248 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 303 



'families in which the disease appeared, and this was accordingly- 

 examined. Believing that the ordinary analysis, which consists in 

 the determination of free and albuminoid ammonia, chlorine, etc., 

 would be entirely inadequate, it was decided to inoculate sterilized 

 meat preparations and sterilized milk with the suspected water, and 

 to keep this material at or near the temperature of the human body 

 for varying periods of time, and ascertain whether or not there would 

 be any poisons developed by the bacteria, which were suspected of 

 'being in the water. This method was followed, and resulted in de- 

 monstrating that the water contained a ptomaine which produced poi- 

 sonous symptoms ; and a cultivation of the micro-organisms in the 

 water upon potato, together with certain physiological e.xperiments, 

 ■showed that the water contained typhoid bacilli. It has been shown 

 that the fever was brought to Iron Mountain by a man from a railroad 

 ■construction camp. In commenting on this outbreak, the investiga- 

 tors state that it is well known that typhoid-fever invariably follows 

 •dry seasons, and is coincident with low water in wells. There are, on 

 an average, about one thousand deaths and ten thousand cases of 

 sickness from this disease annually in Michigan. These figures can 

 be greatly reduced if people will cease polluting the soil about their 

 houses with slops, garbage, cesspools, and privy-vaults, and will 

 see to it that their drinking-water is pure beyond all question. 

 When there is any doubt, the water should be boiled ; but it should 

 be remembered, that, while the typhoid germ most frequently finds 

 'its way into the body with the drinking-water, it may be taken in 

 ■with any food, and even with the air. When a case of typhoid- 

 fever occurs, all discharges should be thoroughly disinfected ; and 

 the earth, water, and air about our homes must be pure, if we es- 

 •cape this disease altogether. 



The causation of cold-weather diseases is discussed in the report 

 by Dr. Henry B. Baker, the efficient secretary of the board. Al- 

 though it is a recognized fact that many of the communicable dis- 

 eases are most prevalent at certain seasons of the year, yet the ex- 

 tent to which their prevalence is controlled by meteorological con- 

 ditions has not been thoroughly shown by statisticians. This Dr. 

 Baker does by means of tables and diagrams, which exhibit the close 

 relations which diphtheria, small-pox, and scarlet-fever bear to at- 

 ■mospheric temperature. He finds that diphtheria is most frequent 

 in the autumn and winter, accompanying somewhat, in its rise and 

 fall by seasons and by months, the fall and rise of the temperature, 

 and the rise and fall of the velocity of the wind. Small-pox bears 

 ■a quantitative relation to the atmospheric temperature, rising after 

 the temperature 'falls, and falling after the temperature rises. Scar- 

 let-fever falls after the temperature rises in the spring, and rises 

 after the temperature falls in the autumn, the sickness changes 

 averaging about one month later than the temperature changes. 



The whole report is a valuable one, and reflects great credit on 

 the State board and its officers. 



Liv^. Book XXII. Ed. by M. T. Tatham. Oxford, Claren- 

 don Pr. 16°. (New York, Macmillan, 60 cents.) 



The Second Book of Xenophon's Anabasis. Ed. by. C. S. Jerram. 

 Oxford, Clarendon Pr. 16°. (New York, Macmillan, 40 

 cents.) 



■Ccesar's Gallic IVar. Books I. and II. Ed. by C. E. Moberly. 

 Oxford, Clarendon Pr. 16". (New York, Macmillan, 50 

 cents.) 



Three volumes of this useful series have reached us. The 

 twenty-second book of ' Livy ' has been edited by M. T. Tatham. 

 The text is preceded by a brief historical introduction and by a 

 ■chronological table of the events described in the book. In an ex- 

 cursus the peculiarities of Livy's Latin are dwelt upon ; and in the 

 second part, which contains notes to the single chapters, difficult 

 passages are explained. A good sketch-map of the western Med- 

 iterranean, on which Hannibal's march from Carthago Nova to 

 Italy is sketched, accompanies the volume. The arrangement of 

 C S. Jerram 's second book of the ' Anabasis ' is made on the same 

 plan, the selected book being made complete in itself, without pre- 

 supposing a knov/ledge of the general contents of the ' Anabasis.' 

 A sketch of the narrative down to the second book is given in an 

 introduction. This book is also accompanied by a sketch-map 

 showing the march of the ten thousand. Rev. Charles E. Mober- 



ly's edition of the first and second books of the ' Gallic War ' is illus- 

 trated by numerous maps and diagrams. Besides the historical 

 introduction and notes, and hints on the mode of translating Csesar, 

 it contains an appendix on the Roman military system. The books 

 are printed in very clear type, — an important consideration for 

 school-books, and will be found very useful by the teacher. 



A Latin Prose Primer. By J. Y. SARGENT. Oxford, Clarendon 



Pr. 16°. (New York, Macmillan, 60 cents.) 

 An Introductioji to Latin Syntax. By W. S. GIBSON. Oxford, 



Clarendon Pr. 16°. (New York, Macmillan, 50 cents.) 



The ' Latin Prose Primer ' is intended to be used as a compan- 

 ion to Mr. Sargent's ' Easy Passages for Translation into Latin.' 

 It is designed for the use of beginners. In a number of prelimi- 

 nary exercises, which consist of detached sentences, the pupil is 

 made familiar with the various forms of Latin syntax. The second 

 part consists of aids and explanations for the translation of a part 

 of the ' Easy Passages.' Vocabularies, grammatical notes, and 

 arrangement of the pieces so as to suit the Latin syntax, are given. 

 In an introduction the principal difficulties to obtaining a good 

 Latin style are treated at some length. Gibson's ' Introduction to 

 Latin Syntax ' will be found a very handy and useful book. The 

 author does not give a mere collection of rules, but collections of 

 sentences, from which the pupil has to find the rule by induction. 

 Exercises are added to test the pupil's power of applying the rule 

 which has just been arrived at. Separate vocabularies are given 

 for the various parts of speech, the pupils being thus obliged to 

 think before looking out a word, and one of the great disadvantages 

 of dictionaries being thus overcome. 



Microscopical Physiography of the Rock-Making Minerals. By 

 H. ROSENBUSCH. Tr. by Joseph P. Iddings. New York, 

 Wiley. 8". S5- 

 The translator of H. Rosenbusch's well-known ' Mikroskopische 

 Physiographic der petrographisch wichtigen Mineralien ' has en- 

 deavored to present this valuable book in such shape as to be best 

 adapted to the use of colleges and schools. Therefore much of 

 thejnteresting contents of the original have been omitted, which 

 the advanced student will miss with regret ; but the translator has 

 shown good judgment in abridging ; and the English edition, as it 

 stands, is a fair general compendium of the subject. Most of 

 the historical portions, which form so interesting a part of the 

 original, have been omitted, as well as the elaborate treatment of 

 the optical anomalies of certain minerals, and many notes on Euro- 

 pean localities, while a number of notes on American occurrences 

 have been inserted. The book is a translation of the German edi- 

 tion of 1885, and we miss with regret the color-plate of the original, 

 and descriptions of the newest improvements in microscopes. The 

 prefaces to the first and second editions have been reprinted in Ger- 

 man. Twenty-six instructive ^plates of photomicrographs, which 

 formed so prominent a feature of the second edition, have been re- 

 produced here. The translation has been made carefully, and the 

 iDook, in its English form, will be a useful introduction to the study 

 of the subject, although the advanced student will have to fall back 

 upon the original. 



The Ear and its Diseases. By SAMUEL SEXTON, M.D. New 

 York, William Wood & Co. 8°. 

 In many respects this work of Dr. Sexton's is unique. It is a 

 wide departure from the beaten path, and contains a large amount 

 of material which has never before, so far as we know, been treated 

 in any one book, and much of it has never before been treated in a 

 thorough manner ; the discussions having been confined to medical 

 and other scientific journals. Without attempting to mention all 

 these peculiarities, we would nevertheless refer to some of the most 

 prominent: viz., the influence in producing disease of the ear, of de- 

 caying teeth and sea-bathing; wounds and injuries of the ear occurring 

 in warfare and civil life ; rupture of the drum-head from boxing the 

 ears, and its medico-legal aspect ; concussion from the blast of great 

 guns and explosives ; noises in the ears, and their connection with in- 

 sane hallucinations and delusions ; the effects of false hearing on 

 singers, actors, lecturers, and musicians ; the classification and 

 education of school-children with defective hearing ; the effect of 



