Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 23.djvu/580

564 after forces with which they are not familiar."

It has been the purpose of Dr. Parrish to treat the principles of his subject from the foregoing point of view as a physician interested first of all in the nature, causes, and treatment of disease. If alcoholism is a disease involving organic perversion and morbid physical action that has become chronic, it is of but little use either to exhort or pledge men against its effects, or even to invoke the law for the suppression of intemperance. Diseases must be treated in conformity with natural laws, and by men who understand what they are. Dr. Parrish takes up the subject of inebriety in its aspects of vice and crime, and with reference to the various abnormal manifestations of conduct in inebriates. The subject of heredity in alcoholic intemperance, and the relations of inebriety and insanity, with the questions of asylums for these classes, are considered. The chapters on "The Inebriate's View," "How to deal with Inebriates," "The Psychology of Inebriety," and "The Effects of Different Alcohols," are practical discussions of the subject which ought to be widely disseminated. It should be stated that a large number of cases are cited in the work, illustrative of the phenomena and varied effects of intemperance, under its several aspects of vice, crime, and disease.

series of "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" was begun in 1848, and now comprises twenty-three volumes in 4to, with 119 articles. The "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," begun in 1802, embraces twenty-three volumes in 8vo, with 122 papers. The annual reports are represented by thirty-five volumes, which include much general matter of interest. Other series are the "Bulletins of the National Museum," of which twenty, aggregating 3,103 pages, have been published; the "Proceedings of the National Museum," which are sent out by the sheetful of 16 pages, and are at present represented by four volumes of 2,221 pages; and the volume of the "Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology," 638 pages imperial 8vo. The whole number of publications is 478. The names of the articles and the names of the authors are given alphabetically in the catalogue. No copyright is taken out by the Institution on its works, but acknowledgment is expected to be made of the use of them. All works that are in print can be obtained at cost price; and a price-list is printed in connection with the catalogue.

first part of this volume is devoted to biographical sketches of modern Japanese statesmen, authors, and scholars, largely those who have contributed in a greater or less degree to the bringing about of the late reforms in the empire. The materials for the sketches are, of course, derived from native sources, and much of the matter appears to be also; for it has a terseness, a richness, and a home flavor like those of the works of Japanese art that an American writer working up the sketches in his own way could never have given. All the more credit to Mr. Lanman for preserving this flavor, for it is one of the most attractive and delightful features of the book. In the second part are given excellent accounts, historical and descriptive, of the Japanese Empire, and of Corea—so lately the forbidden land; to all of which is added a bibliography of works on Japan.

work is chiefly intended to assist the builder or contractor in making estimates of the cost of work he is about to undertake, by bringing before him the details he must look after, and their approximate cost. It is also useful to the person about to employ a builder or contractor, or who intends to execute his own plans. It includes a compilation of the current prices of all kinds of building materials in their details, of worked materials, and of labor, with building rules, data, tables, and useful memoranda, and a glossary of architectural and building terms.