4i8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to Imitation and Allied Activities. The de- 

 sign of the book is fully explained in an in- 

 troduction contributed by Mr. E. H. Russell, 

 principal of the normal school. " The rec- 

 ords," he says, " make no scientific preten- 

 sions whatever. They are printed in response 

 to many requests and with the hope of awak- 

 ening or quickening interest in children sim- 

 ply as children, not as pupils or as ' material' 

 for psychological or anthropological study." 

 Mr. Russell calls attention to the evidence in 

 these observations of the interest with which 

 children repeat their imitative acts, this in- 

 terest being sustained by their vivid fancy. 

 Their spontaneous activity muscular and 

 mental is another notable characteristic 

 that he mentions. He also gives a caution 

 against too much seeking for uniformity in 

 children. A second volume, embracing an- 

 other class of these observations, will be 

 forthcoming if the demand should appear to 

 warrant it. 



The recent political campaign was re- 

 markably productive of books which have 

 more than an ephemeral interest. Among 

 these is TJie Monetary and Banking JProb- 

 lem, by Logan G. McPherson (Appletons, 

 $1), consisting of three articles contributed 

 to this magazine early in 1896, with addi- 

 tional chapters on bimetallism and on the 

 standard of value. Mr. McPherson main- 

 tains that, while gold and silver were suit- 

 able for money in past conditions of the 

 world's trade, they are very crude instru- 

 ments for our present commerce. The use 

 of both together is made impracticable by 

 natural laws unless one is subsidiary to the 

 other. They are being steadily superseded 

 by paper representatives of value, and the 

 author looks forward to the adoption of a 

 new unit which shall be not a specified 

 weight of metal but a quantity of human 

 effort. The reasons for the position taken 

 by him are clearly stated, and the problem 

 which still confronts the United States in 

 spite of the verdict of the recent election is 

 discussed practically and understandingly. 



Believers in the gold standard will regard 

 as pertinent to the times the new edition of 

 Fiat Money Inflation in France, by Andreiu 

 D. White (Appletons, paper, 25 cents), which 

 was one of the books of the recent campaign. 

 Doubtless many persons will devote some of 



their leisure this winter to a further study of 

 monetary questions, and to them this bit of 

 history can not fail to be instructive. The 

 present issue contains an extract from Ma- 

 caulay on effects of cheap coinage, and an 

 introduction showing the resemblance of the 

 scheme tried by France to that proposed for 

 the United States. 



The volume of Proceedings of the Indiana 

 Academy of Sciences just issued contains 

 about three hundred pages and a number of 

 plates. Among the more notable articles 

 are Call's Revision of the Parvus Group of 

 Unionidce, Everman and Scovell's Fishes of 

 the Missouri River Basin, and Investigations 

 concerning the Redfish. The notable fea- 

 ture of the Biological Survey Reports is the 

 series of reports on Turkey Lake. This,' the 

 largest inland lake of Indiana, has been 

 chosen as the seat of the Indiana University 

 Biological Station. The lake is being studied 

 as a unit of environment with the variation 

 of its inhabitants. The scope of the report 

 as indicated by the titles is about as follows : 

 Report on the physical features ; hydro- 

 graphic map, with contours for every ten feet 

 of depth ; temperatures ; the inhabitants, by 

 Eigenmann, Ridgley, Kellicott, Birge, Hay, 

 Call, Atkinson, Roddick, and Chamberlain ; 

 methods of studying variation, by Eigen- 

 mann ; and the variation of Etheostoma ca- 

 prodes, by Moenkhaus. 



The instructor who has had for several 

 years a large class of beginners in organic 

 chemistry knows how much of his time is 

 required to initiate his neophytes into the 

 new kind of laboratory work that they are 

 taking up. He will not need to be told the 

 value of a book that could give the necessary 

 directions clearly, briefly, and without the 

 omission of any essential caution or quali- 

 fication. Such a book Dr. Ludwig Qatter- 

 mann aimed to produce in his Practical 

 Methods of Organic Chemistry, and with so 

 much success that a translation into English 

 has seemed warranted (Macmillan, $1.60). 

 Dr. Gattermann describes first such general 

 operations as crystallization, simple distilla- 

 tion, distillation with steam, etc., not omit- 

 ting the drying and cleaning of vessels. In 

 this general part are included qualitative 

 tests and the quantitative determination of 

 carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and the 



