7o8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



stand to the substances that produce them ; 

 in a word, that the mind is a property of the 

 organized body." Mind is no more a mys- 

 tery than matter, except that its phenomena 

 being more complex, we possess as yet much 

 less knowledge of them than we do of many 

 of the simpler phenomena of Nature. 



The Reoort of the United States Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fishenes for 1889 to 1891 

 contains, besides the summary of the work of 

 the commission and its different stations, re- 

 ports by Richard Rathbun of the Inquiry re 

 specting Food Fishes and the Fishing Grounds, 

 and by Hugh M. Smith regarding the Methods 

 and Statistics of the Fisheries ; and, in the 

 Appendices, reports, by Z. L. Tanner, on the 

 Investigations of the Steamer Albatross ; by 

 C. T. Townsend, on the Oyster Resources and 

 Oyster Fishery of the Pacific Coast of the 

 United States ; and by C. H. Stevenson, on 

 the Coast Fisheries of Texas ; with papers on 

 the Sparoid Fishes of America and Europe, 

 by D. S. Jordan and Bertt Fisher ; Fish En- 

 tozoa from Yellowstone Park, by Edward Lin- 

 ton ; and Ernst Haeckel's Plankton Studies 

 on the Importance and Constitution of the 

 Pelagic Fauna and Flora (translated by G. 

 W. Field). 



A pamphlet by Mr. Alexis A. Julien, en- 

 titled Notes of Research on the New York 

 Obelisk, contains, under the significant title 

 of Misfortunes of an Obelisk, a history of 

 the obelisk in Central Park from the time it 

 was quarried at Syene till it was brought 

 and erected in its present position ; together 

 ^^ ith a Study of the New York Obelisk as a 

 Decayed Bowlder. The author regards the 

 obelisk as liable to rapid decay in our damp 

 and variable climate, and his chief object 

 appears to be to discover the best means of 

 arresting its disintegration. He approves of 

 the paraffin treatment that has been applied 

 to it, but believes, and seeks to demonstrate, 

 that it was originally gilded ; and that if 

 again covered with gold it will be restored 

 to its first estate and be most effectually pro- 

 tected against further deterioration. 



From Romcyn Hitchcock, Chicago, 111., we 

 have of his contributions to the United 

 States National Museum The Ainos of Yezo, 

 Japan one of the most satisfactory and 

 valuable works on the subject that has ap- 

 peared ; The Ancient Pit Duellers of Yezo, 

 Japan ; Shinto, or the Mythology of the Japa- 



nese ; The Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan' ; 

 and Some Ancient Relics in Japan. 



The first paper, and the one occupying 

 the most space, in the Archivos do Museo 

 Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (Archives of the 

 National Museum of Rio de Janeiro), is by 

 Dr. Emilio Augusto Goldi, On a Disease of 

 the Coffee Tree in the State of Rio de Ja- 

 neiro, which is produced by a nematoid 

 worm, Mcloidogne exigua. Dr. Fritz Miiller 

 describes the metamorphoses of Trichodac- 

 fylus, a fresh-water crustacean, and furnishes 

 besides papers on Janira exul, an isopod 

 crustacean of the State of Santa Cattarina, 

 and two shrimps Atyoida j)otimirum and 

 Palcemon pofiuna ; and Dr. Hermann von 

 Shering contributes a description and anat- 

 omy of Peltclla. 



The Journal of Morphology, under the 

 editorial conduct of Prof. C. 0. Whitman 

 and Mr. Edward Phelps Allis, Jr., continues 

 to furnish the best results of the most care- 

 ful researches in the branch to which it is 

 devoted. No. 2 of Vol. VIII (May, 1893) 

 contains the second part of Pi'of. J. S. King- 

 ley's study of The Embryology of Limulus ; 

 The Habits and Development of the Newt, 

 by Edwin 0. Jordan ; The Formation of the 

 Medullary Groove in the Elasmobranchs, by 

 WilUam A. Lucy ; Biological Changes in the 

 Spleen of the Frog, by Alice L. Gaule ; His- 

 togenesis of the Retina in Amblystoma and 

 Necturus, by F. Mall ; and Homology of the 

 Centrosome, by S. Watase. All these arti- 

 cles are sui,tably illustrated in the plates. 



No. 2 of Vol. I of the Contributions to 

 the Botanical Laboratory of the University 

 of Pennsylvania is devoted to a Botanical 

 and Economic Study of Maize, by John W. 

 Harshberger. The botanical account, under 

 which are included gross anatomy, histology, 

 bibliography, synonyms, and name, is fol- 

 lowed by a discussion of the origin of maize, 

 with evidences afforded by meteorology, 

 botany, archteology, ethnology, philology, and 

 history ; after which its geographical dis- 

 tribution, chemistry, agriculture, physiology, 

 utility, and future are considered. 



The paper of Mr. William Trelea^e, of the 

 Missouri Botanic Garden, St. Louis, on The 

 Sugar Maples, with a Wilder Synopsis of all 

 North American Maples, is devoted, first, to 

 the identification and description of the va- 

 rieties which are known in different parts of 



