560 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



do in handling the instruments ; the sim- 

 plest and most reliable batteries, etc. That 

 the book is a really practical one may be 

 gathered from the following extract : " The 

 poles for an ordinary line to carry from one 

 to four wires should be of chestnut, cedar, 

 or other durable wood, and should be rea- 

 sonably straight, at least twenty-five feet 

 long, and at least five inches in diameter at 

 the top," etc. An appendix contains a 

 chapter on the Gibboney long-distance tele- 

 phone, and another on how to make the 

 phonograph. 



A Florida Sketch-book. By Bradford 

 Torret. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & 

 Co. Pp. 242. Price, $1.50. 



As a writer of out-of-door books Mr. 

 Torrey must be given high rank. His style 

 is chatty, he goes into no long disquisitions, 

 and in his descriptions of Nature he does not 

 forget that the human animal is part and 

 parcel thereof. His favorite subjects of ob- 

 servation are birds, and he tells us much 

 about the ways of the herons, the pelicans, 

 and the gannets, of the kingfishers, the 

 grackles, and the buzzards, and many others 

 of the feathered tribe. Occasionally he tells 

 us about creatures of other kinds, or some 

 striking flower, and his experiences with 

 crackers and negroes are frequent enough 

 to give quite a human flavor to the book. 

 A curious bit of local language here and 

 there adds still further to the variety of his 

 observations. The value of the little vol- 

 ume is increased by a serviceable index. 



The Story of the Stars. By George F. 

 Chambers, F. R. A. S. New York: D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 160. Price, 40 

 cents. 



Ignorance of Nature can no longer be ex- 

 cused by the size and forbidding character 

 of scientific books. An especially attractive 

 series of little guides to various divisions of 

 the world about us has begun to appear 

 under the general title of The Library of 

 Useful Stories, the first place in the series 

 being given to the stars. Mr. Chambers is 

 an experienced writer on astronomical sub- 

 jects, and has a happy faculty for taking 

 away the strangeness of unfamiliar things. 

 He opens this little volume by telling of two 

 legal cases which turned on the matter of 



standard time, and shows that in such mat- 

 ters, as well as in navigation, astronomy 

 comes very close to everyday life. This, fol- 

 lowed by a chapter on First Experiences of a 

 Starlight Night, make an easy introduction 

 to the subject. In speaking of the constel- 

 lations and their history he improves the 

 opportunity to bring in much curious lore. 

 Of similar interest is the chapter on The Stars 

 in Poetry, further along. Every one has won- 

 dered about the number of the stars, and Mr. 

 Chambers does not neglect to tell us what 

 attempts have been made to estimate them. 

 Colored, moving, temporary, and variable 

 stars are duly described ; also stars arranged 

 by twos, in groups, and in clusters. The 

 nebulae and the Milky Way have due con- 

 sideration, and finally we are told something 

 of what has been learned by the spectro- 

 scope about the stars and nebula?.- A Table 

 of the Constellations and a List of Celestial 

 Objects for Small Telescopes are appended. 

 Twenty-four maps in white on black illus- 

 trate the text. 



A Standard Dictionary of the English 

 Language. Vol. II, M-Z and Appendix. 

 Edited by Isaac K. Funk, D. D., Editor 

 in Chief ; Francis A. March, LL. D., 

 L. H. D., Consulting Editor ; and Daniel 

 S. Gregory, D. D., Managing Editor. 

 New York : Funk & Wagnalls Co. Pp. 

 1061-2318. Price (of two- volume edi- 

 tion, complete), russia, $17 ; morocco, 

 $22. 



A little over a year ago we pointed out 

 the chief distinguishing features of this 

 work in noticing its first volume. In the 

 second volume the excellences of the first 

 are well maintained. Among the special 

 features falling in the latter half of the al- 

 phabet are colored plates showing national 

 coats of arms, familiar flowering plants, sig- 

 nal flags, and typical colors, also plates 

 showing typical heads of human races, and 

 the seals of the United States, the sev- 

 eral States, and the Territories. Several 

 other terms have illustrations occupying a 

 whole page. The color chart appears under 

 " spectrum " and is accompanied by a table 

 giving the percentages of primary colors to 

 be combined for producing nearly five hun- 

 dred shades. A list of varieties, subdivi- 

 sions, or technical terms is given under many 

 words, such as man, measure, officer, print- 

 ing-press, science, soap, theology, watch, 



