Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/877

 Faculty of Columbia College, by William H. Thomson. The author finds the expressions of modern physiologists on the connection between nerve and consciousness indefinite and unsatisfactory. He examines the development of the nervous system from the lowest vertebrates up to man, and discussing the questions at issue, concludes that there is that in consciousness and mental operations that can not be accounted for by nervous action alone, but something must be called in to assist; therefore matter, force, and consciousness are three distinct realities.

In Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth (Macmillan), a study is presented by W. R. Lethaby of the influence of Nature and men's ideas of the universe and of divinity on their art. The author distinguishes between the common use of the term architecture, which is rather applied to building, and the sense in which he employs it, as "the synthesis of the fine arts." "As the pigments are but the vehicle of painting, so is building but the vehicle of architecture, which is the thought behind form, embodied and realized for the purpose of its manifestation and transmission." The two are regarded as "quite clear and distinct as ideas—the soul and the body." Of these enumerated ultimate facts behind all architecture, which have given it form, the author studies particularly the influence of the known and imagined facts of the universe, the connection between the world as a structure and the building as a whole. His study brings him evidence "of a cosmical symbolism" in the buildings of the younger world, and of the intention in the idea of the temple "to set up a local reduplication of the temple not made with hands, the world temple itself." Beginning with the form of the world in the first chapter of his study, the three or four chapters that follow deal with the relation of the building to it as a whole, and the rest of the work with parts and details. The book is an interesting one, the argument is re-enforced with citations from mythology and folk lore, and the whole is appropriately illustrated.

In Philosophy and Physical Science—an inaugural address as professor in Adalbert College—Mattoon Monroe Curtis turns the tables on the champions of scientific culture, and sets forth the claim that "philosophy is the central discipline about which all others cluster, and by which they are to be estimated; that upon the great problems of physical science there is at present little ground for sweeping generalizations and rigid dogmatisms; that principles of faith are the foundations of all our beliefs concerning external realities; that the speculative elements in physical science are its most prominent and necessary features; and that in all speculative questions wisdom commands honesty, moderation, and charity."



Bardeen, C. W. The Song Patriot. Syracuse, N. Y. Pp. 80.

Beal, W. J., and Wheeler, C. F. Michigan Flora. Agricultural College, Michigan. Pp. 180.

Black, George Ashton, and Carter, Kathleen. Natural History Lessons. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 98. Price, 54 cents.

Bolles, Lieutenant J. Dix, United States Navy. Chinese Relics in Alaska. Pp. 1, with Plate.

Branner, J. C. Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas, for 1800. Little Rock. Pp. 443.

Calmire. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 742.

Cheritree, Olive E. The Book of Life. Evolution. Vol. II, pp. 68.

Conn, H. W. The Fermentations of Milk. Washington: United States Department of Agriculture. Pp. 75.

Dumble, E. T. Geological Survey of Texas. Second Report of Progress. Austin. Pp. 91.

Ewald, Dr. C. A. The Diseases of the Stomach. Translated by Morris Manges. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 497.

Fewkes, J. Walter. A Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology. Vol. H. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 193.

Foster, Michael, and others, Editors. The Journal of Physiology. Vol. XIII, No. 5. Cambridge, England. Pp. 150, with Plates. $5 a volume.

Griswold, W. M. The Continuous Index. June-July, 1892. $2 a year.—Descriptive List of Novels and Tales dealing with Life in France. Pp. 100. $1. Both Cambridge, Mass.

Harrington, H. H. Preliminary Report on the Soils and Waters of the Upper Rio Grande and Pecos Valleys of Texas. Austin. Pp. 26.

Hill, Robert Thomas. On the Occurrence of Artesian and other Underground Waters in Texas, etc., west of the Ninety-seventh Meridian. Washington, D. C.: Department of Agriculture. Pp. 166, with Map, etc.

Hyde, William Dewitt. Practical Ethics. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 208.

James, Prof. Joseph F. Of the Age of the Point Pleasant (Ohio) Beds. P. 1.—On Problematic Organism and the Preservation of Algæ as Fossils. P. 1.

Jones, E. E. Constance. An Introduction to General Logic. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., publishers.

Kedzie, R. C. Fertilizer Analyses. Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. Pp. 11.

Leverett, Frank. The Cincinnati Ice-dam. P. 1. On the Signification of the White Clays of the Ohio Region. Pp. 7. 