272 
Notices of Books. 
[April, 
Within the very brief space allotted — some 120 small pages — 
the author has given a fair, but of course very sketchy, account 
of his subject. We are somewhat surprised to find it stated 
that the common viper is “ easily recognised by its dark green 
colour.” Among the hundreds we have captured, from England 
to Dalmatia, we never met with a specimen that could be called 
green ; the males were various shades of grey, and the females 
copper-colour. We fear the author’s estimate that over 10,000 
deaths take place annually from snake-bites is far too low. As 
an oversight, we may also notice that the swift is ranked among 
the birds which leave us “ about the first week in October.” 
Report of the Board of Health of the City of Nashville for the 
Year ending July 4 th , 1877. Nashville : Tavel, Eastman, 
and Howell. 
In addition to a Report on Sanitary Reform in Nashville, this 
volume comprises papers on the topography, the geology, the 
water-supply, and the climate of the city. Nashville is a place 
whose sanitary history, as here given, is exceedingly instructive. 
It was once a summer health resort. By negleCt of proper pre- 
caution and regulation during its increase from a village to a 
city — as has happened in too many places on both sides of the 
Atlantic — its death-rate increased ; but now intelligent attention 
has been awakened, the tide is turning. Mention is made of 
one J. M. Bass, who, “ as Receiver, replaced the entire City 
Government,” and who “ made the fatal mistake of economising 
at the expense of the public health.” It would be well, indeed, 
if so-called economists, who are always counting the cost of any 
projected measure, would be fair enough to add the reverse of 
the medal, and count the cost of letting things alone ; it would 
often prove much the heavier. We find here a high compliment 
paid to our country of which we are scarcely worthy. The 
Report speaks of “ Great Britain, the acknowledged leader in all 
sanitary reform.” When we read these words we remembered 
the multitudes of inhabited cellars in our English towns — an 
abomination entirely absent in Paris. 
The following faCts, if no mistake prevails, must rank among 
the unsolved mysteries of medical science: — “that cholera is 
never seen in Iceland, Siberia, Greenland, or Australia ; that 
phthisis is never seen in Iceland, and only rarely in Norway, 
Madras, or the elevated plains of Mexico.” 
We are glad that the sanitary value of trees is fully recognised 
in this Report, and that planting is urged as a public duty. 
