sonal experience in the mines; but little of it comes from books, for the literature of the special subject is meager. Beginning at the beginning, we have a brief reference to the geological record previous to coal. Then the composition of coal is elucidated, the time when it was formed is defined, and the situation of the coal-beds is described. The history as it relates to our own period begins with the discovery of coal and its introduction into use. The account of the mines includes the way into them, the plan of a typical mine, "the miner at work," the obstacles and dangers he has to encounter, and the anthracite breakers. A chapter is given to the bituminous coal mines. The account of "The Boy Workers at the Mines" is of particular interest to the young people, and the chapter on "Miners and their Wages" to searchers for facts.
A Handbook of Obstetrical Nursing. By Anna M. Fullerton, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 214. Price, $1.25.
The great number and variety of the things to be attended to in a case of childbirth, many of which are not so familiar as the matters concerned in the treatment of disease, together with their importance as affecting two lives, make a special manual on this subject highly desirable for the nurse. It would be well, also, for every mother to have read a book of this sort before her confinement, in order that she may understand and co-operate in the efforts of the physician and nurse for her welfare, and be protected from the antiquated wisdom and dismal tales of injudicious friends. It would be difficult to make a more comprehensive and practical book than Dr. Fullerton's. It is an outgrowth of the extensive practice of the hospital and the systematic instruction of the nurses' training-school. The teachings which it embodies are chiefly the substance of a series of lectures delivered yearly by Dr. Anna E. Broomall to the nurse-pupils of the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia, and they are followed in the Maternity connected with that hospital. The whole ground from the management of pregnancy to the ailments of early infancy is covered. Directions, sufficiently detailed for the use of a trained nurse, are given for the care of the patient immediately before and during labor, for the care of the new-born infant, and the management of the lying-in. The appliances which the nurse will need to use, and the articles of clothing for mother and child, are described, and many of them are figured. The Jenness-Miller reformed garments are indorsed. A short chapter is devoted to the appearance of infants in health and disease. In the chapter on ailments of infancy the couveuse, or brooder, for keeping premature infants warm, is described and figured. Throughout the volume reference is made easy by printing the subject of each paragraph in the margin.
Fossil Fishes and Fossil Plants of the Triassic Rocks of New Jersey and the Connecticut Valley. By John S. Newberry. Washington: Government Printing-Office (United States Geological Survey). Pp. 152, with 26 Plates. Price, $1.
The Triassic rocks, according to Prof. Newberry, probably furnished the first fossils collected on this continent: fishes at Durham and Sunderland, Conn.; plants at Richmond, Va.; and the so-called bird-tracks at Turner's Falls, Mass. While the formation has received considerable attention in detail, no systematic collection or thorough study of its fauna or flora as a whole was attempted till about 1880, when Prof. Fontaine took it up for the fossil plants of the Virginia and North Carolina Mesozoic coal basins. His publication established the parallelism of our new red sandstone with the keuper of Europe. The animal remains were left to be studied, and that work was taken up by Prof. Newberry, with results that are presented in this volume. The special studies are preceded by a geological sketch of the new red sandstone regions of New Jersey and Connecticut, concerning the relations of which to one another there appear to be different opinions. The Triassic rocks are about five thousand feet thick and present some singularities of structure. The materials were probably derived from the adjacent highlands. The rocks are characterized by their red color, derived from the oxide of iron, the presence of which proves that they contained but little organic matter when deposited. Their relations to the Triassic beds of the interior and the western
