274 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 279 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 



Missouri, a Bone of Contention. (American Commonwealths.) By 

 LUCIEN Carr. New York, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. i6°. 



The history of Missouri, like that of the other Western States, is 

 necessarily lacking in the interest that attaches to that of the older 

 parts of the Union ; but it has elements of interest belonging to 

 itself, which the author of this work has skilfully availed himself of. 

 He begins his narrative with the earliest French explorations and 

 settlements in the basin of the Mississippi, and traces the history of 

 the region west of that river, then known as Louisiana, down to the 

 time of its annexation to the United States ; and the chapters treat- 

 ing of these subjects, though they rather pass the proper limits of 

 a history of Missouri, are among the best in the book. 



From the time of the annexation the narrative is confined to 

 Missouri itself ; and the author then shows how the fertile spot 

 which had been contended for by France, Spain, and England, be- 

 came a new ' bone of contention ' to the advocates and opponents of 

 slavery. The struggle began with the application of Missouri for 

 admission into the Union as a slave State ; and though the diffi- 

 culty was then thought to have been settled by the well-known 

 Missouri Compromise, yet this proved to be only the beginning in- 

 stead of the end of the trouble, which could not be removed except 

 by the complete abolition of slavery. Accordingly, the latter por- 

 tion of Mr. Carr's work is necessarily occupied almost exclusively 

 with the various phases of the slavery contest and the civil war, so 

 far as these affected Missouri, which they (lid in a marked degree. 

 In his account of this great struggle we are sorry to find Mr. Carr's 

 sympathies so strongly on the side of the South. He does not de- 

 fend slavery; indeed, he shows a decided dislike of it. But, like 

 most of the Southerners and of their Northern sympathizers, he 

 fails to comprehend the moral significance of the anti-slavery move- 

 ment and the moral earnestness of those engaged in it. In describ- 

 ing the secnes and incidents of the war, however, he shows himself 

 a firm friend of the Union ; and in his last chapter he relates with 

 evident pleasure the action of Missouri, alone of all the Southern 

 States, in abolishing slavery within her borders. The stirring 

 themes of war and political struggle fill so large a portion of the 

 later chapters of the book, that we do not get from them so full an 

 account of the social condition of the people in the generation just 

 passed as might have been wished. In some of the earlier chapters, 

 however, the life and industry of the people are described more fully ; 

 and careful notice is taken of the financial disturbances that oc- 

 curred at various times, and of the legislation of the State in regard 

 to banks and railroads and the still more important subject of edu- 

 cation. 



Taken as a whole, the author's choice of topics is excellent ; and 

 he has been particularly successful in showing the connection of 

 Missouri's history with that of the neighboring States and of the 

 Union. The style of the work, though somewhat diffuse, like most 

 of the historical writing of the present day, is clear and dignified ; 

 and some portions of the story, such as the conquest of New Mexi- 

 co and the events at the opening of the civil war, are related in a 

 way that is both interesting and impressive. The book will fill a 

 useful place in the series to which it belongs. 



Popular Physics. By J. Dorman STEELE. New York and Chi- 

 cago, Barnes. 16°. 



To quote from the author's preface, " this work has grown up in 

 the classroom," and all those who have used any of Steele's Four- 

 teen Weeks Series in natural science will know how admirably this 

 series is adapted to use with elementary classes. The author was 

 in the habit of making a memorandum of any explanation which 

 fixed the attention of the learner, and his books were built up on 

 this experimental method. It is not pretended that the treatises are 

 exhaustive, but it is believed that they are such as to interest be- 

 ginners, and so to place science before them that some at least may 

 be induced to go further. 



Shortly before his death, Dr. J. Norman Steele, finding that he 

 was unable longer to perform extra labor, requested Prof. W. Le- 

 Conte Stevens of the Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, to re- 

 vise the text-book in physics, as so many advances had been made 

 since the last edition of the ' Fourteen Weeks in Physics,' published 



in 1S78. Professor Stevens's revision has been so thorough and ex- 

 tensive, that it has seemed desirable to change the name to ' .Steele's 

 Popular Physics,' and it is under this title that the well-known hook 

 now makes its appearance. The book is intended for use in high 

 schools, and gives enough in each branch of the subject to make 

 clear to high-school pupils such physical phenomena as they see 

 about them. All those who know the reviser will feel confidence 

 in the thoroughness of his work. 



02tr Native Ferns and Their A/lies. By LUCIEX M. U.NDER- 

 WOOD, Ph.D. 3d ed. New York, Holt. 12". 



The third edition of this useful book will be welcomed by all 

 fern-lovers, and we predict for it a ready sale. One hundred and 

 fifty-six species of true ferns are described as native to the territory, 

 — sixteen more than were included in the first edition, printed in 

 1881 ; while of the related plants, lycopods, is'^w/it'/'tf', /iorfff', etc., 

 sixty-eight species are given. The descriptive portion of the work 

 is preceded by a carefully prepared account of the structure-habits, 

 haunts, geological history, and the relation of Pteridopliyta to the 

 other sub-kingdoms of plants. This last is especially treated in 

 the chapter on 'The Fern's Place in Nature,' including brief ac- 

 counts of the several systems of vegetable classification. Professor 

 Underwood gives greatest prominence to what he terms the 'Ameri- 

 can System,' which, dividing the Tha/lophytes into three sub-king- 

 doms, founded entirely on the characters of the reproductive organs, 

 completely destroys the natural groups of algae, lichens, and fungi, 

 and, in the writer's opinion, is not to be commended. This is, 

 however, quite unessential to the general purpose of the book. 

 Older specific names for many of the species are extant, and we 

 regret that Professor Underwood did not take the opportunity of 

 adopting them. In the next edition he may, perhaps, conclude to 

 do so. 



The Fundamental Principles of Chemistry. By ROBERT GaLL(;- 

 WAY. London and New York, Longmans, Green, & Co. 1 2". 

 $i.75. 

 It would probably be difficult to find a better exemplification of 

 the fact that the critical and creative faculties are not invariably 

 associated in the same individual than appears in several recent 

 attempts, on the part of prominent fault-finders with existing mod- 

 els, to produce something better in the way of elementary text-books 

 of science. 



The volume before us emphasizes this point once more, and with 

 force. It is an effort to replace the chemical text-books in use in 

 the schools, and for teaching junior students generally, by a pro- 

 duction " more in harmony with the laws of thought." The author 

 has " long held that chemical works intended for beginners are un- 

 suitable as educational works; if these books extend only to a few- 

 pages, the arrangement and construction is the same as that 

 adopted in Gmelin's great work of reference in the science, which 

 extends to eighteen large volumes: the plan is encyclopedic,- — 

 excellent for a book of reference, unsuitable for an educational 

 work. In this system the facts are unclassified ; the laws, the high- 

 est generalizations, are placed apart from the facts ; and no plan 

 for teaching the language of the science, which requires to be taught 

 like any other language, is given beyond a few general observa- 

 tions." Twenty years ago these views were announced, and, if we 

 are to judge from the internal evidence of the book, changes of 

 method during the interval which has elapsed have not commended 

 themselves to the author. The work is ostensibly devoted to the 

 "fundamental principles of chemistry;" but examination reveals 

 the fact, that, of three hundred and fifty-six pages, nearly one-half 

 is given up to the exposition of the subjects of molecular attrac- 

 tion, heat, gravitation, the properties of gases, the elastic force of 

 vapors, density, sublimation, precipitation, adhesion, and capillary 

 attraclion, which are regarded as the general principles of physics 

 " suitable for the course of pure chemistry given in the after-part of 

 the work." It is without doubt most desirable that the student of 

 chemistry should possess a knowledge of the principles of physics, 

 and, were this part of the work endowed with any particular nov- 

 elty or merit, the misleading character of the title might be passed 

 by ; but the sad fact is, that in the preparatory half of the book we 

 fail to find any thing but the old tale of multitudinous facts and 



