their analytical features is insisted upon, and that side has been made prominent; and an important part of the course consists in the identification of unknown compounds and the quantitative separation of mixtures by methods devised by the student himself with the help of the knowledge gained from the experiments with known substances.
In his book on the Freezing Point, Boiling Point, and Conductivity Methods of chemical laboratory work (Easton, Pa.: Chemical Publishing Company, 75 cents). Prof. Harry C. Jones aims chiefly to give an account of the operations involved in carrying out these methods in the laboratory. But, observing that they are rarely treated in a single work from the points of view of both theory and practice, and regarding the mere mechanical application of any scientific method as a matter of comparatively little significance, he has sought also to give enough of the theoretical ground on which each of them rests to enable the student to work with them intelligently, and to see clearly their scientific significance and use.
Another addition to D. Appleton and Company's series of Home-Reading Books is The Animal World, its Romances and Realities, a reading book of zoölogy, prepared by Frank Vincent on a similar plan with his book on The Plant World, which has found much favor. As in the other book, the subject has been approached from as many conspicuous and characteristic points as possible. The selections are made with a view to the entertainment they may give as well as to the instruction, and to their fitness to awaken the curiosity of readers and stimulate them to independent observation and investigation. Poetical extracts are admitted, Wordsworth, Emerson, Ferdinand Freiligrath, Shelley, Procter, Matthew Arnold, Holmes, Charles Lamb, and William Blake being represented among them. Something is given about every grand division of the animal kingdom; and articles are inserted on The Task of Classification and The Distribution of Animals.
The Forester, a valuable journal advocating the preservation and care of forests, arboriculture, and the economical management of timber, formerly published and edited by Mr. John Gifford at Princeton, N. J., has passed under the control of the American Forestry Association, which, enlarging and improving it, will make it its organ. It is intended to give prominent attention in each number to some one phase; as the White Pine Situation in the January number of 1898, the National Forest Reserves in the February, the Spruce Supply in the March, and Tree-planting in the April numbers.
Prof. David P. Todd insists, in his New Astronomy for Beginners, on the value and adaptability of astronomy as a laboratory study. It is pre-eminently a science of observation, and there is no sufficient reason why it should not be so pursued. "Although the pupil's equipment be but a yardstick, a pinhole, and the rule of three, will he not reap greater benefit from measuring the sun himself than from learning mere detail of methods employed by astronomers?" The science is presented, not as a mere sequence of isolated and imperfectly connected facts, but as an interrelated series of philosophical principles; rudimental principles of navigation in which astronomy is concerned are explained; observatories and their instruments are described; the law of universal gravitation is more fully expounded than is usual in elementary books; various questions receive special attention; while mathematical results are given, the beauty and interest of the study are not obscured by unnecessary mathematical processes; and the importance of the student's thinking rather than memorizing has been everywhere kept in mind. The book is commendable in its matter and manner. (Published by the American Book Company. Price, $1.30.)
The principal subject mentioned in the Records of the American Society of Naturalists for December, 1896, is the report of the committee on the practicability and the ways and means of further prosecuting antarctic research. The committee had given the matter some time and consideration, but was not yet in a position to state definitely the possibilities of the undertaking in question.
Under the title of Parasitic Wealth, or Money Reform (Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Co., $1), John Brown issues "a manifesto to the people of the United States and to the workers of the whole world," calling attention to financial and social reforms which he
