SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



563 



pven the occupation and number of the 

 workers concerned, locality, cause or object, 

 duration, whether successful or not, losses 

 to employers and employees, etc. The main 

 table of strikes is arranged by States, years, 

 and industries, and occupies over 1200 

 pages of the first volume. The lockouts are 

 presented in a table of 108 pages. The sec- 

 ond volume contains summary tables in 

 which the same information is presented 

 from various aspects. From the commis- 

 sioner's analysis of the tables, it appears 

 that, of the 10,487 strikes occurring in the 

 seven years and a half, 43 5 2 per cent were 

 successful, 10*19 per cent partly successful, 

 and 46-'28 per cent failed. Of the lockouts 

 four or five hundred in all 48'87 per cent 

 were successful, 10'15 per cent partly so, and 

 40-44 per cent failed. For the whole period 

 of thirteen years and a half covered by the 

 Third and Tenth Reports together, the loss 

 to employees from strikes was, in round 

 numbers, $164,000,000 ; from lockouts, 

 $27,000,000. The losses to employers from 

 the same causes were $83,000,000 and $12,- 

 000,000 respectively. 



The Pedagogical Series of papers issued 

 by the University of Pennsylvania has for 

 its first number an account of Three Ti/pical 

 Educational Systems, by Lewis R. Harley, 

 Ph. D. This consists of outlines of the 

 public-school systems of Massachusetts, New 

 York, and Michigan. While often referring 

 to the origin of certain features, Dr. Harley 

 has not undertaken to give a history of 

 school administration in these three States, 

 but rather to represent it as it exists. 



The memoir on the discovery of Argon 

 with which Lord Rayleigh and Prof. William 

 Ramsay won the Hodgkins-Fund prize has 

 been issued as one of the Smithsonian Con- 

 tributions to Knowledge. This remarkable 

 discovery has been widely described in both 

 technical and popular journals, and a revised 

 version of the memoir has been published in 

 the Philosophical Transactions. The paper 

 is here presented in the form in which it was 

 submitted to the committee. 



The Peabody Museum at Cambridge has 

 begun a series of quarto publications with a 

 memoir on Prehistoric Ruins of Copan, Hon- 

 duras, being a preliminary report of the ex- 

 plorations made by the museum from 1891 



to 1895. This report has been compiled by 

 George B. Gordon from his field notes and 

 those of Marshall H. Saville and John G. 

 Owens, who at different times have carried 

 on the explorations under the direction of 

 the museum. It is intended to give only a 

 general description of the ruins and a sum- 

 mary of the work of the several expeditions. 

 It will be followed by special papers on the 

 discoveries made. The museum has had the 

 co-operation of Alfred P. Maudslay, the Eng- 

 lish explorer of Central America, and has 

 adopted the names, letters, and numbers 

 with which he has designated various por- 

 tions of the ruins and some prominent 

 sculptures, while for new features the letters 

 and figures have been continued in sequence. 

 The memoir is illustrated with a plan of the 

 ruins and a considerable number of plates 

 and figures representing stelaj, altars, and 

 other pieces of sculpture. The explorations 

 were made possible by the contributions of 

 subscribers, whose names appear in the re-' 

 port. 



It is a serious warning that is put into 

 story form in Cursed before Birth, by J. H. 

 Tilden, M. D. (the author, Denver) a warn- 

 ing to women who shirk the cares of mother- 

 hood, to girls who think it is a benefit to be 

 noticed by old and wealthy men, and to 

 young men on whose shoulders rests the 

 guardianship of a home. It is a warning 

 also to those rapacious miscreants who im- 

 agine that they can prey upon the virtue of 

 their communities without coming to a day 

 of reckoning. Dr. Tilden writes with much 

 earnestness, and there are many who should 

 heed his admonition. 



An elementary book under the title Uncle 

 Sam^s Letters on Phrenology, originally pub- 

 lished in 1842, has been reprinted recently 

 (Fowler & Wells Company, paper, 50 cents). 

 The letters are written in a familiar style, 

 with considerable pleasantry, and contain 

 many illustrative anecdotes and allusions to 

 public men and affairs of fifty years ago. 



On account of the important position oc- 

 cupied by the alternating current trans- 

 former in systems of distribution for light 

 and power. Prof. Frederick Bedell, of Cor- 

 nell University, has been led to prepare a 

 treatise on The Rrinciples of the Trans- 

 former. " Ten years ago," the author re- 



