LITERARY NOTICES. 



853 



served in Winchester Castle and Cathedral, 

 we go and look at them and find that they 

 are all real. Next to seeing them for our- 

 selves is reading the mind-pictures of them 

 of one who has seen them intelligently, and 

 of the emotional effects they have wroughl 

 upon him with the guide-book information 

 left out. A historical monument in France 

 is defined by the author as meaning " a 

 church, or a castle, or a town that has been 

 thought worthy either of restoration or pres- 

 ervation at the expense of the French people. 

 There is a tax levied to provide the money 

 necessary for these purposes, and it is aston- 

 ishing how much the French are willing to 

 pay to preserve or restore whatever has to 

 do with their history as a nation." More 

 than thirty works, cathedrals, churches, cas- 

 tles, etc., of historical or architectural inter- 

 est, are described in this book in the manner 

 we have indicated. 



The Animal as a Machine and Prime Mo- 

 tor. By R. H. Thurston. New York : 

 John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 97. Price, $1. 



This is a comparison of the animal as a 

 piece of mechanism for the conversion, ap- 

 plication, and utilization of energy with the 

 various machines which man has construct- 

 ed for the same purpose. The introductory 

 chapter is a discourse on some of the more 

 important physical laws and the efficiency of 

 the most economical machines whose con- 

 struction is based upon them. In the next 

 chapter, The Animal as a Prime Motor, the 

 various vital processes, the efficiency of vital 

 machines, intensity of muscular effort, and 

 the uses of food are among the most impor- 

 tant headings. The third and concluding 

 chapter considers some of the unsolved prob- 

 lems of the animal machine, such as the 

 source of the firefly's glow and the animal- 

 cule's phosphorescence. 



The Land Birds and Game Birds of New 

 England. By H. D. Minot. Second 

 edition, edited by William Brewster. 

 Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 

 492. Price, $3. 



It has been often remarked that a teacher 

 who is only a few lessons ahead of his class 

 has an important advantage in that he can 

 better appreciate the difficulties of his pu- 

 pils than one who is further removed in at- 



tainments. On this account, as well as for 

 his happy manner of imparting knowledge, 

 Mr. Minot should he ranked as one of the 

 most acceptable guides to the amateur or- 

 nithologist. His book is a remarkable pro- 

 duction for a youth of seventeen. It, gave 

 substantial promise of important scientific 

 and literary work which was left unfulfilled 

 by the ill health that turned the author aside 

 to a different profession and by his untimelj 

 death in a railroad collision. The book con- 

 tains errors, and its statements as to range- 

 are deficient, but the editor has set sufficient 

 danger signals against the former, and has 

 duly supplemented the latter. It is riot 

 complete, but this does not prevent its being 

 highly useful. Its descriptions comprise the 

 external appearance of the species, its habits, 

 range, appearance of its nest and eggs, and 

 its song. An introduction contains directions 

 for collecting birds and eggs, and for study- 

 ing the birds at liberty. The illustrations 

 are some twenty odd outline drawings by 

 the author and a frontispiece portrait. 



A Tabular Review of Organography has 

 been prepared by Prof. A. L. Benedict for 

 the use of the classes in botany of the De- 

 partment of Pharmacy in the University of 

 Buffalo. In it each point has, so far as 

 possible, been exemplified by some common 

 plant ; and each page of the manual is pro- 

 vided with a blank side to be filled in by 

 the student himself. It is thus intended to 

 adapt the little work especially for use as a 

 guide in field study. An apology for hastj 

 preparation at a season when the notes could 

 not be verified by reference to wild plants is 

 hardly in place in a scientific manual. With 

 another summer affording the means desired, 

 there should be no occasion for it to remain 

 in another edition. 



The papers of Charles Robertson, of 

 Carlinville, 111., upon the Mutual Biologic , I 

 Relations of the Fntomophilous Flora and the 

 Anthophilous Insert Fauna of his county of 

 Macoupin are valuable to botanists and en- 

 tomologists, and to all persons interested in 

 horticulture. 



In a little book on Condiments, Spices, 

 and Flavors, a brief account i- given by Dr. 

 Mary E. Green of the substances classed 

 under those heads, in the hope that it may 

 lead to a more intelligent use of them in 



