Part 16

_Frederick H. Ripley_ and _Thomas Tapper_, authors of the Natural Music Course, have arranged _A Short Course in Music_, consisting of two books, for use in schools in which the more complete course is deemed unnecessary or impracticable. In both books familiar songs are made the basis of elementary music instruction. In these songs the compositions of the best song writers are represented. Exercises in two and three parts in simple form are included in the course. A brief summary of elementary theory is inserted in the appendix. Few definitions are given, the thought of the learner being so directed as to render them either unnecessary or obvious. In the cultivation of tone and expression the authors insist that it is the mind rather than the vocal organs that at first needs attention. "If the pupil hears the ideal tone he will almost instinctively imitate it." A number of portraits of composers are given in connection with the songs. (American Book Company. Price, 35 cents.)

* * * * *

Mr. _Alfred Still_, believing that there was still room for a small book in which the principles determining the behavior of single-phase alternating currents under various conditions should be considered less from the point of view of the man of science than from that of the engineer, offers _Alternating Currents of Electricity and the Theory of Transformers_ for the place. The book has been written, not only for engineering students, but also for those engineers who, while having extensive practical knowledge of the subject, are yet anxious to get a correct elementary idea of the leading principles involved. Graphical methods are used throughout, and the introduction of mathematics has been carefully avoided. (Published by Whittaker & Co., London; The Macmillan Company, New York. Price, $1.50.)

* * * * *

A paper by _A. B. Stickney_, president of the Chicago Great Western Railway Company, on _The Currency Problems of the United States in 1897-'98_, takes the ground that currency is the creature of commerce; that legislation has nothing to do with it; that its problems are purely economical; and that the only thing that can be done for it is to improve the machinery of exchanges.

* * * * *

A valuable and useful publication is New York _State Library Bulletin, Legislation, No. 9_, containing a summary of legislation by States in 1897. This is the eighth annual number of the series, and its purpose is to show at a glance what laws have been passed by States on any subject, except those of purely local interest. The summaries, though concise, so well cover the principal points of the laws cited that consultation of the text of the laws may often be dispensed with. Constitutional amendments receive special treatment. The references in the present bulletin cover thirty-six States and three Territories.

* * * * *

Two memoirs, published under one cover by the Peabody Institute of American Archæology and Ethnology, relate to explorations by _George Byron Gordon_ in two districts of Honduras, affording relics different in character. The work at the ruins of Copan having been suspended during 1896 and 1897 by some act of the Government of Honduras, Mr. Gordon had to turn his attention elsewhere, to explorations the results of which are given under the titles of _Researches in the Uloa Valley_ and _Caverns of Copan, Honduras_. The investigations in the Uloa Valley afforded a rich fund of objects of interest and of novel character--pottery adorned with elaborate and remarkably artistic designs, stone images, whistles, terra-cotta stamps, and only one idol. Human remains, of the most meager description, in connection with the pottery furnish reasonable evidence of burial places, but, being only crumbling fragments of bone, are too minute to supply any information respecting the form of burials or the relative position of the objects associated with them. The conclusions are drawn that the valley was at one time well populated, but not for any length of time occupied by the people whose ruined buildings of stone are found in the region up to southern Mexico, and that it was visited by several distinct peoples in ancient times. Some mounds covered with stone were discovered which deserve further investigation. Five caves of different size and character, described in the second memoir, were explored near Copan, and afforded objects peculiar to themselves and evidences of sepulture. They were very dusty, although stalactites had formed in some of them, and, although undoubtedly used by man many centuries ago, they do not seem to indicate a constant occupation for an extended period of time, or to furnish evidence of an extreme antiquity of man in the region. The most striking feature about them is probably the entire difference in character of the pottery from that found at Copan, only a few miles away, and its want of resemblance with the pottery of any other locality with which the author is familiar.

* * * * *

A series of Bulletins, _Some Miscellaneous Results of the Work of the Division of Entomology_, of the United States Department of Agriculture, is intended to furnish such material as was formerly published in Insect Life, presenting the results of observations made in the office of the bureau which are not extensive enough upon any one topic to form an independent and complete bulletin. The second number contains notices by different authors, mostly connected with the bureau, on twelve insects predatory on economical plants, with numerous "general notes" and correspondence.

* * * * *

_Under the Stars, and Other Verses_, is a small collection of ballads, relating chiefly to naval fights, by _Wallace Rice_ and _Barrett Eastman_, published by Way & Williams, Chicago. It is dedicated "to the wider patriotism," and appears well adapted to inflame the martial spirit, which is in this country already excited to an extremely unhealthy extent.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Cornell University: No. 150. Tuberculosis in Cattle and its Control. By James Law. Pp. 30; No. 151: Gravity or Dilution Separators. By H. H. Wing. Pp. 12--Purdue University: No. 72. Field Experiments with Wheat. Pp. 12.--United States Department of Agriculture. Biological: No. 9. Cuckoos and Shrikes in their Relation to Agriculture. By F. E. L. Beal and S. D. Judd. Pp. 26: No. 10. Life Zones and Crop Zones of the United States. By C. Hart Merriam. Pp. 79; No. 11. The Geographic Distribution of Cereals in North America. By C. S. Plumb. Pp. 24; Botany: No. 20. Principal Poisonous Plants in the United States. By V. K. Chesnut. Pp. 60.

Alexander, Archibald. Theories of the Will in the History of Philosophy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 353. $1.50.

Allen, Alfred H., and Leffmann, Henry. Commercial Organic Analysis. Third edition. Vol. I. Philadelphia: Blakiston's Son & Co. Pp. 557. $4.50.

Babbler, The. Semimonthly. June and July, 1898. New York: E. Rock, 406 Fourth Avenue. Pp. 8. 10 cents. $2 a year.

Baillière, J. B., et Fils, 19 Rue Hautefeuille, Paris. Revue Mensuelle de Bibliographie Scientifique (Monthly Review of Scientific Bibliography), August, 1898. Pp. 20.

Carter, J. M. G. Advances in the Domain of Preventive Medicine. Waukegan, Ill. Pp. 13.

Chemical Publishing Company, Easton, Pa. Catalogue. Pp. 26.

Columbia University Bulletin, June, 1898. Pp. 102, with plate.

Creighton, J. E. An Introductory Logic. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 392. $1.10.

Drake, N. F. A Geological Reconnaissance of the Coal Fields of the Indian Territory. Leland Stanford, Jr., University, Palo Alto, Cal. Pp. 96.

Fitz-Maurice-Kelly, James. A History of Spanish Literature. New York: D. Appleton and Company. (Literature of the World Series.) Pp. 423. $1.50.

Holden, Edward S. The Earth and Sky. A Primer of Astronomy for Young Readers. (Appletons' Home-Reading Series.) New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 76, with plates. 28 cents.

Hering, Rudolph, New York. Dilution Process of Sewage Disposal. Pp. 9.--Bacterial Processes of Sewage Disposal. Pp. 14.

Industrialist, The. Ten times a year. June, 1898. Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan. Pp. 80. $1 a year.

Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. VIII. Annual Report for 1897, etc. Samuel Calvin, State Geologist. Pp.427.

Japan-American Commercial Journal. Monthly. Tokyo (Japan) Commercial and Industrial Association. (English and Japanese.) Pp. 80.

Jordan, David Starr. Lest we Forget (address to graduating class). Pp. 36.--Description of a Species of Fish (Mitsukurina owsteni) from Japan, the Type of a Distinct Family of Lamnoid Sharks. Pp. 8, with plates.

Kindergarten. The, Review. Monthly. Springfield, Mass.: Milton Bradley Company. Pp. 64. $2 a year.

Lambert, P. A. Differential and Integral Calculus; for Technical Schools and College. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp.245. $1.50.

Luce, W. B., Hingham Centre, Mass. Kites and Experiments in Aërial Photography. Pp.32. 25 cents.

MacCurdy, George Grant, and Mohiliansky, Nicolas. Indices Ponderaux du Crane (Weight Indices of the Brain). Paris. Pp. 16.

MacClure, Theodore R. A Quarter-Century of Public Health Work in Michigan. Lansing. Pp. 48.

Mivart, St. George. The Groundwork of Science. A Study of Epistemology. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp.328. $1.75.

Musick, John R. Lights and Shadows of our War with Spain. New York: J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company. Pp. 224.

Muter, John. A Short Manual of Analytical Chemistry, Qualitative and Quantitative--Inorganic and Organic. Second American edition. Philadelphia: Blakiston's Son & Co. Pp. 228. $1.25.

New Jersey, Geological Survey of. Annual Report of the State Geologist for 1897. Pp. 368.

New World, The. A Quarterly Review of Religion, Ethics, and Theology. September, 1898. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 200. 75 cents. $3 a year.

New York State College of Forestry at Cornell University. Announcement. Pp. 40.

Shufeldt, Dr. R. W. On the Alternation of Sex in a Brood of Young Sparrowhawks. Pp. 4.

Smith. William B. Infinitesimal Analysis. Vol. I. Elementary; Real Variables. New York. The Macmillan Company. Pp. 852. $3.25.

Thomson, J. J. The Discharge of Electricity through Gases. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp.203. $1.

University of Tennessee Record. Knoxville. Pp.80.

Venable, F. P., and Howe, J. L. Inorganic Chemistry according to the Periodic Law. Easton, Pa.: The Chemical Publishing Company. Pp.266. $1.50.

Wilson, L. L. W. History Reader for Elementary Schools. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 403. 60 cents.

Wright, Mabel Osgood, and Chapman, Frank M. Four-footed Americans and their Kin. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 432. $1.50.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] Practical Plant Physiology. An Introduction to Original Research for Students and Teachers of Natural Science, Medicine, Agriculture, and Forestry. By Dr. W. Detmer. Translated from the second German edition by S. A. Moor. London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 555. Price, $3.

[16] The Sphere of Science. By Frank Sargent Hoffman, Ph. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 268. Price, $1.50.

[17] A Text-Book of Geodetic Astronomy. By John F. Hayford. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 851, with plates.

[18] L'Année Psychologique. Edited by Alfred Binet--with the Collaboration of H. Beaunis, Th. Ribot and Bourdon, Courtier, Farrand, Flournoy, Philippe, Vaschide, and Warren. Editorial secretary, Victor Henri. Fourth year. Paris: Librairie C. Reinwald. Schleicher Brothers, publishers. Pp 849. Price, 15 francs.

[19] Introduction to the Study of North American Archæology. By Prof. Cyrus Thomas. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company. Pp. 891.

[20] Handbook of Nature Study for Teachers and Pupils in Elementary Schools. By D. Lange. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 339. Price, $1.

[21] The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics. By Woodrow Wilson. Revised edition. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 656. Price, $2.

[22] How to Name the Birds. A Pocket Guide to the Land Birds and to the Principal Water Fowl normally found in the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, for the Use of Field Ornithologists. By H. E. Parkhurst. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 115. Price, $1.

Fragments of Science.

=Carbonic Acid and Glaciation.=--In a paper on Hypotheses bearing on Climatic Changes, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin takes up a suggestion of Tyndall's that the periods of terrestrial glaciation might be dependent upon the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, the peculiar competence of which to retain solar heat he had demonstrated. Following out the doctrine of atmospheric loss on its own lines, although only in a tentative way as yet, he seems to find a rhythmical action that may in part explain the glacial oscillations. The idea, he says, hinges on the action of the ocean as a reservoir of carbon dioxide, and on the losses of the organic cycle under the influence of cold. Cold water absorbs more carbon dioxide than warm water. As the atmosphere becomes impoverished and the temperature declines, the capacity of the ocean to take up carbonic acid in solution increases. Instead, therefore, of resupplying the atmosphere in the stress of its impoverishment, the ocean withholds its carbon dioxide to a certain extent, and possibly even turns robber itself by greater absorption. So also, with increased cold the progress of organic decay becomes less active, a greater part of the vegetal and animal matter remains undecomposed, and its carbon is thereby locked up; and hence the loss of carbon dioxide through the organic cycle is increased. The impoverishment of the atmosphere is thus hastened and the epoch of cold is precipitated. With the spread of glaciation the main crystalline areas whose alteration is the chief source of depletion become covered and frozen, and the abstraction of carbon dioxide by rock alteration is checked. The supply continuing the same, by hypothesis, re-enrichment begins, and when it has sufficiently advanced warmth returns. With returning warmth the ocean gives up its carbon dioxide more freely, the accumulated organic products decay and add their contribution of carbonic acid, and the re-enrichment is accelerated and interglacial mildness is hastened.

=Additions to the Missouri Botanical Garden.=--We learn from the ninth annual report of the Missouri Botanical Garden that while the decorative features were maintained in 1897 in about the same manner as heretofore, considerable additions have been made in certain classes, especially orchids, and the collections of cultivated species, with their named varieties, are now estimated to number about five thousand. Circumstances made possible material additions to the contents of the herbarium; and, besides the purchased current collections, rather larger and more numerous than usual, the garden has secured the herbarium of the late J. H. Redfield, very rich in earlier collections representing the flora of the United States; the herbarium of the late Dr. J. F. Joor, containing 4,133 specimens, and largely adding to the representation of the flora of Louisiana and Texas; the interesting herbarium of Gustav Jermy, of San Antonio, Texas, containing a very full set of Carpathian plants and a nearly complete local flora; the important pre-Linnæan herbarium formed by Boehmer and Ludwig; and a Chinese collection by Dr. A. Henry. Even larger additions were made to the library. The instruction of garden pupils was continued, and the garden was visited by several research students. Among the scientific papers accompanying the report and bound with it are those of C. H. Thompson on American Lemnaceæ; N. N. Glatfelter on _Salix longipes_; H. C. Irish on the Genus Capsicum; A. S. Hitchcock on Cryptogams collected in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman; J. N. Rose on Agaves; C. H. Thompson on Cacti Anhalonium; and seven shorter papers under the heading of "Notes and Observations."

=The Indian Idea of the "Midmost Self."=--In attempting to explain the significance of a pentagonal stone dodecahedron with vestiges of figures on it found near Marietta, Ohio, Dr. J. C. Morris assumed that, besides the Aryan idea of three dimensions of space, there is, to the Indian and to the Eastern mind, another--the fullness. "It is not the length and breadth and thickness of a cube, for instance, but the whole of it, which is as much to be considered as any one of its sides. A cube would therefore be represented numerically by seven, a dodecahedron by thirteen. Among the Mexicans the thirteen lunar months would thus correspond in the year with the twelve zodiacal signs and the earth which passed under and embraced them all." Again, the five digits came to be a measure of man's power or individuality, and thus a sacred number. A pentagonal dodecahedron, then, might be the emblem of the world; and the best time to be active in some contemplated pursuit might be shown by the zodiacal sign that came uppermost when the dodecahedron was thrown or rolled with appropriate ceremonies. As Mr. Frank H. Cushing interpreted the doctrine at the same meeting of the Anthropological Society, when the primitive man contemplates or considers himself or anything in its relation to space or the surrounding directions, "he notices that there is ever a front or face, a rear or back; two sides, or a right and a left; a head and a foot, or an above and a below; and that of and within all of these is himself or it; that the essence of all these aspects in anything is the thing itself--that is, the thing that contains their numbers or sum, yet is one by itself. This is indeed the very key to his conception of himself and of anything in relation to space and the universe or cosmos. He observes that there are as many regions in the world as there are aspects of himself or sides to any equally separate thing; that there are as many directions from him or his place in the world (which is his 'midmost' or place of attachment to the Earth-mother), or from anything in the world (which is its midmost or natural station), toward these corresponding regions. Hence to him a plane would be symbolized not by four, but by five--its four sides and directions thence, and its central self--as was actually the notion of the prairie tribes; a cube, not by six, but by seven, as was the notion of the valley Pueblos and Navajos; a dodecahedron, not by twelve, but by thirteen, as was the notion of the Zuñis, the Aztecs, and apparently--from this example--of the mound builders as well."

=The Bactrian Camel for the Klondike.=--The great Siberian or Bactrian camel is recommended by Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, the famous Hamburg importer of wild beasts, as the best animal for the Klondike climate. It is at home in the coldest regions, can carry or go in harness, can cross mountains or traverse valleys, and is so easily supplied that Mr. Hagenbeck can undertake to deliver any number in New York, duty paid, for three hundred dollars each. It can endure thirst and long spells of hunger as well as freezing cold, and is not too delicate to make its bed on the snow. It sheds its coat before the summer heat, but as the cooler weather of the fall comes on "it grows a garment of fur almost as thick as a buffalo robe and equally cold-resisting. It is far more strongly built than the southern camel. It does not 'split' when on slippery ground, though it falls on moist, wet clay which yields to the foot. On ice and frozen snow it stands firmly, and can travel far." It is said that an excellent cross can be made between the male Bactrian and the female Arabian camel; but when the parentage is reversed the progeny is useless. General Harlan is said to have marched two thousand Bactrian camels four hundred miles and crossed the Indian Caucasus in ice and snow, with the loss of only one animal, and that by an accident. This camel is native to the high plateaus, steppes, and deserts of Mongolia and South Siberia, and it has been found wild on the plain of Tsaidam, maintaining itself in this "arid, cold, and waterless region, where the herds are said to travel seventy miles to drink. Nothing," we are further told, "but too much comfort or a damp climate seems to hurt it. For food it prefers dry, salty plants and bushes and grows sick and lean on good pasture. The salty efflorescence of the steppes is eagerly eaten by it, and in this country it prefers dry food, especially wheat straw and hay. Prjevalski's camels would eat almost anything--straw, bleached bones, old pack saddles, straps, and leather. The Mongols told him of camels which had been without food a long time, and then devoured an old tent belonging to their owner. They even ate meat and fish, and one of the traveler's camels made a meal of the bird skins ready for stuffing."

=Nicaragua and its Ferns.=--Tropical America is described by B. Shimek, in a paper on the Ferns of Nicaragua, as the fern paradise of the earth. "No other corresponding division of the earth's surface," he says, "presents as great a total number of species, or as many species which are peculiar to it. Nowhere else is the great variation in form and size, in structural characters and habits of growth, and in the arrangement and character of the reproductive organs, better shown than here. This richness in the fern flora, exhibited in almost unlimited variety, is, no doubt, accounted for by the topography and contour of that part of the American continent which lies within the tropics. It is narrow when compared with the continents of the Old World, and it contains high mountain chains, which form its longest axis. Its narrow form brings all of it more or less within the influence of the adjacent oceans, which furnish to most of it an abundance of moisture. Its high mountains supply all the conditions effected by altitude, and, moreover, cut off the otherwise abundant moisture from certain areas. We have thus within comparatively restricted limits all the possible degrees of moisture and temperature, and the effect of environment finds abundant expression in the great variety of fern structures." After palms, ferns form the most conspicuous feature of tropical vegetation, and in size they vary from species only a fraction of an inch high to splendid tree ferns or vines single fronds of which are more than thirty feet long. In texture "some rival the flimsiest lace, while others develop thick, leathery fronds.... In habit the variation is fully as great. In western Nicaragua, for example, where there is a distinct dry season, ferns growing on bare volcanic rock become so dry that they may be ground to powder between the fingers, and yet they retain life; while in the eastern part, with its deep jungles in which perpetual shade and moisture prevail, the more delicate as well as the more gorgeous forms have full opportunity for the development of their many peculiarities." In a very small territory of Nicaragua, including a strip along the San Juan River in no case extending more than six miles away from it, and in the little island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, Mr. Shimek, in less than four months, while engaged in general botanical work, collected more than a hundred and twenty species of ferns; and yet only about one fifth of one hundred and twenty-one species recorded by Fournier, two fifths of one hundred and thirty-five species credited by Hemsley to Nicaragua, and two fifths of those reported by Baker and Hemsley from adjacent Costa Rica, occur in his list.