1884.] 
Analyses of Books. 17 e 
majority of men would sink down into apathy, and undergo a 
relapse into savagery. But there is a measure, a via media, in 
all the agencies which affedt life. There are certain limits be- 
tween which life is worth living, and, as far as work and compe- 
tition are concerned, we have already touched, if not overstepped, 
the maximum. 
We are extremely glad to find a sanitary reformer of such 
merit and. influence as Dr. Richardson turning his thoughts in 
the direction shown in the present essay. We rejoice to hear 
him. say— Inasmuch as felicity is impossible under mental 
strain, it is fatal work to press on the young mind the excessive 
labour which is now in all departments making cram, cram the 
footing for knowledge. 
We should like to see this paper, “ Felicity as a Sanitary 
Research,” circulated literally by the million. 
Botanical Micro-Chemistry : an Introduction to the Study of 
Vegetable Histology, prepared for the Use of Students. By 
V. A. Poulsen. Translated with the assistance of the 
author, and considerably enlarged, by William Trelease, 
Professor in the University of Wisconsin. Boston : Cas- 
sino and Co. London : Triibner and Co. 
Micro-Chemistry has now become an important method of re- 
search. The student of Histology, vegetable or animal, no 
longer finds it sufficient to examine tissues, fluids, &c., under 
the microscope, even with the aid of the polariscope and spectro- 
scope. He finds it necessary to treat his objedfs with certain 
chemical reagents, and to note the changes of texture or of 
colour thus produced. By this method the resources of the mi- 
croscope have been, we may say, indefinitely enlarged, and the 
conclusions reached by its aid are rendered much more 
decisive. 
The author of the little treatise before us confines his atten- 
tion to vegetable histology, but much of what he says is appli- 
cable also in the minute study of animal matter. 
The first portion of the work is devoted to an account of the 
reagents used, the manner of their application, and the results 
which they may be expedted to produce. The colouring agents 
which have been successfully employed for the differentiation of 
the tissue-systems, and for the recognition of some of the cell- 
contents, are clearly described. We find it, however, singular 
that “ fuchsine ” and “ magenta” are spoken of as two distindt 
colours. The former is simply the Franco-German name for the 
