LITERARY NOTICES. 



277 



various modes of treatment, palliative and 

 radical, are set forth. The volume has an 

 index and a bibliography. A number of cuts 

 illustrate the appearance of diseased parts 

 and methods of operation. 



Studies in American History, by Prof. 

 Mary Sheldon Barnes (Heath, 60 cents), is a 

 teachers' manual, consisting of a series of 

 outlines for lessons. It is designed to direct 

 pupils in studying history from the original 

 materials, and to that end gives lists of au- 

 thorities, with critical comments, summaries 

 of points to be made under each head, notes, 

 suggestions, and references for the teacher's 

 reading. The studies are divided into seven 

 groups, one being introductory and the 

 others covering the history of the territory 

 occupied by the United States from Colum- 

 bus to 1892. Machine teachers had better 

 let this book alone ; it is a tool they can not 

 handle. 



An Elementary Treatise on Trigonometry, 

 by E. W. Hobson and C. M. Jessop, has been 

 issued from the press of Cambridge University 

 (Macmillan, $1.25). It is a book for beginners 

 in its subject, and parts are indicated which 

 students are advised to pass over until they 

 have been once through it. A large number 

 of problems are given, many of them practi- 

 cal, and the answers are put at the end of 

 the volume. 



Having received from Prof. Kiikenthal 

 for examination some specimens of Apus 

 brought from Spitsbergen, Mr. Henry Mey- 

 ners Bernard has made a study of the species 

 and come to the conclusion that it is a vari- 

 ety of Lepidurus glacialis, which he pro- 

 poses to call L. Spitzbergensis. His observa- 

 tions of this Apus form Part I of a book, 

 Tfie Apodidce, which he has contributed to 

 the Nature Series (Macmillan, $2). In Part 

 I, also, he undertakes to prove that Apus is 

 an original crustacean easily derivable from 

 an annelid. Going on, in Part II, the author 

 maintains that Apus is, moreover, the origi- 

 nal of all the modern crustaceans. 



The Heredity of Acquired Characters is 

 the title of a paper by Dr. Manly Miles, Lan- 

 sing, Mich., which was published in The Pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. The inheritance of 

 acquired character has been denied by Weiss- 

 man, who claims the " continuity of the 

 germ plasma as originally formulated, and all 



inheritable variations are assumed to be the 

 result of fortuitous changes in the reproduc- 

 tive germs." Dr. Miles claims that it is im- 

 possible that a living substance, undergoing 

 constant changes, can be " a substance of 

 extreme stability " to " grow enormously 

 without the least change in its molecular 

 structure," as advanced in Weissman's the- 

 ory, and he adds that the fact of the germ 

 plasma being brought into intimate relations 

 with the metabolism of the body plasma, the 

 habits of the organism in modifying the gen- 

 eral metabolism of the body must also exert 

 an influence on the system of the germ cells, 

 and, through their constantly changing sub- 

 stance, on the forms of activity that are 

 transmitted from one generation to another. 

 From Dr. Miles's standpoint it is an almost 

 impossible supposition that from two germs 

 of identical qualities and tendencies, two 

 adult forms could be evolved, precisely alike 

 in every detail. To arrive at such a perfect 

 reproduction it would be necessary to have 

 the same series of anastates in the construc- 

 tive processes of every organ, and the same 

 destructive metabolism throughout the entire 

 period of growth, which, of course, could 

 very rarely occur in the surrounding condi- 

 tions of two individuals ; but he admits that 

 the repetition of an acquired habit for 

 several generations, uniformly transmitted, 

 might establish a dominant, inherited family 

 characteristic. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Baldwin, C. C. Review Extraordinary of 

 " Man and the Glacial Period." Pp. 22. 



Balfour, Henry. Evolution of Decorative Art. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 131. $1.25. 



Bell, Clark. Bulletin. Psychological Section 

 of the Medico-legal Society. New York. Pp. 8. 



Blackwell. Antoinette Brown. The Philoso- 

 phy of Individuality. New York: G.P.Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 593. p. 



Bolles, Frank. At the North of Bear Camp 

 Water. Boston and New York: Houghton, 

 Mifflin & Co. Pp. 293. gl.25.— Students' Ex- 

 penses. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University. 

 Pp. 45. 



Browning, W. W. Modern Homoeopathy. 

 Philadelphia. W. J. Dornan, Printer. Pp. 32. 



Bm-nham, W. P. Three Roads to a Commis- 

 sion in the United States Army. New York: D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 160. $1. 



Bulletin, U. 8. Fish Commission. "Volume X. 

 1890. Government Printing Office. Pp. 450. 

 With Maps and Plates. 



Catalogue, Michigan Mining School. Hough- 

 ton. Pp. 175. 



Clute, O. Spurry. Flat Pea. Michigan Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station Bulletin. Pp. 13. 



Conn, H. W. Bacteria in the Dairy. Pp. 20. 

 Reprint. 



