BOOK NO TICES. 77JL 



Christianity was once explained by a class of speculative atheists to have origi- 

 nated in the astronomical myths handed down from remote ages, but Dr. Seiss 

 takes the opposite position and undertakes to prove that the names of the constella- 

 tions and their relations to each other are in reality clearly vestiges of the earliest 

 revelations of God's plans for redeeming the world. 



Taking up the signs of the Zodiac, beginning with Virgo, instead of Aries as 

 is customary, he points out the origin of life, thence the son and seed of the 

 woman; next Libra, or the balances, as symbolizing the eternal justice of God; 

 then Scorpio, as typifying the serpent and the conflict between Christ and the 

 Devil, and so on through all of the signs and their deccans or accompanying and 

 accessory constellations. 



Certain it is that the period of arranging and naming of the constellations 

 antedates any positive knowledge that students have been able to obtain, though 

 they have been traced back into Egyptian ahd Jewish history to the days of 

 Abraham and beyond — say 3,000 years before Christ. Many new constella- 

 tions have been framed and named in more modern times, but their titles mere- 

 ly serve to commemorate noted men and deeds of antiquity, and they are not taken 

 into account by our author, who traces consecutively and systematically from the 

 oldest ones the gospel history of the Saviour and of his church on earth. 



The theory of the author is plausibly sustained by the facts given and texts 

 of scripture quoted, and, whether we adopt it as fact or regard it merely as a 

 work of fancy, it will repay careful examination and will excite intense interest 

 in the mind of all readers. 



Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia., 

 Part III; August to December, 1881. Octavo, pp. 536. Philadelphia, 

 1882. 



The editor and publication committee have, as usual, done their work well 

 and here put forth a volume which, in matter and style, is highly creditable to the 

 Academy. Among the contributors of results of original investigation we note 

 Messrs. Chas. Wachsmuth and Frank Springer, Angelo Heilprin, J. H. Red- 

 field, Rev. H. C. McCook, Dr. H. C. Wood, Thos. Meehan, Edward Potts and 

 Dr. H. C. Chapman. Following these are the annual reports of the officers and 

 of the various sections. It is interesting and remotely encouraging to our own 

 Academy to note that the total receipts of money from all sources during the year 

 1881, amounted to $7,870.87, anc" that the Academy has nearly $20,000 invested 

 in bonds and mortgages. 



The Oyster Industry. By Ernest Ingersoll; quarto, pp. 250: Government 

 Printing Office, Washington, 1881. 



This is Monogram B, Section X, of the History and Present Condition of 

 the Fishery Industries, prepared for the Tenth Census of the United States, un- 



