# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 33/October 1888/Literary Notices

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The Origin of Floral Structures through Insect and other Agencies. By Rev. George Henslow, F. L. S. Illustrated. "International Scientific Series," Vol. LXIII. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 349. Price, $1.75.
This volume deals with one of the most interesting departments in the whole range of botanical science. It is, in fact, almost common ground for both the botanist and entomologist. The author accepts as a fundamental principle that environment furnishes the influence which induces plants to vary. A brief outline of the steps taken by various authorities along this line, from Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire in 1795, to Darwin of recent time and Herbert Spencer of to-day, is given in the preface.
Prof. Henslow early had his attention attracted to floral structures in their relation to insect visitors, and this volume is an elaborate treatise in which the object, in the author's own words, is to "endeavor to refer every part of the structure of flowers to some one or more definite causes arising from the environment taken in its widest sense." The early chapters deal with those elementary principles so essential to a full and accurate understanding of that which follows. Symmetry, or lack of it, is treated at length, and many causes are assigned for the disappearance of petals, stamens, etc., or their augmentation. Then follows a discussion of the principles of arrangement. The alternation of the floral whorls is, for example, considered due to their being composed of spirals "which are projected on to the same plane and so form verticils," and the position of stamens follows in consequence of the branching of fibro-vascular bundles. In some cases the sepaline bundles give rise to a whorl of stamens, and in others the petaline cord. Why this should be is not understood. Nutrition is the immediate cause, but why the nutrition should flow in one or the other direction remains obscure.
The irritation induced by insects is a potent cause of the flow of sap to certain parts, which encourages local growth and thereby brings about a union between parts of a whorl or between different whorls. Prof. Henslow's theory is therefore "that the forms and structures of flowers are the direct outcome of the responsive power of protoplasm to external stimuli." That hypertrophy results from irritation is well shown in many instances, but some persons may be slow in granting all that the author is free to ascribe to the theory. He, however, makes a strong argument, and brings forward a great array of facts. Other causes are, however, not overlooked, and hereditary influences is one of these. Irregularity in flowers is shown to be for the purpose of securing the pollination of the stigma. "All flowers, as we have them now, which are in perfect adaptation to insect agency, are the outcome of the resultant of all the forces, external and internal, which the insect has actually brought into play, or stimulated into action by visiting them for their honey or pollen." With this working theory the author is able to show good reasons for the development of flowers having a bilateral symmetry. The portions of a flower upon which insects alight have become large and strong by responding to the strain that insects have brought upon them. Subsequently hereditary influences have come into play, and now the enlarged part may be present before there is any necessity for it. At the same time compensatory degeneration goes on in other parts of the flower. In the tendency of irregular flowers to become regular under cultivation, the author recognizes negative evidence to his theory. Presuming that the irregularity was brought about by insects, the demand for irregularity under culture being wanting, the flowers revert to their ancient regular form. "Did we but know what the insects were, and how they have poised themselves upon the flower, and in what way their proboscides and tongues have irritated the different parts, one might be able to describe more accurately the whole process; but that such have been the cause and effect as above described, seems to me to be too probable a theory to be hastily discarded in the absence of a better one." The author frequently refers to such striking examples of quick response in tissues to insect irritation as are seen in the formation of galls, and he concludes that if the stimulus ​were constant in any one part of a plant, in the course of time the respose would become hereditary. Thus the adhesive pads of certain creepers (Ampelopsis) form before the tendril has come in contact with the wall. A similar development is true of the aerial roots of ivy, etc.
Nectaries have developed according to the same theory—namely, insects having been attracted to the juicy parts, withdraw the liquid and cause a flow of secretion, and finally a gland results. This is not unlike the statement that the excellence of milch-cows is largely due to the stimulation produced upon the milk-glands by the hands of the milker. Floral nectaries are correlated with pollination, they being invariably so placed as to subserve cross-pollination by insects.
It is shown by a long list of examples that sensitiveness and irritability are common phenomena in plants, whether in protoplasm, movements of organs, or formation of tissues, and the theory in hand is but an application of a general principle to the development of a particular part of the flower. The existing floral structures have been evolved under the mechanical and physiological impulses due to insect agencies. The colors of flowers, with all the display of streaks, etc., as path-finders to the nectaries, accord with the theory. "Instead, therefore, of a flower having first painted a petal with a golden streak to invite the insect and to show it the right way of entering, the first insect visitors themselves induced the flower to do it, and so benefited the future comers." The author's discussion of heterostylism—i. e., the different lengths of styles and stamens in the same species—is of great interest, especially that portion which deals with the origin of this condition in flowers. He assumes a homomorphic form as the primitive type, and dimorphism has been effected by varying degrees of stimulus, through insects, being applied to stamens and pistils, so that one set of organs may have been raised while the other was lowered. The lengths finally became so fixed that the best adaptation for cross-fertilization is thereby secured. This view not only ascribes to insects the original cause of variation, but that of the final stability in the dimorphic or trimorphic type. In summing up the treatment of metamorphosis of flowers, both progressive and retrogressive, Prof. Henslow concludes that the vascular cord is the fundamental floral unit, and, as these cords are identical before differentiation, it is not beyond expectation that petals may arise in place of stamens or stamens take the ordinary position of pistils. The primary cause may be less apparent, but doubtless it is in accordance with the governing action of environment modified by heredity. The conclusion drawn upon the somewhat obscure subject of fertilization is, "not that self-fertilization is per se in any way injurious, but that flowers which are normally sterile by having become so highly differentiated through insect stimulation do not now spontaneously set seed, and self-fertilization is not so efficient as crossing." Prof. Henslow has endeavored to make "a good theory of variation," and gives a direct cause for structural forms. He claims that the use of the expression "natural selection" leaves the subject where it was before." Instead, therefore, of using this term as the cause of anything and everything, I prefer to attribute effects to hypertrophy, atrophy, resistance to strains, responsive action to irritations, and so on." It is possible that "natural selection" may underlie all these, and be so understood by many. As to the origin of a flower, the author thinks that it is only necessary to assume a leaf-bud, some of the members of which have differentiated into floral organs of the simplest type, as seen in the gymnosperm. Insects frequently search for pollen only, and by piercing the juicy tissues of such primitive flowers would introduce a series of changes which in time result in conspicuous blossoms. Whether or not the theory is accepted in all its many bearings, it is certain that every botanist must feel under obligations to Prof. Henslow for the excellent volume he has prepared, for the great array of facts therein, and the clear, concise manner in which the theory has been presented from first to last.
Industrial Liberty. By John M. Bonham. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 414. Price, $1.75.
The author of this essay has evidently thought long and well on his topic. He has sought to treat the subject of industrial liberty in a manner somewhat different from that in which it has usually, been discussed; and, aiming to keep in view principles rather ​than statistics, he has undertaken to make an analysis of the salient political and industrial evils of our time, and to measure by fundamental rules the departure, in some of our governmental and industrial methods, from those principles. Such a purpose, it may be observed, implies considerably more than a superficial view of the labor and other questions "of the day," and regard to measures more abiding than the usual makeshift expedients. Whoever reads the book may not agree with the author, but he will have taken in that which will promote thought. Industrial liberty is defined to consist "in the freedom of each individual citizen, guarded by such delegated authority contributed by each as is necessary to preserve this individual freedom equally to each; and this liberty includes the freedom of each individual citizen to contract, and the sanctity of contract." The subject of the treatise is the effect which the world's development in industry and in political ideas, the growth of great industrial concerns, and modern practice in legislation, have had and are having upon the working of this principle. . Steam and mechanical inventions have worked a complete change in the conditions of industry. Has it been for good? Mr. Griffin in England, and Mr. Atkinson in America, answer from statistics that, so far as physical wants are concerned, it apparently has. But it is not the workman's absolute present condition, "so much as a comparison of that condition or a contrast of it with the conditions around him, that comes into question. In other words, it is the increased disparity which constitutes his ground for discontent. Indeed, it is easy to understand that the bettered physical condition of the laboring man may of itself be a reason for bis discontent, when we consider that this better condition has brought with it a better discerning faculty, a better power for comparing and contrasting conditions, and an improved capacity for reasoning upon differences." Another potent factor of recent growth in determining the conditions of the present time is the industrial corporation, which, having become monarch of the chief fields of enterprise, has been made a trust for the benefit of those who manage it, at the expense of the public for whom it is in theory supposed to have been primarily instituted, and even of a considerable portion of its own constituency. The corporation has had saddled upon it, to prey upon the public and bind it, the new form of trust, which is denominated a "parasite," and comes accompanied by other parasites upon industrial liberty. The histories of the growth of the great railway monopolies and the trusts which they carry, and of the Standard Oil and the gas trusts, are related. The remedy for these evils may be sought in treating corporate managers as trustees for the public; but the obstacles in the way of reform are formidable. They are reviewed at length. The influence of protection—which is declared to be a theory and not a principle—is next considered, and found to be not good, but in violation of natural law and encouraging to "trusts." A paternal government is defined and condemned as one which "in any way erects or creates obstacles tending to interfere with the industrial incentives and equal political rights of the citizen, or which fails to prevent the creation of such obstacles, or to remove existing ones." Under this dictum, protection, permission of discriminations, the common-school system, legal-tender government obligations, priority of liens, and business enterprises, direct or indirect, by the government, are condemned; but supervision and control of the government's artificial creations—corporations—in matters affecting the rights of citizens; administrative acts for the whole people; regulation of the traffic in intoxicants and poisons, prevention of food adulterations, and other acts of police, are not paternal, but within the proper sphere of government. The author's views respecting the common-school system, being different from those generally prevailing, are dwelt upon at length. Paternalism is less prevalent in America, and we have a great advantage in the freedom with which land may be alienated; but in both England and America a great deal remains yet to be accomplished; and much is hoped for the man who will be the product of the next civilization.
The Chemical Analysis of Iron. By Andrew A. Blair. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 282. Price, $4.
This work is intended to embrace all the methods of value to the iron analyst. It ​opens with a fully illustrated description of the necessary apparatus, many of the special forms of which are the author's own invention; this is followed by directions for preparing the reagents. Methods are then given for determining all the elements likely to be found in pig-iron, bar-iron, or steel, also for slag and oxides, several processes usually being given for each substance. Under carbon, the determination of total carbon, graphitic carbon, and combined carbon, are described. Methods for the analysis of iron ores follow, also for the analysis of limestone, clay, slags, fire-sands, coal, coke, and gases. Tables of chemical factors, percentages of P and P$_2$O$_5$ for each milligramme of Mg$_2$P$_2$O$_7$, of tension of aqueous vapor, and for reducing volumes of gases to the normal state, are appended. The volume is copiously illustrated, and its print is large and clear.
The Aryan Race: Its Origin and its Achievements. By Charles Morris. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 347. Price, $1.50.
An exhaustive treatment of the above subject would fill many thick volumes, but the purpose of the author of the present work has been rather to give a brief outline of the history of that race from which the most cultured and powerful nations of the modern world have sprung. Mr. Morris discusses the several theories as to where was the home of the Aryans, and in what order and by what routes the different divisions of the race streamed out over Europe and Asia. He then gives a sketch of their customs and religion in their ancient home, and traces the course of their political development and of the development of the Aryan languages. The Aryan literature, and some other Aryan characteristics, also receive attention. Mr. Morris assures us that "all the statements concerning questions of fact have been drawn from trustworthy authors." The style is popular, and the author hopes "that the work may prove of interest and value to those who simply desire a general knowledge of the subject, and may in some measure serve as a guide to those more ardent students who prefer to continue the study by the consultation of higher authorities."
The Present Condition of Economic Science, and the Demand for a Radical Change in its Methods and Aims. By Edward Clark Lunt. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 114. Price, 75 cents.
The author assumes, that while the doctrines of political economy have at no period shared largely in the public confidence, lack of confidence has in recent times become increasingly prevalent. The disrepute is explained by reference to the many conceptions of the science that are afloat; the disputes of economists; the "dismal" aspect which discussions have been made to assume the "bias that has been given by personal interests to the discussions; and the mistakes that have been made." The English method is criticised and objected to as being too deductive, too absolute, overfond of competition, and too reliant upon the laissez-faire, or "let-alone." The "new school" is sketched on its positive side as making the use of history a leading feature; and the value of this feature, and the extent and qualifications under which it may be safely applied, are discussed. This school has a good title to novelty in merging economics in the general science of sociology; and makes an attempt to unite ethics with political economy, which is pronounced impracticable and perversive. Finally, the new school lacks the great essential of a reason for existing, and,"as for scientific method in economics, the time seems now to have arrived when discussion is uncalled for, and when the question may safely be left to settle itself."
A Text-Book of Biology. By J. R. Ainsworth Davis. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 462. Price, $4.
The author of this work is Lecturer on Biology in the University College of Wales. The book is designed for the use both of students who are studying alone, and those who are working under guidance. It is "divided into two parts, a botanical and a zoological, each of which deals with a number of types morphologically and physiologically, then briefly draws out the points of comparison between them, and ends with an outline of classification." A bibliography, and a set of examination questions, most of which are reprinted from the London ​University calendars, are appended. There are also separate index-glossaries for the two parts of the book, though a single index would be more convenient. The text is illustrated by one hundred and fifty-eight figures. In the vegetable part, representatives of the fungi, algæ, mosses, and ferns are described. The Scotch fir is taken to represent the gymnosperms; but as the angiosperms show such a great variety in form and structure, a general outline of the group is given, the various points being illustrated by, for the most part, common examples, instead of describing two or three species as representatives of the group. The part devoted to animals occupies about twice the space of that devoted to plants. The vertebrates are represented by the frog, pigeon, and rabbit. While the book contains no directions for manipulation of specimens, the parts of each organism are fully described, and the numerous cuts are minutely lettered.
Synoptical Flora of North America: The Gamopetalæ. Vol. I, Part II, and Vol. II, Part I. By Asa Gray, LL. D. Published by the Smithsonian Institution. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. Pp. 480 and 494.
The two portions of the late Prof. Gray's monumental work which have been so far published are reissued in the present volume. These parts together comprise all the gamopetalous dicotyledons. Vol. II, Part I, first published in 1878, has been extended by a supplement of seventy pages, and a complete index of genera, species, etc. A few pages of the text have been recast, and various minor corrections have been made. To the other part, published in 1884, a supplement of eleven pages has been added, and its full index has been made anew. The completed division constitutes the middle half of the entire flora, the author's design being to prefix an account of the Polypetalæ, forming Part I of Vol. I, and to add a second part of Vol. II, dealing with the Apetalæ, and Vol. Ill on the Monocotyledons. Vol. I would thus cover the ground of the two volumes of a "Flora of North America," published by Profs. Torrey and Gray in 1840 and 1843. Prof. Gray was occupied with his great work close up to the time of his death. All botanists will share the regret that he could not have been spared to bring the "Flora" to its completion, and will hope to see the remaining labor finally performed by hands familiar with the methods of the beloved master.
The Tariff History of the United States: A Series of Essays. By F. W. Taussig. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 269. Price, $1.25.
The papers comprised in this volume were written at different times and have been published through different channels; but they have been revised, pruned, and added to so as to form a harmonious whole, and as they now appear give a fairly connected history of tariff legislation and its workings from 1789 to 1887. The author admits that there may be conditions in the history of a country where a temporary qualified protective policy may be of advantage. Thus, "the transition from a purely agricultural state to a more diversified system of industry may be retarded, in the complete absence of other occupations than agriculture, beyond the time when it might advantageously take place. Secondly, when great improvements take place in some of the arts of production, it is possible that the new processes may be retained in the country in which they originate, and may fail to be applied in another country, through ignorance, the inertia of habit, and perhaps in consequence of restrictive legislation at the seat of the new methods. Here, again, the obstacles to the introduction of the new industry may be of that artificial kind which can be overcome most easily by artificial means." Yet, notwithstanding "both these sets of conditions seem to have been fulfilled in the United States at the beginning of the present century," the lesson drawn from the history of each of several leading branches of manufacture is, that protection has been of very little effect upon its growth. While cotton was probably assisted by the tariff of 1816, its manufacture was securely established before 1824, and "the further application of protection in that and the following years was needless, and, so far as it had any effect, harmful. . . . It appears that direct protective legislation had even less influence in promoting the introduction and early growth of the woolen than of the cotton manufacture." And it is concluded that ​"the duties on iron during the generation after 1815 formed a heavy tax on consumers; that they impeded, so far as they went, the industrial development of the country; and that no compensatory benefits were obtained to offset these disadvantages." The history shows also that three different arguments have been urged at different times in favor of protection. First was the "young industries" argument, which began to lose strength shortly after 1832; next was the "home market" argument, to which the situation during the War of 1812 gave some vigor; and last was the argument based on the difference in wages in Europe and the United States, which, curiously, was first a free-trade weapon before the protectionists took it up. As a whole, "one does not find in the popular discussions of fifty years ago, more than in those of the present, precision of thought or expression." Through all tariff changes and discussions our manufactures kept on growing, as they would have done under any circumstances, Prof. Taussig seems to believe, by the sheer force of the nature of things. The history of the existing tariff is given with considerable fullness.
Ptomaines and Leucomaines. By Victor C. Vaughan, Ph. D., M. D., and Frederick G. Novy., M. S. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co. Pp. 316. Price, $1.75.
Toxicology, the field in which the three domains of the chemist, the doctor, and the lawyer come together, has had its boundaries enlarged within the past ten years by the addition of the putrefactive and the physiological alkaloids. In this short period the activity of various investigators has brought to light a large number of facts concerning these substances. To collect, arrange, and systematize these discoveries, the reports of which were scattered through many journals, transactions, and other publications, has been the first object of the authors of this volume.
The work opens with a historical sketch of the subject, which is followed by a chapter of cases of poisoning by foods containing poisonous ptomaines. Poisoning by cheese and milk is treated with especial fullness, Prof. Vaughan being especially qualified to speak on this subject, since he is the discoverer of tyrotoxicon. The relation of ptomaines to disease is next taken up, and five theories which have been proposed in answer to the question, How do micro-organisms produce disease? are examined. The theory that the symptoms of infectious disease are caused by chemical poisons, ptomaines, which the bacilli produce by splitting up complex compounds in the body, is deemed by the authors practically demonstrated, and they cite the evidence for this theory as regards anthrax, cholera, tetanus, and other diseases. In the next chapter certain ptomaines which resemble in their reactions the vegetable alkaloids are described, and the danger of mistaking the former for the latter is pointed out. Several methods of extracting ptomaines are given, and the chemical descriptions of a large number of these substances follow. Similar descriptions of the leucomaines are given, and a twenty-page bibliography of the two classes of substances closes the volume.
Vol. IV, No. IV, of Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University (N. Murray, Baltimore, $1), opens with a short paper by Prof. W. K. Brooks, on "The Life-History of Epenthesis McCradyi," a species of hydro-medusa, illustrated with three plates. This is followed by "Observations on the Development of Cephalopods: Homology of the Germ-Layers," by S. Watase, with two plates. There are also two papers by F. Mall, M. D., one on "Development of the Ear of the Chick," with two plates, and the other on "The Branchial Clefts of the Dog, with Special Reference to the Origin of the Thymus Gland," with three plates. Mr. T. H. Morgan reports some "Experiments with Chitin Solvents."
The California Florist (Santa Barbara, Cal., $1 a year) is an illustrated monthly devoted to Pacific coast floriculture. It is popular and practical in character, and is edited with intelligence and good taste. The first number was that for May, 1888.
Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft has prepared, and the History Company, San Francisco, publishes, uniform with the series of the "History of the Pacific States of North America," California inter Pocula, or ​"California in her Cups"—a picture of what have been called the "flush times" of that State; or of its age of gold-hunting. The period and the scenes covered by the story were probably unique in the history of the world. Ordinary historical narrative can, as the author intimates, hardly do justice to them, because they were "so full of oddities, and crudities, and strange developments, consequent upon unprecedented conditions," that "to condense them into the more solid forms of history without to some extent stifling the life that is in them, and marring their originality and beauty, is not possible. There are topics and episodes and incidents which can not be vividly portrayed without a tolerably free use of words—I do not say a free use of the imagination," The record is therefore set off in a volume by itself, and given as an accompaniment to the history proper rather than as a part of it. The account begins with a description of the "Valley of California," its peculiar features and scenery. Then the review of "Three Centuries of Wild Talk about Gold in California," to which little value is attached as indicating any conception of the wealth which the country held, is followed by the story of the discovery of gold by Marshall, given in highly dramatic style and with the variant versions. The emigration from the East naturally follows, by its several routes, overland and by sea—giving opportunity to present vivid pictures of conditions that are past never to return. The circumstances which the emigrants found, or made, when they reached the El Dorado, are next in logical order, and are portrayed to a large extent in lively anecdote. These conditions include society in San Francisco and at the mines; the anomalous condition in which the emigrants found themselves in the entire absence of the influences of home and woman; mining life and customs; the administration of justice; the prevalence of drinking, gambling, and dueling; and Chinese and Indian episodes. A full account of the Modoc campaign is given under the last-mentioned head.
Additional volumes in G. P. Putnam's Sons' series of "English History by Contemporary Writers" are Simon de Montfort and his Cause, selected and arranged by the Rev. W, H. Hutton, and Strongbow's Conquest of Ireland, by Francis Pierrepont Barnard. The former volume gives the story of one of the most important and exciting series of events in the history of England—including the close of the struggle between crown and barons—from the writings of Robert of Gloucester, Matthew Paris, William Rishanger, Thomas of Wykes, and other chroniclers. The second volume deals with the first contact between the newly organized feudalism of Anglo-Roman England and the far older and more primitive civilization of the last independent Keltic states. It is made up of translations from a great many writers, all of the "olden time." Besides the interest and importance attached to the stories themselves, there is a peculiarly rare flavor about the books of this series, derived from the antiquity of the authors and the naïve style in which they wrote, so different in many of its features from modern composition.
The Historical American, "an illustrated monthly magazine of history, literature, science and art" (M. H. Meagher, Cleveland, $3 a year), issued its first number in July. Some of the chief articles of that issue are "Abraham Lincoln" (with portrait), by Henry C. Long; "Thomas Paine" (with portrait), by Colonel William Henry Burr; "True and False Civil-Service Reform," by Lester F. Ward; and "The Projects of Aaron Burr," by Charles H. Creighton. Under the heading "Notes and Comments" are printed Colonel R. G. Ingersoll's Decoration-day address, and extracts from an address by T. B. Wakeman, in defense of protection, before the Nineteenth Century Club of New York.
Stories of other Lands, compiled and arranged by the late James Johonnot (D. Appleton & Co.), is a reading-book of the historical series, designed for older pupils than those for whom the other volumes of the series were intended. It presents, in extracts from the works of standard authors, in prose and poetry, striking incidents in the histories of Spain, France, central Europe, and Great Britain, in the lives of artists, in the record of science and industry, and miscellaneous stories. The whole are designed and adapted to excite such an interest as will lead the pupil to more extensive ​reading, particularly in the fields which are opened out by the selections.
C. N. Caspar, of Milwaukee, has announced a Complete Volapük Dictionary; in Volapük-English and English-Volapük, by Klas August Linderfelt. It is based on the last editions of the dictionaries of Schleyer and Kerckhoffs. Schleyer's dictionary is said to contain more than twenty thousand words, from which it will be seen that Volapük already has a considerable vocabulary. A new feature is added in the present work, in indicating the source and language from which each Volapük word is derived. From this it appears that more than sixty per cent of the radical words have their origin in the English language. Prof. Linderfelt's manual of Volapük has been very successful, three editions of four thousand copies each having already been published.
The ninth and tenth volumes of the Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington (Smithsonian Institution, publisher), bound in one, contain the minutes of the society and of the Mathematical Section for 1886 and 1887, together with the proceedings of the Baird memorial meeting. A number of valuable papers are included in the Transactions. Among them are two presidential addresses: the first, by John S. Billings, at the December meeting of 1886, on "Scientific Men and their Duties"; and the second, by William Harkness, in 1887, on "The Progress of Science as exemplified in the Art of Weighing and Measuring." Another valuable paper is the discussion of the Charleston earthquake. The addresses at the Baird memorial meeting, by Messrs. Garrick Mallery, William B. Taylor, William H. Dall, and J. W. Powell, present incidents and estimates and illustrations of Prof. Baird's character from several points of view.
The Woman's Temperance Publication Association, Chicago, publish, under the title of Our Standard-Bearer, the life sketches and speeches of General Clinton B. Fisk, Prohibition candidate for President, by the Rev. John O. Foster, with an introduction by Frances E. Willard. Although primarily designed for a campaign document, the work is something more, and contains a pleasing miscellany of "army stories" and a record of active participation in works of benevolence.
The seventh volume of the Archivos do Museu Nacional (Archives of the National Museum), of Rio Janeiro, is of particular interest to us, because it is all the work of American students and authors. It includes the results of the studies of the Cretaceous invertebrate fossils made in the course of the prosecution of the Brazilian geological survey, under the direction of Prof. C. F. Hartt, which fossils were carefully preserved by Mr. Orville A. Derby, as director of the Geological Section of the National Museum, and have been examined by Dr. Charles A. White, of Washington, whose report upon them and specific descriptions constitute the text of the work. Twenty-eight plates of illustrations accompany the letterpress.
Abbott, Helen C. D., Philadelphia. The Chemical Basis of Plant Forms. Pp. 27. Comparative Chemistry of Higher and Lower Plants. Pp. 24.
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Journal of the. Second Series. Vol. IX, Part II. Pp. 111.
American Society for Psychical Research, Proceedings of the. Vol. I, No. III. Boston: Damrell & Upham. Pp. 283. 50 cents.
Boaz, Franz, New York. Meteorologische Beobachtungen im Cumberland-Sunde. Pp. 22. Myths and Legends of the Catloltq. Pp. 11. Mythologie der nordwest-amerikanischen Küstenvölker.
Bray, Rev. Henry T., Boonville, Mo. Essays on God and Man. Pp. 270. $2.
Bryce. P., M. D, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Moral and Criminal Responsibility. Pp. 22.
Clarke, Frank W. The Constants of Nature. Part I. A Table of Specific Gravity for Solids and Liquids. Washington; The Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 409.
Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, N. T. Report for 1887. Pp.!33.
Cornell University. Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Station. No. II. Pp. 12.
Curme, George O. Selected Poems from Premières et Nouvelles Mèditations of Lamartine. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 179. 75 cents.
Dalaud, Rev. William C, Leonardsville, N. Y. The Song of Songs. Pp. 50. 50 cents.
D'Ooge, Benjamin L. Colloquia Latina. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 81. 30 cents.
Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, Journal of the, Chapel Hill, N. C. January to June, 1888. Pp. 53.
Georgia Department of Agriculture. Crop Report for August, 1388. Pp. 29.
Griswold, William M., East Capitol Station, D. C. Index to Harper's Weekly, 1857-1887. Pp. 25.
Harvard College Observatory, Annals of. Vol. XVIII, No. 3. Photometric Observations of Asteroids, by Henry M. Parkhurst. Pp. 44, No. 4. Total Eclipse of the Moon. January 28, 1888. Pp. 11, No. 5. Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 29, 1886, by William H. Pickering. Pp. 27.
Hoffman, W. J., M. D. Pictography and Shamanistic Rites of the Ojibwa. Pp. 21.
Insect Life. Vol. L No. 1. July, 1888. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology.
​Illinois, University of Champaign, 111., Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 2. Ensilage. Pp. 10.
Journal of American Folklore. Vol. I, No. 2. July to September, 1888. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $8 a year; single numbers, $1.
Kirk, Eleanor, Brooklyn, N. Y. Periodicals that pay Contributors. Pp. 32.
Lippitt. Francis J. Physical Proofs of Another Life. Washington: A. S. Witherbee & Co. Pp . 65.
Loti, Pierre. An Iceland Fisherman. New York: W. S. Gottsberger. Pp. 232.
MacDowall, Alexander B. Facts about Ireland. London: Edward Stanford. Pp. 32.
Massachusetts Society for promoting Good Citizenship. Report of the Committee upon Works on Civil Government. Pp. 24.
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