74 
POPULAK SCIENCE BE VIEW. 
excellent for its time in tlie days of its former editor, Mr. J. Mitchell, hut 
ever since it has had the supervision of Mr. W. Crookes, F.R.S., it has been 
brought up to the time, and is in keeping with the immense progress which 
has been made in the art of assaying during the last five years. The 
general plan of the work remains the same as in the last edition, but a great 
deal has been added to each chapter, and all old processes of assaying which 
have been superseded by new methods are, of course, omitted from this 
edition. Chapter VII. is, for instance, much altered, and is of considerable 
value in a book of this kind, for it contains a full and perfect scheme for the 
(i discrimination of minerals.” Other chapters are likewise less or more 
altered, and thus the whole has been rendered a volume which all mineralo- 
gists must be acquainted with. 
MEDICAL ELECTRICITY. * 
D R. ALTHAUS’ book is hardly one which we feel called upon to review. 
Still we may notice the fact of its appearance now, in its third edition 
and considerably enlarged. The author has done everything to bring the 
book up to the present state — a very advanced one — of electrical science, 
and the numerous illustrations he has given help much to render the subject 
intelligible to those who have not been familiar with the science of elec- 
tricity. Dr. Althaus is, unquestionably, the first authority in this coun- 
try on the subject of electricity in disease, and therefore all his asser- 
tions have a certain value. Eor ourselves, we may admit having a great 
faith in the effects of the three forms — electricity, galvanism, and faradism — 
in disease. But — and this is a matter of great importance — they occupy 
too much time to ever pay, in a pecuniary sense, the physician who employs 
them. Medical readers will do well to consult one part of this book, i.e. 
that relating to the detection of malingerers. This is certainly excellent. 
ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE POPULARISED. t 
I N the two volumes that are now before us we find many of the difficult, 
and, to the general reader, uninteresting problems rendered at once 
simple and remarkably instructive and interesting. Mr. Proctor has the gift of 
making a complex subject very simple and intelligible, and this is no or- 
dinary feat. Indeed, his books are among the very few of the popular 
class that are neither difficult nor inaccurate. He may, however, do too 
* “A Treatise on Medical Electricity, and its Use in the Treatment of 
Paralysis, Neuralgia, and other Diseases.” By Julius Althaus, M.D., 
M.R.C.P. 3rd edition. London : Longmans & Co., 1873. 
t “ The Expanse of Heaven: a Series of Essays on the Wonders of the 
Firmament.” By R. A. Proctor, B.A. London : Henry King, 1873. 
u The Borderland of Science ; a Series of Familiar Dissertations on Stars 
and Planets, Sun and Moon, Earthquakes, Flying Machines, Coal, Ghosts, 
&c.” By R. A. Proctor, B.A. London : Smith, Elder & Co., 1873. 
