the best of it is selected and embodied in a manual like the present one. The schemes of analysis here presented embrace those which, "after careful investigation, and, in many cases, after prolonged trial in practice, have seemed to the writer best adapted to the requirements of a technical laboratory." Dr. Wiechmann has avoided many repetitions by giving the methods of determining each constituent of saccharine substances once for all, and adding such suggestions as special cases call for, instead of giving a complete scheme of analysis for each product of the sugar manufacture. The opening chapters contain directions for the use of polariscopes, hydrometers, and other instruments and apparatus, for the verification of hydrometers, balances, and graduated vessels, and for the sampling of sugars and molasses. The methods for optical and chemical analysis follow, and in conclusion there are given notes on reporting sugar analyses, methods of calculating rendement, lists of synonyms in English, French, and German, and references to the literature of sugar analysis. Nineteen tables required in the various operations detailed are appended to the volume. These have been selected by Dr. Wiechmann with great care, and, to secure uniformity of basis, several have been calculated expressly for this volume.
Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. Vol. 24, Parts III and IV. Boston. Pp. 257-597.
These parts conclude the volume, covering the meetings of the society from May, 1889, to April, 1890, inclusive. Among the more extended papers in this portion of the volume is Mr. August F. Foerste's Notes on Clinton Group Fossils, illustrated with nine plates, and containing descriptions of a large number of species. Prof. Alpheus S. Packard contributes a paper on The Life History of Drepana arcuata, and another, occupying sixty-seven pages, entitled Hints on the Evolution of the Bristles, Spines, and Tubercles of Certain Caterpillars, apparently resulting from a Change from Low Feeding to Arboreal Habits, illustrated by the Life Histories of some Notodontians. The latter is accompanied by two plates, and by figures in the text. Messrs. W. M. Davis and J. W. Wood, Jr., publish an account of The Geographic Development of Northern New Jersey, illustrated with fourteen diagrams and small maps. The scope of the investigation embraces a description of the probable course of development of the present geographical features of the highlands in New Jersey, a similar account of the formation of the central plain of the State and the highland valleys, and a discussion of the deformation of the central plain indicated by the present course of the Millstone River. Other papers are by Prof. G. F. Wright, on The Climatic Condition of the Glacial Period; by Mr. Frederick Tuckerman, on The Gustatory Organs of the Mammalia; and by Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, on The Physiognomy of the American Tertiary Hemiptera.
Among the Moths and Butterflies. By Julia P. Ballard. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 237. Price, $1.50.
This book is a revised and enlarged edition of Insect Lives; or, Born in Prison, and is devoted to the natural history of the insects named in the title. It is written for children, but the author does not take the trouble to express herself uniformly in words with which children are familiar. The two following passages illustrate the different styles of language that are mingled throughout the volume. The first chapter opens thus: "I am only a day old! I wonder if every butterfly comes into the world to find such queer things about Mm? I was born in prison. I can see right through my walls; but I can't find any door." Simple enough for any child to understand; and the following sentence from the top of page 35 contrasts strangely with it: "No philosopher ever showed more patience and dignity under repeated trials at the hands of a photographer than he displayed in the hands of his persecutors, with no knowledge of the cause to stimulate his vanity and inspire his courage." This is not an isolated case. Nearly every page bristles with polysyllables, very few of which can be excused by the plea that they are needed to secure scientifically accurate description. We fear that the children who may be condemned to see nature under the guidance of Mrs. Ballard will get a much obstructed view of it. The volume is handsomely printed and liberally illustrated.
