694 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV, No. 97, 



will emphasize at once the refinements in dis- 

 tinctions of glacial deposits that have been 

 adopted. 



The second paper of the volume is by Lewis 

 Woolman and continues the important records 

 of artesian wells, that the same writer has con- 

 tributed to earlier reports. A moment's reflec- 

 tion will convince the reader, that the problem 

 of water supply in the towns of the flat country 

 of southern New Jersey is a serious one. The 

 surface relief is slight and natural head is not 

 available. Artesian wells have been developed 

 with marked success, and, thanks to the careful 

 recordsofMr. Woolman, the productive horizons 

 are now well identified. There are six in 

 Miocene strata, of which one, the lowest ex- 

 ceeds the others in productiveness. There are 

 four in the Cretaceous, all large producers. 

 The remaining ones are less uniform and em- 

 brace Quaternary sands and gravels, Triassic 

 sandstones and even Archean metamorphic 

 rocks. Mr. Woolman discusses the several geo- 

 graphical areas of the state, and gives many sec- 

 tions and lists of fossils from borings, of which 

 those of diatoms are particularly complete. 

 The report contains a great deal of matter im- 

 portant in connection with water supply, but 

 no less valuable as regards general geology. 



The next paper is a Eeport on Forestry, by 

 C. C. Vermeule and John Gifford. This is 

 divided into a final report on the northern por- 

 tion of the state by Mr. Vermeule and a pre- 

 liminary one on the southern by Mr. GiflFord. 

 Many interesting topics are discussed and a 

 good forestry map is appended. For the gen- 

 eral reader the pages of the latter report that 

 deal with the swamp cedar industry and the 

 resurrection of old and buried logs will prove 

 especially interesting. 



The usual mineral statistics of iron ore and 

 zinc ore conclude the volume. Of the former 

 there were mined in 1894, 277,483 tons, a fall- 

 ing off of over 75,000 tons from the production 

 of 1893. Despite this fact New Jersey was 

 eighth on the list and outranked New York, 

 whereas with the larger production of 1893, she 

 was only ninth. The zinc ore raised was 55,- 

 582 tons, afallingoflf from 1893 of nearly 22,000 

 tons. 



The report before us approaches very nearly 



to what we conceive to be the proper scope of 

 a geological report for one of our older States. 

 It gives, as the reports of New Jersey have 

 given for many years, a large amount of ma- 

 terial that the average taxpayer can appreciate 

 and use. At the same time, as much pure sci- 

 ence is introduced as may be wise and safe from 

 the administrative point of view. 



J. F. Kemp. 



Demon Possession, and Allied Themes. By Rev. 



John L. Nevius, D. D. With an introduction 



by Eev. F. F. Ellinwood, D. D. Second 



Edition, pp. 520. F. W. Revel Co., New 



York. 1896. 



The late Rev. Dr. Nevius was for many years a 

 missionary to China, and while there had a num- 

 ber of opportunities to witness or to learn about 

 cases of mental disease which, he became con- 

 vinced, could not be ascribed to natural causes, 

 but were the result of demonic possession, or 

 the entrance into a man of an alien evil spirit. 



In this work he describes a number of such 

 instances and then discusses the naturalistic 

 explanations which have been offered, especi- 

 ally the pathological and the psychological 

 theories. Both of these he rejects, and prefers 

 the ' biblical ' theory of demonic possession. 

 He argues that no other explanation is either 

 consistent or proper as applied to the cases re- 

 corded in the Gospel, and if they are to be lit- 

 erally understood as of supernatural origin 

 there is no reason why those wholly analogous 

 in course and symptoms which he describes 

 should not also be so regarded. 



Against this argument little can be said by 

 one who concedes the premise ; but modern 

 psychology does not. It explains the phenom- 

 ena of the human mind by the ascertained 

 laws of the human mind , and does not grant 

 that any other explanation is necessary. Let 

 us apply this reasoning in the present instance. 



Facts such as Dr. Nevius brings forward be- 

 long to the most common of irregular mental 

 phenomena. Such seizures are extremely fre- 

 quent in the Shamanistic cults of savage tribes. 

 They are cited by the hundred among Austra- 

 lian blacks, American Indians and African 

 Negroes. Bishop Calloway, formerly of the dio- 

 cese of Natal, says that nearly all his converts 



