LITERARY NOTICES. 



125 



of all justice must, and will, make every 

 allowance for antecedent passion, for 

 blindness, for ignorance, for inadvert- 

 ence " ; and this, Mr. Mivart explains, 

 will apply to that "large proportion 

 of men's actions which can not be freely 

 controlled by them on account of an- 

 cestral influences, early associations or 

 intellectual and volitional feebleness." 

 As we read these declarations we begin 

 to find ourselves somewhat at a loss to 

 conceive the kind of person who would 

 really constitute an eligible candidate 

 for the place which Mr. Mivart so far 

 offends ears polite as to mention. How- 

 ever, some do get there, and then they 

 fare according to their deserts. Their 

 great loss consists in being shut out 

 from what theologians describe as " the 

 beatific vision " — that is, from the hap- 

 piness of heaven ; but they have appar- 

 ently all the means of enjoyment and 

 even of moral improvement open to 

 them which they had on earth, though 

 without hope of ever changing their 

 fundamental state of separation from 

 God. 



"Waiving all questions as to the real- 

 ity of the matter which Mr. Mivart 

 discusses, we venture to express the 

 opinion that the view he puts forward 

 is far more favorable to the interests of 

 religion, and much better adapted to 

 produce moral thoughtfulness, than the 

 heretofore current notions, which no 

 amount of sophistical ingenuity can tor- 

 ture into conformity with justice, be- 

 nevolence, or reason. So far we ex- 

 tend to the distinguished naturalist and, 

 as it would appear, not inexpert theo- 

 logian our sympathy, and bid him God- 

 speed. 



The Index to Volumes I to XL of 

 The Popular Science Monthly, an- 

 nounced as in preparation some months 

 ago, has been completed, and up to March 

 25th about fifty pages had been put in 

 type. It will make nearly three hun- 

 dred pages, and, as setting the type for 

 such a book is slow work, we must ask 



a little more patience from the many 

 who have been anxiously inquiring for 

 the volume. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



A Handbook of Pathological Anatomy and 

 Histology. With an Introductory Sec- 

 tion on Post-mortem Examinations and the 

 Methods of Preserving and Examining 

 Diseased Tissues. By Francis Dela- 

 field, M. D., LL. D., and T. Mitchell 

 Prudden, M. D. Fourth edition. New 

 York: William Wood & Co. 1892. Pp. 

 xvii+3 to 715. 



The fourth edition of this standard work 

 has an increase of more than one hundred 

 pages of text, with the addition of seventy- 

 six engravings, while many portions of the 

 book have been rewritten, so that it may in- 

 clude the principal discoveries that have been 

 made in pathology since the publication of 

 the third edition in 1889. 



In the section on the methods of prepar- 

 ing pathological specimens for study there 

 has been added a description of the phloro- 

 glucin method of decalcifying bone, which is 

 one of the best that can be used, and there 

 is also a description of the satisfactory method 

 of hardening tissues by Lang's corrosive-sub- 

 limate solution. 



The chapter on the composition and struc- 

 ture of the blood has received important ad- 

 ditions in the description of oligocythemia 

 and of the determination of the presence of 

 the micro, macro, and poikilocytes, as well 

 as a description of the polynuclear neutro- 

 phile and eosinophile leucocytes and lympho- 

 cytes ; and there is a section on the methods 

 of examination necessary to study these va- 

 rious forms. 



One of the most important additions to 

 the volume is the section on hypertrophy, 

 hyperplasia, regeneration, and metaplasia; 

 the authors calling attention to the patho- 

 logical importance of a knowledge of caryo- 

 cinesis, because a recognition of mitotic fig- 

 ures may permit a decision regarding the 

 particular cells involved in the formation of 

 new tissue. 



The chapter on inflammation has been 

 practically rewritten and rearranged, the sub- 

 jects of tubercular and syphilitic inflamma- 

 tions being now considered under the sections 

 relating to the diseases producing them. 



