Part 16

[Footnote 63: Ichthyologia Ohioensis: or Natural History of the Fishes inhabiting the River Ohio and its Tributary Streams. By C. S. Rafinesque. A Verbatim and Literatim Reprint of the Original, with a Sketch of the Life, the Ichthyologic Work, and the Ichthyologic Bibliography of Rafinesque. By Richard Ellsworth Call. Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers Company. Pp. 175. Price, $4.]

Mr. _Douglas Houghton Campbell_ has endeavored, in his _Lectures on the Evolution of Plants_,[64] to present in as untechnical a manner as seemed feasible the more striking facts bearing upon the evolution of plant forms, believing that it will fill an existing want among English text-books. The substance of the work was given originally in the form of lectures to classes in Leland Stanford Junior University. After an introduction, in which a few fundamental principles are presented, elementary structures are defined, and accepted classification is mentioned, the conditions of plant life are treated of as relating to food substances, water, life, division of labor, and movements, of which all plants exhibit more or less marked ones, that may be spontaneous. While in the simple unicellular plants all the functions are performed by a single cell, a gradual division of labor takes place as we go up, first in a separation of the vegetative and reproductive cells, and later a further specialization of both vegetative and reproductive functions, culminating in the seed plant. This course is described as exemplified in the simplest forms of life, algæ, fungi, mosses and liverworts, ferns, and seed plants of the different classes. The study of the geological relations, fragmentary as their teachings are, has yielded most important evidence for tracing the succession of plant forms. Observation of geographical distribution casts much light on the subject. The relations of animals and plants have an important bearing. The influence of the environment embraces many factors, and is often shown in conspicuous features of form and structure adapting plants to certain sorts of conditions and enabling them to resist others. Plants have thus succeeded in adapting themselves to almost every environment.

[Footnote 64: Lectures on the Evolution of Plants. By Douglas Houghton Campbell. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 319. Price, $1.25.]

Prof. _Augustus de Morgan's_ book _On the Study and Difficulties of Mathematics_,[65] though originally published more than sixty years ago, is still fresh and suggestive and full of matter valuable alike to students and teachers, and possesses qualities of clearness of reasoning and intelligibility from which many mathematical treatises are unfortunately free. Its purpose is to notice particularly several important points in the principles of algebra and geometry which have not obtained their due importance in elementary works in those sciences. Metaphysical points are avoided, and the method of explaining by reference to some particular problem, with hints as to more general adaptation, is adopted. Among the points taken up and classified are the nature and objects of mathematics, arithmetical and algebraic notation, rules and principles, equations, the negative sign, roots and logarithms, geometrical subjects, and application of algebra to measurements. The editor of the present edition, Mr. Thomas J. McCormack, has corrected the errata of the old edition and incorporated such changes as the progress of time and mathematical literature have made seem proper. An excellent portrait of De Morgan is given.

[Footnote 65: On the Study and Difficulties of Mathematics. By Augustus De Morgan. New edition. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. Pp. 288.]

The purpose of _Carpenter's Geographical Reader, North America_ (American Book Company), is to give its readers a living knowledge of some of the wonders of the country and continent in which they live. They are taken by the author, Mr. _Frank G. Carpenter_, on a personally conducted tour through the most characteristic parts of the American continent, studying the most interesting features of life and work among the people, learning how they are governed, and how they make their living. Much information is also given concerning the natural resources and the physical features of the countries visited.

The _Japan-American Commercial Journal_ is a monthly periodical started with the beginning of the year, with an especial view to the opening of the empire of Japan to unrestricted foreign trade and residence, for the advancement of the reciprocal interests of Japan and the United States. It is printed in English and Japanese, and is published at Tokio by the Japan-American Commercial and Industrial Association, for $2.50 a year.

_The Anglo-Saxon_ is a monthly magazine, the first number of which is dated November, 1898, "devoted to the identity of the Anglo-Saxon race with the house of Israel." It is edited by _George E. Inglis_, and published by the Anglo-Saxon Publishing Company, Chicago. The title of the first paragraph--"Cui bono"--seems to us to suggest a very appropriate question. The argument seems to be that the house of Israel was appointed to universal dominion, and the Anglo-Saxon race, between England and the United States, with its late war "as nearly a Christian war as any war might be," is getting it.

Among the general papers in the second volume, containing Parts II and III, of the _Report of the Commissioner of Education_ for 1896-'97 are those on Federal and State Aid to Higher Education, the First Common Schools of New England, the Learned Professions and Social Control, and the Beginnings of the Common-School System in the South. Statistics of foreign universities are given, with a paper on the Teaching of Geography in certain foreign countries, and consular reports on educational topics. Professor Boas's paper on the Growth of Toronto Children is included. Educational matters of interest in various States are reported upon. An Eskimo vocabulary is introduced. A special report on education in Alaska appears. Part III is devoted to statistical matter.

The _Occult Science Library_ is a course of seven essays on the subject of practical occultism by _Ernest Loomis_. The author assumes that the rules based on the occult principles of Nature would, if fully applied, enable any person to invoke the assistance of occult forces in every practical rule of life, and that they may with like success be applied in matters of health, the acquisition of knowledge, the formation of plans, and the solution of religious and ethical enigmas. The publishers claim that the maxims of the book have proved their efficiency to the satisfaction of thousands who have read them. (Published by Ernest Loomis & Co., Chicago.)

Mr. _James G. Needham_ has furnished, in _Outdoor Studies_ (American Book Company), one of the fullest and most systematic guides or "reading books," as he calls this one, for Nature study that we have seen. Recognizing that there is no lack, in numbers, of books offering object lessons, etc., for children of the earlier years intervening between the primary and the high school, he has prepared this book to supply for the later years of that period "a few lessons of greater continuity, calling for more persistence of observation and introducing a few of the simpler of our modern conceptions of Nature at large." The lessons presuppose some years of experience of life and some previous training in observation; they are given simply for the sake of the interest and educative value of the facts and phenomena of Nature which they set forth; and they have been written more for the boys and girls than for the teachers. The things described--birds, insects, plants, etc.--are such as can be seen anywhere. Mr. Needham tells how to study them and learn what they mean.

In _Commissioner Hume, a Story of New York Schools_, a sequel to Roderick Hume, the Story of a New York Teacher, Mr. _C. W. Bardeen_ has undertaken to give a picture of rural New York schools, or rather of the administration of school affairs by commissioners as they were in 1875, and he declares it to be accurate. He represents, however, that the general tone of the commissioners has vastly changed in the period that has intervened since then, and the conditions described in the volume no longer prevail. The book is offered, therefore, as a contribution to educational history. (Published by C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y.)

The southern half of Missouri and the Black Hills of South Dakota offer exceptionally delightful regions for the study of caves, or speleology, as well as of geology and geography. Each of these regions has its peculiar geological history and its own scenery, and possesses a number of truly wonderful caves. Some of the more important of these caves and the scenery amid which they lie are described by Mrs. _Luella Agnes_ Owen in the book _Cave Regions of the Black Hills_ (Cincinnati: the Editor Publishing Company), and we have been much interested in reading the accounts. The descriptions are introduced by summaries of the methods of the formation of caves and of the results of the geological and topographical explorations of the regions in which they are situated, as presented in official reports and scientific memoirs. The descriptions are for the most part relations of the author's personal explorations of the caves. The most important of these caves are Marble Cave, "the finest yet explored in Missouri," and Wind Cave, in South Dakota, said to be the largest known after the Mammoth Cave. Others are Fairy, Powell, Stone County, Oregon County Caves and the Grand Gulf in Missouri, and the Onyx and Crystal Caves in South Dakota. Many illustrations are given. The author has fine descriptive powers, but her literary style needs discipline. She is the first American, and the only woman, so far, elected to membership in the Société de Speleologie of Paris.

A valuable paper on _Sympathetic Strikes and Sympathetic Lockouts_ is published by Mr. _Fred S. Hall_ as the first number of the eleventh volume of the Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law. In it, the author having fixed the definition of sympathetic strikes and lockouts as distinguished from those not sympathetic, and having found the difference between a strike and a lockout, discusses the origin and development of the two sympathetic movements, analyzes them, and forecasts the future as it is indicated by the past. Illustrations are freely drawn from the important strikes and lockouts that have occurred in the United States and abroad for a number of years past.

_The Year Book of Colorists and Dyers_, in the opinion of the author, Mr. _Harwood Huntington_, supplies a want, for, so far as he is aware, there are no other portable works in the English language to which the color-chemist can refer and find the information which he requires the oftenest. The object of the present publication is to meet the demand for a review of the advances made annually in the special field worked in by dyers and colorists--in the bleaching, dyeing, printing, and finishing of textiles--and it endeavors to do this with accuracy and brevity. (Published by the author, New York.)

The first number of _The Socialist Almanac and Treasury of Facts_ has been issued in accordance with a decision of the National Convention of the Socialist Labor Party, held in New York in July, 1896. It has been prepared by _Lucien Sanial_, to whom the task was assigned by the National Executive Committee. A large proportion of it is historical, and consists mainly of monographs presenting views of the movements and condition of "militant socialism" in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, from its beginning to the present day. Special attention is invited by the author to the monographs on Italy and Spain as tracing the struggle between socialism and anarchism to its beginning. The second part of the book contains statistical matter and comments on economical and social conditions, which, if the argument on "Who owns the Savings?" is a specimen of its quality, must be accepted with many reservations.

Prof. William Wadden Turner, a native of England who came to this country at an early age, became an eminent scholar in Oriental literature, and in 1842 a professor of that subject in Union Theological Seminary. He was called thence to Washington in 1852 to organize the library of the Patent Office, where his work was of great value. Thence he was taken by Professor Baird to catalogue and arrange the library of the Smithsonian Institution. He associated his sister with him in this work and as recorder of scientific collections and exchanges in 1858. She continued there after his death the next year, and served the library faithfully and efficiently, going with it to the Congressional Library when it was removed there, till 1886, when she resigned on account of age. She died in 1896. A _Memorial_ of the two and of their elder sister Susan has been prepared by Mrs. _Caroline H. Dall_ and has been printed privately.

The author of _What is This?_ after a brief discussion of the personality of Jesus and the present degenerate condition of Christianity, goes on to say: "We must have another revelation, therefore. It seems to be a necessity. But what troubles me is this: can it be possible that any part of this revelation can come through one as humble as myself? What have I seen and what have I heard?... I have often pondered the great questions of man's origin and future; never until now, never until I heard this voice, have I had any glimmer of a solution of this great puzzle. I know I am nothing, but can not the Supreme Being use a mere nothing to accomplish his purpose?" Notwithstanding the author's avowed unworthiness, he seems to have been selected, and we have from his pen a new and considerably detailed book of genesis.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Acetylene Gas Journal. Monthly. Vol. I, No. 1. June, 1899. Buffalo, N. Y. Pp. 12. 5 cents. 50 cents a year.

Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Delaware College: No. 43. Veterinary Studies, Milk Legislation, and Basic Slag as a Fertilizer.--Michigan State Agricultural College. No. 169. Notes from the South Haven Sub-Station. By L. R. Taft and T. T. Lyon. Pp. 108; Nos. 170, 171. Vegetable Tests and Bush Fruits. Pp. 42; Nos. 172, 173. Combating Disease-producing Germs and Killing the Tubercle Bacillus in Milk. Four authors. Pp. 30.--Montana: No. 18. The Alkali Soils of Montana. Preliminary Bulletin. Pp. 30.--United States Department of Agriculture: No. 24. Proceedings of the Convention of Weather-Bureau Officials, held at Omaha, Neb., October 13 and 14, 1898. Pp. 184, with plate.

Anglo-American Magazine. Monthly. May and June, 1899. Pp. 120 and 128. 25 cents. $2.50 a year.

Blackman, William F. The Making of Hawaii. A Study in Social Evolution. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 266. $2.

Breese, B. B. On Inhibition. (Monograph Supplement to the Psychological Review.) New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 65.

Bulletins, Reports, Transactions, etc. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1899. Part I. January, February, and March. Pp. 216, with plates.--American Society of Naturalists: Records. Vol. II, Part IV. Providence, R. I. Pp. 36.--New York Academy of Sciences: Annals. Vol. XII, Part I. Pp. 89.--New York State Reformatory, Elmira: Year-Book for 1898. Pp. 126.--Société Royale de Canada: Report of the Geographical Society of Quebec. Pp. 2.--United States Department of Labor: Bulletin No. 22. May, 1899. Pp. 42.--University of Tennessee: Record, Review of 1898. Knoxville, Tenn. Pp. 56.--Wyoming State Medical Society: Transactions. May and June, 1899, E. Stuver, Secretary. Pp. 75.--Zoölogical Society of Philadelphia: Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Board of Directors. Pp. 25.

Cragin, Belle S. Our Insect Friends and Foes. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 377. $1.75.

Dana, Charles A. Recollections of the Civil War. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 296. $2.

Davis, Lucius D. Ornamental Shrubs for Garden, Lawn, and Park Planting. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 338. $3.50.

Dexter, E. G. Conduct and the Weather. (Monograph Supplement of the Psychological Review.) New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 101. $1.

Erlingsson, Dr. Thorstein. Ruins of the Saga Time. (Travels and Explorations in Iceland.) London: David Nutt. Pp. 112, with map.

Fergusen, James. A New System of Natural Philosophy. Book I. The Physical Universe. Published by the Author at Talmage, Neb. Pp. 240.

Field Columbian Museum, Chicago. Publication No. 30. New Rodents from the Olympic Mountains. By D. G. Elliot. Pp. 4.--No. 31. Cold-Blooded Vertebrates from the Olympic Mountains. By S. E. Meek. Pp. 10.--No. 32. Catalogue of Mammals from the Olympic Mountains, Washington. By D. G. Elliot. Pp. 36, with plates.--No. 33. The Ores of Colombia. By H. W. Nichols. Pp. 56, with maps.--No. 34. The Mylagaulidæ. An Extinct Family of Sciuromorph Rodents. By E. S. Riggs. Pp. 8.--No. 35. A Fossil Egg from South Dakota. By A. C. Farrington. Pp. 8, with plates.--No. 36. Contributions to the Paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Series. By W. N. Logan. Pp. 16, with plates.--No. 37. Mammals from Oklahoma Territory. By D. G. Elliot. Pp. 4.--No. 38. Mammals from the Indian Territory. By D. G. Elliot. Pp. 8.

Heilprin, Angelo. Alaska and the Klondike. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 315.

Hrdlicka, Dr. Ales. Anthropological Investigations of Children in the New York Juvenile Asylum. Pp. 86, with plates.

Irish, Cyrus W. Qualitative Analysis for Secondary Schools. American Book Company. Pp. 100.

James, Charles C. Practical Agriculture. American edition. Edited by John Craig. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 203. 80 cents.

Jordan, David Starr. Imperial Democracy. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 293. $1.50.

Jordan, David Starr, Leonhard Stejneger, and other Official Associates. The Fur Seals and Fur-Seal Islands of the North Pacific Ocean. Part IV. Washington: Government Printing Office. Pp. 384, with maps and plates.

Kenne, A. H. Man Past and Present. Cambridge, England; New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 584. $3.

Lavignac, Albert. Music and Musicians. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 504. $3.

Miller, Olive Thorne. The First Book of Birds. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 149.

Missouri Botanical Garden. Tenth Annual Report. William Trelease, Director. St. Louis. Pp. 209, with plates.

Moon, J. Howard. Better-World Philosophy. Chicago: The Ward Waugh Company. Pp. 275.

Reprints. Abbott, Samuel W. Infant Mortality in Massachusetts. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. Pp. 19.--Baillairgé, Charles. La Vie, L'Evolutlon, et le Materialism. (Life, Evolution, and Materialism.) Pp. 37.--Le Grec, le Latin: leur Utilité, etc. (Greek and Latin: their Utility, etc.) Pp. 48; L'Antiquité de la Terre et de l'Homme. (Antiquity of the Earth and of Man.) Pp. 23; Royal Society of Canada.--Burt, Stephen S. Recollections and Reflections of a Quarter of a Century. New York. Pp. 12.--Cathell, W. T. On the Reduction of Obesity. Pp. 12.--Goode, John P. The Piracy of the Yellowstone. University of Chicago. Pp. 12.--Halsted, Byron D., New Brunswick, N. J. Root Tubercles and Nitrogen Appropriation. Pp. 14.--MacBride, Thomas H. Botany, How Much and When? Iowa City. Pp. 11.--Marsh, Othniel Charles, Biographical Sketch by Charles E. Beecher. From the American Journal of Science. Pp. 28, with portrait.--Meyer, Max. Ueber Beurtheilung Zusammengesetzer Klänge. (On the Estimation of Composite Sounds.) Leipsic, Saxony. Pp. 33.--Poteat, W. L. Leidy's Genus Ouramoeba. Pp. 5.--Sexton, Pliny T. Reasons and Authorities for Favoring Education Unification under the Regents of the University. Pp. 56.--Von Schrenck, Herman. A Disease of Taxodium known as Peckiness, etc. St. Louis. Washington University. Pp. 54, with plates.

Scudder, Samuel H. Everyday Butterflies. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 386.

Sutro, Emil. Duality of Voice. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 224. $1.

Sites, C. M. L. Centralized Administration of Liquor Laws in the American Commonwealths. (Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law.) New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 162.

Union Pacific Railroad Company, Passenger Department. Some of Wyoming's Vertebrate Fossils. Pp. 31.

United States Geological Survey. Eighteenth Annual Report. Part I. Director's Report, Triangulation, and Spirit Leveling. Pp. 440.--Part II. Papers chiefly of a Theoretic Nature. Pp. 653, with maps.--Part III. Economic Geology. Pp. 861, with maps.--Part IV. Hydrography. Pp. 756, New York City and Vicinity Map.

United States National Museum: Lord, E. C. E. Petrographic Notes on Rocks from the United States-Mexico Boundary. Pp. 10, with map.--Richardson. Harriet. Key to the Isopods of the Pacific Coast, etc. Pp. 56.--Stejneger, Leonhard. The Land Reptiles of the Hawaiian Islands. Pp. 32.

Vita Nuova. (New Life.) A Fortnightly Illustrated Review of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Clelia Bertini-Attilii, Director. Rome. Pp. 16.

Walter, Robert, M. D. Vital Science based upon Life's Great Law, the Analogue of Gravitation. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 319.

Watson, David K. History of American Coinage. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 278. $1.50.

Fragments of Science.