286 
EDITORIAL. 
The  Archives  of  Ophthalmology  and  Otology.  Edited  and  published  sim- 
ultaneously in  English  and  German,  by  Prof.  H.  Knapp,  M.D.,  in  New 
York,  and  Prof.  S.  Moos,  M.D.,  in  Heidelberg.  Vol.  I,  No.  1.  New 
York:  William  Wood  &  Co.  Carlsruhe  :  Ohr.  Fr.  MuUer'sche  Hof- 
buchhandlung,  1870.  pp.  364,  octavo,  with  eight  lithographic  plates, 
several  of  them  colored. 
Eeceived  from  the  publisher  just  as  v?e  are  closing  our  columns.  The 
work  is  elegantly  gotten  up  and  illustrated.  It  consists  entirely  of  origi- 
nal articles,  contributed  by  German  and  American  writers,  and  is  pub- 
lished half  yearly,  simultaneously  at  New  York,  in  English,  and  at 
Carlsruhe,  in  German.  It  undoubtedly  possesses  many  claims  to  the 
attention  of  medical  and  surgical  readers.    Price  $7  a  year. 
On  the  Physical  Basis  of  Life.    By  T.  H.  Huxley.  LL.  T).,  F.  R.  S. 
New  Haven,  Conn.:  Charles  C.  Chatfield.    pp.  35,  12mo. 
This  pamphlet  is  the  reprint  of  a  discourse  originally  delivered  in 
Edinburg,  November  18,  1868,  and  subsequently  published  in  London  in 
the  Fortnightly  Review.  It  deals  with  what  has  been  called  the  new 
philosophy,  in  reference  to  organic  life,  and  involves  points  of  discussion 
which  many  approach  with  fear  of  a  materialistic  tendency  to  the  doc- 
trine of  necessity  ;  but  the  author  repudiates  that  any  such  charge  can 
be  truthfully  made  in  regard  to  his  views.  The  nature  of  that  which 
occurs  in  a  single  organic  cell  of  a  vegetable  organism,  by  which  car- 
bonic acid  water,  and  ammonia  are  converted  into  protein,  or  "proto- 
plasm," as  the  author  calls  it;  or  in  the  cell  of  an  animal  organism,  by 
which  dead  organic  matter  is  converted  also  into  protoplasm,  is  the 
question  at  issue.  The  highest  organisms  are  but  aggregates  of  cell 
action.  Living  matter  is  mineral  matter  under  the  influence  of  cell 
action.  The  action  in  an  animal  cell  can  only  be  sustained  by  the  con- 
sumption of  matter  previously  organized  by  cell  action, 'whilst  the  vege- 
table ceil  is  endowed  with  the  power  of  transforming  mineral  into  organic 
matter.  The  brain  is  the  organ  designed  by  the  Creator  to  manifest 
intellect;  it  is  a  congeries  of  cells  in  ceaseless  action.  All  cell  action  is 
attended  by  waste  and  growth.  The  act  of  thinking  must,  therefore, 
occasion  waste,  or  excretion  of  substance,  to  be  recuperated  by  growth 
or  accretion.  It  therefore  follows  that  the  manifestation  of  thought  and 
emotion  are  coincident  with  and  dependent  on  cell  action.  But  life  in 
the  cell  is  to  us  as  wonderful  and  as  inscrutable  as  life  in  a  complex 
organism,  and  Almighty  power  as  manifest  in  the  one  as  the  other. 
The  Arts,  devoted  to  Science  and  Arts.  A  monthly  journal  by  Joseph  M. 
Hirsh,  Ph.D.,  Chicago,  ill.  Vol.  I,  No.  1 ;  pp.  18,  quarto.  Price  one 
dollar  per  annum. 
This  new  enterprise,  if  judged  by  the  first  number,  promises  to  be  an 
interesting  and  useful  publication,  embracing  a  variety  of  topics.  The 
price  places  it  within  the  reach  of  a  large  number,  and  it  merits  a  gener- 
ous support.  The  frontispiece  is  a  lithograph  of  the  late  Prof.  Thomas 
Graham,  of  London. 
