Popular Science Monthly/Volume 18/November 1880/Literary Notices
Two Worlds are Ours. By Rev. Hugh MacMillan, LL. D., F. R. S. E. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 349. Price, $1.75.
To say that this book is by the author of "Bible Teachings in Nature" and "First Forms of Vegetation," published several years ago, will be a strong commendation to many readers. Those books were full of peculiar interest derived from their author's special studies; and the present work, similar in character, well sustains the writer's reputation. Dr. Macmillan combines, in a somewhat marked degree, several traits which give character to his productions. He is first of all a devoutly religious man, of strictly orthodox opinions, and profoundly impressed with the reality of the spiritual world; and he writes to illustrate and enforce the fundamental conceptions of the Christian system. Then he is an enthusiastic student of nature, and well up in the latest results of science—especially in geology, botany, and zoölogy, the objects of which are so obtrusive in all the aspects of nature. He is besides a clear and pleasing writer, with a dash of poetic feeling which gives life and vividness to his descriptions, though sometimes betraying him into undue fervor and elaboration of style Though his book is pervaded by the most literal orthodox beliefs stated in Scripture forms, yet it is in no sense a polemic, nor is there any attempt to establish his theological views by the customary logical methods. He rather aims to enforce their truth by showing in what striking ways they harmonize with the methods and operations of nature. His virtual thesis is that the "Two Worlds," spiritual and material, are ever in agreement when we get down to their deeper meanings, and he gives many ingenious and interesting exemplifications of this unity. The book is written in excellent temper, and is free from all asperity. Science is looked upon, not as the enemy but as the handmaid of faith; and, although advanced views are accepted as a matter of course, there is never a word of disparagement of scientific men. The moral inculcations of the volume are elevated and impressive, and, with their fresh and attractive illustrations, can not fail to exert a wholesome and improving influence. Of its twenty-one chapters, those entitled "Grains of Sand," "Weeds," "Summer Blossoms," "Mountain Peace," "Leaven," "Snow," "Waste," and "The Days of a Tree," have most interested us.
A True Republic. By Albert Stickney. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1879. Pp. 271. Price, $1.
Mr. Stickney here grapples with the problem of the causes and the cure of the widespread and increasing demoralization in American political life, and, where others who have as keenly felt the evil have contented themselves with vague utterances, he proposes a definite scheme of action. The impatience with party methods and party dictation, which is now so evident among thinking men, has not generally gone to the length of questioning the utility or necessity of such organizations. Parties are held, by even those most energetic in their opposition to their present tendencies and methods, to have a legitimate function in a free state. It is only their abuse that there is need to war against. Rightly limited, they are the sole means of giving effective expression to the popular will, and for carrying out lines of national policy. Emancipated from the control of the self seeking classes, they are the most efficient agents of the control of the affairs of government by the people, and the problem of our politics is to get their management into proper hands. This opinion Mr. Stickney denies outright. Parties, in the sense of vast permanent organizations, are to him wholly an abomination. They do not now aid, and never have aided, in furthering calm political discussion, or in carrying measures of real value to the people. They are now, and always have been, organizations for the carrying of elections. The great questions of the hour have indeed been used by them as their battle-cries, but the contest has always been for the places of honor and profit. They have pushed these questions to issue only to the extent demanded by their needs; the real interests of the people have always been made subservient to their triumph. Wise legislation is the outcome of deliberation, of a careful consideration of the real merits of the questions involved. It needs honesty of purpose and harmony of spirit. But the very essence of party is strife. Warring factions, jealous of any possible advantage that one side may gain over another, perpetually prevent all harmony of action between those holding by different parties. The action of legislators, elected to conserve the interests of the whole people, is determined almost solely by party considerations. The division of votes on most questions is along strictly party lines. As a means of affording discussion of the merits of the men and measures presented for popular suffrage, they are worse than useless. The candidates are all chosen by the managers, and the people have only the choice of ratifying at the polls the selections of the caucus. These are not accidental but inherent features of the party system. They are bad enough, but they are but a part of the evils due to it. The feature that makes improvement hopeless, and that paralyzes all attempts to reform within party lines, is the influence that the system inevitably exerts over our public men. In it is to be found the cause of the progressive corruption of public servants. Not only does it offer the opportunity for public servants to do their work ill, but, more than that, it compels them to do it so. Their continuance in office is dependent upon their party carrying the next election. They are therefore forced to devote their time and energies to keeping their places. They can not, therefore, give their attention to the proper work of their offices. More than this, they must of necessity administer these offices, not with an eye to the public good, but to the best advantage of their party. The system, therefore, makes it certain that the public will neither get good service from the men in office, nor get the best men to do Government work. These results are not peculiar to America. They have followed wherever tenure of office has been made to depend, not upon the faithful performance of duties, but upon political success. Men will always, at all times and places, give their best work to that upon which their preferment depends. If in this country party control has gone to greater lengths than in other countries, and not only the elective, but all offices, have come to be the prey of party faction, it is because the opportunities have been greater. Our frequent elections make possible the profession of the politician. Every few years a chance of a change in party control of the Government gives a promise of vacancy in great numbers of offices. Men, therefore, temporarily out of office can wait for one of these recurring opportunities. Mr. Stickney reviews English and American history in support of his position. He finds that security of tenure and official purity have been invariably associated, while corruption and tenure dependent upon political success have always gone along together.
Sweeping as is the indictment of party, its methods and results, its substantial accuracy will be questioned by few conversant with the facts. The evil is allowed, but the means of remedying it are not clear. To many it has seemed that there is no cure. Mr. Stickney is not of this number. His showing of the causes upon which the evil depends has revealed to him the method of eliminating it. The public does not get its best men in the public employ, or get from its servants their best work, because the best men will not condescend to the work necessary to enter and remain in the public service, and because they have not security in their position during "good behavior." In the callings of private life men have the assurance that, if they do their work well, they will have employment for life. They have also the assurance that, if they do it ill, they will lose their employment. They are therefore under constant pressure to do their work well. Mr. Stickney believes that these conditions can be realized in the public service by the changes in our political system which he advocates. These changes consist in abolishing the term system, in so arranging the control of appointment and dismissal from office that there shall be direct responsibility for the performance of the work of the various departments, and in reducing the number of elective offices to the lowest point. To this end the President is elected as now, not for any definite term, but to continue in office so long as he performs his duties well. He has absolute control over the appointment and dismissal of the heads of departments. These heads have in turn the same power over their subordinates, and are responsible to the Chief Executive alone for the work of their departments. And so down through the entire service, each employee being responsible to his immediate superior for the faithful performance of his duties, and being assured of his place only so long as they are well done. To secure efficiency, each man must have work of only one kind. The Chief Executive is given no voice, as now, in legislation, his veto power being taken from him. He is responsible for the work of the entire Executive branch of the Government to the National Assembly. Mr. Stickney favors only one body, of four or five hundred men, instead of the two we now have; but, if there be two, it is sitting as one body that they form the Assembly to whom the Executive is responsible. The Executive may be at any time removed for any cause by a two-thirds vote of this Assembly. The Assembly has no voice in the choice of a new Executive. The senior department officer is made President pro tem, pending the election of a new President. The members of the Legislature are elected, like the President, for no definite term. They can be turned out of office by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly of which they are members. The judges are also made elective, but for no definite time. These are the only elective offices, in the national. State, and city governments. All the others are by appointment. Under this system the power of party as now existing would be destroyed, Mr. Stickney holds, because there would be few offices to be captured by election work, and, the tenure being dependent upon good behavior, it would be impossible to determine when these few would be vacant. The office-seeker would then disappear, because the profession could no longer pay. And the office-seeker as a distinct class having disappeared, public servants would become as efficient and as honest as those in private life. The whole of Mr. Stickney's scheme turns upon this point—the breaking up of party organization by removing the opportunities of profit which keep it intact.
It seems to us that it is just here that the scheme fails. The power of party managers is dependent not upon themselves alone, but upon the following they can command. And they can command this following in virtue of the intensity of party feeling. It is because there are multitudes of men who can be rallied by the party cry to support it through thick and thin that the managers are able to prostitute the services of the Government to their own ends. The diminishing of the elective offices not only would not reduce this partisan feeling, but would have no tendency to do so. These elective offices are, moreover, but a part of those of the Government. The great mass of those which are now filled by appointment—and which, under Mr. Stickney's system, would be increased—are as much sought after by party workers as those that are elective; and there is no greater security under the proposed system than under the present, that they will be kept out of their hands. The security is even less, because the Executive has greater power. Suppose the chief Executive and the required majority of the Legislature to be of the same party, with the same intense partisan feeling existing that now exists, what, under Mr. Stickney's system, is to prevent the offices from the top to the bottom being filled with political workers, and kept there without any more regard for their fitness than at present. A majority gained by the other side would simply have the effect of putting in a new Executive, who might make a clean sweep of the departments in the interest of his party. The only restraining force upon him then, as now, would be the pressure of public opinion, but that would necessarily be less than at present, because it could not make itself so effectively felt. The same party majority that would be able to keep the Executive in power for party reasons would also be able to keep members of the Legislature of their own party in their seats. Practically a member would be secure in his tenure unless guilty of the grossest misconduct. And party standards of conduct are not of the highest. If this Assembly were composed, as Mr. Stickney supposes, of the best and wisest men of the nation, and the chief Executive were a man of great administrative ability and honesty of purpose, doubtless his plan would work admirably. But a system must be judged by its ability to meet the worst cases. If the Assembly were filled with strong partisans, and the Executive were the willing tool of his party, the result would be anything but satisfactory, and there would be, under the law, no means of effecting a change. While the discussion of Mr. Stickney is in many ways suggestive, and throughout bears the evidence of careful thought, his system can not, to our thinking, be accepted as a solution of the problem. Without a destruction of the party spirit, it affords no better security for efficient and faithful service than the present one, and, with the destruction of this spirit, its purpose can be accomplished with the system we have.
An Elementary Text-Book of Botany. Translated from the German by Dr. K. Prantl, Professor of Botany in the Royal Academy of Forestry, Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. The Translation revised by S. H. Vines, Fellow and Lecturer of Christ's College, Cambridge. With 275 Illustrations. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1880. Price, $2.25.
In his preface to the English translation of Professor Prantl's text-book, Professor Vines tells us that the work appeared in Germany in response to a demand for an introduction to Professor Sachs's well-known and voluminous "Lehrbuch der Botanik," that should resemble it in its mode of treating the subject. Professor Prantl's success in this undertaking is attested by the rapidity with which his book has passed to a third edition in his own country, and by its prompt translation into English. The large work of Professor Sachs was translated by Bennet and Dyer, and published at Oxford in 1875. To readers unacquainted with this important volume, we may say that it introduces the student to the present state of knowledge concerning botanical science. It not only describes the phenomena of plant-life that are already accurately known, but it indicates those theories and problems in which botanical research is at present engaged. It is a quarto volume of 860 pages, of which some 200 are given to the consideration of "General Morphology," nearly 400 to "Special Morphology and Classification," about 200 to "Physiology," and the remaining 60 or 70 pages to chapters on "Plant Movements," "Sexual Reproduction," and "The Origin of Species." Professor Prantl's introduction to Sachs's "Botany" is an octavo volume of 332 pages. In treating a subject of such great extent in this brief space, the author has adopted a somewhat different order from that of the large work, and omitted many of the recondite subjects which are there so ably presented. The introductory chapter is devoted to external morphology. The anatomy of plants is treated in two chapters, the first upon cell-structure, contents, and development; and the second upon tissues. "Plant Physiology" is treated in six chapters, and the remainder of the volume, over two hundred pages, is devoted to the "Classification of Plants." Special morphology is here elucidated, along with the exposition of the characters which underlie classification. The illustrations are numerous, attractive, and very helpful to an understanding of the text.
As a brief exposition of the complete science of botany, we have seen nothing equal to this manual, which is every way worthy of the incomparable work to which it is the stepping-stone.
Contributions to the Archæology of Missouri by the Archæological Section of the St. Louis Academy of Science. Part I, Pottery. Salem, Mass.: George A. Bates. $3.00.
This handsome quarto volume is printed on heavy tinted paper, and is illustrated by five folded maps and twenty-four lithographic plates, containing one hundred and forty-eight figures. It contains a description of the earthworks and brief references to the archæological remains of southeastern Missouri, by Professor W. B. Potter, and a description of the ancient pottery by Dr. Edward Evers. Their descriptions are terse and to the point. Dr. Evers has no theory regarding the race of people who made this pottery, neither does he permit himself to see some symbolic conception in every quaint design he meets with. He gives precisely what his readers want, a profusely illustrated volume of one hundred and forty-eight figures of various vessels, strongly drawn, and well drawn too.
We congratulate the St. Louis Academy of Science on this evidence of its prosperity, and we particularly congratulate its Archæological Section that it wastes no time or money in rummaging through Greece, Cyprus, or other parts of the Old World, in quest of antiques, when at home such rich treasures are to be revealed.
Life on the Seashore; or, Animals of our Coasts and Bays. With many Illustrations. By James H. Emerton. Salem, Mass.: George A. Bates. $1.50.
This little book forms the first volume of the "Naturalist's Handy Series," and is alike creditable to author and publisher. It will be found an exceedingly handy book for any one interested in the animals of the coast of New England. Much information regarding the development and habits of the lower animals is here given in a clear and concise form.
As a successful zoölogical draughtsman, Mr. Emerton should remember that an object expressed in lines is to be acknowledged as fully as an idea expressed in words. This remark is necessitated by his neglect in many cases to give the authorities for the drawings he uses. The book is handsomely bound and printed.
Introduction to the Mortuary Customs among the North American Indians. By Dr. H. C. Yarrow. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 107.
The series of works, of which this volume forms the third installment, has been undertaken with the object of obtaining a complete and trustworthy account of the present and ancient customs and beliefs of our North American Indians. Though much has been written on the subject by travelers and explorers, the amount which is of value is comparatively small, through carelessness of observation and the predispositions of the writers. The volumes only profess to be introductions, but it is hoped that, by awakening the interest and directing the attention of those in a position to obtain first-hand knowledge, a body of accurate and, in time, comparatively complete information can be obtained. Introductions to the study of Indian language and Sign-language, the first by Major J. W. Powell, and the latter by Colonel Garrick Mallery, have already appeared. The present volume will be followed by similar ones upon the medicine practice, the mythology, and the sociology of these Indians. In the preparation of the volume on mortuary customs. Dr. Yarrow has enlisted the services of a great number of observers, with the result of obtaining a large mass of reliable data. The plan adopted was to send to Indian agents, physicians resident at agencies, army officers, and others, a circular clearly setting forth the kind of information desired, and the precautions necessary to be taken to get it reliable. The ground covered by the volume includes the care of the lifeless body previous to burial, and the ceremonies attendant upon it; the method of burial, the site, attitude of body, its manner of resting, the ceremonies and the beliefs of the tribe where it occurs concerning it; the gifts offered to the dead, at the time of burial and later; the superstitions relative to the influence of the dead over the living; and all those practices which express these beliefs, as well as the methods and periods of mourning. . Many of the customs and practices described are extremely curious, and all are of interest, not alone to one whose studies have been in this field, but to all intelligent people. The coöperation of all who have opportunities of observation of the Indians is solicited, to the end of making the final publication on the subject as complete and valuable as possible.
Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. By Edward C. Pickering, aided by Arthur Searle and Winslow Upton. Vol. II, Part II. Photometric Observations. Cambridge, University Press: John Wilson & Son. 1879. Pp. 315.
This is a continuation of the photometric observations of Professor Pickering upon the light of the stars. The observations include those upon the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Measurements have also been made of the light of unequal double stars, where the difference between the two is considerable, and also of that of a number of the asteroids. Some observations upon the limit of visibility have also been made, and are still in progress. A discussion of the results obtained on this latter subject is reserved for a future part.
The Hair, its Growth, Care, Diseases, and Treatment. By C. Henri Leonard, M. A., M. D., Professor of Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women in the Michigan College of Medicine. Illustrated by 116 Engravings. Detroit: C. Henri Leonard. Pp. 319. Price, $2.
The author has here evidently aimed to make a popular work, conveying as much scientific information as he can make consistent with that idea. It seems to be a very good digest of general knowledge relating to the structure and diseases of the hair, and gives many hints respecting its care and healthful preservation. The volume is interspersed with a great deal of curious information respecting extraordinary hair-growths, and the author is fond of applying the multiplication-table to the subject, and bringing out the most astonishing results from insignificant elements. For example: "Were it possible to place end to end the hirsute covering of the heads of Detroit citizens, we would have a hair-line long enough to more than reach thirteen times to the moon, or one that would belt the earth some one hundred and twenty times at its equator." The volume is preparatory to a larger work, in which the author promises to show the possibility of the classification of animals from the differences in the microscopical structure of their hair-shafts.
Essays on Art and Archæology. By Charles Thomas Newton, C. B., Ph. D., D. C. L., LL. D. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880. Pp. 472. Price, $4.
In this volume Mr. Newton has collected a number of papers contributed by him to different periodicals, most of them in recent years, though several date back a considerable time. They are written in an agreeable style, and will be found of interest, not only to those who have more or less acquaintance with the subject, but to the wider circle of the general public.
The opening paper of the volume, read at the Oxford meeting of the Archæological Institute, in 1850, is an exposition of the scope of the science, bearing the title "On the Study of Archæology." In it the author considers the kind of records of the past of the human race with which archæology is concerned, the difficulties that encompass investigation, and the need of museums, etc., where the collections of materials can be classified and disposed for intelligent study. Mr. Newton's experience, as keeper of Greek and Roman antiquities in the British Museum, qualifies him for the discussion of the best way of arranging the collections in that institution, which forms the second paper of the volume. That placed third is devoted to an account of the Greek sculptures from the west coast of Asia Minor, now in the same museum. A long and interesting essay is that on "Greek Inscriptions," in which Mr, Newton points out the great mass of this material at the disposal of the archæologist, and refers in detail to many of the more important inscriptions. Mr. Wood's discovery of the site, and his restoration of the temple at Ephesus, which, in the time of St. Paul, was one of the seven wonders of the world, Mr. Newton presents in his article on "Discoveries at Ephesus," and the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann at Mycenæ in the one following. "Researches in Cyprus," "Discoveries at Olympia," "Greek Art in the Kimmerian Bosporos," and "Greek Numismatics," complete the papers of the volume. A Greek inscription, engraved on the four sides of a stelè of blue marble, which was some years since discovered in the Castle of St. Peter, at Budrum, is reproduced in an appendix.
Qualitative Chemical Analysis. By Silas H. Douglass, M. A., M. D., and Albert B. Prescott, M. D., F. C. S. Third edition, wholly revised. With a Study of Oxidation and Reduction, by Otis Coe Johnson. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1880. Pp. 305.
The new feature in this edition of this excellent manual is the text upon oxidation and reduction, by Mr. Otis C. Johnson, in which a new interpretation is given to quantivalence. The authors state that the method of Mr. Johnson has proved very successful in teaching, and bespeak for it a careful examination by chemists. The subject is technical, and can be fully understood only by those acquainted with chemical theory and manipulation. Besides the addition of this new matter, the book has been carefully revised, and such improvements made as the experience of actual use in teaching has suggested.
Some Thoughts concerning Education. By John Locke. With Introduction and Notes by Rev. R. H. Quick, M. A. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press. 1880. Pp. 240. Price, 90 cents.
Although put forth so long ago, the "Thoughts" still possess a value for the modern student of education. Locke's ideas of the purpose and scope of education were greatly in advance of the practice of his own time and of much of that of ours. He recognizes that education is properly a developing of the natural powers, and not a mere loading down the memory with undigested knowledge. Many of his suggestions and recommendations are so entirely in agreement with modern views as to seem commonplace. His advice in the matter of physical education is especially noticeable for its concordance with present medical practice. Dr. J. F. Payne, who contributes valuable notes upon the medical portions of Locke's discourse, finds little to correct in his recommendations, except those advising that children's feet be wet, and they be otherwise exposed, to harden them. Besides the treatise of Locke, the book contains a biographical sketch of him, and a critical estimate of his services in education, and his relation to his predecessor in educational reform, Montaigne, and his successor Rousseau. His plan of working-schools for the children of the poor and his essay "Of Study" form an appendix, while the notes of Dr. Payne, mentioned above, with others not so good, and an index, complete the volume.
The New Text-Book of Physics. An Elementary Course in Natural Philosophy, designed for Use in High Schools and Academies. By Le Roy C. Cooley, Ph. D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1880. Pp. 317.
Professor Cooley was among the first to attempt to introduce into elementary instruction in physics the modern doctrine of molecules and molecular action. In his text-book of natural philosophy, published some twelve years ago, he sought to give it a form suited to the comprehension of the class of students for whom the book was designed. In this revision of the former work he has aimed to do the same thing for the fundamental conception of the science—that of energy. Heat, light, etc., are accordingly presented as so many different manifestations of energy, and not as a number of distinct forces. The work is arranged to bring out the essential features of the conception, and then to show its applications in explanation of the various groups of phenomena within the scope of physics. The first three chapters are devoted to a gaining of clear ideas of the properties of matter and laws of motion. These lead up to the doctrine of energy, which is explained and illustrated in the fourth. In the four succeeding chapters, the forms of energy constituting heat, light, sound, and electricity are considered, with such illustrative examples as exhibit the essential features of each group. A brief summary of the principles of machines forms the closing chapter. A new feature of the book is a review at the end of each chapter, consisting of principles and topics, and a number of problems. Simple restatement of principles in the order of the previous discussion has been avoided, with the object of showing the truths enunciated in new relations and with added force. The text throughout is fully illustrated.
Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century. By Henry Samuel Morais. Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co. 1880. Pp. 371. Price, $2.
The careers of the hundred Jews, whose portraits Mr. Morais has presented in this volume, speak much for the inherent vitality and power of a race so long proscribed. The sketches are brief, much too brief to do justice to many of their subjects, but they are in the main judicious and are full of interest. The labors of these eminent Hebrews take a wide range. Literature, theology, music, philanthropy, statesmanship, and commercial pursuits all have their representatives, many of whom have achieved not only distinction, but positions of the very first rank. They are as diverse in their nationalities as in the character of their labors, coming as they do from all European states, as well as from America. The record as a whole is one with which Jews have reason to be gratified, while it is interesting and instructive to a wider circle.
Manual of Hydraulic Mining, for the Use of the Practical Miner. By T. F. Van Wagenen, E. M. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1880. Pp. 93.
Placer-mining, the author states, is, when economically conducted, as certain of good returns as any ordinary avocation. Auriferous gravel deposits are very extensive on the Pacific coast, and, as the plant necessary is comparatively inexpensive, the miner has a wide field for remunerative work. He must, however, conduct his operations with a knowledge of the nature of his materials and the most efficient way of working them to secure success. Most miners at present engaged in hydraulic mining, Mr. Van Wagenen says, have but slight knowledge of physics, and are more or less rusty in their arithmetic, so that many errors are made in construction and operation, which prove costly experiments. He has therefore attempted, in this little manual, to give, in a clear and concise form, the information needed to avoid such errors. Among the subjects briefly treated are the use of decimals; the methods of finding areas and volumes; the pressure of water when at rest, and its flow through orifices and flumes; the proper method of constructing flumes, their grades, size of nozzles, etc. Tables of square and fifth roots of the numbers commonly entering into the miner's calculations are given at the end of the book.
Deep-Sea Sounding and Dredging. A Description and Discussion of the Methods and Appliances used on board the Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer Blake. By Charles D. Sigsbee, Lieutenant-Commander U. S. Navy. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 208.
Lieutenant-Commander Sigsbee was in charge of the Blake for the four years from December, 1874, and during this time prosecuted extensive researches relative to the condition of the deep-sea bottom. During the winter of 1874-75 soundings were made off the mouth of the Mississippi River, the total number of miles being 2,505. Nearly as many miles of soundings were taken in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 1875, and in the winter of that and the next year a system of east and west lines was run across the great bank west of the Florida Peninsula. Others were run on the northern portion of the bank, and a number from the delta of the Mississippi out to sea, closing with a line from the South Pass to the Yucatan Bank, and one from Alacran Reef to Tortugas. The remaining years were devoted to further soundings in this portion of the waters of the American coast. The Blake was very thoroughly fitted out for her work. Her party was one of the first to use piano-forte wire for deep-sea dredging and trawling, and the experience with it showed it to be much better than rope. The greater part of the apparatus used was either new or improved forms of that ordinarily used, and much of it was due to the ingenuity of Commander Sigsbee. The present work does not go into the results obtained by the various expeditions, but is devoted to a description of the apparatus employed and statement of its actual value in use. Detailed drawings supplement the descriptions, and a large number of heliotype plates clearly show the arrangement and method of using on board ship.
Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education. No. 3. Legal Rights of Children. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 96.
Address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section A. By Asaph Hall. Boston Meeting, August 25, 1880. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son. Pp. 16.
Progress of Western Education in China and Siam.??. 13. The Indian School at Carlisle Barracks. Pp. 5. Vacation Colonies for Sickly School Children. Pp. 3. From the Bureau of Education. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 1880.
Water Pollution, and a Remedy for the Evils of the Present Water-Supply Systems proposed. By Nelson Green. New York: The Hub Publishing Co. Pp. 29.
Who planned the Tennessee Campaign of 1862? or, Anna Ella Carroll vs. Ulysses S. Grant. By Matilda Joslyn Gage. Pp. 16.
An Examination of the Double-Star Measures of the Bedford Catalogue. By S. W. Burnham, Esq. Pp. 36.
What constitutes a Discovery in Science? By Dr. George M. Beard. New York. 1880. Pp. 7.
A Reply to Criticisms on "The Problems of Insanity." By Dr. George M. Beard. 1880. Pp. 34.
Occurrence of Microscopic Crystals in the Vertebrae of the Toad. By H. Carrington Bolton. Pp. 4.
Notice of Jurassic Mammals representing Two New Orders. By Professor O. C. Marsh. Illustrated. Pp. 5.
National Association for the Protection of the Insane and the Prevention of Insanity. Boston. 1880. Pp. 31.
Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington. Vol. I. 1871-'74. Pp. 49. Vol. II. 1874-'78. Pp. 392. Vol. III. 1878-'80. Pp. 169. Washington: Published by the Cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution.
Drug Attenuation: its Objects, Modes, Means, and Limits in Homœopathic Pharmacy and Posology. By the Bureau of Materia Medica, Pharmacy, and Provings in the American Institute of Homœopathy, 1879 and 1880, J. P. Dake, M. D., Chairman. Philadelphia: Sherman & Co. 1880.
Action of Light on the Soluble Iodides, with the Outlines of a New Method in Actinometry. Pp. 22. The Literature of Ozone and Peroxide of Hydrogen. Pp. 63. Laws governing the Decomposition of Equivalent Solutions of Iodides under the Influence of Actinism. Pp. 7. By Dr. Albert R. Leeds.
Memoirs of the Science Department of the University of Tokio, Japan. Vol. III, Part I. Report on the Meteorology of Tokio for the Year 2539 (1879). T. C. Mendenhall. Tokio: Government Printing-Office. 1880.
On the Algebra of Logic. By C. S. Peirce. Reprinted from the "American Journal of Mathematics." Pp. 42.
The Textile Record of America. Devoted to the Manufacture and Distribution of all Woven Fabrics: Cotton, Wool, Silk, and Flax Culture. Edited by Lorin Blodget. Philadelphia: Nagle & Ryckman. Monthly. Pp. 16. $3 a year.
An Elementary Treatise on Analytic Geometry, embracing Plane Geometry and an Introduction to Geometry of Three Dimensions. By Edward A. Bowser. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1880. Pp. 287.
American Aristocracy. A Sketch of the Social Life and Character of the Army. By Duane Merritt Greene. Chicago: Central Publishing Co. 1880. Pp. 222. $1.
The Minor Arts. By Charles G. Leland. Illustrated. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880. Pp. 148. 90 cents.
Hints for Home Reading. A Series of Chapters on Books and their Use by Different Authors. Edited, with an Introduction, by Lyman Abbott. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1880. Pp. 152. 50 cents.
School and Industrial Hygiene. By D. F. Lincoln, M. D. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. 1880. Pp. 152. 75 cents.
German Thought from the Seven Years' War to Goethe's Death. By Karl Hillebrand. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1880. Pp. 298. $1.75.
Diseases of the Throat and Nose. By Morell Mackenzie, M. D., London. Vol. I. Diseases of the Pharynx, Larynx, and Trachea. Illustrated. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. 1880. Pp. 570. $4.