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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



going a scientific classification and an ac- 

 count of the ofiice work of the department. 

 The special reports concern the clays and 

 clay industries of the coal-bearing counties 

 by the State Geologist, W. S. Blatchley ; the 

 carboniferous sandstones of western Indiana, 

 by T. C. Hopkins ; the whetstone and grind- 

 stone rocks, by Edward M. Kindle ; and the 

 crawfishes of Indiana, by W. P. Hay; be- 

 sides which the reports of the State natural 

 gas supervisor, the inspector of mines, and 

 the oil inspector for 1894-95 are given. 



Volume XV of the Bulletin of the United 

 States Fish Commission the volume for 1895 

 consists of ten papers, most of which have 

 also been issued separately. A notably com- 

 prehensive study of the habits and develop- 

 ment of the American lobster, by Prof. 

 Francis H. Herrick, occupies the first two 

 hundred and fifty pages of the volume. 

 Prof. Herrick has devoted to this subject all 

 the time that he could spare from profes- 

 sorial duties during the past five years, and 

 has used each summer the facilities of the 

 Woods Hole Laboratory. The monograph is 

 accompanied by over sixty finely drawn and 

 engraved plates, a number of which are col- 

 ored. An account of the attempts to accli-' 

 matize fish and other water animals in the Pa- 

 cific States is the subject of a paper by Hugh 

 M. Smith, M. D. Thirty-one species of fish, 

 the lobster, the Eastern oyster, and the soft 

 clam are mentioned as subjects of these ex- 

 periments the best results being obtained 

 with shad, bass, carp, and catfish. Shorter 

 papers deal with salmon investigations in 

 Idaho, oyster beds of Alabama, the menhaden 

 fishery, etc. 



The Chief Fire Warden of Ifinnesota 

 has issued his First Annual Report, and the 

 document gives evidence of able and ener- 

 getic work on his part during the year 1895. 

 It contains a copy of the act under which 

 protection of the forests and prairies of the 

 State from fire has been organized, a copy of 

 a warning placard, eighteen thousand copies 

 of which were printed on cloth and posted in 

 the districts liable to fires, a list of the town 

 fire wardens, and statistics of forest and 

 prairie fires in ] 895. Owing to wet weather 

 the year affords a much smaller record of 

 destructive fires than 1894. A valuable and 

 interesting feature of the report consists in 



answers of local wardens to questions as to 

 the effect of the placards, the sentiment of 

 their communities as to forest preservation, 

 and ways in which fires can be prevented 

 more effectually ; also answers from lumber- 

 men to a set of questions on present meth- 

 ods of lumbering. Means for preventing the 

 starting of fires by sparks from locomotives, 

 and other topics, are also discussed. 



Volume V of the Report of the Iowa 

 Geological Survey, 1895, is accompanied, 

 like its immediate predecessor, by reports on 

 six counties of the State. Each of these 

 reports describes the geological formations 

 of the county, and gives the location and 

 character of its economic deposits. Of the 

 latter the most valuable are the soil and its 

 water supply, although this fact is frequently 

 overlooked, and there are also clays, build- 

 ing stone, and some coal. 



Among recent bulletins of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin is one on The Problem of 

 Fconomical Heat, Light, and Power Supply 

 for Bicilding Blocks, Schoolhouses, Dwell- 

 ings, etc., by G. A. Gerdtzcn, B. S. From 

 the engineering standpoint the author dis- 

 cusses the relative efficiency of electricity, 

 steam, and gas in furnishing heat, light, and 

 power, and arrives at a result which favors 

 gas produced by a combination of retort and 

 water-gas processes. 



We heartily agree with the view of Locke 

 quoted in the front of the new edition of 

 Alfred Ayres's Verhal'ist " If a gentleman 

 be to study any language, it ought to be 

 that of his own country." Science and the 

 mother-tongue have been firm allies in the 

 conflict against the monopolistic pretensions 

 of the classics, and each rejoices in the 

 other's success. If one has anything to say, 

 The Verbalist will help him to say it in the 

 most effective way. While the book is 

 mainly concerned with pointing out errors in 

 the use of words, it gives also instructions in 

 punctuation and in the use of the figures of 

 speech, and there are helpful articles on 

 British against American usage in both dic- 

 tion and pronunciation, misplaced words, the 

 use of Latin phrases, threadbare quotations, 

 verbiage, etc. In its new edition the book 

 has nearly fifty per cent more matter than it 

 had on its first appearance fifteen years ago, 

 and, although the words treated are arranged 



