Popular Science Monthly/Volume 29/May 1886/Literary Notices
Three Years of Arctic Service. An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-'84, and the Attainment of the Farthest North. By Adolphus W. Greely. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Two vols. Pp. xxv-428, and 444, with Maps.
No story of tragic adventure has ever excited greater interest or invoked stronger sympathy than that of the life and sufferings of Lieutenant Greely and his party of twenty-four men at Cape Sabine during the winter of 1883-'84. Other parties have suffered intense privations and pains, in the Arctic regions and other inhospitable parts of the globe; but, as a rule, there have been features of some kind to set off and relieve the uniformity of their misery, or else, all having perished, the world has escaped the sorrow of viewing the picture of their suffering in photographic detail. But with this party of our countrymen there were nine months of monotonous uniformity of suffering, and slow, steady progress toward death; and enough have survived its perils to describe the pains in all their colors. It is right that we should have this full story of the expedition from its commander. He was responsible for its management, and he was the member of it, if any, who was best able to take a complete view of it as a whole, and in all its aspects. In preparing his account, he has, he says, spared neither health nor strength. For materials he has drawn upon his own diary, the official field reports, and the journals of Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant Brainard, the only complete ones, with his own, that were kept. As is fitting, the story of the last terrible days of starvation, freezing, and death, is told almost wholly in the words of the diaries as it was recorded from day to day at the time, with hardly a word of comment.
The expedition commanded by Lieutenant Greely was intended to establish one of the international stations for circumpolar observation that had been decided upon after the suggestion of Lieutenant Weyprecht, of the Austrian Navy, by the Polar Conferences which met in Hamburg and Berne in 1879 and 1880. Two of the fourteen stations established were assigned to the United States one at Point Barrow, in latitude 71 18' north, longitude 156° 24' west, under Lieutenant Ray, and one at Lady Franklin Bay, latitude 81° 44' north, longitude 64° 45' west, under Lieutenant Greely. The station at the latter point, when established, was named Fort Conger, after Senator Conger, of Michigan, who had interested himself specially in behalf of the expedition. Hardly had the party landed, when a defect in its organization revealed itself, in the shape of inharmonious elements and the want of strong enough authority. The circumstance, says Lieutenant Greely, emphasizes "the necessity of selecting for Arctic service only men and officers of thoroughly military qualities, among which subordination is by no means of secondary importance." Our wonder is that the thought of a plan of selection from which this was omitted should have been tolerated for an instant. The primary object of the expedition being to carry out the scientific programme of the Hamburg Polar Conference, the utmost care was given to physical observations. The series began July 1, 1831, at St. John's, Newfoundland, and terminated June 21, 1884, forty hours before the rescue of the survivors. Summaries of them are given in the appendixes to the book, and a chapter is allotted to the description of the manner in which they were taken. Natural history observations and collections were also made, but the collections, of course, in the straits to which the expedition was reduced, could not be brought home. As good provisions as were possible under the circumstances were, however, made for the preservation of the scientific results. They were cachéd, at places which were suitably marked and described, and may possibly be recovered by more fortunate adventurers. A suggestive glimpse of the character of Arctic life during the winter darkness is afforded by the fact that some of the observations and the places for taking them were arranged so as to afford the men reasonable occasions, in going to mark them, for going out-of-doors and taking walks of considerable length. Exercise is as indispensable in the winter of the poles as in more favored regions, and one of the difficult problems for explorers is to manage matters or "sugar-coat" it, so that it shall be taken regularly and in sufficient amount without appearing to be administered as a medicine.
Two important geographical achievements stand to the credit of the expedition: They are the journey of Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and the Eskimo Christiansen to the farthest north, and the exploration of Grinnell Land. The itinerary of the northerly journey, as given from the journals of the explorers, is very interesting, and, with the aid of the accompanying maps, is very clear. It was on the 13th of May, 1882, when, having made sixteen miles in ten hours, and worn out by travel through deep snow, the party made their farthest camp at the north end of Lockwood Island, which, by circum-meridian and subpolar observations reduced by Gauss's method, was determined to be in 83° 23·8' north, the highest latitude ever attained by man. The highest latitude reached previous to this was by Markham, on sea, in 1876, 83° 20' 26". Of this event Sergeant Brainard's field-notes say: "We have reached a higher latitude than ever before reached by mortal man, and on a land farther north than by many was supposed to exist. We unfurled the glorious Stars and Stripes to the exhilarating northern breezes with an exultation impossible to describe." So, says Lieutenant Greely, "with proper pride, they looked that day from their farthest vantage-ground of the farthest north (Lockwood Island) to the desolate cape which, until surpassed in coming ages, may well bear the grand name of Washington." Of this party Sergeant Brainard, "without whose efficient aid and restless energy, as Lockwood said, the work could not have been accomplished," is the only survivor. The exploration of Grinnell Land begun by Lieutenant Greely in the spring, whose journey of two hundred and fifty miles of travel in twelve days was marked by the discovery of the large Lake Hazen and the interesting Henrietta Nesmith Glacier, was continued in the summer with the results, as summed up by the author, of the satisfactory, if not complete, determination of the extent of North Grinnell Land; the outlining of the extraordinary and previously unsuspected physical conditions of the interior of that country; and the discovery of numerous valleys covered with comparatively luxuriant vegetation, which afford sufficient pasturage for large numbers of musk-oxen. About five thousand square miles of newly discovered land fell under observation, of which over one half was determined with sufficient accuracy to enable its physical geography to be passed upon. Lieutenant Greely's discoveries accord closely with the opinions of Sir Joseph Hooker; and "the intimate relation between the physical sciences is forcibly illustrated by the ability of a highly trained and accomplished specialist to state from a handful of plants the insularity or continental configuration of a land and its physical condition." Another expedition was made, across Grinnell Land, by Lieutenant Lockwood, who carried out his commander's instructions to their full extent, although he started under the belief that they could not be accomplished.
Lieutenant Greely has his views of the constitution of the polar regions, and they are entitled to all the respect which the opinions of a man of intelligence who has had unusual opportunities for observation have a right to command. He does not doubt "that in the vicinity of the north and south poles are glacial lands entirely covered by ice-caps of enormous thickness, which throw off the huge floebergs of the north and the yet more remarkable flat topped icebergs of the south. The north polar land is, I believe, of limited extent, and its shores, or the edges of its glaciers, are washed by a sea which, from its size and consequent high temperature, its ceaseless tides and strong currents, can never be entirely ice-clad. . . . Far be it from me to advocate a navigable polar sea. On the contrary, I am firmly possessed with the idea that an ice-belt from fifty to a hundred miles wide borders the lands to the southward, and that the water-space to the northward can only be entered in extremely favorable years by the Spitzbergen route."
We had marked many passages illustrative of the monotonous life of the Arctic winters and its depressing and irritating effect upon the minds of the men; descriptive of the toilsome journey from Camp Conger to Cape Sabine, and of the attempt to cross Smith Sound; and incidents of the unprecedented sufferings of the party in their spring of cold starvation at Cape Sabine; but we have no space for them. The story, moreover, is not one that can be represented by incidents selected here and there, but should be taken in a whole. The headings of the closing chapters fittingly suggest its character. They are: "The Beginning of the End"; "The Last of Our Rations"; "The End—by Death and Rescue." Of the whole, Lieutenant Greely says: "No pen could convey to the world an adequate idea of the abject misery and extreme wretchedness to which we were reduced at Cape Sabine. Insufficiently clothed, for months without drinking water, destitute of warmth, our sleeping-bags frozen to the ground, our walls, roof, and floor covered with frost and ice, subsisting on one fifth of an Arctic ration, almost without clothing, light, heat, or food, yet we were never without courage, faith, and hope. The extraordinary spirit of loyalty, patience, charity, and self-denial—daily and almost universally exhibited by our famished and nearly maddened party—must be read between the lines in the account of our daily life penned under such desperate and untoward circumstances."
Easy Lessons in German. By Adolphe Dreyspring. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 103. Price, 70 cents.
The "Easy Lessons" is intended as an introduction to the author's "Cumulative Method," and to be adapted both to schools and to home instruction. It is designed not only for those who shun "full-grown" textbooks, and to whom price is a material consideration, but more especially for the boys and girls of the primary classes, to whose intellectual status it is better adapted than are the larger works. The aid of illustrations is freely called in to enforce the meaning of the nouns and verbs, so that each of the conventional lessons into which the work is divided is in fact a series of object-lessons. We regard the author's system, which consists of frequent repetition and the putting of the word or set of words, which is the particular subject of the lesson, through its varieties of combinations and changes, as an excellent one. The exercises are conversational, are made interesting and amusing, and are so directly to the point they are designed to enforce, that by the time the pupil is through with one of them, it is well impressed upon his mind, and not likely to be forgotten.
The Determination of Rock-forming Minerals. By Dr. Eugen Hussak. Authorized Translation from the German, by Erastus G. Smith, Ph. D. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 233. Price, $3.
This book is intended to supply a want long felt by students of mineralogy and lithology. It presents, in a shape adapted for use in the class-room and the laboratory, a digest of numerous articles bearing upon the subject, that have appeared in technical journals and other publications of various countries.
The first part of the work treats of the methods of investigation adopted in mineralogical and petrographical research; the optical methods and the micro-chemical methods are considered in turn.
The second part is devoted to the study of mineral determination. A table for determining the system of crystallization of the rock-forming minerals is followed by a most elaborate set of tables which give the composition and chemical reactions of the minerals, their structure, association, etc.
A great number of illustrations are scattered through the book, and a feature that will prove most welcome is the bibliography to Part II, which contains references to many works on mineralogy, and to numerous memoirs that have been published in scientific periodicals.
History of the Pacific States of North America. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. XXVIII. Alaska, 1730-1885. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co. Pp. 775. Price, $5.
Alaska furnishes materials for a more varied and interesting history than any one would imagine before reading this volume. The story is really full of incident and adventure, and is graphically presented. The early history of Alaska, as the publishers well remark, is wholly different from the history of any other part of America. It dates from a different quarter of the globe; the territory was seized and occupied by a people who never mingled in American affairs before or since. "For reckless courage, for indifference to suffering and death, for cruelty and iniquity, the Russians were in no wise behind the Spaniards. And the character and customs of the Russians themselves are no less objects of interest than those of the natives of Alaska, which, for the most part, are unlike those of other American aboriginal peoples. The Russian fur-trade, as it was in the beginning, the century march of the Cossacks across Siberia, the voyages of discovery to the opposite coast of America, and the fur-hunting expeditions which followed, are all full of thrilling interest." Of the importance of Alaska the author has a much better opinion than generally prevails, and observes that "Scandinavia, her Old-World counterpart, is possessed of far less natural wealth, and is far less grand in natural configuration. In Alaska we can count more than eleven hundred islands in a single group. We can trace the second largest water-course in the world. We have large sections of territory where the average yearly temperature is higher than that of Stockholm or Christiania, where it is milder in winter, and where the fall of rain and snow is less than in the southern portion of Scandinavia." And the area of this part of the territory is greater than that of Scotland and Southern Scandinavia combined. The resources, also, of Alaska, "though some of them are not yet available, are abundant, and of such a nature that, if properly economized, they will never be seriously impaired." To procure material for this history, Mr. Bancroft dispatched an agent well acquainted with its affairs, on three distinct journeys to Alaska, who visited all places of historical importance and persons of historical note, and thus obtained much fresh information; explored, by his assistants, documentary material in Sitka, San Francisco, and Washington; was aided by his friend M. Pinart, and men of letters and officers in St. Petersburg, in collecting information from the Russian archives; and obtained all the accessible authorities in print in Russia, other European countries, and the United States. This volume has the distinction from the others of being the first of the series which is complete in itself, with preface, and index from the beginning of the history to the present day.
Practical and Analytical Chemistry. By Henry Trimble, Ph. G. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 94. Price, $1.50.
This book is intended for the use of students of medicine, pharmacy, and others who may have but a comparatively limited amount of time to devote to the study of chemistry. Part I, "Practical Chemistry," discusses briefly the preparation and properties of gases and the preparation of salts; Part II treats of "Qualitative Analysis"; Part III of "Quantitative Analysis." The former contains some reference to the reactions of organic compounds, the latter embraces examples for practice in both gravimetric and volumetric estimation.
Evolution of To-Day: A Summary of the Theory of Evolution as held by Scientists at the Present Time, and an Account of the Progress made by the Discussions and Investigations of a Quarter of a Century. By H. W. Conn, Ph. D., Instructor of Biology at Wesleyan University. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 342. Price $1.75.
The greater evolution of ideas precipitated with such unparalleled rapidity during the lat generation by the promulgation of the sceneral doctrine of evolution and the wide-spread interest in the subject which has followed have brought us, as was inevitable, to a stage of popular literature upon the question which shows plenty of signs that it is no longer the scientific world that is chiefly addressed. The number of those who think themselves competent to explain evolution to ordinary people is largely increasing, but, while their efforts are undoubtedly commendable, it must be admitted that much of their work is inferior and unsatisfactory. The subject itself is extensive, complex, and unsettled, and it requires a good deal of sound information, careful habits of thinking, and excellent scientific judgment, so to present it as not to convey to uninstructed minds about as much error as truth.
The present volume, although not without merit, belongs nevertheless to this unsatisfactory class of books upon evolution. In the first place, the title is mischievously misleading. It would lead us to expect a discussion of the subject in its full breadth and latest developments and applications; whereas it is confined, we might almost say, strictly to one branch of the subject—organic evolution; and the book might much better be named a treatise on Darwinism than an exposition of the evolution of to-day. While dealing with the details of biological development, Dr. Conn writes with tolerable clearness; but when he tries to expound the fundamental conceptions of his volume, as presented in its title, he writes neither clearly nor correctly, and betrays considerable confusion of mind over the larger relations of his subject. In his introduction, Dr. Conn says: "Evolution is not Darwinism. We have now reached the conclusion as to what is now ordinarily meant by evolution" (derivation of species by descent, Ed.), "and such was Darwin's understanding of the term. But it must not be confounded with Darwinism. Evolution is simply a theory as to the method by which species have been introduced into the world, entirely independent of any idea as to the causes which have brought about their introduction. Darwinism is evolution, but it is more than this; it is at the same time an attempt at an explanation of the causes of evolution." Again, he says, "Darwinism proper, then, is not evolution, but its explanation."
Now, these views are probably original with Dr. Conn; at any rate, we have never met them before, and they are certainly far from representing the "evolution of today." Evolution, as now most generally held, is a law of Nature—a law of transformation by which phenomena undergo changes, passing from one form to another, by which the past has given rise to the present, and the present determines the future through the agencies of the natural world. Evolution is a phase of the order of Nature of great comprehensiveness, or it is nothing; it has its large divisions, of which organic evolution is one. Mr. Darwin devoted himself to the study of one of the elements or factors of organic evolution—the origin of species by means of natural selection. To define evolution as excluding the study of causes, and then to define Darwinism as a study of causes, or as explanation of evolution, is simply absurd. As a matter of science, evolution is essentially, and indeed solely, a problem of forces and causes, and Mr. Darwin did what he could to trace them out in the line of his special work; but he never made even an attempt to study the theory of evolution as a general law of Nature, to analyze, formulate, or reduce it to scientific expression.
The Sun. By Amédée Guillemin. Translated from the French, by A. L. Phipson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 297. Price, $1.
This book forms one of a series termed "The Illustrated Library of Wonders," of which Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons are now publishing a new and revised edition. Inviting his readers to join him in a little trip of the imagination—a trifle of some ninety million miles or thereabout—the author discourses pleasantly on that luminous sphere that forms the destination of this astronomical journey.
The sun is considered as the source of light of heat, and of chemical action; its influence on living beings, on animals and plants, is commented upon. The position of the sun in the planetary world, its rotation, its physical and chemical constitution, are all studied in turn; and, finally, there are given the reasons why life is, must be, impossible upon its surface. Numerous illustrations are scattered throughout the text.
History of California. By Theodore H. Hittell. San Francisco: Occidental Publishing Company. Pp. 799. Price, $5.
The author of this history is a well-known legal writer of California, who has spent many years of industrious labor in its preparation. His purpose has been to give an account, and, at the same time, a picturesque history of the State, a popular history, adapted to the use of those who have not time to read a larger work, but who desire at the same time a comprehensive review of the subject, in which every branch is treated in due proportion to its relative importance as viewed with regard to the whole. No other State, the publishers claim, possesses so romantic a history as California, and in no work on the subject that we have observed has more effort been made with greater success to present it in a way which, while it does not lack in the essential point of accuracy, shall make the story interesting and pleasant in the reading. Beginning with the very first account of the country found in the older records, it traces the development, illustrates the progress, and shows how, step by step, the State became what it is. The old voyages, with their interesting incidents; the heroic tale of the early settlements; the labors of the missionaries, and their establishment of the missions; the lives and acts of the Spanish and American governors; the changes wrought in the condition of the country by the revolution against Spain and Spanish ideas; the growth of the civil as opposed to the ecclesiastical, and the popular as opposed to the monarchical power; the struggles of individuals and factions; and the evolution of the new State, are related in a plain, engaging style. In the present volume the first book is devoted to the stories of the early voyagers; the second book covers the period of the Jesuit mission settlements of Lower California, and closes with an account of the Indians of that region; the third book covers the period of the Franciscan missions and the beginnings of Alta California; and the other books include the history of the Spanish governors, the Northwest coast fur-trade, later Northwest coast-voyages and discoveries, overland expeditions and explorations, and the Indians of Alta California. The second volume, which will complete the work, is promised soon.
A Text-Book of Inorganic Chemistry. By Professor V. von Richter. Authorized Translation, by Edgar F. Smith, Ph. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 423. Illustrated. Price, $2.
The fact alone that this volume bears the imprint, "Second American from the fourth German edition," would seem to bespeak for this work a degree of merit not common to many of the numerous productions that have appeared in this field of science. A careful examination of its pages confirms this impression. Usually textbooks on this subject present but a more or less complete enumeration of facts. The different elements are considered in turn: their occurrence, modes of preparation, properties, important compounds, etc., are discussed; but little effort is made to point out the theories deduced from the observations and experiments.
In this work, however, the inductive method is followed throughout. Experiments are given and carried out, with the intention of drawing conclusions from them, and of illustrating the close relation between the results obtained and the theories founded upon them.
The introduction briefly defines the province of chemistry, refers to the principle of the indestructibility of matter, the conservation of energy, chemical energy, conditions of chemical action, chemical symbols and formulæ. The elements are classified according to the law of periodicity, this meaning simply that the properties of the elements and their compounds present themselves as a periodic function of their atomic weights.
Attention must also be directed to another feature of this book, as important as it is novel in a text-book on inorganic chemistry. When bodies enter into chemical combination, heat is almost invariably evolved; and, on the other hand, when a compound is decomposed into its constituents, heat is absorbed and transformed into chemical energy. The study of these phenomena, thermo-chemistry, is here introduced in connection with the different groups of the elements, thus familiarizing the student from the start with one of the fundamental principles of chemical science, yet one which has heretofore been almost entirely relegated to works on theoretical chemistry. In short, Von Richter offers a most clear, vivid, and interesting presentation of his subject.
Van Nostrand's Science Series. Ventilation of Buildings. By W. F. Butler. Re edited and enlarged, by James L. Greenleaf, C. E. Pp. 147.
Water-Meters. By Ross E. Browne. Pp. 89.
The Preservation of Timber by the Use of Antiseptics. By S. B. Boulton. Pp. 223.
Mechanical Integrators; including the Various Forms of Planimeters. By Professor Henry S. H. Shaw. Pp. 212. Price, 50 cents each.
Ventilation of Buildings.—This essay was originally prepared for delivery before an audience, which will account for the fact that it contains remarks and comments on subjects which can hardly be considered as specially connected with the ventilation of buildings, though in themselves of interest and importance. It was written for English conditions, and the present copy has been re-edited and enlarged by Mr. Greenleaf to adapt it for use in this country. The needs for ventilation are first discussed, and then a method is given for ventilating private houses, showing how this method may be adapted to old and to new buildings. Appended to the book is a reprint from "Van Nostrand's Magazine" on "How much Ventilation?" by the editor of this issue.
Water-Meters.—A brief treatise on some of the principal forms of water-meters in
use, embracing descriptions of the prominent features of two forms of piston-meter, the Worthington and the Kennedy, and three forms of velocity-meters, the Siemens of English manufacture, the Siemens of German manufacture, and the Hesse meter. A series of tests conducted with the latter is given. An appendix contains a translation of an article on some forms of water-meters not considered in the text previous. This article is by Charles Andre and was published in the "Genie Civil." The book is intended mainly for hydraulic engineers.
The Preservation of Timber by the Use of Antiseptics.—A paper prepared for the Institution of Civil Engineers and discussed before them; the discussion is appended. It is a careful review of the history of preserving timber, and the chief methods adapted to that end.
Mechanical Integrators.—Descriptions of various devices that may be designated as mechanical aids to mathematical computation; chiefly such are considered as will prove of value to engineers.
Chemical Analysis for Schools and Science Classes. Qualitative-Inorganic. By A. H. Scott-White, B. Sc. New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 130.
A concise text-book intended in the first place for students fitting for examinations at English colleges. Valuable hints are given as to the preliminary analysis, then follow schemes of examination for bases and for acids, and appended are notes on apparatus, on the preparation of reagents, etc. A quite extensive list of the chemical symbols of substances made use of in the analytical work is given. These symbols are arranged in alphabetical order, and, as the corresponding names are also given, will prove very convenient for the student.
First Lessons in Philosophy. By M. S. Handley. New York: Scribner & Welford. Pp. 59.
A brief presentation, in the form of conversations, of the elementary conceptions of philosophy. This book is intended to serve as an introduction to metaphysics and logic. It is essentially based on the writings of S. H. Hodgson, principally on "Time and Space," by this author.
Chemical Equilibrium the Result of the Dissipation of Energy. By G. D. Liveing, M. A., F. R. S. New York: Scribner & Welford.
This essay presents the substance of a course of lectures delivered by the author in the University of Cambridge. The doctrine of the dissipation of energy is, that "there is a universal tendency in nature for energy to take such forms and to be so distributed that it is not available to do mechanical work." This theory is here considered in a form especially adapted to the problems of chemistry, and will prove of interest to students of chemical philosophy.
Moisture and Dryness; or, the Analysis of Atmospheric Humidities in the United States. By Charles Denison, A. M., M. D. Chicago: Band, McNally & Co. Pp. 30, with Charts. Price, $1.
An essay read before the American Climatological Association, and reprinted from "The New York Medical Journal" for September, 1884. The author takes the position that "an actually small amount of atmospheric moisture is the most important element in the best climates for phthisis." The causes affecting dryness, i. e., temperature, altitude, the seasons, etc., are considered; tables of Signal-Service stations in the United States, rated in order of dryness, are given; and, finally, the physical effects of dryness are discussed.
Pennsylvania Boroughs. By William P. Holcombe. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 51. 50 cents.
Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington. Vol. VIII, 1885. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 110. 75 cents.
Forests and Fruit-Growers. By Abbot Kinney, Los Angeles, California. Pp. 5.
Eczema. By George H. Rohe, M. D. Baltimore: Thomas & Evans. Pp. 46.
Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratories of Denison University. Edited by C. L. Herrick, Granville, Ohio. Pp. 136, with Tables and Plates.
American Society of Microscopists. Eighth Annual Meeting, August. 1885; Proceedings. D. S. Kellicot, Secretary. Buffalo, N. Y. Pp. 253, with Plates.
Reflex Irritation from Hypertrophy of Labia Minora. By Charles L. Gwyn, M. D., Galveston, Texas. Pp. 7.
Gyrating Bodies. An Empirical Study. By C. B. Warring. Ph. D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Pp. 106, with Plates.
The Physics and Metaphysics of Money. By Rodmond Gibbons. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 34. 25 cents.
On the Nutritive Value of some Beef Extracts. By Thomas J. Mays, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 12.
The Influence of Sewerage and Water-Supply on the Death-Kate in Cities. By Erwin F. Smith, Ann Arbor, Mich. Pp. 84, with Plates.
International Electrical Exhibition, 1884; Reports on Educational Apparatus and Apparatus for High Electro-Motive Force. Pp. 56. Meteorological and other Registers. Pp. 13. Philadelphia.
Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club. Transactions, No. 6. 1884, 1835. F. R. Latchford, Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 140, with Plates.
Montreal Botanic Garden. First Annual Report. D. P. Penhallow, Director. Pp. 31.
The Processes of Electrotyping and Stereotyping. Boston: H. C. Whitcomb & Co. Pp. 24.
Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Amherst, Mass., for 1885. O. B. Had wen, Secretary. Pp. 141.
The Sphingidæ of New England. By C. H. Fernald, Orono, Me. Pp. 87, with Plates.
Food Consumption, etc. By Carroll D. Wright. With Chemical Analysis and Treatment by Professor W. O. Atwater, Middletown, Conn. Pp. 70.
The Economic Fact-Book and Free-Traders' Guide. Edited by R. R. Bowker. New York Free Trade Club, 39 Nassau Street. Pp. 151. 25 cents.
Passaic, New Jersey, and its Advantages as a Place of Residence and as a Manufacturing Center. By William H. Gillen. Pp. 48.
List of the Aphididæ of Minnesota. By O. W. Oestlund, University of Minnesota. Pp. 50.
Double Congenital Displacement of the Hip. By Buckminster Brown, M.D. Boston: Cupples, Uphain & Co. Pp. 24, with Plates.
Notes giving a Cause for the Present Dull Times. By Frederic Grimm, San Francisco. Pp. 96.
Quarterly Report of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, to December 31, 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 100.
The Topographic Features of Lake Shores. By Grove K. Gilbert. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 121, with Plates.
The Monthly Index. Q. P. Index, Bangor, Me. Monthly, folio page. 25 cents a year.
Taxation of Mutual Life Insurance. By Jacob L. Greene. Pp. 10.
The Half-Breed—Vita sine Literis. By John Reade. Montreal: Dawson Brothers. Pp. 33.
The Social Emancipation of the Gipsies. By James Simson. New York: Thomas R. Knox & Co. Pp. 30. 25 cents.
Electric Lighting: Its Present Condition. By N. H. Schilling, Ph. D. Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co. Pp. 55.
Scouring of Wool in Belgium, Great Britain, and Germany. Consular Reports. Washington: Government Printing-Office Pp. 8, with Plates.
Dutch Village Communities on the Hudson River. By Irving Elting. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 68. 50 cents.
Town Government in Rhode Island. By William E. Foster. The Narragansett Planters. By Edward Channing. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 36 and 23. 50 cents.
Fish Remains and Tracks in the Triassic Rocks at Weehawken, New Jersey. By L. P. Gratacap. Pp. 4.
Destruction of our Native Birds. Committee Report, American Ornithologists' Union. Pp. 16.
Les Crânes dits deformes. (Skulls called deformed.) By Juan Ignacio de Armas, Havana. Pp. 16.
On the Inequalities of Wealth. By an American. New York: Theo. Berendsohn. Pp. 15. 10 cents.
What is Medicine? By Albert L. Gihon, M. D. Pp. 28.
Discussion of a Paper on the South Pass Jetties. By James B. Eads. Pp. 48.
Chicago Manual Training-School. Third Annual Catalogue. Pp. 16.
Notes on the Literature of Explosives. No. IX· By Professor Charles E. Monroe, U.S.N.A., Annapolis, Md. Pp. 13.
Studies of Rhythm. By Professor G. Stanley Hall and Joseph Jastrow, Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 8.
Labor Differences and their Settlement. By Joseph D. Weeks. New York: Society for Political Education, 31 Park Row. Pp. 79. 25 cents.
Torpedoes for National Defense. By William H. Jaques, U S. Navy. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 49. 25 cents.
New Theories concerning the Nervous Elements. By Thomas Powell, M. D., Paoia, Kan. 1 sheet page.
Municipal Administration. By Robert Mathews, Rochester, N. Y.
Official Register of Physicians and Midwives in Illinois. Springfield, 111.: State Board of Health. Pp. 314.
New Fresh-Water Sponges from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Two papers. By A. H. McKay, Canada. Pp. 4 and pp. 8.
How shall the Erie Canal be improved? By the Hon. Horatio Seymour. Jr. New York Board of Trade and Transportation, 55 Liberty Street. Pp. 8.
Appalachia. March, 1886. Pp. 188. 50 cents. Register of the Appalachian Mountain Club, for 1886. Pp. 40. Boston: W. B. Clarke and Carruth.
The Fonetic Herald for 1885, Port Hope, Can. A. Hamilton. Pp. 40 Monthly. 25 cents a year.
The Path. Edited by William Q. Judge. New York: Aryan Theosophical Society, A. H. Gebhard, Publisher. Monthly. Pp. 32. $2 a year.
The Skeleton in Geococcyx. By E. W. Shufeldt. Pp. 12, with Plates.
The Distribution of Rainfall in New England, February 10 to 14, 1386. By Winslow Upton. Pp. 6. with Plates.
History of the Appointing Power of the President. By Lucy M. Salmon. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 129. $1.
Cassell's National Library. No. 6, "The Rivals" and "School for Scandal." Pp. 189. No. 8, "Plutarch's Lives of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar." Pp. 192. No. 9, "The Castle of Otranto," by Horace Walpole. Pp. 191. "The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Kt." Pp. 192. 10 cents each.
The Flow of Water in Open Channels, etc. By P. J. Flynn, C. E. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 113. 50 cents.
Tovey's Brewers' and Maltsters' Directory. 1886. Pp. 83.
The Late Mrs. Null. By Frank R. Stockton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 437. $1.50.
The Story of Chaldea, from the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria. By Zénaide A. Ragozin. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 381. $1.50.
Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission. Vol. V, 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 404.
Upland and Meadow. By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. New York: Harper & Brothers. Pp 397.
New York State Entomologist. Second Annual Report, 1885. By J. A. Lintner, Albany. Pp. 265.
The Epic Songs of Russia. By Isabel Florence Hapgood. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 358. $2.50.
Manual Training. By Charles H. Ham. New York: Harper & Brothers. Pp. 403.
American Diplomacy and the Furtherance of Commerce. By Eugene Schuyler. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 4(59. $2.50.
The Science of Business. By Roderick H. Smith. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 182.
Messianic Expectations and Modern Judaism. By Solomon Schindler. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 290. $1.50.
The Choice of Books and other Literary Pieces. By Frederic Harrison. London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 446.
The Order of Creation (Gladstone, Huxley, etc., Controversy). New York: The Truth-Seeker Company. Pp. 173. 75 cents.
Salammbô of Gustave Flaubert. Englished by M. French Sheldon. New York: Saxon &, Co. Pp. 421. $1.50.
Hunting Trips of a Ranchman. By Theodore Roosevelt. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 347. $3.50.
United States Geological Survey. J. W. Powell, Director. Fifth Annual Report. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 469, with Plates and Maps.
Zwei Profile durch die Sierra Nevada. (Two Profiles through the Sierra Nevada.) By E. Reyer, Vienna. Pp. 34, with Plate.
Annalen k. k. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseum (Annals of the Royal-Imperial Natural History Court Museum). By Dr. Franz Ritter von Hauer, Vienna. Pp. 46.
Sur les Changements temporaires de Refrangibilité des Raies du Spectre de la Chromosphère et des Protubérances Solaires (on Temporary Changes of Refrangibility of the Rays of the Spectrum of the Solar Chromosphere and Protuberances). By E. L. Trouvelot, Pans. Pp. 14, with Plates.