76 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 207 



its twenty-seventh year of publication, and that 

 it is difficult, if not impossible, to procure the 

 earlier volumes. The present work, by reason of 

 its having used the material of the Centralblatt, 

 serves as a substitute for the first twenty-six vol- 

 umes of the latter, and is therefore especially to 

 be recommended to libraries which have not a set 

 of the Centralblatt. 



The school-laws are here codified according to 

 their place in the system, and not chronologically, 

 which is an undoubted gain, especially to the for- 

 eign reader ; and, as the dates of the various laws 

 are always appended, nothing is lost by the change. 

 As is the case with most compilations of this 

 character, we are obliged to read a great deal that 

 we care nothing about in order to reach the data 

 of which we may be in search. But we should be 

 willing to put up even with German prolixity and 

 minuteness in order to gain so indispensable a 

 work of reference as this is. 



cessible," it is not likely to become a valuable help 

 to the specialist. 



The illustrations are in most cases badly ex- 

 ecuted and sometimes misleading. 



DAWSON'S ZOOLOGY. 



One dislikes to severely criticise a book bearing 

 on its titlepage such a widely and justly honored 

 name as that of Sir J. W. Dawson, and yet it is 

 difficult to see what good purpose is to be served 

 by this work. The author seta forth his object as, 

 "to furnish to students, collectors, and summer 

 tourists in Canada, an outline of the classification 

 of the animal kingdom, with examples taken, as 

 far as possible, from species found in this coun- 

 try." From the footnote on p. 6, it would also 

 seem that it is intended as a text-book. Eighteen 

 small pages are devoted to a consideration of the 

 animal tissues and functions, twelve more to the 

 subject of classification in general, and the re- 

 mainder of the book to ' descriptive zoology.' As 

 may be inferred, the account of the tissues, etc., 

 is very inadequate ; and such a statement as that 

 protoplasm is albumen (p. 6.) does not tend to 

 give confidence in the accuracy of the work. 

 There is not a satisfactory account given of the 

 structure of any single animal or group : the 

 most important thing to be learned of an animal 

 would seem to be its name, and the name and defi- 

 nition of the group to which it belongs. Nor are 

 the views of classification, in some cases, such as 

 will find general acceptance among naturalists. 



As a text-book, this work will not, we fear, 

 prove satisfactory ; the amateur will not find it 

 easy to identify his collections by its aid ; and, 

 while there may be in it "many facts derived 

 from original observation, and not otherwise ac- 



Handbook of zoology. By Sir J. W. Dawson. Montreal, 

 Dawson Bros., 1886. 



Dr. Washington Matthews, surgeon in the 

 U. S. army, has made a valuable contribution on 

 the causes which are at work in carrying off the 

 Indians of our country. One of the most impor- 

 tant of these he finds to be consumption. From 

 the census of 1880 we learn, that, while the death- 

 rate among Europeans is 17.74 per thousand, and 

 that among Africans 17.28, the rate among the In- 

 dians is no less than 23.6. In diarrhoeal diseases 

 the Indian death-rate is not greatly in excess of 

 that of the other classes. Measles gives a mortal- 

 ity of 61.78 per thousand. But it is under the 

 head of consumption that the difference between 

 the Indians and the blacks is most conspicuous ; 

 the rate among the former being 286 as compared 

 with 186 among the latter, while among the whites 

 it is but 166 in the thousand. Dr. Matthews finds, 

 that, where the Indians have been longest under 

 civilizing influences, the consumption-rate is the 

 highest ; meaning by the term ' consumption- 

 rate' the number of deaths from consumption in 

 a thousand deaths from all knovrn causes. Thus 

 the rate among reservation Indians in Nevada is 

 45 ; in Dakota, 200 ; in Michigan, :^33 ; and in 

 New^ York, 625. The evidence appears to show 

 that consumjjtion increases among Indians under 

 the influence of civilization, — i.e., under a com- 

 pulsory endeavor to accustom themselves to the 

 food and the habits of an alien and more advanced 

 race, — and that climate is no calculable factor of 

 this increase. It is a general supposition on the 

 frontier that it is change of diet which is the most 

 potent remote cause of consumption among the 

 Indians. Dr. Matthews says he once knew of a 

 previously healthy Indian camp of about two 

 thousand people, where, in one winter, when the 

 buffalo left theu country, and they subsisted on 

 flour and bacon furnished by the government, the 

 majority were attacked by scurvy, and about sev- 

 enty died of the disease. It is, however, also as- 

 certained that the consumption-rate is high at 

 agencies where the supply of beef is liberal, and, 

 as has already been said, especially high among 

 the Indians of New York and Michigan, whose 

 diet is by no means a restricted one. It is evident 

 that the true explanation for this remarkable pre- 

 disposition of the red-man to pulmonary tubercu- 

 losis has not yet been given, and that a fruitful 

 field is open to those whose qualifications and 

 tastes lead them into such investigations as 

 these. 



