Part 17

On the basis of a reconnoissance made by him for Alexander Agassiz, Mr. _Robert T. Hill_ has published through the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard University, a paper on _The Geological History of the Isthmus of Panama and Portions of Costa Rica_. He finds that there is considerable evidence that a land barrier in the tropical region separated the two oceans as far back as Jurassic time, and continued through the Cretaceous period. The geological structure of the Isthmus and Central American regions, so far as investigated, when considered aside from the paleontology, presents no evidence by which the former existence of a free communication of oceanic waters across the present tropical barriers can be established. The paleontological evidence indicates the ephemeral existence of a passage at the close of the Eocene period. All lines of inquiry give evidence that no communication has existed between the two oceans since the close of the Oligocene.

The _Twenty-second Annual Report of the Department of Geology and Natural Resources_ of Indiana, _W. S. Blatchley_, State Geologist, embraces, in part, the results of the work of the several departments of the survey during 1897. These appear in the form of papers of economic importance on the petroleum, stone, and clay resources of the State, natural gases and illuminating oils, a description of the curious geological and topographical region of Lake and Porter Counties, and an extended paper on the Birds of Indiana, with specific descriptions. A large proportion of the energies of the department were employed during the year in gathering data for a detailed report on the coal area of the State, which is now in course of preparation.

The _Report of the United States Commissioner of Education_ for 1896-'97 records an increase in the enrollment of schools and colleges of 257,586, the whole number of pupils being 14,712,077 in public institutions and schools, and 1,513,016 in private. The increase is confined to the public institutions, the private ones having suffered from "hard times." Among the numerous papers published in the volume containing the report are those on Education in Great Britain and Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Central Europe, and Greece; Commercial Education in Europe; the Teaching of Civics in France, Switzerland, and England; Sunday Schools, including accounts of the several denominational systems; the Legal Rights of Children; and sketches of Horace Mann and Henry Barnard and their work in furthering education.

Mr. _David T. Day's_ report on the _Mineral Resources of the United States_ for 1896 appears as Part V of the Eighteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, in two volumes of fourteen hundred pages in all; the first of which is devoted to Metallic Products and Coal, and the second to Nonmetallic Products except Coal. The report covers the calendar year 1896, and shows only a slight increase in total values over 1895. Of some substances, however--gold, copper, aluminum, and petroleum being the most important ones--the value was the greatest ever attained. Of other substances, including lead, bituminous coal, building stones, mineral waters, salt, and pyrites, the product was increased in amount, but the value was less. A paper, by Mr. George F. Becker, on the Witwatersrand Banket, records observations made by him in the Transvaal gold fields.

_A Geological Reconnoissance of the Coal Fields of the Indian Territory_, published in the Contributions to Biology of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of Leland Stanford Junior University, by _Noah Fields Drake_, is based upon a six months' examination made by the author during the spring, summer, and fall of 1896, of the larger part of the coal measures and adjacent formations of Indian and Oklahoma Territories. The best maps that could then be had being exceedingly inaccurate, sketch maps were made of areas that were especially important. On account of features of particular geological interest, nearly all the area south and east of the Canadian River and the bordering areas of the Boone chert and limestones were sketched and studied rather closely.

The _American Catholic Historical Society_ at Philadelphia publishes in its _Quarterly Records_ much that, while it must be of deep interest to historical students holding the Roman Catholic faith, possesses, perhaps, a strong though more general interest to all students of American history; for the men of that faith have had no small part in the colonization and development of this country. The number for June, 1898, contains a portrait and a bibliographical sketch of the Rev. Peter Henry Lemke, O. S. B., of Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Elizabeth, N. J.; a poem on the Launch of the American Frigate United States, whose commander was a Catholic; articles on the Sir John James Fund, and Catholic Chronicles of Lancaster, Pa., and Extracts from the Diary of the Rev. Patrick Kenny.

A memoir on _A Determination of the Ratio ([Greek: chi]) of the Specific Heats at Constant Pressure and at Constant Volume for Air, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen_ gives the result of a series of investigations by Drs. _O. Lummer_ and _E. Pringshein_, of Charlottenburg, Germany, made with the aid of a grant from the Hodgkins Fund of the Smithsonian Institution. Besides being of exceptional importance in thermodynamics, the specific heat ratio is of interest as affording a clew to the character of the molecule. In the present investigation coincident results on the gases examined appear to have been reached for the first time. (Published by the Smithsonian Institution.)

From the greater lightness of the air and the higher velocity of its currents, it is evident that the materials it may carry and deposit will be somewhat different in composition and structure from those which are laid down in water. They are as a rule finer, they exhibit a different bedding, and are more capriciously placed. Mr. _Johan August Udden_ has made a careful study of the subject, the results of which he publishes under the title of _The Mechanical Composition of Wind Deposits_, as the first number of the Augustana Library Series, at the Lutheran Augustana Book Concern, Rock Island, Ill.

The _History Reader for Elementary Schools_ (The Macmillan Company, 60 cents), prepared by _L. L. W. Wilson_ and arranged with special reference to holidays, contains readings for each month of the school year, classified according to different periods and phases of American history generally, so chosen that some important topic of the group shall bear a relation to the month in which it is to be read. The groups concern the Indians, the Discovery of America, Thanksgiving, Other Settlements (than those of Virginia and the Pilgrims), Dr. Franklin, Lincoln and Washington, the Revolution, Arbor Day, and Brave Sea Captains, etc., closing with articles in reference to Flag Day. The insertion of an article on the War with Spain seems premature. Public sentiment is not yet at rest on the subject.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Cornell University: No. 160. Hints on Rural School Grounds. By L. H. Bailey. Pp. 20; No. 161. Annual Flowers. By G. N. Lanman and L. H. Bailey. Pp. 32; No. 162. The Period of Gestation in Cows. By H. H. Wing. Pp. 120.--Delaware College: No. 43 (abridged edition). The European and Japanese Chestnuts in the United States. By G. H. Powell. Pp. 16.--Michigan: Nos. 164 and 165. Methods and Results of Tillage, and Draft of Farm Implements. By M. W. Fulton. Pp. 24; Elementary Science Bulletin, No. 5. Branches of Sugar Maple and Beech as seen in Winter. By W. J. Beal. Pp. 4; do., No. 6. Potatoes, Rutabagas, and Onions. By W. J. Beal. Pp. 6.--New Jersey: No. 133. Peach Growing in New Jersey. By A. T. Jordan. Pp. 16; No. 134. Fermentation and Germ Life. By Julius Nelson. Pp. 24.--North Dakota: No. 15. Some Chemical Problems Investigated. Pp. 28.--Ohio: Newspaper Bulletin 188. Sugar Beets and Sorghum in Ohio. Pp. 2.

Aston, W. G. A History of Japanese Literature. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 408. $1.50.

Berry, Arthur. A Short History of Astronomy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 440. $1.50.

Brush and Pencil. An Illustrated Magazine of the Arts and Crafts. Monthly. Chicago: Arts and Crafts Company. Pp. 64. 25 cents. $2.50 a year.

Bulletins, Reports, etc. Colgate University, Department of Geology and Natural History: Announcement. Pp. 16.--Field Columbian Museum, Chicago: Annual Report of the Board of Directors for 1897-'98. Pp. 90, with plates.--Financial Reform Association: 1848 to 1898. Fifty Years' Retrospect. London. Pp. 54, with plates; Financial Reform Almanac for 1899. London. Pp. 316. 1 shilling.--New York State Library: Legislative Bulletin for 1898. Pp. 132. 25 cents.--New York University: Catalogue and Announcements for 1898-'99. Pp. 358.--Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind: Sixty-seventh Annual Report of the Trustees, to August 31, 1898. Pp. 305.--United States Department of Labor: Bulletin No. 20, January, 1899. Edited by Carroll D. Wright and Oren W. Weaver. Pp. 170.

Byrd, Mary E. Laboratory Manual in Astronomy. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. 273.

Cajori, Florian. A History of Physics in its Elementary Branches, including the Evolution of Physical Laboratories. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 323. $1.60.

Callie, J. W. S. John Smith's Reply to "Merrie England, Defense of the Liberal Programme." London: John Heywood. Pp. 88. Sixpence.

Chapman, Frank H., Editor. Bird Lore. February, 1898, Vol. I, No. 1. Bimonthly. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 32. 20 cents. $1 a year.

Davenport, Charles B. Experimental Morphology. Part II. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 509. $2.

Evans, A. H. Birds (The Cambridge Natural History, edited by S. F. Harmer and A. E. Shipley, Vol. IX). New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 635. $3.50.

Egbert, Seneca. A Manual of Hygiene and Sanitation. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co. Pp. 368.

Foulke, William Dudley. Slav or Saxon: a Study of the Growth and Tendencies of Russian Civilization. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 141. $1.

Huntington, Elon. The Earth's Rotation and its Interior Heat. Pp. 33.

Janes, Lewis G. Our Nation's Peril. Social Ideas and Social Progress. Pp. 31. 25 cents.

McLellan, J. A., and Ames, A. F. The Public School Mental Arithmetic. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 138. 25 cents. Boston: James H. West & Co.

Maltbie, Milo Ray. Municipal Functions. A Study of the Development, Scope, and Tendency of Municipal Socialism. (Municipal Affairs, December, 1898.) New York: Reform Club, Committee of Municipal Administration. Pp. 230. 75 cents.

Mason, Hon. William E. Speech in the United States Senate on the Government of Foreign Peoples. Pp. 26.

Patten, Simon N. The Development of English Thought. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 415. $3.

Pittsburg Press Almanac, The, for 1899. Quarterly. St. Louis: The Press Publishing Company. Pp. 536.

Récéjac, E. Essay on the Basis of the Mystic Knowledge. Translated by Sera Carr Upton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 287. $2.50.

Reprints. Caldwell, Otis W. The Life History of Lemna Minor. Pp. 32.--Calkins, G. N. Some Hydroids from Puget Sound. Pp. 24, with six plates.--Cope, Edward D. Vertebrate Remains from the Port Kennedy Bone Deposit. Pp. 75, with plates.--Fitz, G. W. Play as a Factor in Development. Pp. 7; The Hygiene of Instruction in Elementary Schools. Pp. 7.--Howard, William Lee. Double Personality; Lenten Hysteria. Pp. 8.--Howe, R. H., Jr. North American Wood Frogs.--Hunt, Charles Wallace. The Engineer: His Work, his Ethics, his Pleasures. (President's Address, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.) Pp. 15.--Hunter, S. J. The Coccidæ of Kansas. Pp. 15, with plates.--Krauss, W. C. The Stigmata of Degeneration. Pp. 360.--Lichty, D. Thalassic Submersion a Means of Disposal of the Dead. Pp. 12.--McDonald, Arthur. Emile Zola. Pp. 16.--Phillips, W. B. Iron Making in Alabama. Montgomery. Pp. 380.--Saunders, De Alten. Phycological Memoirs. Pp. 20, with plates.--Schlicht, Paul J. A New Process of Combustion. Pp. 32.--Stevens, F. L. The Effect of Aqueous Solutions upon the Germination of Fungus Spores. Pp. 30.--Stock, H. H. The International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Pp. 12.--Urn, The. Modern Thought on Modern Cremation. United States Cremation Company. Pp. 40.--Veeder, M. A. The Relative Importance of Flies and Water Supply in Spreading Disease. Pp. 8.

Robinson, Albert Gardner. The Porto Rico of To-day. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 240, with maps. $1.50.

Salazar, A. E. Kalkules de Kañerius de Agua (Calculations of Water Conduits). Santiago de Chile. Pp. 246.

Schnabel, Dr. Carl. Handbook of Metallurgy. Translated by Henry Louis. 2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 876 and 732. $10.

Seligman, E. R. A. The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation. Second edition. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 337. $3.

Semon, Richard. In the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Sea. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 552. $6.50.

Spencer, Baldwin, and Gillen, F. J. The Native Tribes of Central Australia. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 671, with plates. $6.50.

Technology Review, The. A Quarterly Magazine relating to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. January, 1899. Pp. 143. 35 cents.

United States National Museum. Annual Report for the Year ending June 30, 1896. (Smithsonian Institution.) Washington. Pp. 1107, with plates.

Weir, James. The Dawn of Reason. Mental Traits in the Lower Animals. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 234. $1.25.

Westcott, Edward N. David Harum. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 392. $1.50.

Whipple, G. C. The Microscopy of Drinking Water. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 300, with nineteen plates. $3.50.

Wilkinson, F. The Story of the Cotton Plant. (Library of Useful Stories.) New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 191. 40 cents.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Earth Sculpture, or the Origin of Land Forms. By James Geikie. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 397. Price, $2.

[15] The Psychology of Peoples. By Gustave Le Bon. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 236. Price, $1.50.

[16] A Text-Book of Mineralogy, with an Extended Treatise on Crystallography and Physical Mineralogy. By Edmund Salisbury Dana. New edition, entirely rewritten and enlarged. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 593. $4.

[17] The Story of the Railroad. By Cy Warman. New York: D. Appleton and Company (Story of the West Series). Pp. 280. Price, $1.50.

[18] Infinitesimal Analysis. By William Benjamin Smith. Vol. I. Elementary; Real Variables. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 352. $3.25.

[19] The Jubilee History of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society from 1847 to 1897. Traced Year by Year. By George Jacob Holyoake. Leeds (Eng.) Central Co-operative Office. Pp. 260.

Fragments of Science.

=The Nernst Electric Lamp.=--Prof. Walter Nernst, of the University of Göttingen, has recently devised an electric lamp which promises to be an important addition to our present methods of lighting. The part of the lamp which emits the light consists of a small rod of highly refractory material, said to be chiefly thoria, which is supported between two platinum electrodes. The rod is practically a nonconductor when cold, but by heating it (in the smaller sizes a match is sufficient) its conductivity is so raised that a current will pass through it; after the current is once started the heat produced by the resistance of the rod is sufficient to keep up its conductivity, and the latter is raised to a state of intense incandescence, and gives out a brilliant white light. As the preliminary heating by means of a match or other flame would in some cases be an inconvenience, Professor Nernst has devised a lamp which, by means of a platinum resistance attachment, can be started by simply turning a switch. The life of the rods is about five hundred hours. The lamps are said to work equally well with either alternating or direct currents, and there is no vacuum necessary. If this lamp proves a success as a commercial apparatus, it will be but another example of how slight a matter may make all the difference between success and failure. There have been numerous experimenters trying for the last ten years, and in fact ever since the appearance of the arc lamp, to utilize in an electric lamp the great light-giving power of the refractory earths in a state of incandescence; but, owing to their high resistance at ordinary temperatures, no results were obtained until Professor Nernst thought of heating his thoria rod, and this simple procedure seems to have solved the whole difficulty. It is claimed that the Nernst lamp is a much more economical transformer of electricity into light than the present incandescent electric lamps. An apparatus called a kaolin candle, which has been suggested as an anticipation of Professor Nernst's lamp, was constructed by Paul Jablochkoff in 1877 or 1878. It consisted of a strip of kaolin, along which ran a "match" of some conducting material. The current was passed through this "match" until the kaolin strip became heated sufficiently to become a conductor itself. The lamp did not, however, prove a commercial success.

=Laws of Climatic Evolution.=--The problem of the laws of climatic evolution was characterized by Dr. Marsden Manson, in a paper read at the British Association, as one of the grandest and most far-reaching problems in geological physics, since it embraces principles and laws applicable to other planets than ours. After presenting a formulation of those laws, the author pointed out that in consequence of their working, a hot spheroid rotating in space and revolving about a central sun, and holding fluids of similar properties to water and air within the sphere of its control, must pass through a series of uniform climates at sea level, gradually decreasing in temperature and terminating in an ice age, and that this age must be succeeded by a series of zonal climates gradually increasing in temperature and extent. The conclusions thus reached were that in the case of the earth zonal distribution of climates was inaugurated at the culmination of the ice age, and is gradually increasing in temperature and extent by the trapping of the solar energy in the lower atmosphere, and that the rise has a moderate limit; that the ice age was unique and due to the physical properties of water and air, and to the difference in specific heat of land and water; and that prior to the ice age local formation of glaciers could occur at any latitude and period. Dr. Manson then observed that Jupiter was apparently in a condition through which the earth has already passed, and Mars was in one toward which the climatic evolution of the earth was tending.

=Poisonous Plants.=--Statistics in regard to poisonous plants are lacking on account of a general ignorance of the subject, and it is therefore impossible to form even an approximate estimate of the damage done by them. Besides the criminal uses that may be made of them, there are some other problems connected with them that are of general public interest. The common law of England holds those who possess and cultivate such plants responsible for damages accruing from them; and a New York court has awarded damages in a case of injury from poison ivy growing in a cemetery. In order to obtain information on the subject, the botanical division of the Department of Agriculture arranged to receive notices through the clipping bureaus of the cases of poisoning recorded in the newspapers. Thus through the persons named in the articles or through the local postmaster it was put in correspondence with the physician in the case, who furnished the authentic facts. A large number of correct and valuable data were thus secured. It is proved by these facts that all poisonous plants are not equally injurious to all persons nor to all forms of life. Thus poison ivy has no apparent external effect upon animals, and a few of them eat its leaves with impunity; and it acts upon the skin of the majority of persons with varying intensity--on some hardly at all, while others are extremely sensitive to it. A similar variability is found in the effects of poisonous plants taken internally. In some cases often regarded as of that kind, death is attributable not to any poison which the plant contains, but to immoderate or incautious eating, or to mechanical injury such as is produced in horses by the hairs of crimson clover, or to the effect of parasitic growths, such as ergot on rye. Excluding all which operate in these ways, there are, however, a large number of really poisonous plants, the properties of which are comparatively unknown. It is concerning these that information has been sought by the botanical division. Its report contains descriptions of about forty plants, with figures, belonging to seventeen families.

=The United States Biological Survey.=--The Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture aims to define and map the agricultural belts of the country in order to ascertain what products of the soil can and what can not be grown successfully in each, to guide the farmer in the intelligent introduction of foreign crops, and to point out his friends and his enemies among the native birds and animals. For information on these subjects so important to him the farmer has had to rely on his own experiments or those of his neighbors, often carried on at enormous cost to persons little able to bear it. The Survey and its predecessor, the division of ornithology and mammology, have had small parties in the field traversing the public domain for the purpose of studying the geographic distribution of our native land animals and plants and mapping the boundaries of the areas they inhabit. It was early learned that North America is divisible into seven transcontinental belts or life zones and a much larger number of minor areas or _faunas_, each characterized by particular associations of animals and plants. The inference was natural and has been verified that these same zones and areas, up to the northern limit of profitable agriculture, are adapted to the needs of particular kinds or varieties of cultivated crops. The Survey is engaged in tracing as precisely as possible the actual boundaries of these belts and areas, and in finding out and designating the varieties of crops best adapted to each. In this undertaking it aims to point out such exotic products as, from their importance in other lands, are likely to prove of value if introduced on fit soils and under proper climatic conditions. The importance of this work will be realized when it is recollected that all the climatic life zones of the world, except the hottest tropical, are represented in our country. The colored maps prepared by the Survey furnish the best guide the farmer can have for judging what crops will be best adapted for his particular region; and in connection with the work of the entomologist, show the belts along which noxious insects are likely to spread. The report of the Survey, prepared under the direction of its chief, C. Hart Merriam, though full of valuable information not before presented consecutively, is preliminary and only touches the edge of a subject which is susceptible of copious elaboration, and is destined to be worked up with immense profit.