going a scientific classification—and an account of the office work of the department. The special reports concern the clays and clay industries of the coal-bearing counties by the State Geologist, W. S. Blatchley; the carboniferous sandstones of western Indiana, by T. C. Hopkins; the whetstone and grindstone rocks, by Edward M. Kindle; and the crawfishes of Indiana, by W. P. Hay; besides which the reports of the State natural gas supervisor, the inspector of mines, and the oil inspector for 1894-95 are given.
Volume XV of the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission—the volume for 1895—consists of ten papers, most of which have also been issued separately. A notably comprehensive study of the habits and development of the American lobster, by Prof. Francis H. Herrick, occupies the first two hundred and fifty pages of the volume. Prof. Herrick has devoted to this subject all the time that he could spare from professorial duties during the past five years, and has used each summer the facilities of the Woods Hole Laboratory. The monograph is accompanied by over sixty finely drawn and engraved plates, a number of which are colored. An account of the attempts to acclimatize fish and other water animals in the Pacific States is the subject of a paper by Hugh M. Smith, M. D. Thirty-one species of fish, the lobster, the Eastern oyster, and the soft clam are mentioned as subjects of these experiments the best results being obtained with shad, bass, carp, and catfish. Shorter papers deal with salmon investigations in Idaho, oyster beds of Alabama, the menhaden fishery, etc.
The Chief Fire Warden of Minnesota has issued his First Annual Report, and the document gives evidence of able and energetic work on his part during the year 1895. It contains a copy of the act under which protection of the forests and prairies of the State from fire has been organized, a copy of a warning placard, eighteen thousand copies of which were printed on cloth and posted in the districts liable to fires, a list of the town fire wardens, and statistics of forest and prairie fires in 1895. Owing to wet weather the year affords a much smaller record of destructive fires than 1894. A valuable and interesting feature of the report consists in answers of local wardens to questions as to the effect of the placards, the sentiment of their communities as to forest preservation, and ways in which fires can be prevented more effectually; also answers from lumber-men to a set of questions on present methods of lumbering. Means for preventing the starting of fires by sparks from locomotives, and other topics, are also discussed.
Volume V of the Report of the Iowa Geological Survey, 1895, is accompanied, like its immediate predecessor, by reports on six counties of the State. Each of these reports describes the geological formations of the county, and gives the location and character of its economic deposits. Of the latter the most valuable are the soil and its water supply, although this fact is frequently overlooked, and there are also clays, building stone, and some coal.
Among recent bulletins of the University of Wisconsin is one on The Problem of Economical Heat, Light, and Power Supply for Building Blocks, Schoolhouses, Dwellings, etc., by G. A. Gerdtzen, B. S. From the engineering standpoint the author discusses the relative efficiency of electricity, steam, and gas in furnishing heat, light, and power, and arrives at a result which favors gas produced by a combination of retort and water-gas processes.
We heartily agree with the view of Locke quoted in the front of the new edition of Alfred Ayres's Verbalist—"If a gentleman be to study any language, it ought to be that of his own country." Science and the mother-tongue have been firm allies in the conflict against the monopolistic pretensions of the classics, and each rejoices in the other's success. If one has anything to say, The Verbalist will help him to say it in the most effective way. While the book is mainly concerned with pointing out errors in the use of words, it gives also instructions in punctuation and in the use of the figures of speech, and there are helpful articles on British against American usage in both diction and pronunciation, misplaced words, the use of Latin phrases, threadbare quotations, verbiage, etc. In its new edition the book has nearly fifty per cent more matter than it had on its first appearance fifteen years ago, and, although the words treated are arranged
