else. There was also a paper, which led to some discussion, on the origin and antiquity of certain social customs, such as bowing and kissing. The communication most interesting to the general reader was the address of the president. Dr. John S. Billings, on "Scientific Men and their Duties." Dr, Billings defines a scientific man as one "who uses scientific method in the work to which he specially devotes himself; who possesses scientific knowledge, not in all departments but in certain special fields." A man of science, on the other hand, is "a man who belongs to science peculiarly and especially, whose chief object in life is scientific investigation, whose thoughts and hopes and desires are mainly concentrated upon his research for new knowledge." He does not, however, agree with the view often expressed that the pursuit of knowledge for the mere pleasure of knowing is the true business of the man of science. On the contrary, he holds that the duty of men of science is to promote the welfare of mankind, and not merely to gratify personal curiosity. He discusses the question of the adaptability of government officers for scientific work, approving their employment in such work, though admitting that it has its drawbacks. In closing, he notes the fact that science has not yet furnished a satisfactory basis for morality, and makes some interesting comparisons between the science of the West and the religion and philosophy of the Orient.
Federal Taxes and State Expenses. By William H. Jones. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1887.
The author of this book is an advocate of a plan that has been advanced for distributing the proceeds of the United States tax on liquors and tobacco among the several States, the same to be devoted to paying the expenses of the State governments. The United States stand alone among the nations of the earth in having a public revenue so large that they don't know what to do with it; and manifold are the schemes that are brought forward for getting rid of it. One of the strangest of these is that which is advocated in this volume. Most people would regard it as unconstitutional; at all events, its adoption would be a great departure from the hitherto uniform practice of the Government. Mr. Jones, however, is a firm believer in it; and those who wish to know what can be said in its favor will find it in his pages.
The Game of Logic. By Lewis Carroll. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 96. Price, $1.
With each copy of this book is given an envelope, containing a diagram on a card, with nine counters. The diagram represents in its several divisions different classes of propositions; the counters are intended to mark the particular kinds of propositions, etc., which are to be employed in the problem at the moment seeking solution. The whole is designed to afford a graphic illustration, with tangible symbols, of the logical processes of drawing conclusions from premises. The game requires the counters to be of two colors, say four of red and five of gray, and may be played by one or more players.
Elementary Treatise in Determinants. By William G. Peck. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes & Co. Pp. 47. Price, 75 cents.
An acquaintance by students with the elementary principles of determinants being demanded by recent advances in mathematics, this book was prepared for the use of a class about to enter upon a course of modern co-ordinate geometry. It is a work in pure mathematics, the value of which can be adequately estimated only by experts in that department of the sciences.
Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior: 1884-'85. By J. W. Powell, Director. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 570.
The topographical survey of the United States was extended, during the year covered by this report, over an area of 57,508 square miles, at an average cost of about three dollars per square mile. The results of the survey are to be embodied in maps, which will be published in scales of (approximately) one, two, and four miles to the inch; and is to be engraved in sheets, of which the unit will be one square degree; so that the maps of the different scales will require, respectively, sixteen, four, and one
