SCIENCE, 



[Vol. XXI. No. 523 



Mr. Gralton's "Finger Prints" is a volume made up of various 

 essays and observations, which have engaged him for several 

 years, on the external anatomy of the papillary ridges ou the ex- 

 tremities of the thumb and fingers. He has found that they 

 remain singularly individual in character through long periods 

 of life, and thus may serve for purposes of identification. They 

 are slightly hereditary and have little or no ethnic value. They 

 do not appear to be correlated to mental ability, temperament, or 

 character. The volume as a whole presents an admirable model 

 of a closely scientific investigation of a somatologic point; and 

 perhaps is as valuable in this respect as for any definite results 

 reached. 



The Foot-Path Way. By Bradford Torret. Boston, Hough- 

 ton, Mifflin, & Co. 

 Students of living things have not inaptly been divided into 

 two general classes, naturalists and biologists; the former includ- 

 ing Englishmen like Gilbert White, Thomas Edward, and Richard 

 Jefferies, and Americans like Thoreau, Burroughs, and Bradford 

 Torrey, who delight in studying the actions of living beings on 

 their native heath, in the coppice beside the brook, or amid the 

 silence of the forest. Among the biologists are found the great 

 majority of modern students whose days are spent in the labora- 

 tory, and who care little for a living organism until it has been 

 killed, dissected, frozen, and cut into infinitesimal slices by the 

 microtome. Without attempting to discuss the relative merits of 

 these two methods, it will readily be admitted that the naturalists 

 can put into their writings much more of that humanitarian in- 

 terest which gives the charm to literature. Readers of Mr. Brad- 

 ford Torrey's '-Birds in the Bush " and " A Rambler's Lease " 

 will know what to expect in wandering with him along the 

 present "Foot-Path Way." They are not likely to be disap- 

 pointed. Bpsides glimpses of rare warblers and individual 

 peculiarities of common birds, they will now and then see a 

 beautiful landscape, or hear the murmur of a mountain brook, 



while mingled with all they will find much delightful philosophy. 

 They will go to beautiful Franconia in June to learn 



' ' How good life is at its best ! And in such 

 ' charmed days, 

 When the genius of God doth flow,' 

 w'nat care we for science or the objects of science, — for grosbeak 

 or crossbill (may the birds forgive me !) or the latest novelties io 

 willows? I am often where fine music is played, and never with- 

 out being intei-ested ; as raen say, I am pleased. But at the' 

 twentieth time, it may be, something touches my ears, and I hear 

 the music within the music; and, for the hour, I am at heaven's 

 gate. So it is with our appreciation of natural beauty. We are 

 always in its presence, but only on rare occasions are onr eyes 

 annointed to see it." 



Besides June in Franconia, there are papers on December Out- 

 of-Doors, Dyer's Hollow, Five Days on Mount Mansfield. A Widow^ 

 and Twms. A Male Ruljy-Throat, Robin Roosts, The Passing of 

 the Birds, A Great Blue Heron. Flowers and Folks and the Wey- 

 mouth Pine. The humming-bird sketches (A Widow and Twins 

 and A Male Ruby-Throat) are peculiarly interesting, while those 

 on The Robin Roosts and The Passing of the Birds are full of fas- 

 cinating bird news. 



The Testimony of Tradition. By David MacRitchie. London^ 

 Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, & Co. 204 p. Illustrated. 

 The writer of this volume attempts to show that the ancient 

 Picts of Scotland were of Mongolian descent, and had come across 

 the sea from Norway. That, so far as we know, there never 

 were any Finns in Norway about Bergen, whence the " Finmen " 

 are said to have come, does not trouble Mr. MacRitchie. He 

 merely remarks that " it may be assumed " that there were (p. 35). 

 He lays much stress on the skin boats which these early seafarers 

 used. But the Welsh used also just such, as well as many other 

 nations. He makes no attempt to trace any of the ancient Pictish 

 names to Finnish radicals, though he hints that it could be done.. 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Philosophical Society, Washington. 



Feb. 4. — R. S. Woodward, Abstract and 

 Discussion of Paper Read at Last Meeting ; 

 F. L. O Wadsworth, Method of Determina- 

 tion of the Metre in Terms of a Wave-Length 

 of Light; Waldeman Lindgren, Two Neo- 

 cene Rivers of California; H. W. Turner, 

 Remarks on the Geology of Calaveras 

 County, California. 



THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- 

 ferers from 'Nerves.' 



An introduction to public consideration, 

 from a non-medical point of view, of a con- 

 dition of ill-health which is increasingly 

 prevalent in all ranks of society. In the 

 first part of this work the author dwells on 

 the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- 

 thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of 

 the subject which still prevails; in the sec- 

 ond part, attention is drawn to the principal 

 causes of the malady. The allegory forming 

 the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- 

 tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of 

 treatment which have at various times been 

 thought suitable to this most painful and try- 

 ing 



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Reading Matter Notices. 



Eipans Tabules : for torpid liver. 

 Eipans Tabules banish pain. 



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