The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-22
CURRENT MAGAZINES.

stories, ana opens with handsomely illustrated
sketch of old Germantown.
The Modern Ago (15O Nassau street, New
York; is magazine of entertaining literature,
already popular and growing in favor daily.
The current number of the Popular Science
Monthly is even better than usual, and contains
several able papers on practical subjects that
make this number alone worth years subscriD-
ton price
The Continent for this week opens with an
illustrated article on Orchard Doyle as a
Draughtsman," giving good idea of his clever
work with the crayon.
The Magazine of Art (Cassen & Coz pre-
sents some fine views along the Thames
in London, suggestive of Dore's power,
yet with every attention to detail Every fea-
ture of the number is faultless.
The February Century contains an illustrated
sketch of Gustave Courbet, artist and com
munist. A fine full-page portrait of Lieutenant
general Sheridan heads an estimate of his career
by Adam Badeau The other illustrated articles
of the number are: ''NIernos in America, +"
How Edwin brood was Illustrated" '"Fhe
Cruise of the Alice May" PORTRAITS of Dante"
and "Keats"
An idea may be had of the excellence of the
North American from its table of contents, as
follows: Corporations Their Employees and the
Public "by Carl Schurz; ''Henry Vaughan, Silur-
ist;r John Browns Place in History, al reply to
Rev. Utter's structures, by Senator j. j. ingalls,;
Must the Classics go2" Trace Progress in the
United States" Defects of the Public School Sys
tenn" and "Rival Systems of Heating"
Among the artistic wealth of Harper's for Feb
ruary one hardly knows of what to speak first,
OF to select in preference to any of the other
excellent things Of the ffty-two engravings it
ha OIL hot &c fbaY, tha
others, and it is impossible TO go into details
without more space at command than the or
binary magazine notice. 1t must be seen to be
appreciated, and being seen will commend itself
above conventional praise.
Manhattan, the elegant, sustains itself from
month to month. Every detail is worked out
with artistic fidelity, and the reading matter is
all that its patrons require. The February num-
Der has a beautifully engraved frontispieee illus
tration of a scene i'll a poem in the body OF the
book ''Ehe Queens Revenge" The initial arti-
Gle, illustrated, is entitled Autumn Camps on
Cayuga." Another illustrated article makes an
interesting study of caricature. Among the re-
naming features Of the number are; Frost
Work" n poem; "a Poets Wife" a comedy:
Shakspeares Sonnets in a New Light" ACROSS
the Caucasus" Creation or Evolution" by
George Ticknor Curtis and the usual ''Salmi-
gundi."
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
for the quarter commencing January, 1884, is
one of the few medical journals which grants a
liberal compensation to the authors for all ar
ticles published Its list of foreign exchanges
amounts to nearly one hundred. There are in
the present number 200 pages of original com
munications and half as many of book reviews.
A summary is given of the disinfection regula
tons at Berlin. Specific directions as to the
Of md tran Of
patients suffering from infectious diseases are
given. 1t is stated that typhoid fever may be
transmitted to the attendants; typhoid stools
should be received in carbolic acid solution, one
part to twenty of water well shaken. Diphtheria
is generally transmitted by the sputa of patients
received on handkerchiefs, or falling on the bed
ding or clothing of attendants There is an
article on the cadaveric alkaoidS, the definite
chemical products of decomposition of nitrogen
Gus compounds. These may be extracted from
decomposing meat and fish, old cheese, sausage,
etc The journal is edited by l. Minis Hays, M.
D.. and is published by Henry G. Leas Son g.
Co, Philadelphia, at S. a year.
The Botanical Gazette for January contains
an article on the origin of our domesticated
plants in which it is contemplated by the au-
thor DR.. Z. Lewis Sturtevant, that many of
our so-called natural species really escapes
from a cultivated state. 1t is also held that
the number of new species of vegetables Ameri-
ca has furnished to the world, among them the
corn, bean, squash, pumpkin, tomato, peppers,
potato, cassava, chocolate, and cranberry, are
proofs, prime facie, that civilization capable
of producing these results has existed in the
past Long time would be required to produce
the variations and improvements We find in
these species The Indians before the discovery
were an agricultural people, wherever natural
conditions and tribal strength would permit,
and were efficient agents in transporting and
modifying species. The melon and peach were
spread by the tribes over wide areas
before the European discoveries Cortez found
the onion grown in Mexico; the corn squash and
bean in several varieties all Southern plants,
were staple Indian crops over North America to
the St Lawrence The Indian tribes planted
groves of hickory nuts and plum trees. AS with
European nations, in the early ages the Indians
of America alternated from agriculture to the
chase as the necessities of war or peace de-
manded The conclusion of DR.. Sturtevant is
that until we can separate positively escapes.
like the wild carrot and parsnip, from natural
species it is unsafe to refer our cultivated plants
to localities wherein occur wild plants Of similar
or allied species.
A note on the vitality of willow twigs, in the
same Journal gives tho verified details of will
low basket, worn out in service, and on the APP
parently dead and dry withes of which were
growing a number of green sprouts several
inches long. The basket found at Bridge
port Chicago. in 1888, the incident preserved
and verified by Leander Stone, of the North
western Christian Advocate, and was referred to
Professor Coulter for publication by Asa Gray,
of Cambridge Mass.
In regard to the concentrie rings of trees,
usually known as annual rings, accommodating
testimony proves that they are simply growth
rings Specimens furnished by the Hon. Robert
W. Furness of pig hickory eleven years old had
sixteen rings; green ash, eight years, eleven
rings; black walnut, five years. twelve rings
peach, eight years, six rings chestnut oak,
E., n.wNfA sfVas I1A
annular rings will probably be changed to
growth rings in future botanical literature.