August io, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



69 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 

 riomaines and Leuconiames, or the Putrefactive and Physiologi- 

 cal Alkaloids. By Victor C. Vaughan and Frederick G. 

 Now. Philadelphia, Lea Bros. 12°. 



Professor Vaughan and Mr. Novy have done the scientific 

 world great service in collating the facts connected with ptomaines 

 and leucomaines. The literature of the subject is abundant, but 

 has been so scattered and so fragmentary that it was not available 

 for reference. In the book before us a very complete historical 

 sketch of the subject has been given, and for those who wish to 

 consult the original articles which have appeared, a very excellent 

 bibliography is provided. This work is more than a mere compi- 

 lation. Professor Vaughan has done a large amount of original 

 and valuable work in this branch of scientific research, and his 

 views and methods are here given to the public. In the chapter 

 devoted to the consideration of the foods containing poisonous pto- 

 maines, the authors mention mussels, sausage, ham, canned meats 

 and fruits, cheese, milk, ice-cream, and bread as having been proved 

 at various' times to contain poisonous alkaloids. These observa- 

 tions are made the more interesting by being accompanied with the 

 details of the cases, and are of special value to the physician by 

 reason of the detailed symptoms and progress of the illness. The 

 relation of ptomaines to disease is fully discussed. The authors ex- 

 press the view that an infectious disease arises when a specific, 

 pathogenic micro-organism, having gained admittance to the body, 

 and having found the conditions favorable, grows and multiplies, 

 and in so doing elaborates a chemical poison which induces its 

 characteristic effects. In the systemic infectious diseases, such as 

 anthrax, typhoid-fever, and cholera, this poison is undoubtedly 

 taken into the general circulation, and affects the central nervous 

 system. Among the methods of extracting ptomaines, those of 

 Stas-Otto, Dragendorff, Brieger, Gautier, and Etard are described, 

 and preference given to the Stas-Otto, recognizing, however, that 

 this method is not perfect. 



Several chapters are devoted to the leucomaines, or those basic 

 substances which are found in the living tissues, either as the prod- 

 ucts of fermentation changes or of retrograde metamorphosis, as dis- 

 tinguished from ptomaines, or those which are formed during the 

 putrefaction of organic matter. The closing chapter, on the patho- 

 logical importance of the leucomaines, is full of suggestion to the 

 practising physician. The authors truly say that while the medical 

 profession has been giving much time, attention, and energy in re- 

 cent years to the study of infectious diseases, it has too much neg- 

 lected a large and important class of ailments which arise within 

 the body itself, and which may be called autogenous. They believe 

 that the individual may be poisoned by his own excretions, and that 

 bilious attacks, attacks due to torpid livers, etc., are due to the ab- 

 sorption into the general circulation of peptones which are formed 

 faster than the liver can convert them into globulin, and that they 

 act as poisons, or that poisonous alkaloids are formed and absorbed. 

 The opinion is expressed that ordinary colds are due to the reten- 

 tion of certain effete matters which are normally excreted by the 

 skin, and that fevers are often produced in the same manner. This 

 chapter alone is worth the price of the book to the practismg phy- 

 sician. 



Longmans School Geography. By GEORGE G. Chisholm. Lon- 

 don, Longmans, Green, & Co. ii'^. $1.05. 

 Elementary Physiography. By JOHN THORNTON. London and 

 New York, Longmans, Green, & Co. 12°. 80 cents. 



The endeavors of the Royal Geographical Society of London to 

 improve the methods of teaching geography have resulted in the 

 publication of a great number of text-books, among which Chis- 

 holm's work is one of the earliest. The author has adopted the 

 methods of teaching in use in Germany, and followed to a certain 

 extent the models of Wagner's and Supan's geographies. We recom- 

 mend his book to teachers as sviggestiveof a good method of teach- 

 ing geography. It is of particular value on account of the numer- 

 ous references to an introduction treating mathematical and physi- 

 cal geography. The book contains very few names and figures, 

 but describes the character and productions of the various coun- 

 tries that are discussed briefly. The facts are as a rule accurate, 

 although a few errors occur. The author emphasizes in his preface 



that to teach geography adcf|uately the aid of maps is necessary, and 

 therefore many portions of the book must be considered hints to 

 the teacher, not full descriptions of the countries treated. Un- 

 doubtedly the present book will be a valuable help to finding a sat- 

 isfactory method of teaching geography. 



Another attempt to improve the methods of teaching geography- 

 is Thornton's ' Elementary Physiography.' It does not cover the 

 field of dascriptions of countries, but the author treats in a very 

 satisfactory way the i)roblems of physics as applied to the phenom- 

 ena of our planet. The author has followed the lines of the recast 

 Syllabus recently issued by the Science Department, South Ken- 

 sington. We believe that the method advocated in this book and 

 in the new Syllabus is capable of the most satisfactory results in 

 the hands of a skilful teacher. If applied consistently, it will lead 

 to the teaching of the various branches of science by observation 

 of the phenomena of nature. It is evident that the teaching of 

 geography on the methods advocated by Geikie and others must 

 necessarily include the teaching of physics, chemistry, botany, zool- 

 ogy, and geology, and that it is only a change of name if we call it 

 physiography. All attempts to improve the methods of teaching 

 geography have followed these lines, and we do not doubt that it 

 will finally result" in a re-organization of the methods of teaching 

 science. The great advantage of the new method is its being 

 more concrete than the old one, educating the child to observe the 

 phenomena among which it lives, instead of beginning with the ex- 

 periment. This is, at the same time, a valuable counterbalance 

 against the one-sided training of the faculty of reasoning to which 

 the teaching of science easily leads ; the observation of life being 

 a powerful means of educating the love of nature and the feeling of 

 the child. It is principally from this point of view that we welcome 

 Thornton's book, which first discusses physical laws and then ap- 

 plies them to geographical phenomena. From what we have said 

 above, it will be clear that we should prefer the reverse arrange- 

 ment ; but the teacher will, of course, be able to use the book 

 as well in applying physical laws to phenomena as in finding the 

 laws by studying the phenomena. The descriptive part of geog- 

 raphy as treated in Chisholm 's book ought to be the subject of 

 the teaching of geography proper, which assumes the knowledge 

 of the general laws of physiography. If we define geography in 

 this way, it will be understood that it can best be tauglit in connec- 

 tion with history, as it treats of countries and their inhabitants. We 

 wish that general anthropogeographical statements were excluded 

 altogether from school-books, as they are always misleading, and 

 promote a superficiality in the way of treating historical and political 

 questions which ought to be avoided. The influence of a country 

 upon the development of its inhabitants is most satisfactorily treated 

 in teaching its history. Chisholm's and Thornton's books will help 

 to remodel the teaching of geography and science so as to make 

 them important branches of our systems of education. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The quarantine act approved by the President last week pro- 

 vides for the immediate establishment of eight new federal quaran- 

 tine stations at the following points : one at the mouth of Delaware 

 Bay ; one near Cape Charles, at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay ; 

 one on the Georgia coast ; one at or near Key West ; one in San 

 Diego harbor ; one in San Francisco harbor ; and one at or near 

 Port Townsend, at the entrance to Puget Sound. The aggregate 

 sum appropriated for the establishment and maintenance during the 

 present fiscal year is $511,500. This extension of the national 

 quarantine service is certain to give the country much better pro- 

 tection than it has ever had against the introduction of infectious 

 diseases. 



— William A. Croffut, who has been appointed executive officer 

 of the Geological Survey, in the place of the late James A. Steven- 

 son, is a well-known journalist. He is a man of great energy and 

 an unbounded capacity for work, and will undoubtedly till with 

 success the difficult position in which he is placed. He has a taste 

 for scientific investigation, and has lately given much attention to 

 the subject of hypnotism, both studying its philosophy and making 

 practical experiments. Mr. Croffut's appointment is especially 

 gratifying to the journalists of Washington, with whom he is very 

 popular. 



