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FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE.
137

delphia: Public Education Association. Pp. 52; and Francis Lieber, the Political Philosopher. Bloomington, Ill.: The University Press. Pp. 32.

Hillern, W. von. Höher als die Kirche. New York: American Book Co. Pp. 96. 25 cents.

Homo, Novus. Ye Thoroughbred. New York: The Health Culture Co. Pp. 129.

Interstate Commerce Reports. Vol. VI, No. 21. Pp. 449 to 512.

Justice, Maibelle. Love Affairs of a Worldly Man. Chicago: P. Tennyson Neely. Pp. 311.

King, R. M. School Interests and Duties. New York: American Book Co. Pp. 336. $1.

Lombard, Louis. Observations of a Bachelor. Utica: L. C. Childs & Son. Pp. 148.

Matthews, Brander. An Introduction to the Study of American Literature. New York: American Book Co. Pp. 256. $1.

New York Academy of Sciences. Memoir I. The Variation of Latitude at New York City. Part I. Declination and Proper Motion of Fifty-six Stars. Pp. 105.

New York State Board of Charities. Annual Report. Pp. 90.

North, S. N. D. Factory Legislation in New England. (From Bulletin of National Association of Wool Manufacturers.) Boston, 1895.

Nuttall, L. W. Flora of West Virginia. (Field Columbian Museum. Publication 9. Botanical Series. Vol. I, No. 2.) Pp. 200.

Palmer, T. S. The Jack Rabbits of the United States. United States Department of Agriculture. Bulletin No. 8. Pp. 84.

Perkins Institution, Sixty-fourth Annual Report of the Trustees of. Boston. Pp. 275.

Romanes, G. J., The Life and Letters of. Edited by his Wife. New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 360. $4.

Salazar, A. E., Newman, I. K. Kosto komparatibo en Chile del Gas i de la Elektrizidad como Sistemas de Distribuzion de Energía. Santiago de Chile, 1896. Pp. 72.

Savage, R. H. The Spider of Truxillo. Chicago: F. Tennyson Neely. Pp. 326.

Schützenberger. Les Fermentations. Paris: Félix Alcan. Pp. 314.

Spanhoofd, A. W. Germania Texts. Gervinus: Lessing's Dramaturgie; Kurz: Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm; Goethe: Die Krönung Josefs II; Khull: Meier Helmsbrecht; Kurz: Wieland's Oberon; Wieland: Aus Goethe's Gedāchtensrede. New York: American Book Co. 10 cents a copy.

Spencerian Penmanship. Vertical Edition. New York: American Book Co. Seven Numbers.

Trout, Grace Wilbur. A Mormon Wife. Chicago: E. A. Weeks Co. Pp. 111.

Zahm, Rev. J. A. Evolution and Dogma. Chicago: D. H. McBride & Co. Pp. 461. $2.



Fragments of Science.

Commerce and Drought.—The serious loss which a prolonged drought may cause, not simply to agriculture, but in an even more marked degree to commerce, is drawn attention to by Prof. L. M. Haupt, in a recent number of the Journal of the Franklin Institute. He says: "One of the most impressive lessons to be derived from the absence of sufficient water for commerce is to be found in the experience of the communities on the upper Ohio River during the past season of exceptional drought. The harbor of Pittsburg, which is made by the movable dam at Davis Island, and the fixed dams of the Monongahela slackwater system, forms a convenient basin in which to make up the tows of coal boats and barges which supply the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is the custom to assemble these tows above the dam and await the pleasure of Pluvius to provide a flood with sufficient depth of water to carry them out. During the past season there has been no coal shipped by river between the 18th of April and the 28th of November (over seven months), and the accumulation of the product had gone on until the tonnage tied up exceeded that of any harbor in the world. For miles on both banks of the river the steamers and their fleets lined the shores, and the danger of their being frozen in all winter was imminent, when a heavy rain released two hundred thousand tons; but a part of these met a watery grave on the shoals of Dead Man's Ripple, a short distance below Pittsburg. The extent of this congestion can not be appreciated by one who has not seen it, and it is far-reaching in its effects, as it directly concerns the industries of millions of people. The actual value of the plant tied up in the harbor of Pittsburg alone, as stated by Hon. John F. Dravo, Secretary of the Coal Exchange, on November 7, 1895, was $6,500,000. At the present time it is costing about two thousand dollars per day to keep this tonnage afloat, besides interest on the investment. This 'tie-up' of Nature has seriously crippled the entire valley, as the railroads can not do more than maintain a partial supply, and the price of fuel has risen in some of the larger cities one dollar a ton." The author cites the above incidents as showing