Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/286

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276
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

dom. The writer places a high estimate on the value of the Federal Union, but thinks it would be worth more if it cost less. While its benefits are inexpensive, its abuses are costly. Free trade between the States, which Mr. Barnett thinks the chief advantage of the Federal Union, costs nothing; while "protection" is more expensive than the government itself. The tax policy of the Federal Government, carried on by protection, he declares to be bad in theory and even worse in practice; and that few, of even public men, have the faintest conception of how bad it is. Mr. Barnett proclaims a very important truth when he says that "nothing short of a quantitative study of its impositions can properly expose them; the pretty fallacies of protection melt like wax in the fire of quantitative analysis." The treatment of the several topics is rather suggestive than systematic, but the pages are full of telling facts, and many hard blows are dealt upon the system of organized corruption which shelters itself under the false pretense of protection.

"The Kansas City Review of Science and Industry." Edited by Theodore S. Case. Kansas City, Mo.: Monthly, 64 pp. Price, $2.50 a year.

With its May number this magazine begins its eighth year. The "Review" is doing an excellent work in stimulating an interest in science in the rapidly growing country west of the Mississippi. But very few of its articles are solely of local interest; a wide range of sciences is represented in its pages, while manufactures and the arts based upon science, including education, are by no means neglected.

"The Canadian Record of Natural History and Geology, with Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Montreal." Vol. I, No. 1. J. T. Donald, M. A., Editor. Montreal, January, 1884.

This magazine takes the place of "The Canadian Naturalist," until last June published for the above-named society by the Messrs. Dawson Brothers. The "Record" is to be published quarterly, and, in addition to the society's proceedings, will contain original papers on scientific subjects by Canadians, and reprints of scientific papers of merit published elsewhere, which deal with Canadian subjects. The first number contains a report of the second annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada, held at Ottawa in May, 1883; two short papers on geological subjects, by Principal J. W. Dawson; and an extended account of "The Athabasca District of the Canadian North-west Territory," by the Rev. Émile Petitot. There are also three short papers by the editor, and part of a memorial address on the late James Richardson.

A Text-Book of Inorganic Chemistry. By Professor Victor von Richter, University of Breslau. Translated by Edgar F. Smith, A.M., Ph.D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 424. Price, $2.

Professor von Richter's treatment of his subject is characterized by an effort to show how the possession of a few facts leads to the formation of scientific theories, and the theories in turn show the investigator where to look for new facts. "The Periodic System of the Elements," or "Mendelejeff's Table," is made the basis of the work, and considerable attention is given to thermo-chemical phenomena, the periodicity of which is brought prominently forward. There is a short chapter on "Crystallography," with diagrams, and one on "Spectrum Analysis." The volume is illustrated with a colored plate of spectra, and eighty-nine woodcuts.


PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

The Past and the Present of Political Economy. By Richard T. Ely, Ph.D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 64.

"The Journal of Physiology." Vol. V, No. 1. Edited by Michael Foster, M.D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. xii-484. $5 a year.

An Investigation locating the Strongest of the Bronzes. By W. H. Ernest H. Jobbins, M. E. Pp. 43.

Aneurism of the Femoral Artery, and a Knife-Wound of the Intestines. By W. O. Roberts, M.D. Louisville, Ky. Pp. 11.

Esplorazione di un Shell-mound Indiano presso Nueva Orleans, Luisiana. (Exploration of a Shell-Mound near New Orleans, La.) By K. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army. Florence, Italy. Pp. 11.

Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. H. Newell Martin, D. Sc, and W. K. Brooks, Ph.D., Editors. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 48, with Six Plates. 70 cents.

The Glacial Boundary in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. By Professor G. Frederick Wright. Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve Historical Society. Pp. 86.

The Determination of the Flashing Point of Petroleum. By John T. Stoddard. Pp. 6.

What and Why. By Charles E. Pratt. Boston: Pope Manufacturing Company. Pp. 72.

The Mormon Question. By J. W. Stillman. Boston: J. P. Mendum. Pp. 40.