LITERARY NOTICES. 



853 



comply with some demand. A brief, com- 

 prehensive record of the progress in the 

 applications of electricity and of events 

 illustrating it, during 1882, adds value to 

 the work. Classified indexes are provided, 

 and reference is further facilitated by dif- 

 ferences in the coloring of the leaf-edges of 

 the several departments. 



Recherches sur la Structure de quelques 

 dlatomees contenues dans le " cement- 

 stein " du Jutland (Researches on the 

 Structure of some Diatoms contained in 

 the " Cementstein " of Jutland). By MM. 

 W. Prinz and E. Van Ermengen. Brus- 

 sels: A. Manceaux. Pp. 74, with Four 

 Plates. 



A record of a minute and careful ex- 

 amination of the curious organic structures 

 designated, of particular interest to micro- 

 scopists and students of the Diatomacce. 

 The authors claim, moreover, a kind of edu- 

 cational interest and utility for studies of the 

 class to which this one belongs, because ac- 

 quaintance with the exact forms of the va- 

 ried and delicate designs that adorn the si- 

 liceous envelopes of the microscopic algae 

 facilitates the. interpretation of similar im- 

 ages that appear in other microscopic inves- 

 tigations, and furnishes a safeguard against 

 the causes of error and illusions to which 

 microscopists are exposed from the presenta- 

 tion of figures under their instruments which 

 do not conform to the reality. 



Geological Survey op Alabama. Report 

 for 1881 and 1882. By Eugene Allen 

 Smith, Ph. D., State Geologist. Mont- 

 gomery, Alabama : W. D. Brown & Co. 

 Pp. 614, with Maps. 



The present volume of the reports is 

 devoted chiefly to an account of the agricult- 

 ural features of the State. The author was 

 commissioned to prepare the cotton report of 

 Alabama in connection with the tenth cen- 

 sus, and by joining the two works has been 

 able to make both more complete than he 

 could have made either separately. Special 

 attention is given to the descriptions of the 

 soils, as to the State and by counties, of tim- 

 ber-trees and other plants, and to cotton pro- 

 duction. Excellent graphic, colored maps 

 are inserted, showing the soils, the rainfall 

 and temperature by the seasons and by the 

 year, and the percentages of land in differ- 

 ent parts of the State cultivated in cotton. 



First Annual Report on the Injurious and 

 other Insects of the State of New York. 

 By J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist. 

 Albany : Weed, Parsons & Co. Pp. 383. 



Dr. Lintner has given a large amount of 

 information on the subject of his report. 

 Beginning with an exposition of the impor- 

 tance of entomological study, he considers 

 the extent of insect depredations and the 

 losses from them, particularly in the United 

 States, the immense number of insects, and 

 the necessity, for the sake of contending 

 with them, of acquiring knowledge of their 

 habits. He then reviews the progress that 

 has been made in economic entomology, 

 estimates the value of the various insecti- 

 cides that have been introduced and of other 

 remedies for and preventives of insect dep- 

 redations, after which he furnishes descrip- 

 tions and life-histories of the more injurious 

 insects. Among the preventives of insect 

 depredations suggested by Dr. Lintner is one 

 which we believe is new : it depends upon 

 the theory that insects are attracted to the 

 plants they infest by the odor, and consists 

 in the use of some substance by which that 

 odor may be overcome or neutralized. 



Hints on the Drainage and Sewerage of 

 Dwellings. By William Paul Ger- 

 hard, Civil Engineer. New York : Will- 

 iam T. Comstock, 6 Astor Place. 1884. 

 Pp. 302. Price, $2.50. 



This little work has grown out of a se- 

 ries of articles contributed by the author, 

 under the signature " Hippocrates," to the 

 periodical " Building." Its object is to give 

 an account of the usual condition in which 

 plumbing-work done years ago, and some 

 quite recently done, may be found, and to 

 give suggestions on the proper manner of 

 doing the work. A valuable report on "Filth 

 Diseases and their Prevention," by medical 

 officer John Simon, of Great Britain, and 

 other works on dwelling-house sanitation are 

 referred to to fortify conclusions. The book 

 is frequently illustrated with examples of 

 bad work to be avoided and of good work to 

 be patterned after. 



The Trichiniasis Question. D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co., of New York, will publish 

 shortly a work on " The Relation of Animal 

 Diseases to the Public Health, and their 



