Properties, Proximate Analytical Examination, and Mode of Assaying the
Various Organic Chemicals and Products employed in the Arts,
Manufactures, and Medicine. By Alfred H. Allen. Third edition.
Illustrated. With Revisions and Appendix by the author and Henry
Leffmann. Vol. I. Introduction. Alcohols, Neutral Alcoholic
Derivatives, Sugars, Starch and its Isomers, Vegetable Acids, etc.
Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Sons & Co. Pp. 557. Price, $4.50.
The same work. Second edition. Revised and enlarged. Proteids and
Albuminous Principles, Proteids or Albuminoids. Same publishers. Pp.
584. Price, $4.50.]
On the other hand, the revision of the second edition has extended
over fourteen years, and is only just completed with the fourth
volume, which appears a few weeks later than the volume noticed above.
The earlier volumes have been long out of print, and are destined, of
course, to be supplanted by those of the new revision. The present
fourth volume, being newer and of the present date, will serve as the
latest till the last volume of the new revision is reached; and,
besides, the author hopes to publish an appendix to each volume,
containing the more important of the later results. The meaning of the
term Commercial Analysis has been somewhat extended, and matter has
been included that in closest strictness does not belong under it, it
being thought better, the author says, to include all facts possessing
an analytical or practical interest to him, in the belief that what he
finds useful himself will be of value to others.
In _The Porto Rico of To-day_[AB] a traveler's view of that
interesting island and its people is presented by Mr. _A. G.
Robinson_, who went there and remained during August, September, and
October, 1898, as correspondent of the New York Evening Post. While
the book can not be regarded, as it does not profess and is not
intended to be, as a source of geographical or statistical
information, it admirably fulfills the design of the author to present
a picture of the people and of the country as he saw them; and it is a
very living picture too. He looked with a sharp eye, and has recorded
what he saw in graphic style. In the author's story of his early days
of the island we are made acquainted with the various names it has
had, of which Porto Rico, or Puerto Rico, is only the latest. The
oldest of the European names appears to have been Buriquién, in some
one of the dozen or more spellings it has had, one of them being Bo.
It has also been called La Isla de Carib, San Juan Bautista, etc.
After the account of the author's first general impressions and
experiences he describes the city of Ponce, his visit to a coffee
district, a number of typical towns and villages, the journey from
Ponce to San Juan, the highways, railways--of which there are one
hundred and forty-three miles in operation and one hundred and
seventy-five miles under construction--and a fairly effective
telegraph system, views of the industrial possibilities and commerce
of the island, with some experiences of military campaigning.
[Footnote AB: The Porto Rico of To-day. Pen Pictures of the People and
the Country. By Albert Gardner Robinson. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. Pp. 240, with maps. Price, $1.50.]
The publication of the revision which Mr. _Herbert Spencer_ is making
of his Synthetic Philosophy in order to incorporate in it as far as
may be the results of more recent advances begins with the first
volume of _The Principles of Biology_.[AC] The advance during the last
generation, Mr. Spencer thinks, has been more rapid in the direction
of this science than any other, and though the hope of bringing a work
on biology at large up to date could not be rationally entertained at
the author's age and under the existing conditions of his physical
strength, a similar service to a work on the principles of the science
did not seem impossible. Numerous additions have been needful. What
was originally said about vital changes of matter is supplemented by a
chapter on Metabolism. A chapter is added on The Dynamic Element in
Life. The insertion of some pages on Structure fills a gap in
preceding editions. The revelations of the microscope on cell life and
multiplication are set forth. A supplementary chapter on Genesis,
Heredity, and Variation gives the results of further evidence and
further thought in that line, qualifying and developing certain views
enunciated in the first edition. Various modern ideas are considered
under the title Recent Criticisms and Hypotheses. The chapter on The
Arguments from Embryology has been largely rewritten. Smaller
additions appear in the form of new sections incorporated in
pre-existing chapters. The assistance needed in the work of revision
has been given by Prof. W. H. Perkin in Organic Chemistry and its
derived subjects; Prof. A. G. Tansley in Plant Morphology and
Physiology; Prof. E. W. MacBride and Mr. J. T. Cunningham in Animal
Morphology; and Mr. W. B. Hardy in Animal Physiology. In all sections
not marked as new the author desires it to be understood that the
essential ideas set forth are the same as they were in the original
edition of 1864.
[Footnote AC: The Principles of Biology. By Herbert Spencer. In Two
Volumes. Vol. I. Revised and enlarged edition. New York: D. Appleton
and Company. Pp. 706. Price, $2.]
Prof. _Silas W. Holman_ attempts the presentation, in _Matter, Energy,
Force, and Work_,[AD] of some of the fundamental ideas and definitions
of physics in a plain and logical manner. His purpose is not to set
forth the experimental side of the subject or to describe phenomena or
laws. He rather assumes a slight knowledge of these, and proceeds to
develop the concept and definitions. The author regards a clearer
thinking on these subjects as of special importance to engineers and
members of the other technical professions, because correct views upon
them have become essential in those professions through the progress
of the applications of science to the industrial arts. These
applications are likewise of considerable interest to the untechnical
members of the community. Professor Holman has composed his book with
the principle of presenting the subject of physics in logical
sequence, and has divided it into two parts, the first of which
contains the matter immediately proper to the subject, with
discussions of substance or matter, motion; energy and its forms;
force; kinetic energy, force-measurements, work, potential energy, and
matter again, as distinguished from substance. The second part
comprises summaries of the chief theories of the nature of matter,
force, and energy, including the kinetic theory of gases, Le Sage's
theory of gravitation, the vortex-atom theory, and a discussion of the
nature of energy and matter, with observations on chemical energy and
the ether.
[Footnote AD: Matter, Energy, Force, and Work. A Plain Presentation of
Fundamental Physical Concepts, and of the Vortex-Atom and other
Theories. By Silas W. Holman. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp.
257. Price, $2.50.]
The _Short Course in Music_, prepared for use in schools where a
complete course is not thought necessary, by _F. H. Ripley_ and
_Thomas Tappen_, is embraced in two books, of which we notice the
second (American Book Company). Familiar songs are made the basis of
instruction, some of those which appear as melodies in Book One being
repeated here in full score. All other material has been prepared
especially for this book. The music and directions are adapted equally
for unchanged and changed voices. Voice training and the elements of
phrasing and expression are furnished in a group of _solfeggios_ at
the close of the book. Theory is given in condensed form, but one
that, it is claimed, embraces all the essential elements of vocal
music.
Mr. _J. E. Marr_ has prepared his exposition of _The Principles of
Stratigraphical Geology_ (Cambridge University Press; The Macmillan
Company, New York, $1.60), under the belief that an idea of the
subject can be obtained most satisfactorily if a large number of the
details connected with the study of the stratified rocks are omitted.
He has accordingly given very brief accounts of the strata of the
different systems, paying more attention to the bearings of the facts
than to their enumeration. The history of the earth is presented as a
connected one, in which one period is linked on to the next, every
event that occurs introducing a new complication into the conditions,
which are consequently never quite the same--the changes showing an
advance from the simple to the more complex. The study proves that an
enormous period elapsed subsequent to the formation of the earth and
previous to the deposition of the stratified rocks, of which we have
only the slightest, if any, knowledge. The stratigraphical geologist
has to establish the order of succession of the strata for the
chronology, and to ascertain as far as he can the conditions existing
during the deposition of the several strata or groups of strata. After
an account of the growth and progress of stratigraphical geology, the
nature of the stratified rocks and the law of superposition are
discussed; the test of included organisms and the methods of
classification are explained, the evidences of conditions under which
strata were formed, and other theoretical points are considered, and
the several geological systems or periods are enumerated under the
English nomenclature. Finally, the various estimates of geological
time and the bases on which they are made are reviewed.
The American Book Company publishes as a part of the Eclectic System
of Industrial Drawing an excellent manual of the _Elements of
Perspective_, by _Christine Gordon Sullivan_, of the Cincinnati public
schools. It consists of explicit directions and rules on the general
principles of the art, with applications in Isometric Projection and
Oblique Perspective, given in concise form and simple, clear language,
amply illustrated, and supplemented by problems, in solving which the
rules are made practical.
A convenient manual on _Gas and Petroleum Engines_ has been prepared
by _A. G. Elliott_ from the French of _Henry de Graffigny_ for
Whittaker's Electro-Mechanical Series, in recognition of the interest
that has been awakened in the application of such engines to supply
the place now occupied by horses in drawing vehicles. One chapter
deals exclusively with the theory of the gas engines. Other topics
treated of are the history of the gas engine, the description of
existing gas engines, carbureted air engines, petroleum engines,
gas-generating plants, engines for use with poor gases, and the
maintenance of gas and oil engines. (The Macmillan Company, 75 cents.)
_Laboratory Exercises in Anatomy and Physiology_ (New York: Henry Holt
& Co., 60 cents) have been prepared by _James Edward Peabody_ for
practical application. The precept is emphasized that the pupil should
be led to see that most of the materials required for observation and
experiment are furnished by the organs and tissues of his own body.
Directions which have been found in the author's experience necessary
to guide the pupil in his observations and experiments are given at
the beginning of each topic. The questions following them contemplate
the student's seeking the facts from the material itself, and he is
expected to be trained to distinguish observed results from the
inferences that may be drawn from them. Some home study is
contemplated, the results to be afterward reported in class. The book
consists almost entirely of directions for experiments, and is
interlined with blank sheets for recording observations.
_Geographical Nature Studies_ (American Book Company) is intended by
the author, _Frank Owen Payne_, to assist the teacher, and by pointing
out the relations, often unrecognized, between familiar phenomena and
home geography to guide the study of the class to definite and
practical ends. The lessons are intended to fit the comprehension of
the youngest pupils, to promote the cultivation of habits of accurate
observation, and to stimulate a desire for more knowledge and broader
views of the world. They lead directly up to the point where the more
formal study of geography from a text-book begins. The lessons may be
used as reading exercises and for topical recitations, and exercises
are introduced which may assist the cultivation of the power of
correct verbal expression in the statement of facts. The exercises
concern weather, animals, physical phenomena, and objects about us,
and are very various.
Impressions of Medusæ have been observed on the Jurassic lithographic
limestones of Solenhofen, and some "problematic fossils" on the Lower
Cambrian rocks of Sweden have been regarded as derived from Medusæ.
Certain nodules, bearing what looked like flattened-out
starfishes--"star-cobbles" they were called--have been found among the
fossils of the Coosa Valley, Alabama. Director _Charles D. Walcott_,
of the United States Geological Survey, concluded that these also
represented Medusæ, and began an investigation of them which involved
a comparison with the Swedish and Bavarian specimens, and was at last
enlarged so as to embrace all fossil Medusæ. His work is now
published as a separate memoir, _Fossil Medusæ_, as one of the
Monographs of the United States Geological Survey (Vol. XXX). The
Middle Cambrian Medusæ are first described, and then, in order, the
Lower Cambrian of the United States and of Sweden and Bohemia and the
Jurassic of Bavaria. The text is illustrated by forty-seven excellent
plates.
A new edition, revised and with additions, of the _Mechanics_ and
_Heat_ of _Edward L. Nichols_ and _W. S. Francis_ is published by the
Macmillan Company ($1.50). The book is the first volume of the
Elements of Physics of the authors, which is complete in three
volumes. We find in it no explanation of the nature and extent of the
revisions and additions.
The publication of such a book as _Catering for Two_--Comfort and
Economy for small Households (G. P. Putnam's Sons, $1.25)--has been
suggested to _Alice L. James_ by the difficulty of reducing the
average rules of the cook-book to meet the wants of a family of two or
three. The work embodies the results of sixteen years' experience in
labor and study, and the author hopes that with it the way may be made
easier for others whose bills of fare may be made for two. The
directions are claimed to be throughout exact and reliable, and the
dishes to be nourishing, appetizing, and inexpensive. The author's
plan is to take a bill of fare with a comfortable variety of dishes,
and direct explicitly how each is to be prepared.
The manual on _Testing Milk and its Products_, prepared for dairy
students, creamery and cheese factory operators, food chemists, and
dairy farmers, by _E. H. Farrington_ and _F. W. Noll_, has reached a
fourth edition, the first three editions having been exhausted in
about a year. The present edition has been thoroughly revised, and
such additions have been made to it as have been necessary to bring it
up to date. It has been adopted as a text-book or reference-book in
the dairy schools of twelve States of the Union and in a number of
schools in Canada. (Published by the Mendota Book Company, Madison,
Wis. $1.)
_The Silver Cross, or the Carpenter of Nazareth_ (International
Publishing Company, New York), is a short story selected and
translated from The Mysteries of the People of Eugène Sue, and
published for the sake of the illustrations it is supposed to afford
of the tyranny of the ruling class and the oppression of the working
people and the poor and their suffering thereby which prevailed in the
grand days of the Roman Empire, as well as always before, and is
assumed to have continued down to the present. It is the story of the
life and sufferings of Jesus of Nazareth, told in the thrilling style
of the great French novelist.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Delaware
College; No. 44. Sorghum in 1898. By Charles L. Penny. Pp.
16.--Michigan State Agricultural College. Special, No. 11. Frozen
Trees and their Treatment. Pp. 4; Nos. 166 and 167. Dairy Matters. By
C. D. Smith and G. H. True. Pp. 30; No. 168. Michigan Fruit List. By
L. H. Taft. Pp. 16; Michigan Bulletin of Vital Statistics, February
and March, 1899. Pp. 20 each.--New Hampshire College: No. 58. The Cost
of raising Calves. By Fred W. Morse. Pp. 12; No. 59. Tenth Annual
Report. By Charles S. Murkland. Pp. 56; No. 60. Green Corn under
Glass. By F. William Rane. Pp. 60; No. 61. The Inspection of
Fertilizers in 1898. Pp. 12; No. 62. Forcing Pole Beans under Glass.
By F. William Rane. Pp. 8.--New Jersey: Report of the Botanical
Department for 1898. By Byron D. Halsted. Pp. 84; No. 135. The
Poisonous Plants of New Jersey. By Byron D. Halsted. Pp. 28.--New
York: No. 150. Two Small Fruit Pests. By F. H. Hall and V. H. Lowe.
Pp. 5.--Ohio: No. 99. Sugar Beet Investigations in 1898. By A. D.
Selby; United States Department of Agriculture. Some Insects Injurious
to Garden and Orchard Crops. By F. H. Chittenden. Pp. 99; North Dakota
Weather and Crop Service for December, 1898. By W. L. Moon and B. H.
Bronson. Pp. 8.
American Economic Association. The Federal Census. Critical Essays by
Members of the Association. Pp. 516. Paper. $1.
American Public Health Association. The Bertillon Classification of
Causes of Death. Lansing, Mich. Pp. 40.
Badenoch, L. N. True Tales of the Insects. London: Chapman & Hall. Pp.
255.
Barber, Edwin Atlee. Anglo-American Pottery. (Old English China, with
American Views.) Indianapolis, Ind.: Press of the Clay-worker. Pp.
170. $1.50.
Bauer, L. A. The Physical Decomposition of the Earth's Magnetic Field,
No. 1. Pp. 20. Is the Principal Source of the Secular Variation of the
Earth's Magnetism within or without the Earth's Crust? Pp. 6.
Bridges and Framed Structures. An Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Vol.
I, No. 1. April, 1899. Chicago: The D. P. Rauck Publishing Company.
Pp. 92. 30 cents.
Campbell, W. W. The Elements of Practical Astronomy. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Pp. 264. $2.
Fairchild, H. L. Glacial Waters in the Finger-Lake Region of New York.
Pp. 36. Glacial Lakes, Newberry, Warren, and Dana, in Central New
York. Pp. 14.
Fiske, John. Through Nature to God. Boston and New York: Houghton,
Mifflin & Co. Pp. 194. $1.
Greinger, S., M. D. A Case of Abnormally High Temperature subsequent
to Attack of Tertian Ague. Pp. 5.
Hague, Arnold. Presidential Address to the Geological Society of
Washington, 1898. Abstracts of Minutes, etc. Pp. 48.
Hollick, Arthur. Notes on Block Island. Pp. 20, with plates. The
Relations between Forestry and Geology in New Jersey. Parts I and II.
Pp. 24. Additions to the Palæobotany of the Cretaceous Formation on
Staten Island. No. II. Pp. 12, with plates.
Hunter, S. J. Alfalfa, Grasshoppers, Bees: Their Relationship.
University of Kansas. Pp. 152.
Jackman, Wilbur S. Nature Study for Grammar Grades. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Pp. 407. $1.
Jenks, Josephine, Translator. Friedrich Froebel's Education by
Development. New York: D. Appleton and Company. International
Education Series. Pp. 347.
Kemp, James Furman. Preliminary Report of the Geology of Essex County,
New York. Pp. 24. Geology of the Lake Placid Region. Pp. 20, with map.
Marot, Helen. A Handbook of Labor Literature. Philadelphia: Free
Library of Economics and Political Science. Pp. 96. $1.
Mason, Otis Tufton. Aboriginal American Zoötechny. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons. Pp. 37.
New England Anti-Vivisection Society Monthly. Vol. IV, No. 4. April,
1899. Pp. 20. Boston. 10 cents. $1 a year.
Pennwitt, W. C. Memorial to the United States Senate concerning a
National University. Pp. 16.
Peck, F. W., Commissioner General. The United States at the Paris
Exposition in 1900. Pp. 11. Internationale Exposition Universelle,
Paris, 1900. Regulations, Classification. Chicago. Pp. 110.
Roosa, D. B. St. John, M. D. Defective Eyesight. The Principle of its
Relief by Glasses. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 193. $1.
Russell, Frank. Explorations in the Far North. University of Iowa. Pp.
190.
Sargent, Frederick Leroy. Corn Plants. Their Uses and Ways of Life.
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 106.
Smith, D. T., M. D. The Philosophy of Money, and other Essays.
Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton & Co. Pp. 203. $1.25.
Smith, Edgar F. (authorized translator). Victor von Richter's Organic
Chemistry, or Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds. Edited by Prof. R.
Anschütz. Third American from the eighth German edition. Philadelphia:
P. Blakiston & Co. Vol. I. The Aliphatic Series. Pp. 625. $3.
Smithsonian Institution (U. S. National Museum). Cook, O. F. The
Diplopod Family Striariidæ. Pp. 8, with plates. African Diplopoda of
the Family Gomphodesmidæ. Pp. 64, with plates.
Swift, Morrison I. Anti-Imperialism. Los Angeles, Cal.: Public
Ownership Review. Pp. 64.
United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. Report to June 30,
1898. Washington. Pp. 350.
Woodman, J. Edmund. Studies in the Gold-bearing Slates of Nova Scotia.
Boston Society of Natural History. Pp. 42, with 3 plates.
Fragments of Science.
=The New Zealand Experiment in Woman Suffrage.=--The right of suffrage
was given to all the women of New Zealand in 1893 without any
concerted action or aggressive demonstrations on their part by the
free, almost unsolicited, vote of the men. The general election took
place in November of the same year, and is described in the Saturday
Review as having been a warm contest, with several questions on which
public opinion was sharply divided; but "on the whole, the women took
matters wonderfully coolly. They flocked in thousands to the public
meetings, where, by common consent, the front seats were given up to
them." Contrary to expectation, they displayed little emotion, and
even had to be "coached" to make a pretense of enthusiasm. "Polling
day was awaited with dread by the electioneering agents and returning
officers, with doubt by veteran politicians, and with pleasurable
excitement by the women." They all voted, and "what did it all lead
to?" "It left things very much as they were.... Gradually but
irresistibly the conviction forced itself upon the New Zealand mind
that the women knowing little and caring as little about political
details, had voted almost always with the men of their family and
class. Sharing to the full the prejudices, hopes, and interests of
their fathers, brothers, husbands, and lovers, they had cheerfully
doubled the voting power of these. Where, as in the case of
schoolmistresses and factory girls, they had some special bond of
union other than domestic they had voted very much as schoolmasters
and male trade-unionists had voted.... With one accord colonists
ceased to be afraid of what the suffrage might do, and began instead
to complain of it for not doing more. Only here and there careful
observers note that groups of women are studying politics, and foresee
that, as years go by, these will supply a new and intelligent force
with distinct and logically reasoned aims of its own."