286 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 253 



to a state of stagnation. There is an art of being happy, a very 

 •essential part of which is the power to enjoy the little every-day 

 'Comforts of living, and the absence of excessive worry about the 

 morrow. To assure the reader that all this is not simply theory, 

 the author plainly announces that he is happy. This is indeed a 

 healthy optimism, and, if happiness is at all a scientific topic, the 

 anthropologist is entitled to an authoritative voice in the matter- 

 But one cannot escape the conviction, even in the midst of the most 

 glowingly pictured pages, that the balmy air of Italy has allowed 

 the poet to run away with the scientist, and that the problem of 

 living is not so simple as we would like it to be. Be this as it may. 

 these pages contain the very interesting observations of a very in- 

 teresting man. 



Winter: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau. Ed. by H 

 G. O. Blake. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin, & 

 Co. 12°. 



This volume is the third that has been made of selections from 

 its author's journal. This singular man withdrew to a great extent 

 from the interests and the society of his fellow-men, and devoted 

 himself to the contemplation of nature. He was a naturalist ; yet 

 there is very little of scientific interest in the volume before us. He 

 blames men of science for giving too exclusive attention to the 

 physical structure of animals, with too little regard for their men- 

 tal characteristics and their habits of life ; yet he has not much to 

 say on these subjects himself. He was evidently more interested 

 in the assthetic aspect of nature than in the scientific, though he 

 shows but little insight into the deeper poetical significance of 

 natural objects. His remarks run largely on the trivial every-day 

 aspects of things, such as the tracks of animals on the snow, the 

 appearance of buds and catkins in the winter, and the bark of the 

 yellow birch ; and he goes into ecstasies over the humming of a 

 telegraph wire, which he declares to be superior to all the poetry of 

 antiquity (p. io6). The journal is full of complaints about the loss 

 of early friendships, several of Thoreau's friends having become 

 estranged from him, which he seems to have been at loss to account 

 for. But surely a man who took so little interest in human affairs 

 as he seems to have done could hardly expect very warm sympathy 

 from others. The journal contains many observations on moral 

 and intellectual matters, which are often of much higher value than 

 the descriptions of natural objects that make up the greater part 

 of the work. The author's delineation of the character of Wash- 

 ington is correct and well expressed, and he has several remarks 

 here and there on the subject of authors and authorship which are 

 quite interesting. Thoreau's style is generally clear and refined, 

 both in descriptive and in reflective passages ; and if he had had a 

 higher purpose in life, and more interest in the affairs of men, he 

 might have been an eminent author. 



Naticral Law iji the Business World. By HENRY WOOD. Bos- 

 ton, Lee & Shepard. i6°. 



The author of this work is a practical business-man, and writes 

 throughout from a practical point of view. He disclaims all pre- 

 tension to scientific profundity, yet he shows a clear grasp of scien- 

 tific principles and of their relations to the business world. He 

 speaks of his work as " an honest attempt to trace out the working 

 and application of natural law, as it runs through the economic and 

 social fabric, in a plain and simple manner" (p. 5). The attempt, 

 we think, is in the main successful. The author's style is direct and 

 clear, and his method of treatment better fitted to win the attention 

 ■of practical but unscientific minds than the method of the regular 

 economists. 



The main thesis of the book is the supremacy in industry of the 

 ;iaw of supply and demand, and the necessity of adherence to this 

 law as a condition of industrial prosperity. Many other subjects, 

 however, are treated in the various chapters, which cover a wide 

 range of topics. Mr. Wood is strongly opposed to labor combina- 

 tions, partly because of their antagonism to capital, and partly be- 

 cause they are sometimes unjust to non-unionists, and because, as 

 he thinks, they unduly restrict the individual freedom of their own 

 members. In condemning them so strongly as he does, we think 

 he goes too far, for he seems to have judged them almost exclu- 

 sively by their bad side, without regard to the benefits which may 



and often do result from them. He shows, however, a lively inter- 

 est in the laborers themselves and a strong desire for more harmo- 

 nious relations between them and their employers. He emphasizes 

 the fact that brain labor is more important than muscular labor, a 

 fact that is too often overlooked by labor agitators ; but he honors 

 honest labor of every kind, and declares that labor is a blessing, 

 and not a curse. Socialism, of course, meets with Mr. Wood's un- 

 sparing condemnation, and he looks with little favor on any species 

 of State interference. The chapters on the unequal distribution of 

 wealth, on dependence and poverty, on the railroad system, and on 

 the management of corporations, are well considered, and worthy 

 of perusal by both laborers and capitalists. The book is now issued 

 in cheap form, with paper covers, and deserves a wide circulation. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The twentieth annual meeting of the Kansas Academy of 

 Science was held in the Capitol Building, Topeka, Oct. 26, 27, 28, 

 1887. There was an excellent attendance of members, but the 

 local attendance was not quite equal to that of last year. The 

 capital has too many things in the way of meetings, etc., so the 

 citizens become a little weary. The papers read were unusually 

 valuable. The Academy of Science is growing. The annual 

 meeting next year will be held in Wichita in October. The follow- 

 ing is a list of the papers read : address of the retiring president, 

 Rev. John D. Parker, on ' Progress in Astronomy ; ' Lucien J. 

 Blake, ' Practical Electricity and the Laws of Energy ; ' H. W. 

 Everest, ' The Utilization of Mental Power ; ' Robert Hay, ' The 

 Lignite of the Kansas Dakota,' and ' Notes on Salt in Kansas ; ' 

 W. R. Lighton, ' On the New Coal-Shaft at Leavenworth ; ' F. H. 

 Snow, ' Fossil Flora of the Kansas Dakota,' and ' A List of the 

 Fauna and Flora of the Kansas Coal-Measures ; ' D. S. Kelly, 

 ' Notes on Fossil Elephas from Morton County ; ' Joseph Savage, 

 ' A Fossil Deposit at Garden Park, Colorado ; ' E. H. S. Bailey, 

 ' On the Recently discovered Ellsworth Salt-Beds ; ' Robert Hay, 

 ' Notes on Building-Stones in Kansas; ' N. S. Goss, 'On the Nest- 

 ing of the Mississippi Kite and Snowy Plover in Central-Southern 

 Kansas,' ' Notes on the Yellow-Tailed Cassiques,' and 'Feeding- 

 Habits of the White Pelicans ; ' F. H. Snow, ' Notes on the Purs- 

 lane-Worm (Copidryas Gloveri) ; ' W. Knaus, ' Notes on Calopte- 

 ron reticidatum Fab. ; ' Charles R. Carpenter, ' On the Black Rot 

 of the Grape ; ' Mrs. A. L. Slosson, ' Personal Observations on the 

 Kansas Flora ; ' F. H. Snow, ' The Desmids of Kansas ; ' W. A. 

 Kellerman, ' Some New or Little-Known Kansas Plants ; ' L. E. 

 Sayre, ' Report of Further Observation on the Loco-Weed,' and 

 ' The Resin of Silphiiim laciniattcm (Rosin- Weed) ;' W. R. Lighton, 

 ' Notes on the Circulation of the Sap ; ' J. T. Lovewell, ' Alcohol in 

 Temperance-Drinks;' T. H. Dinsmore, 'Should Malt be con- 

 sidered an Intoxicant ? ' and ' On the Effect of Oxygen on Animal 

 Life;' E. H. S. Bailey, 'On the Relation between Taste and the 

 Acidity of Certain Acids; ' L. E. Sayre, ' The Action of Chromate 

 of Lead upon the Gastric Fluid ; ' T. H. Dinsmore, ' Color-Blind- 

 ness in the State Normal School ; ' J. T. Lovewell, ' Further Studies 

 onthe Rainfall in Kansas ; ' F. H. Snow, ' Rain Cycles in Kansas ; ' 

 George E. Curtis, 'Weather-Predictions in the United States;' T. 

 B. Jennings, ' Needs and Utility of the Kansas State Weather-Ser- 

 vice ; ' George B. Curtis, ' The Exposure of Meteorological Instru- 

 ments,' and 'Chimney-Hoods;' W. S. Franklin, 'Continuation of 

 Some Studies of Lissajous Figures.' 



— The steamship ' Hondo ' sailed on Wednesday, Nov. 30, with 

 the Nicaragua Canal Association's survey expedition. The work 

 will be in immediate charge of E. S. Peary. The instructions is- 

 sued by Chief-Engineer Menocal are very minute. The Engineer- 

 ing News says that five parties will be organized. First the sur- 

 vey by all the parties of the north-eastern section of the canal, with 

 special attention to Greytown Harbor, is contemplated, estimated 

 to take three months' time, when most of the parties are to be 

 moved over to the comparatively short western section. The im- 

 portant detail of boring to ascertain the nature of the material is 

 not to be neglected. The present idea is that six to nine months 

 in all will cover the work of preliminary location enough to base 

 tolerably exact estimates on. 



