapters. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



Messrs. Ginn & Co. announce as in preparation " Practical 

 Latin Composition," by W. C. Collar, A.M., head master of the 

 Roxbury Latin School, Boston, and author of " The Beginner's 

 Latin Book " and " Collar's Eysenbach." This book embodies a 

 method that has been followed by the author for many years with 

 the most satisfactory results. A brief explanation of the method 

 will show how rational it is, how well it accords with the principles 

 of language-teaching now most approved, and how simple and 

 effectual an aid it should prove to a real understanding of Latin. 

 The book consists of three classes of exercises, all based on selec- 

 tions from the Latin authors usually read in schools. The first 

 exercise of each group contains easy sentences to be turned into 

 Latin orally, — sentences involving the use of words, idioms, and 

 constructions of the Latin text assigned for study in preparation. 

 The second exercise consists of a short passage of continuous 

 English to be written out in Latin, based on the same Latin text 

 as the preceding. The third exercise, which may be omitted at 

 the teacher's option, contains questions in Latin, to be answered in 

 Latin, on the subject-matter" of the original, but not introducing 

 either words or grammatical principles that are unfamiliar. Notes 

 and occasional grammatical references accompany the exercises. 



— " From Nineveh to the Lake ; the Deluged Valley of the 

 Conemaugh ; Scenes Afoot," is announced by Alex. Y. Lee, archi- 

 tect and civil engineer, 96 4th Avenue, Pittsburgh, Penn. This is 

 an extended bird's-eye view of the valley of the Conemaugh, Johns- 

 town, and the lake, finely lithographed and drawn from personal 

 sketches, and based upon surveys of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 



— Roberts Brothers have just ready, in their series of Balzac's 

 works, " Seraphita," which is the completing volume of Balzac's 

 three philosophical novels, of which " The Magic Skin " and 

 " Louis Lambert " have already been issued by this house. Many 

 critics have so little understood the real meaning of " Louis Lara-_ 

 bert " and " Seraphita," that they have wondered why the author 

 gave them a place in the CotnSdie Hiimaine, which, nevertheless, 

 without them, would be a temple without a pediment, as M. Taine 

 very clearly saw and said. Mr. George F. Parsons takes advan- 

 tage of Miss Wormeley's translation to state and prove and eluci- 

 date this truth in an introduction, and all serious readers who fol- 

 low it throughout will never regret that they have thus prepared 

 themselves to understand Balzac's work. 



