February 21, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



131 



Eev. J, H. Ward ; ' 'Final Words on Divorce, ' ' by Margaret Lee 

 and the Rev. P. S. Moxom, B.D. 



— The special topic in the annual report of the United States 

 conrniissioner of education for the year 1887-88 is manual and 

 industi-ial training. The commissioner, Mr. Dawson, is not a 

 partisan in favor of or against the system, but presents the views 

 and arguments of leading educators on both sides. He also gives 

 some account of the history of manual training both in this coun- 

 ti-y and in Europe, and then furnishes an outline of the courses 

 of manual exercise that have been adopted in various places, with 

 the comments of teachers and observers on their effect. This 

 account of manual training occupies a hundi'ed pages of the re- 

 port, and contains a good deal that will be interesting to students 

 of the subject. Another topic to which considerable attention is 

 given is the training of teachers in normal schools and else- 

 where, and thei'e is also some account of the recently established 

 teachers' reading circles. Brief abstracts of the various State 

 reports are also given, with the usual variety of statistical 

 matter. 



— The prize offered by Mrs. Jolm Armstrong daanler ( • ' Amelie 

 Rives"), through the American Economic Association, for the 

 best essay on the subject of child-labor, has been awarded to Mr. 

 William F. Willoughby and Miss M. C. de Graffem-eid, both of 

 Washington, D.C. The prize was equally divided between the 

 two contestants, their essays being of equal merit. Mr. Willough- 

 by is a native of Alexandi-ia, Va. He was gTaduated at the Wash- 

 ington High School, received the degree of A.B. in June, 1888, at 

 the Joluis Hopkins Univei-sity, where he was awarded an ' ' Hon- 

 orary Scholarahip ' ' for three successive years, and is now a resi- 

 dent of Washington, D.C. Miss M. C. de Graflenreid comes of 

 an old Southern family, she herself being a native of Georgia. 

 She holds a position in the Department of Labor, and had a large 

 share in the compilation of the ' ' Fourth Annual Report of the 

 Commissioner of Labor," on the subject of working-women, 

 having interviewed personally eighteen tiiousand workingmen in 

 different parts of the country. A paper written by her on • ' The 

 Needs of Self-Supporting Women ' ' has recently been published 

 as a supplementary note to ' ' Jolms Hopkins University Studies 

 in Historical and Political Science. ' ' 



— Among the new publications of the J. B. Lippincott Com- 

 pany are: "Works of William H. Prescott, " a new library 

 edition, edited by J. Foster Kirk, illu.sti-ated with portraits and 

 maijs. Tln-ough his long association with Prescott, to whom he 

 acted as assistant in the preparation of the original edition, Mr. 

 Kirk was enabled to incorporate in the revised work all the ma- 

 terial collected by this celebrated historian. He has verified 

 doubtful references, corrected typogTaphical eri-ors, and occa- 

 sionally appended a note when statements appeared to need au- 

 thentication. ' 'Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, ' ' 

 by Edwin S. Crawley, assistant professor of mathematics in the 

 University of Pennsylvania. In the preface it is stated that "the 

 aim of the author in this treatise has been to present to the 

 student, in as concise a form as is consistent with clearness, that 

 portion of the subject of trigonometry which is generally given 

 in a college course. The first part of the subject is presented in 

 much detail, each point being emphasized as far as possible by 

 means of numerous examples and illusti'ations. Farther on, the 

 student is tlu-own more upon his own resources, with the object 

 of developing in hini the power of making intelligent use of the 

 materials furnished by the previous part of the course. An ap- 

 pendix is added in which is collected, in a manner convenient 

 for reference, a list of such formulse as the student will find 

 most useful in his subsequent work in mathematics. ' ' ' 'Liter- 

 national Atlas of Rare Skin Diseases, ' ' edited by Malcolm Mor- 

 ris, London; P. G. Unna, Hamburg; H. Leloir, Lille; and L. 

 A. Duhi'ing, Philadelphia. Tliis work, a periodical publication 

 consisting of two or more parts per year, will contain the most 

 recent and rare cases of skin-diseases that have come under the 

 observation of the leading dermatologists of the world, thus pre- 

 senting to the practitioner the most reliable information on. the 

 subject. The illustrations are clu'omo-lithographs. The text is 

 rendered in English, French, and German. "The Pi-inciples 



and Practice of Surgery' ' (second edition, thoroughly revised, 

 with additions) , a ti-eatise on surgical diseases and injuries, 

 by D. Hayes Agnew, professor of surgery in the medical depart- 

 ment of the University of Pennsylvania. The order of subjects 

 has been somewhat changed from that followed in the earlier 

 work, and much new material has been added. Certain chap- 

 ters have been transposed, others have been partly rewritten, and 

 all have been carefully revised and illusti-ated. The author has 

 embodied in the present treatise whatever by observation and ex- 

 perience appieared to hijn worthy of professional confidence, and 

 hence it represents the most approved knowledge of the day as 

 embraced in the science and art of surgery. His teachings as 

 well as his practice are characterized by a humane conservatism, 

 and show a hig}ier regard for the welfare of the patient than for 

 a reputation for brilliant and heroic operations. A safe prac- 

 titioner, he is notably a prudent counsellor. "Foods for the 

 Fat, ' ' a ti'eatise on corpulency, and a dietary for its cure, by 

 Nathaniel Edward Davies, member of the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons, England, author of "Aids to Long Life," "Medical 

 Maxims," "Nursery Hints," etc. "Conversation on Mines 

 between a Father and Son, ' ' to which ai'e added questions and 

 answers to assist candidates to obtain certificates for the manage- 

 ment of collieries, a lecture on the atmosphere and explosive 

 gases, table of calculations, rules of measurements, etc., by 

 William Hopton, being a reprint from the eighth English edition. 

 This plain and unpretentious little book has had a remarkable 

 history. Its author determined in 1864 to issue the work chiefly 

 as a handbook for the use of operatives and laborers in coal-mines. 

 It filled exactly a want of the times, and from the very outset 

 the work has had a marked success. Its language is so clear 

 and plain that no man of ordinary native intelligence can fail to 

 understand it. The following subjects are clearly and intelligibly 

 explained : how mines generate gases ; how the weather on the 

 surface of the earth affects the workings of a mine; the power 

 of explosions, and how to diminish it, etc. 



— Two Americans contribute to the Febiiiary iVeio iJeuieir, — Mr, 

 James and Miss Harriet W. Preston ; Mr. Hamilton Aide discusses 

 the ' 'Deterioration of English Society ; ' ' and there is a paper on 

 recent plays and books by Sir. L. F. Austin, Hem-y Irving' s private 

 secretaiy. Mr. Pamell is the subject of a ti-enchant but courteous 

 character-study in the same number. 



— "The Federal Constitution of Germany," by Edmund J. 

 James (Philadelphia, Univei'sity of Pennsylvania) , a little mon- 

 ograph of forty-tlu-ee pages, contains a translation of the text of 

 the Federal Constitution of Germany, now for the first time made 

 accessible to English readers. The work is of special value as 

 showing how very different some federal governments are from 

 others, and how accidental are some of the features of our own 

 system which we have been accustomed to regard as essential. 

 Alexander Hamilton argued a century ago that such a govern- 

 ment as that of the present German Empire could not hold to- 

 gether, and yet there is no doubt that it is one of the strongest 

 federal unions in existence. The constitution reveals it as a 

 union which acts directly upon the states, and not upon the 

 citizens of the states, like our own. It is well worth the study 

 of American citizens. The next number in the series of publica- 

 tions on political economy and public law will contain the text 

 of the Federal Constitution of Switzerland. 



— Jolui Ericsson, the great engineer, in a confidential letter 

 written March 23, 1866, said, " The great importance of what I 

 call the subaquatic system of naval warfare strongly i^resented 

 itself to my mind in 1826; yet I have not during this long inter- 

 val communicated my ideas to a sin.gle person, excepting Em- 

 peror Napoleon III. What I knew twelve years ago, he knows, 

 with regard to the general result of my labors, but the details 

 remain a secret with me. The 'Monitor' of 1856 was the 

 visible part of my system, and its grand features were excluded 

 from its published drawings and descriptions. ' ' Among Erics- 

 son' s papei's were found, after his death, a series of autogiaph 

 pencil-di-awings, showing these concealed features of his ' ' Mon- 

 itor " system as originally conceived. They represent the ideas 

 of subaquatic attack fii-st presented in the ' ' Desti-oyer ' ' in 1878, 



