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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



memoirs on all branches of natural science, 

 and notes on the occurrence and habits of 

 local plants and animals. While practical 

 work and research are especially cultivated 

 and encouraged, the aesthetic is not dis- 

 dained, and we find the " Bulletin " as bright 

 on that side as it is instructive on the other. 

 Among the papers which may be mentioned 

 as of general interest are Mr. Cowell's study 

 of the " Adventives " plants that have 

 been brought, by the railroads and other 

 means, from distant points that have made 

 their appearance in the stock-yards at East 

 Buffalo, and Professor Linden's account of 

 prominent objects of scientific interest with- 

 in convenient access of the city and its 

 neighborhood. 



Report of an Exploration of Parts of 

 Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, in Au- 

 gust and September, 1882, made by Lieu- 

 tenant-General P. H. Sheridan. Wash- 

 ington : Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 69. 



The report is accompanied by the itiner- 

 ary of Colonel James F. Gregory, and a geo- 

 logical and botanical report by Surgeon W. 

 H. Forwood. The expeditions centred around 

 the Yellowstone National Park. General 

 Sheridan recommends an enlargement of 

 the park by extending it about forty miles 

 east and ten miles south, and making it a 

 national game reservation, within which the 

 killing of game shall be prohibited. Colonel 

 Gregory's journey resulted in a demonstra- 

 tion of the practicability of the route into 

 the park from the forks of Wind River, by 

 way of Lincoln Pass, the valleys of the Gros 

 Ventre and Snake Rivers and Lewis's or Lake 

 Fork of the Snake River. Surgeon Forwood's 

 report illustrates the general features, natu- 

 ral history, and resources of the regions ex- 

 plored. 



The Place of Original Research in Col- 

 lege Education. By JonN Henry 

 Wright, Associate Professor of Greek 

 in Dartmouth College. Boston : Alfred 

 Mudge & Son, Printers. Pp. 29. 



" Original research," as used by the 

 author in connection with a college educa- 

 tion, means chiefly work pursued in subjects 

 embraced in college instruction ; and, inas- 

 much as the major part of the college course 

 is made up of linguistic, literary, historical, 

 and philosophical studies, the topics of in- 



quiry are ordinarily drawn from those fields, 

 as well as from physical science, in connec- 

 tion with which the term is more commonly 

 used. The essential character of the work 

 is that it consists in and is based upon di- 

 rect personal observation and actual exam- 

 ination, together with inductions suggested 

 by the facts investigated and discovered, 

 made independently by the inquirer and 

 without outside help. In the recorded re- 

 sults of the studies, the matter of chief con- 

 sequence will be the earnest, independent 

 work, the exact observation, and the hard 

 thinking that they represent. The manner 

 in which research of this kind is furthered 

 and encouraged at the German universities 

 and seminaries is described ; the question 

 whether similar methods can be applied at 

 American institutions is answered in the af- 

 firmative ; and observations and suggestions 

 are added as to the manner in which the ap- 

 plications may be made. 



A Study of the Manuscript Troano. By 

 Cyrus Thomas, Ph. D. With an Intro- 

 duction by D. G. Brinton, M. D. With 

 Nine Plates. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp. 236. 

 This is an attempt to give intelligibility 

 to one of those mysterious documents which 

 have been left to us from the former mas- 

 ters of Central America ; from the people 

 who probably built some of the cities the 

 ruins of which are numerous in that region, 

 and were the authors of the inscriptions of 

 Palenque. The manuscript, or Codex Tro- 

 ano, was so called by the Abbe Brasseur de 

 Bourbourg, after the gentleman, Don Juan 

 de Tro y Ortolano, of Madrid, a descendant 

 of Hernando Cortez, in whose possession he 

 found it. It is written, like the two other 

 Maya codexes which have been chromo-litho- 

 graphed and published, on paper manufac- 

 tured from the leaves of the maguey plant. 

 In form, it was folded into thirty-five folds, 

 like the panoramic books of illustrations or 

 " souvenirs," which are sold at the watering- 

 places, and was written on both sides of the 

 folds, giving seventy pages. The inscrip- 

 tions consist of lines and columns of charac- 

 ters and numerals occupying the top and left 

 side of the page, and inframing, in the rest 

 of the space, symbolical or descriptive fig- 

 ures. Dr. Thomas, who acknowledges that 

 his investigation is not as complete as he 



