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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



of the Division, by a number of agents. It 

 comprises reports on methods for destroying 

 the red scale of California, by D. W. Coquil- 

 lett ; on insects of the season in Iowa, by 

 Herbert Osborn ; on insects affecting grains, 

 by F. M. Webster ; on California insects in 

 general, by Albert Koebele ; on Nebraska 

 insects, by Lawrence Bruner ; and entomo- 

 logical notes from Missouri for the season 

 of 1889, by Mary E. Murtfeldt. 



The address of William L. Dudley, before 

 the American Association at Toronto last 

 year was on The Nature of Amalgams. It 

 is now published as a pamphlet, and is mainly 

 occupied with a history of discoveries relat- 

 ing to the chemistry of amalgams. It con- 

 tains a bibliography of the subject, occupying 

 eleven pages. 



In a paper on The Cradle of the Semites, 

 read before the Philadelphia Oriental Club, 

 Dr. D. G. Brinton brings together the evi- 

 dence tending to show that the progenitors 

 of the Israelites were of a blonde type, and 

 came to Asia from northwestern Africa. 

 Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., replied to this in 

 a paper directed to showing the insecurity 

 of some of the grounds that Dr. Brinton had 

 taken. The two essays are published in a 

 pamphlet together. 



A table of Poisons and their Antidotes 

 has been issued by The National Druggist 

 (Druggist Publishing Company, St. Louis). It 

 is printed on one side of a sheet of strong ma- 

 nila paper, and its directions are brief and 

 clear. It would be somewhat more useful 

 to unscientific persons if it stated that so- 

 dium and magnesium sulphates are also 

 known respectively as Glauber's and Epsom 

 salts, and if it avoided such words as emeto- 

 cathartic. 



The Report of the Commissioners of the 

 State Reservation at Niagara, for October, 

 1888, to September, 1889, records the doings 

 of the commission during the year desig- 

 nated, and their recommendations for future 

 work. G. K. Gilbert's History of the Ni- 

 agara River, noticed in the July number of 

 this magazine, is published in the same 

 pamphlet. The commissioners have issued 

 also a folded sheet containing suggestions 

 to visitors, and a map of the vicinity of the 

 falls. 



Students of political science now have 

 an opportunity to compare a translation of 



TJie Federal Constitution of Germany (Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, 50 cents) with the 

 Constitution of the United States. The 

 translator is Prof. Edmund J. James, who 

 has based his version on the one printed in 

 the Government report on Foreign Relations 

 for 1877. A detailed table of contents is 

 prefixed to the document, and a historical 

 introduction, which is essentially a transla- 

 tion of the corresponding section in Von 

 Ronne's Verfassung des deutschen Reichs. 



Among its Circulars of Information for 

 1890, the Bureau of Education has issued 

 English- Eskimo and Eskimo- English Vocab- 

 ularies, compiled by Ensign Roger Wells, Jr. y 

 U. S. N., and Interpreter John W. Kelly. 

 These vocabularies contain 11,318 words, 

 and are preceded by twenty pages of Memo- 

 randa concerning the Arctic Eskimos in 

 Alaska and Siberia, by John W. Kelly. 

 These memoranda embrace traditions, bits 

 of history and description, customs and su- 

 perstitions of the Eskimos. Two maps are 

 contained in the pamphlet. 



The School Algebra of Prof. G. A. Went- 

 worth, of Phillips Exeter Academy, is in- 

 tended to present a thorough and practical 

 treatment of the principles of elementary al- 

 gebra. It covers sufficient ground for ad- 

 mission to any American college ; and it 

 and the author's college algebra are enough 

 to occupy the time given to the subject in 

 our best schools and colleges. The prob- 

 lems are carefully graded, mostly new, and 

 either original or selected from recent ex- 

 amination papers. The early chapters are 

 quite full ; and the introductory chapter pre- 

 sents a free discussion of the principles 

 with which the student beginning algebra 

 ought to be acquainted. 



Dreamthorpe, a Book of Essays written 

 in the Country (George P. Humphrey, Roch- 

 ester), is a reprint of some of the prose writ- 

 ngs of Alexander Smith, who wrote but little, 

 but that little, whether the prose or poetry 

 of it, of such a character as to cause regret 

 that he did not write more, and to give him 

 a place among English classic authors. The 

 title of the work suggests that the essays 

 were written from the domain of fancy ; they 

 certainly embody the author's own thoughts, 

 and not what he borrowed from another. 

 In style they are of the very best English. 

 Some of them are purely literary ; others 



