Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 23.djvu/876

856 our forefathers found abundant along the Atlantic coast, from Newfoundland to Florida. It is the one which was first hunted by the Cape Cod and Nantucket whalers; and is not the one now and latterly captured in the Arctic seas." Facilities have been given for the study of the animal by the existence of five skeletons in America and Europe, and by the capture of an adult specimen in 1882 off the New Jersey coast. To the results of the author's studies of the American specimens are added criticisms of previous accounts of the right whale, and a summary of historical mentions relating to the present and allied species. Some of Dr. Holder's conclusions have been disputed by Mr. J. A. Allen.

tithing-man's duties in Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies were very much like those of the constable, and, though he was preceded by officers of that name in New England, he was a far more ancient officer than the constable in the old country. While the constable had the care of public order, the tithing-man's duties were rather connected with the preservation of order and morals in families. Originally one was appointed for every ten families. Dr. Adams follows his account of the functions of the New England tithing-man with a review of the history of the office, which he traces back to the Saxon rule in England.

author styles his work "A Contribution to the History of European Morals, from the Time of the Roman Empire to the Close of the Fourteenth Century." Its general purpose is stated to be that of an historical inquiry into the practical effect upon social life throughout the period traversed, of that singular credence which involved preternatural agencies. This belief appears to have been particularly general and controlling in respect to matters appertaining to the preservation and restoration of bodily vigor. Superstition seems to have reigned supreme down to the time of Charlemagne. From that epoch the slow growth of better ideas and a more intelligent practice may be traced, beginning with the schools fostered by that enlightened ruler, and the scholars he called around him. The scope of Mr. Fort's work includes the condition of medical art under the Roman emperors to Galen's time; the influence of the Alexandrine schools in producing a regular system of magic cures, and the progress of the magic system as a moralistic episode of the middle ages, concurrent with ancient medical text-books in the cloisters; the gradual development of the science, aided by Arabic erudition at the Italian universities; and the bloom of alchemy and astrology. Among special features receiving attention are the curative powers ascribed to gems, incantations, etc., the manner of dealing with abandoned women, and the status of physicians, of both sexes, at different epochs.

work, which has engaged the editorial labors of Dr. Quain for several years, is a single octavo volume of some eighteen hundred pages. No dictionary of medicine so compendious, and at the same time so authoritative, has yet appeared in any language. One hundred and sixty writers contribute an immense number of articles, varying in length from a column or less to thirty pages. Each contributor "volunteered or was invited to write on a subject with which he was specially familiar"; and the list of authors is as representative of the best literature of the profession in England, Ireland, and Scotland, as any that could have been framed. If the name of a distinguished authority is missed here and there, this is only the inevitable result of there being other and sometimes younger men, equally qualified and more conveniently situated for the particular purpose. Dr. Quain's editorial resources have been, indeed, of the amplest kind; he has marshaled an array of professional talent which is not only creditable to the position of the editor among his colleagues, but creditable