1885.] 
365 
Analyses of Books. 
The author states that the blood of a young child is for a cer- 
tain time refracftory to the microbion. He asks can this stage 
of resistance not be prolonged ? Cannot, so to speak, the soil 
be sterilised as against this parasite ? Among the known and 
available resources he enumerates gymnastic exercises, such 
especially as develop respiratory power and capacity, hydro- 
pathic means, and lastly, food which must be so regulated that 
there is a predominance of fatty matter, any excess of potash 
salts being especially to be avoided. He argues, indeed, that 
the reason why the herbivora are more subject to tuberculosis 
than the carnivora is the larger proportion of potash salts neces- 
sarily present in their systems. 
The value of this work to the medical practitioner is indispu- 
table. But to outsiders, if candidly read through, it may also 
be of service as opening their eyes to the nature and import of 
the problems which modern medicine is called upon to solve, 
and as to the methods which it must employ. If this is done, 
sneers at the germ-theory may, perhaps, become less frequent. 
California State Mining Bureau,. Fourth Annual Report of the 
State Mineralogist, for the year ending May 15, 1884. By 
H. G. Hanks, State Mineralogist. Sacramento : State 
Printing Office. 
The situation of the Mining Bureau leaves something to be 
desired. Though the library and museum are very valuable, 
they are in constant danger of fire. The museum is situate over 
a stable (!) whence emanate “ disagreeable ammoniacal and 
hippuric odours,” whilst the specimens are disturbed in their 
cases “by the jarring made by the hoisting of hay by tackles 
attached to the under side of the museum floor.” It now con- 
tains 6000 specimens, and fresh accessories come in faster than 
they can be arranged. 
The chemical apartment is in abeyance. It is remarked that 
since the discontinuance of laboratory work, and the discharge 
of the efficient chemist for want of funds, little chemical work 
has been attempted. A mining bureau without a well arranged 
laboratory and an efficient chemical staff seems to us quite a 
mistake. 
The report before us is by no means exclusively confined to 
the mineral resources of the State. The hydrography, forests, 
scenery, and climate are also noticed. We find it stated that 
the coniferous forests alone cover some twenty million acres. 
That the climate is less extreme than in the central and eastern 
States. Tornadoes are wanting, and the deaths from sunstroke 
and lightning do not exceed a dozen. The advantages of Cali- 
