November 23, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



249 



high atmospheric pressure on the ear in tunnels, caissons, and in 

 ■diving ; and the subject of pension ciainns of soldiers, sailors, and ma- 

 rines on account of disability from deafness. Dr. Sexton has enjoyed 

 remarkable opportunities for observing diseases of the ear, sixty 

 thousand cases having come under his charge during the past 

 twenty years, and is therefore entitled to speak with authority on 

 all subjects connected with this important organ. 



The author first treats of the anatomy and physiology of the 

 auditory apparatus. He regards the theory of audition asset forth 

 by Hehnholtz as faulty, and accepts as the true explanation of the 

 process the views of Professor Rutherford, announced by him in a 

 lecture delivered before the British Association, and published in 

 the Lancet, Jan. i, 1SS7. Rutherford's theory is called by him 

 the ' telephone theory of the sense of hearing.' for the reason that 

 the processes in the two instances are so much alike, and a knowl- 

 edge of the manner in which the telephone acts helps to explain 

 the function of audition. 



We have already had occasion in Science to refer to Dr. Sexton's 

 views of the injurious effects of sea-bathing on the ear. Bathers 

 in the surf are liable, when off their guard, to be struck by the 

 waves upon the ear with much violence, especially in boisterous 

 weather at full tide. Cold salt water may thus enter the external 

 auditory canal with sufficient momentum to rupture the drum-head 

 in persons having a large, freely open canal. Swimming or float- 

 ing upon the back exposes one to the same dangers. There have 

 been 273 patients under Dr. Sexton's treatment for aural disease 

 caused by salt-water bathing, of whom 243 were males, and 30 

 females. Injury to the ear sometimes follows fresh-water bathing ; 

 and in Russian or Turkish baths there is also danger, the bather 

 being at this time extremely susceptible to cold, and consequent 

 catarrh of the upper air- passages. 



The author has observed 51 cases of injury to the ear by blows 

 of the open hand or fist, and 16 in which disease was attributable 

 to missiles of various kinds, five being snow-balls. 



One of the most interesting portions of the work before us is that 

 which treats of injuries produced by long-continued musketry-tire, 

 by the concussion from the blast of fire-arms and explosives, and 

 by the impact of steam-whistles, metal-hammering, and other in- 

 tense sounds. A large number of cases are described in detail 

 illustrative of these injuries, many of them having occurred during 

 the war of the Rebellion. 



Defective school hygiene Dr. Sexton regards as one of the causes 

 of ear-disease. Much has been written of the ills that arise from 

 breathing foul gas and dust, and very little about the dangers from 

 draughts of air to which pupils are exposed in many schools. 

 Catarrh with aural complications results from this cause. 



A large experience has led the author to believe that great in- 

 justice is being done in permitting children to struggle for an edu- 

 cation, under the disadvantages arising from deafness, without the 

 aid of methods which experience has shown to be advantageous in 

 such cases. He found 76 cases of deafness in 570 pupils examined 

 in the public and parochial schools of New York City ; while, of 

 this large number of children, but one was known to the teachers 

 as suffering from deafness, and only nineteen were aware that they 

 were deaf. As a result of Dr. Sexton's labors, teachers are much 

 interested in the subject, and find that deafness explains many 

 cases of supposed 'inattention' and 'stupidity.' The author states 

 that careful estimates show that only five per cent of the popula- 

 tion of the United States have normal hearing. He finds deaf- 

 ness to exist to a certain extent among teachers as well. 



A chapter is devoted to the effect of high atmospheric pressure 

 on the ear in tunnels, caissons, etc., which contains illustrative cases, 

 some of the injuries being produced in the Hudson River Tunnel, 

 and one in the caisson of the Harlem River Bridge. The injurious 

 effects of unskilful treatment in the removal of foreign bodies from 

 the ear are described. There can be, he says, no more pitiable ob- 

 ject than a child, terror-stricken and exhausted with fear, strug- 

 gling in a frenzied way while the ear is painfully lacerated in un- 

 skilful attempts at the removal of a foreign body. This operation 

 should only be done by one skilled in the proper methods. 



The claims of soldiers, sailors, and marines for pensions on ac- 

 count of disability from deafness is the topic discussed in the final 

 chapter. Under the present law, thirteen dollars per month (a full 



pension) is the whole amount allowed for total or severe deafness 

 of both ears, with a proportionate amount for partial loss of hear- 

 ing in one or both ears. On March i, 1886, 1,230 persons were 

 drawing pensions for total deafness, and 4,159 for partial deafness, 

 — a total of 5,389. A table is given showing the rates of pay- 

 ment, with the aggregate for each State and Territory. Fifty-nine 

 illustrations and a copious index add much to the value of this ex- 

 cellent work. 



Tmvn and Country School Buildings. By E. C. Gardner. New 

 York and Chicago, E. L. Kellogg & Co. 12°. 

 This book is inexpensive and it is unpretentious, but it is full of 

 valuable suggestions. Our schools, especially in the rural districts, 

 are generally buildings of consummate ugliness and inconvenience. 

 The village carpenter builds them, box-like, and is satisfied. It 

 costs no more, however, to build an attractive and well-arranged 

 school than the opposite, if only the builders are shown how to do 

 it. Mr. Gardner's little book serves this purpose admirably. By 

 cuts and diagrams, and by specific building directions, the subject 

 is presented in an attractive and practical way. The book should 

 be often consulted by district school trustees. 



Macmillans Greek Reader. By F. H. CoLSOX. London and 

 New York, Macmillan. 16°. 75 cents. 



A Latin Reader. By H. J. Hardy. London and New York, 

 Macmillan. 16°. 60 cents. 



Mr. Colson's ' Greek Reader ' is an attempt to give a collec- 

 tion of stories in Attic Greek taken from originals. As the Greek 

 authors whose writings contain anecdotes, historical and mytholog- 

 ical, which form so suitable a subject-matter for school-exercises, 

 belong to a later period, they do not form a good introduction to 

 the study of the great Attic prose writers. On the other hand, such 

 readers as contain interesting stories, that are taken from any 

 source and turned into Greek, labor under the disadvantage that 

 the material is not original, but a translation. The author has 

 avoided this difficulty by selecting stories Greek in substance and 

 form, but simplified, and adapted to the form of ordinary Attic 

 Greek. The stories are arranged by subjects, not as to their diffi- 

 culty, but the more difficult ones have been marked by asterisks. 

 A full vocabulary and exercises are contained in the volume. 



Mr. Hardy's 'Latin Reader' consists of Latin stories taken from 

 Latin authors and other sources. An attempt has been made to 

 gather compact and intelligible stories, the subjects of which may 

 be expected to interest the average schoolboy. These stories are 

 intended for the ordinary reading of boys who are not yet suffi- 

 ciently far advanced to read Latin authors continuously. They con- 

 clude with some pieces taken directly from the authors which will 

 naturally form the next stage ; otherwise all the stories are intend- 

 ed for the lower forms of schools. A useful vocabulary is ap- 

 pended to the book. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The American Institute Fair, which will close early in next 

 month, attracts attention, as it well deserves, from the resident 

 New-Yorkers and those who visit the city. The exhibition hall, 

 at Sixty-third Street and Third Avenue, is convenient of access by 

 the elevated railways and street-car lines. With the building filled 

 with a variety of exhibits, covering almost every branch of industry, 

 and the machinery hall containing about one hundred different ex- 

 hibits, and a Corliss engine working without fault, and pronounced 

 by competent judges to be as fine a piece of mechanism as has ever 

 been seen even in New York, and with an art department complete, 

 and household exhibits without number, — and all this at the re- 

 duced admission of twenty-five cents, — there is no reason why an 

 investment of money and an investment of time to visit the fair 

 should not be made, and good return received for going. The 

 building is open from 10 a.m. to 10 P.M. 



— G. Grober's Grundriss der roinanischen Philologic has now 

 arrived at its third number, which completes the first volume. The 

 work, which is published by Triibner at Strassburg. is a cyclopedic 

 collection of grammatic, literary, and paleographic articles upon 



