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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Public Libraries. April, May, and June, 1897. Vol. II, Nos. 4, 5, and 6. Pp. 40, 100, and 80. M. E. Ahern, Editor. Chicago: Library Bureau. 20 cents, $1 a year.

Reprints. Blackford, C. M., Jr., Atlanta. Ga. The Malignant Factor in Tumors. Pp. 20.—Brice, J. J., Report on the Fisheries of Indian River, Florida. Pp. 40, with 37 plates.—Brinton, Daniel G.: The Missing Authorities on Mayan Antiquities. Pp. 10; The Battle and the Ruins of Cintla. Pp. 12; The Pillars of Ben. Pp. 8; The So called "Bow Puller" identified as the Greek Μύρφηξ. Pp. 6; Native American Stringed Musical Instruments. Pp. 1.—Coville, Frederick V.: Notes on the Plants used by the Klamath Indians of Oregon. Pp. 32.—Frazer, Persifor: Notes on the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota. Pp. 28.—Gifford, John: Notes collected during a Visit to the Forests of Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Pp. 24.—Hall, C. W.: Some Tendencies of Modern Education. Pp. 8.—Irwell, Lawrence. Racial Deterioration: The Relation between Phthisis and Insanity. Pp. 29.—James, William. The Case of Albert Le Baron. Pp. 20.—Keen, W. W. Resection of the Sternum for Tumors, etc. Pp. 10; Clinical Lecture on Various Subjects. Pp. 6; Literary Methods in Medicine. Pp. 14; Tuberculosis or Carcinoma (?) of the Stomach, etc. Pp. 8; Address on the Unveiling of the Bronze Statue of the Late Prof. 8. D. Gross, Washington, D. C. Pp. 8; Address in Surgery. Pp. 30; Treatment of Cancer of the Rectum, etc. Pp. 73.—Langley, S. P.: Memoir of George Brown Goode. Pp. 30—Rhodes, T. L: The Technique of Prof. Keen's Surgical Clinic in Jefferson Medical College Hospital. Pp. 46.—Robertson, Charles: Seed Crests and Myrmecophilous Dissemination in Certain Plants. Pp. 21.—Woolman, Lewis: Reports on Artesian Wells. Pp. 102; Other Papers of the Geological Survey of New Jersey. Pp. 54.

Scientific Bodies. Bulletins and Papers. Columbian University: Bulletin. Pp. 60; Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law. Vol. VII, No 2. Recent Centralizing Tendencies in State Educational Administration. By W. C. Webster. Pp. 79; No 3. The Abolition of Privateering and the Declaration of Paris. By Francis B. Starr. Pp. 163.—Field Columbian Museum: Publication 16. Archæological Studies among the Ancient Cities of Mexico. By W. H. Holmes. Part II. Pp. 193; Publication 18. Observations on Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, etc. By O. C. Farrington. Pp. 54.—Chicago Academy of Sciences: The Pleistocene Features and Deposits of the Chicago Area. By Frank Leverett. Pp. 87.—Johns Hopkins University Circulars June, 1897. Pp. 16. 10 cents—Portland, Maine, Society of Natural History: Proceedings, 1897. Pp. 41.

Telephones, How the Best are made. Told from Photographs. Baltimore: Best Telephone Manufacturing Company. Pp. 50.

Tenney, D. K. The Cooling Universe Theory Refuted. Madison, Wis. Pp 34.

Tyner, Paul. "Know Thyself." A Study of Spiritual Self-consciousness. Pp. 64. 10 cents.

United States Bureau of Ethnology. Fourteenth Annual Report. Part I. Pp. 637. Part II. Pp. 499.

United States Senate. Memorial of Clergymen on Inequalities of the Present Protective System. Pp. 45.

United States Treasury Department. Notice to Mariners, May, 1897. Pp. 14.

Weir, James. The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Disease. Owensboro, Ky. Pp. 32.

Wright, Lewis. The Induction Coil in Practical Work, including Röntgen X Rays. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 172. $1.25.



Fragments of Science.

The Swift's Night Flight.—The curious night flight of the swifts is described in Knowledge by C. A. Witchell: "The sun has set and most of the small birds have retired for the night, though the sparrows are still noisy in the creepers on the house. Most of the swifts are flying low over the meadows, but some are in the sky, and of these a few are chasing others, and performing those magnificent swoops by which it appears that the males drive the females to their nests. Certain it is that the pursuing birds (always acting singly) chase particular individuals, whose course they follow at a greater altitude, but always with the intention of finally descending in a falconlike swoop at the lower bird, who, anticipating the attack, swerves downward and finally plunges headlong. The swishing sound produced by the descending swifts can be heard at a considerable distance. . . . At about forty minutes after sunset (whether in June or July) the group of swifts begins to whirl round and round, like a mob of rooks; but again and again the cluster breaks up in a pursuit and a mad, noisy rush across the sky. Yet the birds are gradually attaining a higher position, and their screaming becomes the less noticeable. Their wings often have a tremulous motion, reminding one of the flight of an ascending skylark. Still, there is no deliberate upward flight, only a succession of swoops and rushes, terminating at increasing distances from the ground. The birds keep fairly together, and not one descends to the houses; but it may be the cluster is joined by another group, coming you know not whence. Dusk is beginning to fall, and even the sparrows are silent, but the cries of the swifts can yet be faintly heard. The birds may now be easily lost sight of altogether, especially if there be no white, fleecy clouds high overhead to throw into relief the whirling black dots in the sky. Now is the time