LITERARY NOTICES. 



] 33 



opening chapters insists on the necessity of 

 regulation for the world as it now exists, he 

 says in closing : " As we draw nearer to per- 

 fect social conditions positive law will grow 

 less necessary. If all men had the true al- 

 truistic disposition, there would be no need of 

 government. The course of progress is from 

 the anarchy of the primitive state through law 

 and government to the anarchy of the per- 

 fect state. We should aim, then, to dimin- 

 ish the restraints of authority, and, though 

 working cautiously and tentatively, should 

 seek ever to contract the sphere and mini- 

 mize the duties of government. Only thus can 

 that City arise into which the glory and hon- 

 or of all the nations may be brought." Mr. 

 Thompson's " Social Progress " will be a very 

 helpful book to the student of public affairs 

 who desires to look below the foaming, ed- 

 dying surface of the stream of events, and 

 see the strength and direction of the currents 

 that determine the course in which society 

 may advance. 



A Study of Man, and the Way to Health, 

 by /. D. Buck, M. D. (Clarke, $2.50), may 

 be described as a series of essays philosophi- 

 cal in character, though popular in style. 

 The body of the work opens with a chapter 

 on the nature of evidence ; then follow sec- 

 tions on the relations of matter and force, 

 the universal ether, the character of phe- 

 nomena, polarity, the matter of life, the 

 forms of life, and the functions of organ- 

 isms ; or a brief outline of the principles of 

 biology. An important chapter is devoted 

 to a concise outline of the structure and 

 functions of the human body, from which 

 is deduced the philosophy of physiology, and 

 upon which is laid the foundation of the 

 science of psychology. Then follows a sec- 

 tion on consciousness and psychic phenomena 

 in general ; a chapter on health and disease ; 

 a section on sanity and insanity ; and the 

 work closes with a section on the higher 

 self, the archetypal man. The author is 

 not at war with either science or religion, 

 though he aims to get rid of both ignorance 

 and superstition. 



The little book entitled Living Matter, 

 by C.A. Stephens (The Laboratory Company, 

 Norway Lake, Me., $1), is an attempt to ex- 

 plain the constitution of the universe on the 

 supposition that matter is sentient. The 



author credits to matter only " a sentience 

 of low degree, in quantity far, very far be- 

 neath that evinced by even the lowest forms 

 of life." Biogen, or living matter, forms all 

 tissues of the animal body. Mr. Stephens 

 gives an explanation of the method in which 

 animal organisms are developed on the bio- 

 gen hypothesis. He accounts for aging and 

 death as resulting from changes in biogen, 

 every one of which " is of the nature of an 

 ordinary physical cause fairly within human 

 power to avoid or remedy, and many of which 

 in fact we are every day avoiding and reme- 

 dying." This leads up to a suggestion of the 

 possibility of learning how to prevent death 

 altogether. 



There has been printed A Classified List 

 of Mr. S. William Silver's Collection of New 

 Zealand Birds, with short descriptive notes 

 by Sir Walter L. Butter (London, E. A. 

 Petherick & Co.). A part of this collection, 

 which is one of the most complete in Europe, 

 formed a very attractive feature in the New 

 Zealand Court, at the Colonial and Indian 

 Exhibition in London, in 1886, and was 

 awarded a diploma and medal. To the eight 

 cases then exhibited, four have since been 

 added, containing many of the rarer birds 

 of New Zealand. Many of the genera and 

 most of the species are strictly confined to 

 New Zealand and the neighboring islands. 

 The volume is copiously illustrated with 

 heads, and in many cases full figures, of 

 the typical species, besides many cuts of 

 nests. An interesting object included in this 

 collection is a frame of feathers of the moa, 

 discovered in a cave in New Zealand by Mr. 

 Taylor White in 1874. 



The Forty-first Report on the New York 

 State Museum of Natural History contains 

 the reports of the trustees and the direct- 

 or, which relate the general progress and 

 changes in the museum during 1887. In 

 the report of the botanist it is stated that 

 since the summer was unusually favorable to 

 the production of fleshy fungi, the hymeno- 

 mycetes, special attention was given to the 

 collection and sketching in colors of these 

 plants. The document is accompanied by 

 reports of finding a large number of plants 

 in various localities ; by a paper on " Fungi 

 destructive to Wood," contributed by P. H. 

 Dudley, C E. ; and by a botanical index to 

 the museum reports Nos. 22-28. The report 



