Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/637

Rh nurture is to be considered of much less importance than Nature, and in that sense the capacities that we most admire in persons worthy of remark are certainly inborn rather than made." From his point of view, therefore, "the formation of habit and reduction of mental friction, by means of concentration, must ever remain the chief objects of a formal training."

Dr. Parkes's book, dealing, in small compass, and in simple language, with the important subject of hygiene, is well suited for use in either the school or the household. The opening chapter, entitled Water, treats of such questions as the proper sources of drinking water, dangers from wells and cisterns, and the filter problem. In the second chapter, on domestic refuse, the sanitary disposal of garbage, dust, etc., is discussed, considerable space being given to sanitary methods of plumbing. Air and ventilation are next taken up, the composition of air, its fouling by respiration, combustion, and organic refuse, cubic space and floor space, introduction of fresh air into rooms, and the practical examination of the ventilation of rooms being some of the important topics. The various methods of heating and lighting are compared in the next two chapters. The open fireplace and the incandescent electric light are selected as the methods which most nearly approach hygienic requirements. When considering the Welsbach lamp the author makes a curious mistake. In speaking of the incandescent mantle, which is composed of the oxide of some of the rarer refractory earths, he calls it the "asbestos gauze mantle." How to construct a healthy house—floors, walls, ceilings, cellars, etc.—and the proper site for building occupy Chapters VI and VII. Classification and composition of foods, vegetarianism, cooking, meal times, appetite, infant feeding, condiments, alcohol, tea, coffee, cocoa, and mineral waters are some of the special topics considered in a long chapter devoted to Food. Physical Exercise, Clothing, and The Care of the Skin, Teeth, and Bowels form the last three chapters of the book. The intention has apparently been to make a practical guide for the average householder, and this result has been well attained.

Animal life is coextensive with the earth. The sea swarms with it, the air teems with it. The extreme cold of the arctic regions and the torrid heat of the equator have each their own special forms. The most elementary knowledge of zoölogy is sufficient to show us that, while much of the difference between the faunas of separated islands and continents and even of approximately contiguous regions is due to the differing flora and climatic conditions, these two factors do not in all cases explain the phenomena of distribution. Mr. Beddard's book is a study of animal life in its relation to latitude and longitude. In Chapter I the author treats of the general facts of the distribution of animals. The special regions which have been arranged for the study of zoölogical geography by various authors are dealt with in Chapter II, and Mr. Sclater's chosen as the ones most convenient. In the third chapter the causes which influence the distribution of animals—temperature, means of dispersal, capacity for migration, human interference, large bodies of water, etc.—occupy fifty of the most interesting pages of the book. The fauna of islands and some theoretical considerations, the latter comprising a discussion of the bearing of distribution on origin, the place of origin of the marsupials, and the theory of the polar origin of life, make up the two closing chapters. The book contains five maps, which graphically show the distribution of special forms of animal life.

In order to make the Werner edition of the Encyclopædia more serviceable to its users, A Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopædia Britannica, prepared by James Baldwin, has been published (Werner Co., $2). The Guide is designed to enable a person to read up a subject thoroughly by directing him to all articles or parts of articles bearing upon it which the Encyclopædia contains. A great cyclopædia is more than a work to be referred to for detached facts. It is a biographical dictionary and a