June 15, 18S8.] 



SCIENCE. 



285 



by Mr. Davis, we are satisfied that it supplies deficiencies wliich 

 exist in all the text-books which have up to this time appeared. 

 While the others have been largely practical, this one is more theo- 

 retical, and, as is indicated on the titlepage, is especially designed 

 to prepare students for their scientific examinations. This design is 

 further elaborated in an appendix, which contains a full bibliog- 

 raphy of the works referred to in the text, a series of examination- 

 questions, and an index-glossary. The volume is divided into two 

 parts, — a botanical and a zoological, — each of which deals Vviith a 

 number of types morphologically and physiologically, then briefly 

 draws out the points of comparison between them, and ends with 

 an outline of classification. 



In Part I., which treats of vegetable morphology and physiology, 

 fungi are first considered ; Saccharoinyces, Bacteria, Miicor muce- 

 do.-AwA PeniciUiii.m glaucum being selected as types. Of Algce, 

 the author describes Protococcus phivialis, Spirogyra, Fucus, 

 Chara, and Nitella. Fttnaria and Polytrichum are selected as 

 representing the mosses. Pteris aqiiilina and NepJn'odiuin filix- 

 mas, the ferns ; Pzfiiis, the gymnosperms. The consideration of the 

 angiosperms follows. 



In Part II., which is devoted to animal morphology and physiol- 

 ogy, the Protozoa are first dealt with through their representatives 

 the Ammba and Vorticella. The Hydra represents Cceletiterata ; 

 Distoma and Lumbricus, Vermes ; Asiacus, Arthropoda ; A7io- 

 donia and Unio, and Helix, MoUusca ; Rana, Amphibia ; Coluin- 

 ba livia, Aves ; Lepiis ciinictilics. Mammalia. 



No less than one hundred and fifty-eight well-executed illustra- 

 tions add to the attractiveness of the book, as well as elucidate the 

 text. We recommend the work not only tb those for whom it was 

 originally designed, but to all students and readers who desire to 

 obtain within a small compass the most recent reliable information 

 ■on the subjects of vegetable and animal morphology and physiol- 

 ogy. 



Ethics of Boxi}ig and Manly Sport. By John Boyle O'Reilly. 

 Boston, Ticknor. 12". $1.50. 



The main purpose of this book, as stated by its author, is to 

 bring into consideration the high value, moral and intellectual as 

 well as physical, of those exercises that develop healthy constitu- 

 tions, cheerful minds, manly self-confidence, and appreciation of 

 the beauties of nature and naturar enjoyment. He further says, 

 that so long as large numbers of our young people of both sexes 

 are narrow-chested, thin-limbed, their muscles growing soft as their 

 fat grows hard, timid in the face of danger, and ignorant of the 

 great and varied exercises that are as needful to the strong body as 

 letters to the informed mind, such books as this need no e.xcuse for 

 their publication. 



The contents of the volume are subdivided into four sections : i. 

 The ethics and evolution of boxing ; 2. The training of athletes 

 tested by every-day life ; 3. Ancient Irish athletic games, exercises, 

 and weapons ; 4. Canoeing sketches. Under the first the author 

 discusses the question whether boxing has a real value. He be- 

 lieves that it has, and m support of his belief quotes the opinions of 

 Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Evelyn Denison, Lord Althorp, Dr. Oliver 

 Wendell Holmes, and others. Lord Althorp, the minister who led 

 the British Commons when the Reform Bill was passed, was evi- 

 dently an enthusiast on this subject. He said that his conviction 

 of the advantages of pugilism was so strong that he had seriously 

 been considering whether it was not a duty that he owed to the 

 public to attend every prize-fight which took place, and thus to en- 

 courage the noble science to the extent of his power. In speaking 

 of the improvement in modern boxing, the author believes that the 

 English practice of prize-fighting with bare hands and under im- 

 proper rules has brought boxing into disrepute. He praises Sulli- 

 van for having made a manly effort to establish the practice not 

 only of sparring, but of fighting, with large gloves, and for insisting 

 that contests should be ruled by three-minute rounds of fair box- 

 ing. The Grecian athletes, their training and skill, and the gladia- 

 tors of Rome, are referred to and described. Feudalism suppressed 

 popular athletic exercises. With the advent of chivalry, the art of 

 boxing waned and became unfashionable. With the advance of 

 feudalism came the growth of iron armor, until at last a fighting 

 man resembled an ar.iiadillo • he was iron-clad from top to toe. 



The first modern champion boxer was James Figg, who was con- 

 sidered, in 1729, as the national champion. The first rules for the 

 government of ' the ring ' were prepared by Broughton, and were in 

 force from 1743 to 1838. 



In discussing the training of athletes as tested by every-day life, 

 the author considers the question from two different standpoints, 

 — that of the professional athlete, and that of the average person 

 who wants to get into lasting ' good condition.' He thinks that 

 the mass of those who live in cities, and whose occupations involve 

 little manual or physical exercise, allow their bodies, at an early age 

 of manhood, to sink out of all trained and athletic strength and 

 shapeliness. He says that it is only necessary to visit a Turkish 

 bath to find abundant evidence of the muscular collapse which has 

 overtaken the modern city-dweller, — bodies ' developed ' every- 

 where in the wrong direction, arms like pipe-stems, while the beau- 

 tiful muscles of the shoulders and back are smothered in layers of 

 vile fat, and spindle thighs and straight calves weakly support bel- 

 lies like Bacchus. Excellent hints are given on training and the 

 ways of promoting good health. A large number of illustrations 

 make the volume very attractive, and accounts of canoeing on the 

 Connecticut, Delaware, and Susquehanna Rivers add to the inter- 

 est which its perusal has excited. The book, taken as a whole, is 

 unique, and treats of questions which have seldom been so well 

 and so thoroughly handled. 



Medical Nursing : Lectures delivered in the Royal Infirtnary, 

 Glasgow. By J. WALLACE ANDERSON, M.D. 3d ed. Glas- 

 gow, James Maclehose & Sons. 16''. $r. 



For many years the nurses at this Royal Infirmary of Glasgow 

 have been practically trained in the duties pertaining to their pro- 

 fession. About ten years ago the managers resolved that a course 

 of systematic lectures on nursing should be added to the practical 

 training: and Dr. Anderson was selected to deliver the medical lec- 

 tures, which are contained in the volume before us. In ten lectures 

 the author has succeeded in condensing a vast amount of informa- 

 tion. Modern nursing dates from the year 1836, when Theodore 

 Fliedner, a German-Protestant clergyman, established the Deacon- 

 ess Institution at Kaiserwerth on the Rhine. There, under the super- 

 intendence of himself and his wife, a training-school for female nurses 

 was begun. The labors of Florence Nightingale, with her staff of 

 thirty-seven nurses, in the Crimea, in 1854, are too well-known to 

 need more than a reference. It was from such work as this of 

 Fliedner and Florence Nightingale that all the training-schools for 

 nurses have come. There is now hardly a hospital in the United 

 States that has not such a school in connection with it. The lec- 

 tures of Dr. Anderson deal with subjects which are essential for 

 every nurse to know : how to obtain and record a patient's tem- 

 perature, pulse, and respiration ; how to prepare food for the inva- 

 lid so as to make it both nutritious and palatable ; how to prevent 

 bed-sores ; how to prepare fomentations and poultices. These and 

 many other practical lessons are thoroughly taught in this little 

 volume. In an appendix the author gives valuable recipes for the 

 preparation of food for the sick, and a list of poisons with their an- 

 tidotes. One feature of the book which we regard as of consider- 

 able worth is a list of questions at the end of each lecture. These 

 questions bring out the salient points of the lectures, and direct 

 attention to the most important subjects for study. There have 

 been published other and more pretentious text-books on nursing, 

 but we know of none that in so compact a form contains so many 

 essentials as ' Medical Nursing.' 



Bradley's Atlas of the World, for Commercial and Library Refer- 

 ence. Philadelphia, WiLLLA-M M. Bradley & Brother, 

 1887. f. $25. 

 This atlas has received high praise from Dr. McCosh, Professor 

 Libbey, Dr. Vincent, General Hazen, and others. The intention of the 

 work is to provide a complete American and foreign atlas, full and de- 

 tailed, for both hemispheres. Following a somewhat novel plan for 

 an American atlas, the eastern hemisphere is given first. But it is 

 the belief of the publishers that every portion of the world is equally 

 treated. The maps contain the results of recent investigations, so 

 far as this is possible in any atlas of this size, and each map is ac- 

 companied with an isometric index. By means of this index the 



