LITERARY NOTICES. 



!35 



who stands on a level with Goethe. The 

 editor describes him as having been of " mul- 

 tifarious activity as fabulist, literary and 

 dramatic critic, philosopher, and theolo- 

 gian." His " Laocoon " is one of the recog- 

 nized classics in the literature of art. He 

 was eminent as a classical scholar, archaeolo- 

 gist, antiquary, poet, and dramatist — "a 

 pioneer in the development of modern Ger- 

 man literature." And there has been no 

 figure in that literature "whose life is more 

 laborious and fruitful, no character in an 

 age of sentimentality which was more sane, 

 stalwart, and manly." The selections pre- 

 sent him in these various aspects, and the 

 letters reveal features of his personality. 



A translation of Testa, an instructive 

 book for boys, by Paolo Mantegazza (Heath, 

 $1.25), has just been issued. Its character 

 may be quickest indicated by comparing it 

 to " Sanford and Merton," though it has the 

 advantage of being written for the present 

 generation. Before this book appeared 

 nothing of note, except De Amicis's " Cuore," 

 had been written for children in Italy. " Tes- 

 ta " is a story of a boy who was sent to live 

 for a year with a sagacious old uncle, a re- 

 tired sea-captain, who, by telling anecdotes 

 and by commenting upon various incidents, 

 teaches his nephew many lessons in regard 

 to the operations of nature, the ways of the 

 world, and especially manners and morals. 

 There is also some good counsel on the 

 choice of a profession. In an early chapter 

 is given a set of model resolutions for a 

 month, and succeeding chapters contain 

 blank pages for the young reader to fill with 

 his own good resolutions for each remaining 

 month of a year. The great variety of the 

 book, and its Italian and, therefore, unfa- 

 miliar flavor, are enough to make it inter- 

 esting to the average American boy, though 

 only serious-minded boys will appreciate its 

 full meaning. 



The treatise on The Psychic Life of 

 Micro-organisms, by Alfred Bind (the Open 

 Court Publishing Company, 50 and 75 cents), 

 has for its object to prove the existence of 

 psychological faculties in the simplest or- 

 ganisms, and to describe their modes of 

 manifestation. The sensibility and power 

 of reacting possessed by these simple creat- 

 ures is commonly called irritability. But 

 M. Binet asserts that, "in these inferior 



beings, which represent the simplest forms 

 of life, we find manifestations of an intelli- 

 gence which greatly transcends the phe- 

 nomena of cellular irritability." The author 

 describes in successive chapters the psychic 

 phenomena connected with the use of motory 

 organs and organs of sense, with nutrition 

 and fecundation, and he treats also the 

 physiological function of the nucleus. He 

 even goes further than is indicated above, 

 and ascribes psychic faculties to the cells 

 which make up the tissues of higher ani- 

 mals. He states that " the faculty of seiz- 

 ing food and of exercising a choice among 

 foods of different kinds — a property essen- 

 tially psychological — appertains to the ana- 

 tomical elements of the tissues just as it 

 does to all unicellular beings." In his views 

 on the subject of this volume the author 

 takes issue especially with M. Richet, and 

 also with Prof. Romanes. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



American Society for Psychical Research. Pro- 

 ceedings, Vol. I, No. 4. Boston : Damrell & Up- 

 ham. Pp. 290. $1. 



Bodington, Mrs. Alice. The Mammalia: Extinct 

 Species and Surviving Forms. Pp. 25. 



Bowditch, H. P., M. D. Hints for Teachers of 

 Physiology. Boston : D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 58. 

 25 cents. 



Branner, John C. The Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 Geology of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin of Brazil. Pp. 

 64, with Plates. 



Bunce, Oliver Bell. The Story of Happinolande. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 188. 25 cents. 



Chicago Manual Training School. Sixth Annual 

 Catalogue, lSSS-^. Pp. 24. 



Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 Annual Report for 1888. Part II. 



Cook, A. J. Silo and Silage. Lansing, Mich. : 

 Darius D. Thorp. Pp. 81. 



Davis, Singleton W. Sketches of the Scientific 

 Dispensation of a New Religion. San Diego, Cal. 

 Pp. 64. 



Day, George B. The New Interpretation ; or, the 

 Scriptures viewed in the Light of Christian Science. 

 Chicago : O. M. Parsons. Pp. 121. 50 cents. 



Doty, Alvah H., M. D. A Manual of Instruction 

 on the Principles of Prompt Aid to the Injured. 

 New Tork : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 224. $1 25. 



Draper, Andrew S. Twenty-fifth Annual Report 

 of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of 

 New York. Albany. Pp. about 1,200. 



Drummer, An Old How to be Successful on the 

 Road as a Commercial Traveler. New York : Fow- 

 ler and Wells Company. Pp. 84. 20 cents. 



Fewkes. J. Walter. The Anatomy of Astrangia 

 Danae. Washington : Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 

 20, with Six Plates. 



Fowke, Gerard, Sidney, Ohio. The Manufacture 

 and Use of Aboriginal Stone Implements. Pp. 20. 



Galton, Francis. Natural Inheritance. London 

 and New York : Macmillan and Co. Pp. 259. $2.50. 



Garrigues, Dr. H. J. Der Scheintod. New 

 York. Pp 28. 



Gilman, Nicholas Paine. Profit Sharing between 



