120 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



more than the same ideas which, in respect 

 to grammar, we indicate by the terms 'sin- 

 gular, plural, and common.' " He then pro- 

 ceeds to trace out other analogies or cor- 

 respondences, and shows that grammar 

 throughout has its true basis in logic. 



The number before us of the Journal of 

 Speculative Philosophy contains other arti- 

 cles, as an analysis of the music of " Rob- 

 ert Schumann," Herbart's " Rational Psy- 

 chology," and various minor discussions, but 

 the essays noticed will give an idea of the 

 scope and variety of the subjects treated in 

 its pages. If it be thought that this maga- 

 zine is too sublimated in its speculations for 

 practical service in this age, we must re- 

 member that the age needs improving ; that 

 the tendency of all science is toward the 

 establishment of generalizations or abstract 

 principles ; and we must not forget that this 

 journal is edited by one of the most able 

 and thorough of the practical educators of 

 the country. 



One Year of Science. Tribune Publica- 

 tion. Price, 25 cts. Contents : Scien- 

 tific Views of Comets ; Philological Con- 

 vention of Hartford ; Chemistry's Cen- 

 tennial; American Science Association 

 of Hartford. 



This pamphlet of 92 large pages, double 

 columns and in small type, contains an im- 

 mense amount of miscellaneous scientific 

 information boiled down to a state of con- 

 centration that is only equaled by the cheap- 

 ness for which the whole is sold. There 

 are nearly 150 articles, many of them quite 

 full, some of them illustrated, and all of them 

 on the latest aspects, results, and tendencies 

 of contemporary science. In its series of 

 cheap scientific publications, freighted with 

 useful information for the people, the Trib- 

 une is doing an important work of popular 

 education, and deserves to be widely and 

 liberally sustained. 



Exposures in Fire-insurance. By Wil- 

 liam Frazier Ross. New York : D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. 



In the language of fire-insurance, all in- 

 surable property is subject to certain ex- 

 posures or liabilities to take fire. For in- 

 stance, a building so situated in relation to 

 a storehouse of oils or spirits, that, were 

 the liquids to take fire, they would flow 



toward it, is therein subject to an exposure. 

 Exposures are numerous and varied in kind, 

 and upon the number and quality of those 

 to which a building is subjected does its 

 rate of premium depend. This makes ap- 

 parent the necessity for a reliable method 

 of estimating the exposures. The difficulty 

 hitherto in the way has been want of statis- 

 tics, and this deficiency it is the object of 

 this little volume to supply. In the main, 

 it fulfills its purpose, but the habitual use 

 of technical terms, without explanation of 

 their meaning, and the occasional occur- 

 rence in close proximity of a word, first in 

 its technical and then in its common ac- 

 ceptation, is calculated to confuse the gen- 

 eral reader. By its use, property-holders 

 will be enabled to estimate for themselves 

 the cost of insuring their property, and 

 thus to establish a check on over-charges. 



An Introduction to the Study of Gen- 

 eral Biology. By Thomas C. MacGin- 

 ley. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

 198 pages. Price, 75 cents. 



This is an ambitious attempt to supply 

 what is still needed a good text-book on 

 biology for schools. The author deals ex- 

 tensively with the torula, or yeast-plant, 

 bacterium, protococcus, and other low forms 

 of life, and gives but a single example of the 

 three highest branches. In this respect the 

 subject-matter of the book is not properly 

 balanced. While there is much to com- 

 mend, there is much to object to in the ob- 

 scure and shocking character of many of 

 the figures, as being more likely to mislead 

 than to aid. Many of them look faithful 

 copies of hasty and crude pencil-notes of 

 hasty and crude drawings made on the 

 black-board. 



Statistical Atlas of the United States. 

 Part II. Population, Social and Indus- 

 trial Statistics. 



This is part of a series of large folio 

 maps intended to represent, graphically, 

 first the progress of the United States, both 

 as regards acquisition of territory and in- 

 crease of population, and then the relative 

 proportions of the various race-elements. 

 To the illustration of these subjects are de- 

 voted sixteen sheets of the atlas. The re- 

 maining eleven sheets represent the ratio 



