Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/571

Rh and connect this history with the general history of the time. The next remarkable epidemic was the sweating-sickness, of which five outbreaks occurred between 1485 and 1551. The record of plague in the Tudor period is a story of frequent outbreaks, one of the most serious being the London plague of 1563. Jail-fevers, influenzas, etc., during the same period furnish material for another chapter. The "French pox" has a chapter by itself, another is devoted to small-pox and measles, and another to scurvy and other sicknesses attendant upon early voyages. The plagues of the seventeenth century down to 1665 are duly recorded, and then comes the "Great Plague," to which over twenty per cent of the population of London succumbed. The extinction of the plague in England, in 1666 or 1667, brings this history to a close. The work gives evidence of much thoroughness and great ability on the part of its author, and deserves to rank high in medical literature.

volume contains Wotton Reinfred, a romance; and An Excursion (futile enough) to Paris, which were left among the author's papers at his death; and a number of letters written by Carlyle to Varnhagen von Ense in the years 1837 to 1857; together with two notes of Varnhagen about Carlyle's first visit to Berlin in 1852; and letters of Jane Welch Carlyle to Amily Bolte, 1843 to 1849. The romance, Wotton Reinfred, is Carlyle's only essay in fiction, and therefore possesses a distinctive interest. It was probably written soon after the author's marriage, and represents the earlier period of his literary development. In it the editor of the volume finds the first expression of ideas and doctrines afterward set forth with more formality in Sartor Resartus. Mr. Froude regards it as of considerable interest, from the sketches which it contains of particular men and women, who being now dead, and the incidents forgotten, any objection which may have existed to publication is now removed. Among these characters, according to Mr. Leslie Stephen, is "a curious portrait of Coleridge, thinly veiled." The Excursion to Paris is the unreserved daily record of a journey in company with the Brownings, when Carlyle paid a visit to Lord Ashburton. It presents a singularly vivid picture of the author's personality, and one which adds something to our knowledge of Carlyle the man.

permanent funds of the Smithsonian Institution, bearing interest at six per cent, amount to $703,000. The inadequacy and insecurity of the buildings continue to be subjects of complaint. The Institution was able during the year covered by the report to do rather more for the encouragement of original research than it had done for several years past. The project for securing an astro-physical observatory and general laboratory had assumed definite shape. Solid foundation piers had been built under the temporary shed, and a number of instruments had been procured, of which the siderostat is probably the largest and most powerful instrument of its class ever constructed. The work of exploration was carried on through the Bureau of Ethnology and the National Museum; and some rare and valuable collections were obtained. A few small grants from the Smithsonian fund, "commensurate rather with the abilities of the Institution than with its wishes," were made to aid in physical science—in addition to the aid largely given to biological and ethnological science through the Museum, Bureau of Ethnology, and Zoölogical Park. One of the important features of the year's history of the Institution was the passing of the National Zoölogical Park under its control. A complete description of the park is given. The general appendix, which constitutes the larger part of the volume, contains a miscellaneous selection of papers, some of them original, embracing a considerable range of scientific investigation and discussion. The National Museum now contains not far from three million specimens. The increase during the year covered by the report is much smaller than in any previous year since the completion of the Museum building. The difference is accounted for to