# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 22/December 1882/Literary Notices

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George Ripley. By Octavius Brooks Frothingham. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 321. Price, $1.50.
Mr. Frothingham's life of Ripley is a very pleasant and entertaining, if not in the highest degree instructive, book upon its subject. As a biographer, in this case he has the advantage of having been long and intimately acquainted with the man whose life he delineates, of having a similar culture and a broad sympathy with his aims. But while these qualifications are favorable to the appreciation of Mr. Ripley's character, they are not so favorable to that criticism of it which is perhaps necessary to extract the highest lesson from its career. Mr. Frothingham has given us a model biography from a literary point of view, but we suspect that in future the work of describing men's lives must more and more pass into the hands of those who have a scientific preparation for the work. We must have something more than the mere narration of a career in a fine literary form; we must have analysis and a critical judgment of character in relation to the circumstances in which it was displayed.
Mr. Ripley's life was divided into several stages. He was a bright, clear-headed boy of unusual capacity, fond of books, and learning from them with great facility. He accepted the customary course of study, and went through college early and with distinction. He was absorbed in classical studies, and paid very little attention to science of any kind. His culture was therefore one-sided, and he was in consequence to no small degree the victim to his university education.
From college he passed into professional life, taking the line of divinity. In preparation for this he had crammed German meta-physics to an inordinate degree, and brought a large theological erudition to his pulpit labors. He worked zealously and most conscientiously in this field for upward of a dozen years, and, being dissatisfied with the result, decided to abandon it. We are of opinion that with his strong common sense, if he had any fair share of scientific cultivation, he would either have kept out of the clerical profession or would have succeeded in it by subordinating theology to truth and making an independent career. He had abundant talent for this purpose. But, as it was, his theology broke down and he left it.
Mr. Ripley then entered upon the third stage of his career, which was both very natural and not a little remarkable. Earnestly desiring to realize a nobler ideal of life than is fulfilled by the present state of society, even under a religious organization which he had faithfully tried, he resolved to embark in a new social project that promised to yield higher satisfactions than are derived from the existing state of society.
He joined the association at Brook Farm, now a curiosity of history, and resolved to devote himself to the practical realization of a more harmonious social life by an experimental trial of what is possible in this direction. He had eminent coadjutors, who were animated by the same high aspirations, but Ripley was the life and soul of the movement. Never, perhaps, was before gathered a more sincere and unselfish band of devotees than those who made the attempt to carry out a reconstructive social reform at Brook Farm. The experiment failed, of course, and Ripley was left saddled with its debts, all of which he afterward most honorably discharged.
We say Brook Farm failed "of course," and this for the very simple reason that ideal states of society implying natures of a high grade can not be suddenly manufactured out of materials long shaped and adapted to a lower social condition. The adventurers of Brook Farm were sentimentalists, enthusiasts, and philanthropists, amiable and earnest, but of the literary type which implies a highly cultivated ignorance of all the natural laws by which terrestrial affairs are governed. If George Ripley had studied natural things when in college for half the time, and got some tolerable idea of the limitations of human nature under inexorable natural ordinances, he would not have ​plunged into so crude and futile an experiment as that at Brook Farm. Of course, it was a generous and noble, an heroic and a chivalric endeavor, and creditable to the hearts of those who turned their backs upon a selfish and sordid civilization to achieve a more harmonious and elevated life; but it was discreditable to their heads that they had not the intelligence to know that it must end just where it did end—in hopeless failure. Brook Farm collapsed because it was a project of impracticables whose education had been classical instead of scientific.
With the failure of Brook Farm Mr. Ripley took to the vocation of literature. Tired of making the world over, he resolved to accept it as it is, and make the most of it. His success was small at first, but he was an excellent critic, a fine writer, and an indefatigable worker, and these qualities were sure to win success. His career as a journalist and editor is fully and admirably described by Mr. Frothingham, and is very interesting; but it would be easy to show that the lack of the scientific element in his culture was as much a drawback in his later labors as in those that preceded them.
The New Botany. A Lecture on the Best Method of teaching the Science. By W. J. Beal, M. Sc, Ph. D. Second edition, revised. Philadelphia: C. H. Marot. 1882. Pp. 16. Price, 25 cents.
There is no class of persons who need teaching more than teachers. There are a few born educators whose native instinct, if not perverted by bad teaching, prompts them to pursue natural and rational methods for teaching others, but the average teacher teaches as he himself was taught, so that bad methods are propagated and spread indefinitely. The author of the pamphlet before us draws an interesting and life-like picture of the old way of teaching botany, in which the sole end and aim was to memorize the parts of the plant, and then learn its name by the aid of an artificial key, thus obtaining a most formal introduction to the stranger.
The new botany began to appear in this country in 1862, and includes a study of the subjects as set forth by Darwin, Sachs, Lubbock, Bessey, and others. It studies objects before books, and sets the pupil to thinking, investigating, and experimenting for himself. Teaching the new botany properly "is simply giving the thirsty a chance to drink." It also creates a thirst which the study gratifies, but never entirely satisfies. For young pupils object-lessons are very popular for a while, but in most cases the interest soon wears away; there is too much pouring in, and too little worked out by the pupil. They bring forth the combined information of all members of a class, but add little or nothing by way of research. To be really appreciated, a student should earn his facts in the study of biology. The author says: "In the whole course in botany I keep constantly in view how best to prepare students to acquire information for themselves with readiness and accuracy. This is a training for power, and is of far more value than the mere information acquired during a course of study in natural science."
The difficulty in the way of teaching the new botany is a serious, almost a fatal one, namely, it requires an actual knowledge of the subject on the part of the teacher; it can not be taught, like history and geography, by text-books; and, in addition, the teacher must have tact as well as knowledge. We have not yet reached the millennium of education, when each science shall be taught only by its true disciples and investigators.
Is Consumption contagious? And can it be transmitted by Means of Food? By Herbert C. Clapp, A. M., M. D. Second edition. Boston: Otis Clapp & Son. 1882. Pp. 187. Price, 15 cents.
That a second edition of such a book should be called for within two years after its first appearance is sufficient proof of the interest felt in the subject by the people as well as the profession. The author does not set out to prove that consumption is contagious, but presents the arguments advanced on both sides, with such an array of cases that the reader feels almost convinced that it must be either infectious or contagious. Koch's discovery, which has been made since the first edition, is referred to in the new preface and described in the appendix. That this discovery has an important bearing on the question propounded by Dr. Clapp is evident, and in general is ​strongly favorable to an affirmative answer. We need not here enumerate the various other reasons presented on this side of the question, such as the immunity of barbarous races from phthisis until they begin to be associated with the whites, its prevalence in convents, harems, and barracks, the frequency of the disease in wives who have nursed tuberculous husbands, etc. Whether the reader admits that the case is proved, the dictates of reason favor the observance of certain precautions, such as not allowing the same person to remain in too constant attendance on consumptives, nor permitting another to sleep with them, securing the most perfect ventilation possible, and the exercise of great cleanliness with immediate removal and destruction of sputa.
The remainder of the book is devoted to a discussion of the effect of tuberculous food, a subject of no less practical importance than the former. The occurrence of tuberculosis among cows and oxen being quite frequent, it is important that every possible means be employed to prevent the consumption of such beef by human beings. Milk from cows affected by this disease is j even more to be feared, owing to the difficulty of preventing its sale, and the fact \ that the greater part of it is consumed without cooking. In addition to this we must consider that milk frequently forms the entire food of young children, and is an important article of diet with invalids, both of whom are more liable to attacks of any new disease than are older and more healthy persons. Aside from the dangerous infective properties, such milk is objectionable as an article of food, owing to its deficiency in fat, sugar, and the nitrogenous elements. The only remedy against these dangers from beef and milk is to be found in a careful, honest governmental inspection of all the meat that comes into our markets, especially at the slaughter-houses, and of the cows that furnish our milk, with particular reference to the existence of this disease. It may be a difficult and expensive undertaking, but, for our safety, it must be done. The book, on the whole, is not intended to quiet the fears of nervous people, or to convince the timid that there is little to be feared from the dreaded scourge—consumption.
The Sun. By Professor C. A. Young. New edition.
We are glad to see a new and carefully revised edition of this admirable and standard work, and also that successive editions are called for abroad. Great pains have been taken by the author to give the highest accuracy to the text, and he has appended, in the form of notes, all the new and important information that has accumulated since the first issue. None of these additions discredit what may be regarded as established facts and principles relating to the sun, but they constitute interesting extensions of solar knowledge, together with new and ingenious speculations, the value of which time alone can determine. Professor Young has done well in thus keeping his book sharply up to the time, by which it will maintain its leading position in astronomical literature.
La Navigation Électrique (Electric Navigation). By Georges Dart. Paris: J. Baudry. Pp. 65, with 17 Illustrations in the text.
The first part of this work gives the history of the attempts to apply electrical force to the propulsion of boats and airships, including the first essay by M. de Jacobi in Russia in 1839, and the experiment of M. Trouvé, which received the applause due to an apparent success at the Paris Exposition of Electricity last year. A controllable balloon proposed by M. Tissandier, and the electro-motor which he would apply to its propulsion, are also mentioned. The second part of the work embraces a full and detailed description of M. Trouvé's electrical motor, its application, and the degrees of speed attained with it. The whole is hopeful for the ultimate success of electro-navigation.
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 772.
This report, though tardy in appearing, has a permanent value that justifies a notice of it at any time. The record of work done is very full in notices of explorations and special investigations in which the Institution has had a part; the list of ​acquisitions to the collections and of exchanges is quite large. The "Record of Scientific Progress," which forms one of the appendices, is designed to take the place in part of the "Annual Record of Science and Industry," formerly published by Harper & Brothers, and contains reviews in astronomy, by Professor Edward S. Holden; geology, by George W. Hawes, Ph. D.; physics and chemistry, by Professor George F. Barker; mineralogy, by George W. Hawes, Ph.D.; botany, by Professor William G. Farlow; zoology, by Theodore Gill; and anthropology, by Otis T. Mason. Other important articles in the appendix are "Abstracts of the Smithsonian Correspondence relative to Aboriginal Remains in the United States," a description of the Luray Cavern, Virginia; a discussion of the barometric observations of Professor Snell, of Amherst College; an account of investigations relative to illuminating materials, by Professor Joseph Henry; a bibliography of Herschel's writings; and reports of astronomical observatories.
The Peaks in Darien, with some other Inquiries touching Concerns of the Soul and the Body. An Octave of Essays. By Frances Power Cobbe. Boston: George H. Ellis. Pp. 303. Price, $1.50.
The first of the essays in this book, "Magnanimous Atheism," affirms the inefficiency of that creed of agnosticism, or of Comtism, to frame a rule for moral guidance; the second, "Hygeiolatry," disputes the doctrine that bodily health is the chief good "for which personal freedom, courage, humanity, and purity, ought all to be sacrificed," and argues that there are numbers of instances in which disregard of life and health is proper and even a duty. Coming to particulars, it attacks the English laws for the regulation of vice. Another essay, on "Zoöphily," is a vigorous but one-sided protest against vivisection. In other papers, Schopenhauer and his pessimism are assailed, and the fitness of women for the ministry of religion is discussed. The essay which gives the title to the book cites a number of instances of cases wherein, in the opinion of the author, "indications seem to have been given of the perception by the dying of the blessed presences revealed to them, even as the veil of the flesh has dropped away." The papers afford lively reading, but the book is one of opinions and sharp thrusts rather than arguments.
The Fire-Protection of Mills; and Construction of Mill-Floors: Containing Tests of Full-Size Wood Mill Columns. By C. J. H. Woodbury. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1882. Pp. 196. Illustrated.
The avowed object of this book is to reduce the risk of fire and its attendant evils, as applied to mills, but many of the precautions are applicable to other structures, and especially to all factories. The first portion is devoted to a consideration of those matters of equipment and general management which experience has proved to be efficient in the fire-protection of mills. Under these we notice some practical suggestions regarding fire-pails, and where and how they should be kept ready for use. The various forms of fire-pumps are described and illustrated, the advantages and disadvantages of each being carefully stated. The next subjects in order are hydrants, stand-pipes, drip-couplings, hose-valves, and nozzles; also a table showing the quantity of water discharged per minute from a one inch nozzle under pressure of from fifteen to eighty-five pounds per square inch. Several systems of "sprinklers," or perforated pipes, intended for the more hazardous parts of mills, are described. The efficiency of these is often impaired by rust and paint obstructing the orifices. The latter should be guarded against by placing tacks in each hole before the sprinklers are painted; the former by the use of a brass bushing. The automatic sprinkler, the author says, is one of the oldest devices for special fire apparatus, the first patent having been granted in 1806. A large number of automatic sprinklers are figured, full size or half size.
The next subject treated is the causes of mill-fires, among which we find that spontaneous combustion holds a prominent place, second only to friction and foreign substances in the picker. Matches and lighting apparatus, of course, are dangerous elements, as well as lightning, fire-works, and stoves. In one case a freshet caused such a rapid oxidation of iron turnings as to set ​fire to the sawdust that was mixed with them.
The advantages of electric lighting for mills are dwelt on at some length, the different systems being described and the cost compared. The latter contains the results actually obtained at the Globe Mills in Woonsocket, where the expense of lighting a weave-room three hundred feet by sixty-six, by gas, was nearly twice the cost of lighting the same room by electricity, gas costing $2.20 per thousand feet. Only one hundred and seventeen incandescent lamps were employed, where two hundred and sixteen gas-burners had been used, making the cost per light very nearly the same. The dangers of electric lighting are admitted, and the precautions to be taken are enumerated.
The second portion of the book treats of the restriction of injury from fire by means of the application of sound principles of building pertaining to slow-burning construction. The features of bad construction and the elements of safe construction are considered, and formulae are given for the strength of beams, planks, floors, etc.
The book is handsomely printed in large clear type, on good paper, and bound in "fiery red" cloth, which makes it rather suggestive. It is a book that could be read with advantage by many others than builders and owners of mills, and it is to be hoped that its practical suggestions may accomplish what its author aims at—a reduction in the number and extent of mill fires, with the attendant loss of life and property.
Easy Star Lessons. By Richard A. Proctor. Illustrated with Forty-eight Star Maps and Thirty-five Woodcuts. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. Pp. 219. Price, $2.50.
The object of this last book of the distinguished astronomer is to teach the star groups, and enable the learner to find them on the sky. Instead of the usual star maps that represent the entire visible heavens and require to be held upside down, or sideways, in tracing out the constellations, four maps are given for each month of the year, namely, a northern, a southern, an eastern, and a western map, making forty-eight in
all. The maps are printed in blue, the stars in white; the principal stars of each constellation are joined by dotted lines, and the names of the constellation are given, but the usual imaginary pictures of bulls, fishes, and dragons are all omitted, so that the map more nearly resembles the sky than is usual. Lines are drawn to represent the horizons of New Orleans, Louisville, Philadelphia, and Boston; also of London, England. The zenith of each place is likewise given. Several pages of letterpress accompany each set of star maps, and explain the method to be followed in tracing out each group, and woodcuts are employed in the text to exhibit the position of the larger stars as related to the bulls and bears of the sky. This method of separating the real from the imginary will be a boon to the star-gazer and the student, for it is very pleasant to know the stars—to be able, like Milton's hermit, to
". . . Bit and rightly spell Of every star that heaven doth show."
Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 914.
The commissioner asserts that the important relation which his department sustains to the interests of education is becoming constantly more apparent; and that the year covered by the present report was marked by a great increase in the amount and value of the information received at the office with reference to the conduct of education in our own and foreign countries, and by a corresponding increase in the public demand for the distribution of information. The department is endeavoring to secure a more exact particularity and definiteness in the educational statistics from the different States, so that they may show more clearly the condition of the schools, the proficiency of the pupils, and the degree of attention that is given to each branch of study. It has succeeded so far that the reports from Ohio give the number of pupils in each of the branches taught, and those of more than a dozen other States give approaches to the result. Advance is claimed in the consideration shown in the arrangement of courses of study to psychological conditions and the necessities of pupil life. An approach has been made in the last ten ​years toward uniformity in the general outlines of the school systems of the different States, which seems remarkable in view of the diversity of educational conditions in the several States prior to 1870, the opposite theories which prevailed in different sections, and the great contrast between the newly settled States and older commonwealths in social conditions and available resources." Information concerning rural schools being given now fuller and in more explicit shape than formerly, their deficiencies and wants are in consequence more clearly perceived, and there is ground for belief that improvement in them will be steady and rapid. Women's opportunities to influence education as voters and school officers have been greatly enlarged in many States, but the commissioner regrets to say that the women have shown more indifference to them than he had expected. The usual annual review of the different classes and grades of schools in the United States is given, but, while it shows the general improvement in efficiency that was to be expected, reveals nothing new that calls for especial remark. Papers are appended on "Education in Foreign Countries," "Industrial Education," "Popular Science Teaching," "Evening, Army, and Summer Schools," "Myopia," the "Physiology of Reading and of Writing," and other topics bearing upon the advancement and improvement of education.
Manual of Blow-pipe Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative, with a Complete System of Determinative Mineralogy. By H. B. Cornwall, Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Mineralogy in the John C. Green School of Science, Princeton, N. J. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1882. Pp. 308.
The title of the book before us very fully explains its nature and purpose. Professor Cornwall's skill as a chemist and experience as a teacher peculiarly fit him for the preparation of a manual that shall supply the student with all the needed information for pursuing a complete course in blow-pipe analysis.
The work is similar in plan, but wider even in scope, than Plattner's well-known manual, which was translated by Professor Cornwall in 1872, and has since been the standard text-book. In the present work, many details have been added which tend to lessen the labors of the instructor, and adapt the book to the use of students who are working alone, although it will be readily understood that few persons will be able to acquire skill in a branch requiring such delicacy of manipulation without personal instruction. The apparatus and operations are first fully described and carefully illustrated by numerous woodcuts; special tests are then given for each of the elements, including even the rare metals, for in blowpipe analysis it frequently happens that the presence of only one or two substances is to be sought, and it is then unnecessary to go through a complete analysis. The fourth chapter, however, contains special schemes for complex substances, and methods for the examination of metallurgical products and paints; also Professor Egleston's scheme for complete analysis, as it appeared in the author's translation of Plattner. The system has been devised with the view of employing the blow-pipe to the exclusion, as far as possible, of wet methods, but a few directions are given for the general operations in wet analysis, and a list of reagents both solid and liquid required for the latter. Mention is made of the use of citric acid, as recommended by Professor H. C. Bolton, for decomposing minerals; also of the glycerine test for boracic acid. We can not help feeling that the addition of a list of Bunsen's "flame reactions" would have added to the value and completeness of the book. The use of spectrum analysis is very briefly described, and an (uncolored) lithographic plate shows the position of the lines and bands which characterize the metals usually sought for in this way.
In the chapter on quantitative analysis, the method of assaying gold, silver, copper, lead, bismuth, tin, mercury, and cobalt and nickel ores is fully described, and the apparatus employed are illustrated. In this sort of work the automatic apparatus, described on pages 180, 181, are very convenient, as a long-continued and steady blast is essential. As the quantity of ore that can be assayed is very small, the operations of quantitative blow piping are very delicate, and an exceedingly accurate balance is an absolute necessity. ​It is well adapted to the assay of alloys, but when ores are to be assayed very great care is required to obtain a fair sample in so small a quantity of material. With these drawbacks, blow-pipe analysis offers many advantages over wet analysis, as it requires no special laboratory, and the apparatus are much more portable.
Chapter VIII contains a description of the important ores and coal, and the last chapter is devoted to determinative mineralogy. In this chapter, the minerals, like plants in a botanical key, are subjected to an artificial classification depending on certain external properties. The classes are then subdivided according to their reaction before the blow-pipe, such as fusibility, odor, or coat on charcoal. The method of writing the mineral formulas is that followed by Plattner and Kobell.
Professor Cornwall's book is, on the whole, so complete and practical, that it will soon take the place of the larger and more expensive manual of Plattner in our leading scientific schools.
Catalogue of 1,098 Standard Clock and Zodiacal Stars. Prepared under the direction of Simon Newcomb. Pp. 314.
This catalogue was commenced at the Naval Observatory for the purpose of obtaining standard positions of reference stars for use in the lunar and planetary theories, especially in the reduction of the older occultations. In 1877 the unfinished work was turned over to the office of the American Ephemeris, and has been completed by Chauncey Thomas, U. S. N., under the personal direction of Professor Newcomb.
A Guide to Modern English History. By William Cory. Part II. 1830-'35. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 567.
History of the Pacific States of North America. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. I. Central America. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co. Pp. 704.
Practical Life and the Study of Man. By J. Wilson, Ph. D. Newark, New York: J. Wilson & Son. Pp. 400. $1.50.
The American Citizen's Manual. Part I. Governments, the Electorate, the Civil Service. Edited by Worthington C. Ford. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 146. $1.
Speech and its Defects. Considered Physiologically, Pathologically, Historically, and Remedially. By Samuel O. L. Potter, M. A., M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 117.
How to Succeed. A Series of Essays by Various Authors. Edited, with an Introduction, by the Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sous. Pp. 131. 50 cents.
Schelling's Transcendental Idealism. A Critical Exposition. By John Watson, LL. D. . F. R. S. C. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 251. $1.25.
Swift. By Leslie Stephen. New York: Harper & Brothers. Pp. 205. 75 cents.
Sterne. By H. D. Traill. New York: Harper & Brothers. Pp. 173. 75 cents.
Hints for Sketching in Water-Color from Nature. By Thomas Hatton. Edited by Susan N. Carter. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 69. 50 cents.
Drawing in Black and White. Charcoal, Pencil, Crayon, and Pen-and-Ink. By Mrs. Susan N. Carter. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 55. 50 cents.
Potable Water and the Relative Efficiency of Different Methods of detecting Impurities. By Charles Watson Folkard. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 138. 50 cents.
In Memoriam. Benjamin B. Redding. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences. Pp. 18.
Is Tubercular Consumption a Contagious and Parasitic Disease? By Bela W. Cogshall, M. D., of Flint, Michigan. Pp. 12.
On Nocturnal Epilepsy, and its Relations to Somnambulism. By M. G. Echeverria, M. D. Lewes: "Sussex Advertiser" Office. Pp. 32.
Forestry Bulletins of the Census Office, 18 to 22.
A Plan for securing Observations of the Variable Stars. By Edward C. Pickering. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son. Pp. 15.
An Evolution Aspect of the Healing of Wounds, with Deductions as to Treatment. By C. Pitfield Mitchell, M. R. C. S., 30 E. 35th Street, New York. Pp. 13.
The Pathology and Philosophy of Sea-Sickness. By C. Pitfield Mitchell, M. R. C. S., 30 E. 35th Street, New York. Pp. 16.
Subscales, including Verniers. By Henry H. Ludlow, U. S. A. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 16.
On the Prevention of Fires in Theatres. By C. John Hexamer. Philadelphia: "Merrihew" Print. Pp. 18.
Some Points on the Administration of Anæsthetics. By George H. Rohé. M. D. Baltimore: Office of the "Medical Chronicle." Pp. 18.
Use of the Ecraseur for curing Deep-Seated Fistula-in-Ano. By J. M. F. Gaston, M. D., of Campinas, Brazil. Pp. 8.
Report of the Bureau of Statistics relative to the Imports, Exports, Immigration, and Navigation of the United States for the Year ended June 30, 1882. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 112.
Analyses of Beethoven's First and Second Symphonies. By George Grove, D. C. L. Boston: George H. Ellis. Pp. 16 each. 15 cents
Address delivered by the President of the Homeopathic Medical Society of Pennsylvania. September 5, 1882. By John C. Morgan, M. D. Pittsburg: Stevenson & Foster. Pp. 13.
Radiant Heat an Exception to the Second Law of Thermo-dynamics. By H. T. Eddy, Ph. D. Cincinnati. Pp. 12.
The American Journal of Physiology. Edited by D. H. Fernandes, M. D. Vol. I, No. 1. Indianapolis, Indiana. Pp. 8.
The Gulf Stream. Additional Data from the Investigations of the Coast and Geodetic Steamer Blake. By Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. b. N. Pp. 16. With Map.
​Phonetics of the Kayowe Language. By Albert S. Gatschett. Pp. 6.
A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by George Grove, D.C.L. Parts XV and XVI. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 272. $2.
Sanitary Tracts. Issued by the Citizens' Sanitary Society of Brooklyn. Pp. 12. 5 cents.
Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. Transactions No. 3. Ottawa, Canada: Citizens' Printing and Publishing Company. Pp. 60. With Two Plates.
The Practice of Gynæcology in Ancient Times. By Edward W. Jenks, M.D., LL.D. Chicago, Illinois. Pp. 46. With Two Plates.
Statistics in Relation to Gold and Silver. Compiled by E. J. Farmer. Cleveland, Ohio. Pp. 37. 25 cents.
The Analogy between Sound and Color. By G. G. Finn. Cleveland, Ohio. Pp. 22.
The Muscles of the Limbs of the Raccoon. By Harrison Allen, M.D. Pp. 30.
Tornadoes. Their Special Characteristics and Dangers. With Practical Directions for Protection of Life and Property. By John P. Finley. Kansas City, Missouri; Ramsay, Millett & Hudson. Pp. 29.
Tornado Studies for 1882. By John P. Finley. Kansas City, Missouri: Ramsay, Millett & Hudson. Pp. 14.
Notes on Physiological Optics. By W. Le Conte Stevens. Pp. 8.
Unscientific Materialism. A Criticism of Tyndall's "Fragments of Science." Fifth edition. By S. H. Wilder. New York. Pp. 16.
A New View of our Weather System. By Isaac P. Noyes. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 51. 25 cents.