852 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ter is given to apparatus for changing al- 

 ternating to direct currents or the reverse. 

 Dr. Bell goes outside the strict limits of his 

 title to treat of steam engines and of the de- 

 velopment and use of water power. The 

 organization of a power station, line con- 

 struction, and the various problems of dis- 

 tribution, including the commercial problem, 

 are all discussed in more or less detail. The 

 volume contains over two hundred diagrams 

 and other illustrations, including several half- 

 tone plates. 



The Macmillan Company has issued for 

 Dr. Charles B. Davenport the first part of a 

 work on Experimental MorplwJogy^ to be 

 completed in four parts. This part is de- 

 voted to the effects of chemical and physical 

 agents upon protoplasm as determined by ex- 

 periments. The chief chemical agents whose 

 influence on the vital actions of protoplasm 

 is examined are oxygen, hydrogen, oxides 

 of carbon, ammonia, and various poisons. 

 Among the physical agents experimented 

 with are the forces heat, light, and elec- 

 tricity ; the effects of moisture and dryness, 

 of different densities of the containing solu- 

 tion, of molar agents, and of gravity are also 

 passed in review. The influence of each 

 agent on the direction of locomotion of the 

 protoplasm is among the effects considered. 

 Following each, chapter is a list of literature 

 on the subject of the chapter. The work is 

 designed as a contribution to the funda- 

 mental question. Why does an organism de- 

 velop as it does? Of the two classes of 

 causes that influence development, Dr. Daven- 

 port has confined himself to the external 

 causes. The three parts of the work to fol- 

 low will deal respectively with growth, cell 

 division, and differentiation. (Price, $2.60.) 



The United States Geological Survey is 

 publishing a geologic map of the United 

 States with a topographic base map. It is 

 being issued in parts, called folios, each cov- 

 ering a small area. Thus the Yellowstone 

 National Park Folio contains four topo 

 graphic sheets, known as the Gallatin, Can- 

 yon, Lake, and Shoshone sheets, and four 

 geologic sheets of the same districts. The 

 scale is about half an inch to a mile, and 

 the contour interval is one hundred feet. 

 Contours and elevations are printed in brown, 

 water courses in blue, and the works of man, 



such as roads, railroads, and towns, are 

 printed in black. The geologic formations 

 are indicated by systematic coloring. There 

 are also eleven photo-engravings of views in 

 the region covered, and six folio pages of 

 description. The plan of the map is explained 

 on the two inside cover pages. The Survey 

 has a circular telling the prices at which the 

 several parts are sold. 



An atlas of I/h/sfrations showing Con- 

 dition of Fur-seal Rookeries in 1895 and 

 Method of Killing Stals has been printed as 

 a Senate document to accompany the report 

 of C. H. Townsend. It contains forty-six 

 plates, many of them folded, the greater part 

 of which are views on St. Paul and St. George 

 Islands, showing the seals on the beaches. 

 Six plates show the processes of killing and 

 skinning the seals. 



In the Fourteenth Annual Report of the 

 Bureau of Ethnologij, covering the year 

 1892-'93, the director. Major ,/. W. Powell, 

 describes the work of tlie year, which in- 

 cluded investigations along a number of dis- 

 tinct lines. The immediate purpose in or- 

 ganizing this bureau was " the discovery of 

 the relations among the native American 

 tribes, to the end that amicable groups might 

 be gathered on reservations. It was early 

 found that classification by somatologic 

 (physical) characters was useless for the pur- 

 pose in view, while a grouping by language, 

 governmental institutions, religion, indus- 

 tries, and arts brought together tribes who 

 could live in proximity with little or no 

 strife. In general, language alone will serve 

 as a satisfactory basis for this practical 

 grouping, and readers familiar with the pre- 

 vious publications of the bureau have no- 

 ticed the large share of attention that has 

 been given to Indian languages, both spoken 

 and written in pictograph. The present re- 

 port is accompanied by three extended pa- 

 pers. One of these, on The Menomini Indi- 

 ans, by Dr. Walter J. Hoffman, describes 

 the ritual of the Mitawit (Grand Medicine 

 Society), into which he was duly initiated, 

 and gives a considerable collection of Meno- 

 mini mythology and folklore, together with 

 descriptions of many of the arts and customs 

 of this tribe and a vocabulary of its lan- 

 guage. The memoir is illustrated with many 

 full-page plates and smaller cuts. The re- 



