Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/727

Rh often sorely puzzled by these localisms, and Mr. Hallock does well in providing them with an interpreter.

first volume of this most valuable periodical is now completed, and the first part of the second volume is also published. We again call the attention of our scientific and medical readers to its merits, and also urge for it the patronage of liberal-minded men whether professional or not. To those interested in its discussions we need not say that it is invaluable, as it represents the progress of research in physiological science, and gives the latest trustworthy results on a wide range of subjects. It is edited by an able corps of gentlemen, who, of course, contribute their services freely, and with no thought of remuneration, from simple love of the promotion of knowledge. And who is not interested in the advancement of this branch of science. "The Journal of Physiology" ought to be taken in every library, college, and high-school, if for no other reason than because it is a public duty to sustain it. It is a scandal to civilization that, when wealth is squandered so profusely on absolutely worthless things, men of science, living on stipends, and giving their very life-blood to laborious researches, should have to retrench their vital necessities to pay for the publication of their original work, which is of untold value to the community.

People generally have but a very imperfect idea of the activity of scientific inquiry at the present time, because it is a world by itself, with which our literary, political, and religious classes have very little concern or sympathy. The physiological division of science furnishes a very good illustration of the extent of this vigorous original work. The editors of "The Journal of Physiology" have issued a supplement to Vol. I. containing a list of titles of works and papers of physiological interest published in 1878. We subjoin the classified headings of this list, which will convey an idea of the scope of these investigations, and give the number of works that appeared last year in each division:

was born in Paris in 1755, and died in 1842, and during the greater part of that time was employed in painting the portraits of the reigning families of Europe. She was the contemporary and friend of Joseph Vernet, of Benjamin West, and of Sir Joshua Reynolds, all of whom bore testimony to her rare ability as an artist. It is said that, on the opening in London of her portrait of Calonne, a bystander remarked: "It ought to be good, for Madame Le Brun received £3,200 for it"; when Sir Joshua replied, "If they gave me £4,000 for it, I could not have done it as well." Being not only a great favorite at the different European courts, but her salon forming a rallying-point for the most distinguished people in fashion, in literature, and in art, she had at her command a surprising wealth of material, and these reminiscences form a curious though unconscious history of the morals as well as the manners of that interesting period.