LITERARY NOTICES. 



fii 



lished statements of the great advantages 

 which that section offers to immigrants. 

 The present tract is designed to exhibit the 

 disadvantages of the Northwest, so as to 

 prevent attention being turned away too 

 much from Kentucky. The labor was not 

 necessary. The advantages of Kentucky are 

 too real and too well known to need exal- 

 tation through the depreciation of those of 

 other parts of the Union. 



Inductive Metrology. By W. J. McGee. 

 Pp. 8. 



Following np the suggestions of Mr. 

 Petrie's English work on the " Recovery of 

 Ancient Measures from the Monuments," 

 the author insists on the necessity of more 

 numerous and accurate measurements of the 

 works of our American prehistoric races. 

 The prevalent belief that the mound-build- 

 ers used no unit of linear measure is con 

 tradicted by the measurements given by 

 Messrs. Squier and Davis, by Mr. Petrie's 

 deductions from them, and by the author's 

 investigations. Computations made on these 

 three bases nearly agree in giving a unit 

 corresponding to 2-140 feet or 25*68 inches, 

 with a possible error of '0384. 



Nostrums in their Relations to the Pub- 

 lic Health. By Albert B. Prescott, 

 M. D., F. C. S., Professor of Applied 

 Chemistry in the University of Michigan. 

 Pp. 12. 



Professor Prescott relates the results 

 of the analyses made by himself and others 

 of a considerable number of nostrums, which 

 show that none of them contain anything 

 new or rare, though many of them pretend 

 to ; that while many of them contain only 

 what is at the best worthless, some contain 

 substances that are actively injurious ; that 

 the composition of some is uncertain be- 

 cause it is often changed at the fancy of the 

 proprietor ; and that as a rule nostrums are 

 better not used. 



On Philadelphite (Sp. Nov.). By Henry 

 Carvill Lewis. Pp. 16. 



This paper is a description of a new 

 mineral belonging to the vermicular group 

 of hydrous silicates, occurring disseminated 

 and in scales, and in seams in the hornblen- 

 dic gneiss of parts of Philadelphia, which 

 exhibits some remarkable properties. 



On the Geographical Distribution of the 

 Indigenous Plants of Europe and the 

 Northeast United States. By Joseph 

 F. James. Cincinnati, Ohio. Pp. 17. 



The author believes that the species of 

 plants common to Europe and America have 

 had a common origin in the land about the 

 north pole, and that they have migrated 

 southward as the cold has increased in the 

 Arctic regions; that on account of the 

 present arrangement of isothermals some 

 species reach in Europe a latitude higher by 

 twenty degrees than that in which they are 

 found in America; that the chain of the 

 Roeky Mountains and the Andes furnishes 

 or has furnished a highway for the dis- 

 persion of some Arctic forms over the 

 southern hemisphere ; and that the greater 

 similarity between the floras of Europe, 

 Northeast Asia, and Eastern America than 

 between those of Asia and the American 

 Pacific coast may be accounted for by ref- 

 erence to peculiarities of climatic conditions. 



Annual Report of the Operations of 

 the United States Life-saving Ser- 

 vice for the Fiscal Year ending 

 June 30, 1880. Washington: Govern- 

 ment Printing-office. Pp. 391. With 

 Plates. 



The record of the year covered by this 

 report surpasses any previously made by 

 the establishment. The service was distrib- 

 uted among 179 stations, of which 139 

 were on the Atlantic, 34 on the Lakes, and 

 6 on the Pacific. Three hundred disasters 

 occurred within the scope of its operations, 

 inrperiling property to the value of $3,811,- 

 708, and the lives of 1,989 persons. Nine- 

 teen hundred and eighty of the men were 

 saved, only nine being lost, and $2,619,807 

 worth of property were secured. The re- 

 port gives the details of the operations and 

 of the disasters. 



The School of Llfe. By William Rounse- 

 ville Alger. Boston: Roberts Broth- 

 ers. Pp. 205. Price, 1. 

 An essay, the scope of which is fairly 

 described by the general subject of the title. 

 It relates principally to the discipline and 

 culture which we receive from our presence 

 in the world and its action upon us, the use 

 we should make of the opportunities it af- 

 fords, and the methods by which we may 

 attain the best-rounded manhood. 



