are given, and tlicse few are not all tbnt could l>e deBired. Tliis 'manii.tl of maiiipulalion ' is moBtl}- given up to the discusaiou of sncb topics 03 • iiuilB of mns3 and force,' ' inertia,' ' corpuscular theory of heat,' ' wlial is elec- tricity?' etr., closing with several pngea of 'odds Hud ends.' In short, this part is any thing but a manual of manipulation : it is rather a dumpiug-giound for the disconnected coptoats of one of the autlior's note-books. The test-questions and solutions to problems in the author's ' Elements of phjsius ' HI! the remainder of the liltlo volume, and will, with- out doubt, 1)0 of value to those teachers who use his earlier book.
The book will prove a disappointment to most teachers. It is really a supplement to Mr. Gage's ' Physics.' but the matter which it contains should have been reserved for use in the preparation of a second edition of that work.
The ' Problfemes de physique' of -Tacquier is too meagre for a test-book, too full foi- a mere collection of problems. It is probably intended to supplement a course of lectures. The reader who is familiar with the ordinary elementary text-hooka of physics will find little really new or inspiring here, but rather the old, more or Ics^ aatisfaetory demonstra- tions, without the calcuhis, of the laws of cen- trifiigal force, the simple pendulum, the flow of liquids from an oriflce. the foci of lenses, etc., presented as the solutions of problems. The ordinary student would find this very tedious. The part devoted to heat, with its uncompro- mising applications of ' binimea de dilatation,' etcwould be salutaiy exercise, perhaps ; but it reminds one of the 'school of the soldier.' We can imagine no one but an enlisted man going through it. Of course, it would be unfair to imply that the author has in no point improved upon the work of other makers of elementary books. His second proof of the law of centrif- ugal force almost avoids the familiar assump- tion that unequal things ai-e equal ; and his page devoted to showing how the one fluid theory accounts for electric attractions and re- pulsions would be new and interesting to many readers.
Tbe book concludes with a collection of a hundred and seventy -one ' problems for solu- tion,' given without answers. These, with the exception of seventeen which deal with chemical equivalents, are of about the same character as the problems in the last edition of Everett's 'Deschanel,' and will possibly be welcomed by the weary makers of examina- tion -papei-s.
��NOTES AND NEWS.
�� ��Mn. Alexander Aoassiz's resignation ot hit po- Bitiou as a fellow of Harvard college was natural); ac- cepted by the corporation with great relnctaiico. The BttUetia of the university just published contains the formal voles taken at the meeting of Oct. 24, whidi state " that the wide range of bis sympathies interests, ike confidence tuii affection which he i] spired, and the varied information which he pos! both as a man at bu«lne!>s and as a man of sclent made his services as a fellow of singular value tiniverslty ; that Iii'i great gifts wi tliln the past thirl years to the Bcieiitilic departments, and especially the Museum of comparative loJVIogy, which to more than half n miliion of dollars, make him oqi of the chief benefactors of the university, and entitlft^ him to its profound gratitude."
— The Uartard unieertUj/ buUeUii for January con-J tains afurthei' instalment of Mr. Winior's collnlioa' of the Kuhl collection of early American maps, and the beginning (^7 numbers) of another of Mr. Bliss's valuable indo.tes to map literature, in wbictf the varioui publications of the London geographi society, together wltti the two principal London ge(K graplilcal journals, — Ocean hi'jhxoayit and the Gv<h- f/raphUal irntgoiine, — are treated in the same n aa he formerly indexed Petermann'n mittheiltrngi will prove exceedingly convenient.
— The Ottawa fiehl-naturahsts' cliib makes a ralherll remarkable showing for so yoimg a, society. It hMi a membership of about a bundred and fifty, and annual fee of a dollar. It has just published the fi number of its Tritnioctions, a pamphlet of a bun< dred and Bfty pages, and yet has no debt. The pamphlet cnntaiJis some matter of a general interest, particularly an article by Mr. W. P. Lett on the deer ot the Ottawa valley, — the moose, caribou, wapiti, and Virginia deer, — and one on phosphates by Dr. G. M. Dawson.
— A course of twelve lectures on geology will ba given on Thursday afteraoona during Pebniary, March, and April, beginning Feb. 12, by Prof. Daniel S. Martin, nl No. BS West Fifty-fifth Street, New York. These lecturesaredesigned especially, though not exchislreiy, for laiiles. and are iield in the build- ing occupied by Rutgers female college.
— The Saturday lectures during February and March, under the auspices ot the anthropological and biological societies of Washington, will coiislsl of the following: Professor John Fiske, Results In England ot the surrender of Comwallis; Dr. Georga M. Sternberg, U.S.A., Germs and germicidt Hon. Eugene Schuyler, The machinery of our foreign service; Mr. William T. Hornaday, Natural blslory and people of Borneo; Mr. Charles D. Wal- cott, Searching for the first forms of life; President E. M. Gallaudet, Tbe laognagc of signs, and the combined method of Instructing deaf-
— The Itceordf of the Geological survey of India, .i vol. xvii. part iv., contains a paper on Mr. H. ~ ' Foote'B work at the Bilbn Snrgnm caves. In which lh«.
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