Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/870

850 illustrated, and 1 quickly saw that the manifestations of disease were regulated by the same laws which govern physiological processes in general, and that many conditions regarded as pathological in one animal are natural in another." This view is enforced in the successive chapters of the book, in which—according to the author's plan of treatment as summarized by himself—the effects of increased use and disuse of parts are considered in connection with the gradual change in function of organs, and the part played by transmission of the effects of increased use and disuse in producing vestigial structures in complex organisms. The tendency of vestigial structures to become diseased, or to give rise to conditions disadvantageous to the individual, is dealt with. The transmission of acquired characters and malformations is discussed. Causes of disease arising without the organism, and the relations they bear to inflammation and fever, are given a chapter. Tumors are considered in connection with general morbid processes, and the scanty knowledge we possess of the zoölogical distribution of disease is summarized. The illustrations of the principles have been selected, whenever it was practicable, from animals other than man, for the author believes that man has been studied too exclusively.

first feature of this work to be noticed is its departure from the familiar thin quarto form in which geographies that combine maps and text are made. This volume contains only text and illustrations, and is intended to accompany an atlas. An examination of it will not proceed far before showing that it differs from the ordinary geography in something more important than form. The book aims to set before the pupil those facts of geography that are most worth his knowing, and that are most effective as discipline. Hence all countries are not described in conformity with a rigid outline, but the characteristic features of each are given especial prominence. The authors have sought to make the study of geography something better than a memorizing process by bringing out the relations of cause and effect. To aid in this latter purpose, the general laws of physical geography are stated in an introduction, and to this chapter are referred the facts that especially illustrate the laws. Cause and effect are particularly developed in the paragraphs on towns, where it has been sought to show why and on what basis a town exists in any particular place. In the description of the natural features of a region, little regard is paid to the artificial boundaries of political divisions and subdivisions. Thus, in the treatment of North America, which is preceded by a sketch of North and South America together, each of the general topics, surface, climate, life, etc., is dealt with for the whole continent, the portion of each of these features that becomes the share of one or another country being pointed out later. In this way are avoided the many repetitions that would be involved in describing separately the geographical characters of the fifty States and Territories of the United States. The facts relating to the products and commerce of a country are also presented from a national standpoint, and comparisons are made with foreign countries. The work is not confined to North America, as might be inferred from a hasty reading of the title; the other grand divisions of the globe are treated with more or less fullness according to their importance to the American pupil. The text is illustrated by seventy well-selected cuts, but unfortunately the pictures have such a muddy appearance that their value is much impaired. In spelling foreign names the authors have followed the rules adopted by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society. The volume is closely printed, and hence contains a great deal of matter within a moderate compass, and different sizes and styles of type, cross-references, foot-notes, and statistical tables have been made use of to link the various descriptions into one connected whole.

its title alone one might infer that this work had about the same scope as others on the same subject prepared for medical students, but it has a somewhat peculiar character, owing partly to what it