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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



American Juvenile Speaker and Songster. 

 By C. A. Fyke. Cincinnati: F. VV. llelmick. 

 Pp. 127. 40 cents. 



The Mother's Guide in the Management and 

 Feeding of Infants. By John M. Keating, M. D. 

 Philadelphia : II. C. Lea's Son & Co. 1881. Pp. 

 118. $1. 



Florida, for Tourists, Invalids, and Settlers. 

 By George M. Barbour. With Maps and Illus- 

 trations. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1882. 

 $1.50. 



The Labor Question, or an Exact Science of 

 Equivalents. Chicago: Legal News Co., Printers. 

 1881. Pp.186. 



Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes. 

 By Rev. T. W. Webb, F. R. A. S. New York : 

 Industrial Publication Co. 1881. Pp. 493. 



first Annual Report of the United States 

 Geological Survey. By Clarence King, Direct- 

 or. Washington : Government Printing-Office. 

 1880. Pp. 79. With Map. 



Antiseptic Surgery. The Principles, Modes 

 of Application, and Results of the Lister Dress- 

 ing. By Dr. Just Lucas-Championniere. Trans- 

 lated and edited by F. H. Gerrish, M. D. Port- 

 land : Loring, Short & Harmon. 1881. Pp.239. 

 $2.25. 



An Introduction to the Science of Compara- 

 tive Mythology and Folk-Lore. By Rev. Sir 

 George W. Cos, M. A. New York : Henry Holt 

 &Co. 1881. Pp.330. $1.75. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



The Mammoth Cave. Professor II. C. 

 Hovey made some interesting statements at 

 the last meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion concerning recent discoveries, measure- 

 ments, and temperature observations in the 

 Mammoth Cave. No exact measurements 

 of the cave have ever been given, and most 

 of the statements that have been published 

 rest upon the representations, seldom accu- 

 rate, of guides and proprietors. Even after 

 Professor Hovey had received permission to 

 make his observations, he was requested by 

 the manager of the cave not to make any 

 of the facts he had gained public. This is 

 for the fear that other land-owners near 

 the cave may learn where to look to find a 

 rival entrance to the one that is now known. 

 A fairly correct survey was made about forty 

 years ago, the results of which, after they 

 had been purposely confused to some ex- 

 tent, were embodied in the map of "Ste- 

 phen Bishop, the Guide," but the map gave 

 tun correct information to suit the jealous 

 proprietors, and was destroyed. Only one 

 copy of it is now known to exist. Dr. For- 

 wood's map, published in 1870, was de- 

 clared to contain several deviations from 

 accuracy. Dr. Illackall, of Chicago, made 

 a careful survey, several years ago, on the 



basis of which he prepared a lecture, but 

 was prevented from delivering it by an in- 

 junction. Another survey was made by 

 Jeffreys, but the person who had possession 

 of the notes has died, and they can not be 

 found. Mr. Klett, the manager of the cave, 

 is making a thorough survey, the results of 

 which, it is hoped, the proprietors may be 

 induced to allow to be published. Pro- 

 fessor Hovey is himself trying to collect 

 all the descriptions of American caverns, 

 and has accumulated quite a voluminous 

 mass of cave literature, embracing more 

 than a hundred distinct treatises of greater 

 or less importance. The cave is stated in 

 Owen's " Geological Report of Kentucky " to 

 include two hundred and twenty-three ave- 

 nues. Professor Hovey visited fifty-three 

 avenues, and could get accounts of only 

 eighty. A curious property was observed 

 in Echo Hall, in that at a point about mid- 

 way in the stream, when the notes of a full 

 chord are sounded in slow succession, they 

 are repeated by the arched wall overhead in 

 arpeggio, and accompanied by a wonderful 

 deep undertone. In regard to the question 

 whether carnivorous animals accustomed to 

 living in the open air would make their 

 abode in caves, a dog, which had made re- 

 peated trips to the cave, finally staid at a 

 point beyond Echo River, seemingly happy 

 and contented, and refused to go out. The 

 highest temperature of the cave in the hot- 

 test season does not exceed 56 Fahr. The 

 lowest temperature was 33 d . Professor 

 Hovey spoke of the extensive saltpeter- 

 works that were instituted at the cave dur- 

 ing the War of 1812, whence immense quan- 

 tities of the salt were carried to Philadel- 

 phia on mules and in ox-carts, the debris of 

 which still exist in great heaps of lixiviated 

 earth, but of which no adequate record has 

 been made. 



The Floating Gardens of Cashmere. 



The floating gardens of the Lake of Serina- 

 gur, Cashmere, are among the most curious 

 specimens of horticultural art. A group of 

 them when viewed in the evening gives an 

 effect much like that of a harbor with its 

 fleet of ships rising and falling with the 

 swell of the waves. The foundation of the 

 garden is formed by planting long stakes in 

 the lake in two or three rows, at distances 



