422 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



"While earth-burial, either with or without 

 embalmment or partial cremation, seems to 

 have been the general custom among North 

 American Indians, other methods of dispos- 

 ing of bodies are also known : as aerial sepul- 

 ture, or leaving the body in a box or canoe, 

 which is supported on a scaffold or tree ; and 

 aquatic burial, which consists in sinking 

 the body in a stream, or setting it afloat in 

 a canoe. Violent expressions of grief are 

 expected from the friends of the dead, and 

 especially from widows. Some of these are, 

 blackening the face, shaving the head, and 

 cutting the flesh all being accompanied by 

 mournful cries, and sometimes hired mourn- 

 ers being employed. In some tribes, the 

 widow observes a long period of mourning, 

 involving many discomforts, and in others 

 she submits to being put to death at the 

 grave. This volume does not include all 

 the material collected before its date, nor 

 does it mark the end of the bureau's labors ; 

 all investigators of American ethnology are 

 earnestly requested to co-operate in the 

 further work of the bureau, and cordial 

 thanks are offered to those who have al- 

 ready contributed their observations. 



American Humorists. By the Rev. H. R. 

 Haweis, M. A. New York : Funk & 

 "W agnails. Pp. 180. Price, 75 cents. 



This is a reprint of a course of lectures 

 which were delivered at the Royal Institu- 

 tion in London, on six of those whom the 

 English regard as our most characteristic and 

 typical humorous writers, viz., Washington 

 Irving, Dr. Holmes, Mr. Lowell, Arternus 

 Ward, Mark Twain, and Bret Harte. The 

 pervading quality of the wit of each of these 

 authors is analyzed, and is illustrated by lib- 

 eral citations from the most characteristic 

 of their writings. The work is not satisfac- 

 tory to all the critics, but this arises proba- 

 bly as much from the fact that the flavor of 

 humor can not be conveyed, as from any 

 deficiencies of the author. 



Jesus, his Opinions and Character : The 

 New Testament Studies of a Layman. 

 Boston : George II. Ellis. Pp. 471. 

 Price, $1.50. 



Taking a judicial and critical rather 

 than a partisan attitude, the author has col- 

 lected and arranged systematically what Je- 

 sus seems to have thought about the various 



subjects upon which his followers represent 

 him as teaching. The author's data are 

 taken from the first three gospels, while the 

 fourth is regarded as a genuine early com- 

 mentary, and as such is referred to by way 

 of illustration. "Every great historical per- 

 sonage," our anonymous author writes, "to 

 be understood, must be studied in connec- 

 tion with his dominant idea." This domi- 

 nant idea in the case of Jesus he finds to be 

 the " doctrine of the kingdom of heaven," 

 and insists that this doctrine be kept clearly 

 in view, as the central idea " around which 

 was grouped all that he said and taught.'.' 

 Successive chapters take up the political, 

 ethical, philosophical, and religious ideas of 

 Jesus, his ideas of a future life, the miracles 

 attributed to him, his arrest, trial, and death, 

 his personal pretensions and character, and 

 the legend of the resurrection, the last 

 chapter being devoted to the " Influence on 

 Historic Christianity of Paul and John." 



An Introduction to the Study of Or- 

 ganic Chemistry. By Adolph Pinker, 

 Th. D. Translated and revised from 

 the sixth German edition, by Peter T. 

 Austen, Ph. D., F. C. S., Professor of 

 Chemistry in Rutgers College and the 

 New Jersey State Scientific School. New 

 York : John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 382. 

 Price, $2.55. 



English-speaking students of organic 

 chemistry have suffered from a dearth of 

 suitable elementary text-books in their own 

 language; hence this translation of Pinner's 

 standard work is to be heartily welcomed. 

 The book is too well appreciated in the 

 original to need comment here ; the trans- 

 lation follows the easy lecture-style of the 

 original, and contains additional matter de- 

 scribing the most important recent discov- 

 eries. 



Entomological Papers from the Transac- 

 tions of the Iowa State Horticultu- 

 ral Society, for the Year 1882. Des 

 Moines, Iowa: F. M. Mills, State Printer. 

 Pp. 42. 



The papers include one on the injury 

 done by insects in orchards, by the Hon. J. 

 N. Dixon ; notes on the " Injurious Insects 

 of 1882," by Miss Alice B. Walton; and 

 "Entomological Notes," for the year, by 

 Professor Herbert Osborn, all of which 

 have a practical bearing. 



