F. Becker, on the "Comstock Lode and the Washoe District"; of Mr. Lester F. Ward, on "Vegetable Paleontology"; and of Messrs. J. Howard Gore and Gilbert Thompson, on "Triangulations and Topographical Surveys." The "accompanying papers" are those of Professor O. C. Marsh, on "Birds with Teeth"; of Roland D. Irving, on the "Copper-bearing Rocks of Lake Superior"; of Israel C. Russell, on the "Geological History of Lake Lahontan"; of Mr. Arnold Hague, on the "Geology of the Eureka District"; of Mr. T. C. Chamberlin, on the "Terminal Moraine"; and of Dr. C. A. White, on the "Non-Marine Fossil Mollusca of North America." Mr. Hague's preliminary report promises much interesting information when the papers are published in full, concerning the lithological structure of the volcanic cones of Mounts Rainier, Hood, Shasta, and Lassen's Peak, which play so important a part in the geology of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges. Mr. Chamberlin's paper reveals the interesting facts that the glacial moraine formation consists, not of a single moraine, but of a group of three or more concentric and rudely parallel ones, that sometimes coalesce and sometimes separate, so as to occupy a belt occasionally twenty or thirty miles in width; that the individual moraines, instead of being sharp ridges, consist of a broad belt of irregular, tumultuous hills and hollows, giving rise to a peculiar knob-and-basin topography; that the massiveness of the moraine finds its development in great width rather than in abrupt and conspicuous height; that throughout a considerable portion of its course, instead of pursuing a direct or moderately undulatory line, it is disposed in great loops, formed at the margins of ice tongues, between which re-entrant portions formed extensive intermediate moraines; and that these ice-tongues occupied the great valleys of the interior, and manifestly owed their origin to topographical influences. Mr. Becker mentions the interesting fact that in the caves above the ore bodies, on Ruby Hill, the crystals of aragonite are still in process of rapid formation; and Mr. Curtis is conducting accurate experiments to ascertain the rate of growth and the physical and chemical conditions attending their formation.
Tables to facilitate Chemical Calculations. Compiled by W. Dittmar, F. R. S. Second edition. London: Williams & Norgate. Pp. 43, small 4to. Price, 5 shillings.
This little volume contains tables of atomic weights, analytical factors, logarithms, reciprocals, physical constants of gases, etc., together with rules for gasometry, a chapter on the arithmetic of gas analysis, and other minor data, of value for daily reference in the laboratory. Its utility to the analyst is obvious, although, to a well-trained chemist, much of the matter contained in it is too familiar to need quotation in this form. To the elementary student, on the other hand, works cf this character are of questionable value. The pupil who works out his analysis by the aid of factors too often fails to learn the principles upon which they depend, and does not acquire that command of stoichiometry which every good chemist should have. Of its kind, however, and in its proper place, the volume appears to be satisfactory. It is announced as being preliminary to a forthcoming work upon chemical arithmetic, which, when issued, will replace it.
Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. V. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. about 400, with Plates.
In this volume are bound up the monographs of Mr. Charles Rau, on "Cup-shaped and other Lapidarian Sculpture in the Old World and in America"; of Dr. Robert Fletcher, on "Prehistoric Trephining and Cranial Amulets"; and of Dr. Cyrus Thomas, on the "Manuscript Troano." The last two works have already been fully noticed by us. Mr. Rau's paper relates to some curious kinds of rock-sculptures, which are described as "cups" of various sizes, rings surrounding the "cups," or independent of them, and other designs, which have been found on rocks, and on and near megalithic stones and buildings, in various parts of Europe, and similar figures which have been discovered in America. The origin and purpose of these designs have been variously accounted for. Some persons regard them as Phœnician Baal sculptures; some as originating at a remote period in the history of the Aryan race; some as having a phallic
