278 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



calculus of operations, for the purpose of 

 attaining a natural and philosophical pres- 

 entation of the subject. Symbolic lan- 

 guage has been largely employed ; in some 

 cases larger meanings have been given to 

 old words, and new words and symbols 

 have been introduced. Another edition is 

 to contain chapters on the theory of equa- 

 tions, integer analysis, symbolic methods, 

 determinants and groups, probabilities and 

 insurance, and an index will be added. 



The Scientific Writings of Joseph ITenry. 

 Washington: Published by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Two vols. Pp. 523, 

 559. 



These volumes comprise the first col- 

 lection that has been made of Professor 

 Henry's scientific writings. The original 

 papers, having been given to the world from 

 time to time through a period of more than 

 fifty years, and published in widely remote 

 places, are now generally rare, and in many 

 cases nearly inaccessible. Their value, even 

 at this time, as we glance over them in these 

 handsome volumes, might well strike with 

 surprise persons who, recognizing how much 

 advance has been made in research during 

 the last sixty years, would naturally imagine 

 that they were superseded by what has been 

 discovered since they were written. But 

 most of them were in the lead of the science 

 of the time of their production, and some 

 of them, even on subjects now of the most 

 lively investigation, read as if they might 

 have been written to-day. It was a becom- 

 ing act in the Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution to present these writings in the 

 noble shape in which they appear ; and we 

 can join with them in the feeling which they 

 express that it seemed to them " that jus- 

 tice to the name and memory of their dis- 

 tinguished Secretary who made the Institu- 

 tion what it is, no less than a due regard 

 to the history of physical science in this 

 country, and the interests of its present 

 votaries, require that these writings should 

 now be collected and made available." The 

 act is all the more graceful, because, as the 

 regents also observe, " it is noteworthy, and 

 indeed is characteristic of their author, 

 that he sedulously abstained from publish- 

 ing any of his researches of the later period 

 or reproducing any of the earlier ones 

 very important though he knew them to 



be through the inviting channel of the 

 'Smithsonian Contributions,' or 'Miscel- 

 laneous Collections,' or in any way at the 

 expense of the Smithsonian fund." The 

 writings are naturally grouped under two 

 periods : the first, comprising the record of 

 the author's researches from 1824 to 1S46, 

 during his professorial career at Albany 

 and Princeton ; and the second that of his 

 scientific work from 1817 to 1878, during 

 his directorship of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion at Washington. The arrangement of 

 the papers is chronological, except that the 

 series recording the author's observations 

 on the phenomena of sound are, for the 

 sake of equalizing the size of the volumes, 

 removed from their proper position in the 

 second volume to the end of the first vol- 

 ume ; and the second volume is made to 

 begin with a continuous presentation of the 

 series of meteorological essays. The pub- 

 lication is made under the direction and 

 supervision of Dr. Asa Gray, the Hon. W. 

 L. Wilson, and Professor S. F. Baird, com- 

 mittee. 



Transactions of the Modern Language 

 Association of America. 18S4-'S5. 

 Vol. I. Baltimore : Published by the 

 Association. Pp. 250: Modern Lan- 

 guage Notes. A. Marshall Elliott, 

 Managing Editor. Eight numbers a 

 year. Baltimore. Pp. 48. Price, 15 

 cents a number. 



We have already noticed the formation 

 of the Modern Language Association, and 

 its objects, which may be briefly expressed 

 as to encourage and exalt the study of the 

 modern languages, and to secure to them 

 their equal place of consideration with the 

 ancient languages and other branches of 

 college study. The present volume of its 

 " Transactions," with its eighteen papers on 

 various aspects of the subject, shows how 

 well it is working to its purpose. Two of 

 the papers are mainly literary. A half- 

 dozen of them may be grammatical. Pro- 

 fessor Alcee Fortier gives an interesting 

 account of " The Freno^ Language in Loui- 

 siana and the Negro-French Dialect." The 

 other papers refer more or less directly to 

 practical questions of instruction in modern 

 languages and English literature. Profess- 

 or W. T. Hewett considers the aims and 

 methods of college instruction in modern 



