næ. A flushing of the lacunæ, so to speak, takes place now and then when the shells open and close.
The author has frankly stated in his preface that the book must necessarily be tinged with his own opinions, and therefore the reviewer can only express disagreement with the position he has assigned to certain groups, notably the Lamellibranchs, Echinoderms, and Amphioxus, and to the use of the word type. Despite the minor errors, which can be corrected in a subsequent edition, we heartily commend the book, and congratulate the author for his fairness in accrediting drawings to their proper source.
Elements of Mineralogy, Crystallography, and Blowpipe Analysis from a Practical Standpoint. By Alfred J. Moses, E. M., Ph. D., and Charles L. Parsons, B. S. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company. Pp. 342.
A thorough and systematic study of mineralogy is the ideal of this book. The part on crystallography is illustrated with one hundred and seventy-one figures; it describes the use of the hand and the reflection goniometers, and contains a chapter on clinographic projection of crystal figures. The symbols of Weiss, Naumann, Dana, and Miller are given with the several forms. The chapters on blowpipe analysis include systematic schemes of operation. More than half of the volume is devoted to descriptive mineralogy, in which, after some account of the physical and chemical characters of minerals, the species are taken up by groups, as the iron minerals, the manganese minerals, zinc and cadmium minerals, etc. As the book is made from a practical standpoint, the chief uses and localities of each mineral are included in its description. This part is also fully illustrated with forms of crystals, bringing the whole number of figures up to three hundred and thirty-six. A series of i allies for determinative work and two indexes complete the volume.
A large fund of information about public affairs is crowded into The Daily News Almanac and Political Register for 1895 (Chicago, 25 cents). It includes rates of the old and new tariffs, statistics of imports and exports, of manufactures, agriculture, mortgages, the liquor trade, pensions, etc., etc.; accounts of the labor disturbances, the Hawaii affair, and other matters; a register of the national Government, the army, navy, and diplomatic service, important legislation by Congress, election returns, events of the year, including sporting events, and many other things that it is often convenient to refer to.
The Aëronautical Annual for 1895, edited by James Means (W. B. Clarke & Co., Boston, $1), is made up largely of historic matter. Some account of Leonardo da Vinci is given, with reproductions of his mechanical drawings and extracts from his Treatise upon the Flight of Birds. This is followed by essays on aërial navigation, by Sir George Cayley, Bart., published in 1809 and 1810, by Thomas Walker in 1810, by F. H. Wenham in 1866; Benjamin Franklin's aëronautical correspondence, 1783 to 1786; and some minor fragments. There are also a bibliography of aëronautics, an essay on The Problem of Manflight, by the editor, 1894, and an editorial article on the prospects of aëronautics. The volume is illustrated with reproductions of many quaint engravings.
The Smithsonian Geographical Tables, prepared by R. S. Woodward, is an outgrowth and further development of the idea embodied in the meteorological tables prepared by Dr. Arnold Guyot, at the request of Prof. Henry, and published in 1852 in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. This work passed through four editions, the last having been published in 1884. This edition was exhausted in a few years, and a recasting, rather than a revision, of the work was called for; and it was decided by Prof. Langley to publish the new work in three parts—Meteorological Tables, Geographical Tables, and Physical Tables—each representative of the latest knowledge in its field, and independent of the others. The Meteorological Tables were published in 1893. The present is the second work in the contemplated series. It includes an introductory part and tables. The introductory part is divided into seven sections under the heads Useful Formulas, Mensuration, Units, Geology, Astronomy, Theory of Errors, and Explanation of Source and Use of Tables. The forty-two tables, involving various factors of geodetical and astronomical measurement, occupy one hundred and seventy pages.
