420 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



times known as synthetic geometry. Since 

 metric relations are not considered in it, its 

 theorems and problems are very general and 

 comprehensive. As presented in von Standt's 

 complete work, it is regarded by the author 

 as an excellent aid to the exercise and de- 

 velopment of the imagination ; and the im- 

 portant graphical methods with which Pro- 

 fessor Culmann has enriched the science of 

 engineering in his work on graphical statis- 

 tics, being based for the most part upon it, 

 a knowledge of it has become important 

 for students of that science. In the present 

 work, the outgrowth of his lectures, Professor 

 Reye has attempted to supply the want of a 

 text-book which shall offer to the student the 

 necessary material in a concise form. 



Prof. Cyrus Thomas brings the qualifica- 

 tion which a lifetime devoted to study of the 

 subject develops, to the preparation of an 

 Introduction to the Stud// of North American 

 Archaeology* He is known to all students 

 in this branch as a careful, judicious inves- 

 tigator whose work in the field has been sup- 

 plemented by valuable contributions to its 

 literature. In this volume he presents a 

 brief summary of the progress that has been 

 made in the investigation of American an- 

 tiquities — which has been recently great in- 

 deed, and well calls for a new synopsis. His 

 chief object has been to present the data 

 and arrange them so as to afford the student 

 some means of bringing his facts and ma- 

 terials into harmony, and of utilizing them. 

 He presents the theories that have been ad- 

 vanced, and mentions opposing views ; re- 

 garding it, he says, as important to the prog- 

 ress of the student to know which of the 

 questions that arise have been answered, and 

 which hypotheses have been eliminated from 

 the class of possibilities. The materials for 

 the study and the methods are first explained. 

 The relics of ancient men and the mounds 

 are then described as under three divisions — 

 the Arctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. 

 Local as well as regional characteristics and 

 differences are pointed out ; as in the mounds 

 as a whole, the special class of animal 

 mounds, the pueblcs, the cliff dwellings, and 

 the Mexican and Central American monu- 



* Introduction to the Study of North American 

 Archaeology. By Prof. Cyrus Thomas. Cincin- 

 nati : The Robert Clarke Company. Pp. 301. 



ments, the peculiar features of each are 

 pointed out, and their territorial limits are 

 defined. All these various kinds of works 

 are ascribed to substantially the same people, 

 who are supposed to have come down from 

 somewhere in the north or northwest (the 

 extreme northwest Pacific coast), although 

 the different immigrations may perhaps have 

 arrived by various routes. The people were 

 the present Indians or their ancestors ; the 

 time of the immigration was not extremely 

 remote ; and the "mound-building habit" is 

 shown to have persisted and been practiced 

 till since the advent of the Europeans. 



In entitling his book The Art of Taxi- 

 dermy* the chief of the Department of Taxi- 

 dermy in the American Museum of Natural 

 History evidently intends to use the word art 

 in the high sense of a fine art ; for he speaks 

 of the enormous strides toward perfection 

 which it has made from the former " trade 

 of most inartistically upholstering a skin " — 

 stuffing it, we used to call it— and of its 

 study having been taken up of late years by 

 a number of men of genius and education. 

 It is largely owing to the exertions of these 

 men that the taxidermy of the present day 

 is so far in advance of what it was a decade 

 since. The proverb says that art is long, 

 and accordingly Mr. Rowley takes for the 

 motto of his book a sentence from Thoreau, 

 that " into a perfect work time does not 

 enter." To the possible objection that some 

 of his methods seem to involve considerable 

 time and expense, the author replies in sub- 

 stance that if the work is not worth this, it 

 is hardly worth while to take it up at all. 

 If it is a proper work, and one has the proper 

 degree of energy and enthusiasm, let him 

 give the specimen all the time it demands. 

 In preparing his treatise, the author has 

 aimed to eliminate all extraneous matter, 

 and to give mainly the results of his own 

 experience, coupled with that of other taxi- 

 dermists with whom he has come in contact. 

 He begins with instructions about collecting 

 tools and materials, and casting, and treats 

 further of the preparation of birds, of mam- 

 mals, and of fish, reptiles, and crustaceans ; 

 the cleansing and mounting of skeletons, and 



* The Art of Taxidermy. By John Rowley. 

 New York : D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 2 44. 

 Price, $2. 



