June io, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



333 



— Charles Scribner's Sons will publish shortly a book on Norse 

 history, industries, literature, and social life, etc., entitled "Nor- 

 way and the Norwegians," by C. F. Keary, an authority on the 

 land of the Vikings; an important and entertaining volume, enti- 

 tled " Conversations and Correspondence with Thomas Carlyle," 

 by Sir Charles G. Dufify; "Principles of Theoretical and Practical 

 Logic," by Professor J. H. Hyslop of Columbia ; and a book called 

 ■'•First Aid in Illness and Injury" (written and illustrated by Cap- 

 tain James E. Pilcher, U.S.A.), the purpose of which is to supply 

 inscructions that anyone can understand, for the emergencies and 

 accidents that the human machine is liable to. 



— Babyhood contains in its June issue an article on "Infantile 

 Grief," in which the writer. Dr. J. M. W. Kitchen, relates the 

 results of his investigations into a baby's cry. Dr. D. Warman 

 speaks of the heart affections of children due to over-exertion, 

 and describes several striking cases in which the heart was af- 

 fected by rope-jumping and sudden fright. Other medical topics 

 are discussed. The mothers themselves write in the " Parlia- 

 ment " about the best way of putting children to sleep, about the 

 careful and the careless way of training the little ones, about 

 purity in the bath, and many other things of interest. 



— ^ Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. will publish this month Walter 

 Crane's new book, "The Claims of Decorative Art," papers on 

 "The Structure and Evolution of Decorative Pattern," " Art and 

 Labor," " The Position and Claims of Decorative Art," "Art and 

 Handicraft," "Importance of the Applied Arts and Their Rela- 

 tions to Common Life," and other subjects, illustrated by the 

 author; " Favorite Flies and Their Histories: with replies from 

 experienced anglers to inquiries concerning how, when, and where 

 to use them," by Mary E. Orvis Marbury, with numerous illustra- 

 tions; the fourth volume of Charles S. Sargent's important work 

 •on "The Silva of North America;" "Phases of Thought and 

 Criticism," by Brother Azarias, who has won an enviable reputa- 

 tion for his scholarship and for his clear and attractive style ; and 

 the fourth edition, revised, of Edward Stanwood's "History of 

 Presidential Elections." 



— Fritz von Szczepanski, the author of the valuable " Bibliotheca 

 Polytechnioa " published last year, has just issued a " Bibliotheca 

 Electrotechnica," being a classified and descriptive guide to elec- 

 trical books published in English, German, and French. The 

 catalogue is divided into thirty-one departments under the follow- 

 ing headings : Journals and Annuals ; Theory of Electricity and 

 Magnetism; History of Electricity; Electricity in Exhibitions; 

 Batteries and Storage Batteries ; Electric Lighting; Electricity in 

 Mining; Bibliography; Lightning Conductors; Electricity in Rail- 

 ways ; Military Electricity ; Legal Aspect of Electricity ; Electro- 

 chemistry; Electromotors; Galvanoplasty ; Electric Bells; Domes- 

 tic Electricity ; Instruments ; Electric Transmission of Energy ; 

 Conduits; Electric Machines; Measurements; Potential; Statical 

 Electricity ; Tables and Formulae ; Telegraphy ; Transformers ; and 

 Electric Clock Making. The catalogue is a reasonably complete 

 list of modei-n electrotechnical literature issued since 1883, with 

 data of size, price, and name of publisher, and a full author-index. 

 Published in New York by the International News Company. 



— Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. have published a work by 

 the Rev. Lyman Abbott entitled " The Evolution of Christianity." 

 Mr. Abbott is enamoi-ed of the doctrine of evolution, and, seeing 

 its inconsistency with many things in Christianity, he has en- 

 deavored in this volume to give a new interpretation to some of 

 the older doctrines, so as to bring his religion into harmony with 

 the new philosophy. He is not the first to make such an attempt, 

 but we cannot think that he has had much better success than 

 those who have tried the same task before him. He quotes Pro- 

 fessor LeConte's definition of evolution as "continuous progi'essive 

 change, according to certain laws, and by means of resident 

 forces ; " he defines religion as ' ' the life of God in the soul of 

 man;" and then endeavors to show that "the Christian religion 

 is itself an evolution." To a certain extent, of course, he has no 

 ditflculty in so doing, though we cannot think he has always 

 sketched the development of Christianity correctly. But he in- 

 sists that Jesus was an exception to the universal law — that he 



was in no sense a product of evolution. The principal defect of 

 Mr. Abbott's work, however, is its vagueness in matters of doc- 

 trine. He avoids the discussion of doctrines as far as he can, and 

 whenever he alludes to them, he leaves us in doubt as to what 

 his real opinion is. We cannot make out even what he thinks 

 about God, his views on the subject of Deity beinga compound 

 of Christian theism and German pantheism, with the latter ele- 

 ment, it seems to us, predominating. Mr. Abbott's book will suit 

 those whose religion is sentimental rather than intellectual and 

 practical, and will doubtless please the partisans of evolutionism; 

 but it does not even touch the deeper religious problems of the 

 age, and consequently contributes nothing toward the religion of 

 the future. 



— During the past year the editor of " Appleton's General Guide " 

 has made a trip over the entire United States and Canada. The 

 information gathered by him has been incorporated in the present 

 edition. Among the new features will be found: 1. Descriptions 

 of routes, resulting from increased railroad facilities. 3. Descrip- 

 tions of resorts, notably those on the Pacific Coast. 3. The leading 

 cities have all been visited, and the latest information concerning 

 each has been gathered for this work by some special expert. 4. 

 Itineraries of each of the larger cities will be found at the proper 

 places, describing how the salient features may be seen in the 

 shortest space of time possible. 5. New plans and new maps of 

 the environs of the cities have been specially prepared for this 

 edition. 6. The old illustrations give place to new ones procured 

 especially for the present edition. Each year finds an increasing 

 numer of our citizens who desire to know more about their own 

 country, and each year brings an increasing influx of foreign tour- 

 ists who desire to see those features which are most signi6cantly 

 American. For both of these classes this book is designed. 



— Portraits of seventeen American anthropologists will accom- 

 pany Prof. Frederick Starr's article on " Anthropological Work in 

 America," which is to open The Popular Science Monthly for July. 

 The article shows that both in quality and amount the work of 

 Americans in this field compares favorably with that of Euro- 

 peans, described by Professor Starr in an earlier number. The 

 fifteenth article in the series on the Development of American 

 Industries since Columbus will be published in the July number. 

 It is on "Leather-making," and, like all in the series, it is fully 

 illustrated. The author is Mr. George A. Rich, of the Boston 

 Journal. There are illustrated articles on "New England Owls " 

 and certain " Rare Monkeys." A stimulating article on present 

 educational problems will be by Mrs. H. M. Plunkett. It is enti- 

 tled 'Kindergartens — Manual Training— Industrial Schools," and 

 embodies some principles of training children that have not yet 

 been duly appreciated. 



— W. J. Johnston Co., Ltd., New York, have just issued the 

 second edition of Professor E. J. Houston's ''Dictionary of Elec- 

 trical Words, Terms, and Phrases." The first edition of this work 

 was published in 1889, and was the first book which defined and 

 explained electrical terms in such language as could readily be 

 understood by the general public. The second edition is almost 

 entirely rewritten, and is fully twice the size of the first edition. 

 It contains not far from 5,000 distinct titles under which defini- 

 tions and explanatory matter are given, and nearly as many more 

 titles under which cross-references occur. The treatment of each 

 title includes —first, a brief definition in large type; and, second, 

 explanatory and descriptive matter in smaller type for the benefit 

 of those who wish fuller information than would be given in an 

 ordinary definition. The text is amply illustrated by 570 figures 

 of electrical apparatus The book is one which cannot fail to be 

 of value to the professional man generally, and also to the intelli- 

 gent reader of scientific periodicals, as well as of the newspapers 

 and magazines. 



— We have received from the J. B. Lippincott Co. " The Pro- 

 ceedings of the first annual Meeting of the National Conference 

 on University Extension," held in Philadelphia last December. 

 The object of the meeting was to discuss the methods appropriate 

 to university extension work and to devise plans for the more 

 efiScient conduct of the work hereafter; and the exercises con- 



