134 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



out, but that part of it descriptive of the 

 apparatus is especially so. The instruments, 

 all of which have been invented or improved 

 by Mr. Draper, are fully illustrated and 

 clearly described. An excellent idea of 

 how meteorological inquiries are carried on 

 may be obtained from the report by those 

 interested. 



Water-Color Painting. By Aaron Pen- 

 ley. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

 1879. Pp. 68. Price, 50 cents. 



This little manual of water-color paint- 

 ing seems to have met with a very favorable 

 reception from the public, as this is the 

 thirty-seventh American edition, which is 

 taken from the thirty-eighth English one. 

 The Putnams issue the book as one of their 

 " Popular Art Hand-Book Series," edited by 

 Susan N. Carter, in excellent style. The 

 book aims to instruct the student in the 

 principles of the art, and to give such infor- 

 mation regarding practice as to make it a 

 valuable aid to proficiency in such work. 



Protection of Forests a Necessity, 

 by S. V. Dorien, touches a subject of most 

 important interest to the people of the 

 United States. It reviews the condition of 

 the several countries in Europe, past and 

 present, as to forests, rainfall, and fertility, 

 with the purpose of showing what is the 

 actual effect of forests upon the humidity 

 of the air and on the power of the soil to 

 absorb and retain moisture. New York : 

 B. Westermann & Co. 



Professor Levi Stockbridge, of Am- 

 herst, Massachusetts, has published a pam- 

 phlet containing an account of investigations 

 which have been conducted at the Agricul- 

 tural College Experiment Station at Am- 

 herst, on the rainfall, the percolation, and 

 evaporation of water from the soil, the 

 temperature of the soil and air, and the 

 deposition of the dew on the soil and the 

 plant. The experiments were conducted 

 with apparatus of various designs devised 

 with reference to the special objects sought 

 in each and under a variety of conditions, 

 and were made to bear on the question 

 whether the moisture that is found in the 

 morning on the surface of the soil and on 

 plants is mostly derived from the air di- 

 rectlv or from the soil. 



Improved Dwellings for the Laboring 

 Classes, the Need, and the Way to meet it 

 on Strict Commercial Principles in New 

 York and other Cities (G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, New York), relates one of the most 

 important social questions with which Amer- 

 ican cities, particularly New York, are con- 

 cerned. It sketches the need of New York 

 and the extent of it in this matter, and de- 

 scribes much good work that has been done 

 in London, New York, and Brooklyn, in 

 more than one way, for the improvement of 

 tenement-houses and of the life of their oc- 

 cupants. 



The Report on Magnetic Determina- 

 tions in Missouri, made during the Sum- 

 mer of 1879, by Francis E. Nipher, Pro- 

 fessor of Physics in Washington University, 

 is accompanied with a map showing the 

 declination lines so far as they have been 

 determined, to which is added a map of the 

 independent preliminary surveys of Profes- 

 sor Hinrichs in Iowa. The isogonic lines 

 show considerable flexures which seem to 

 bear a relation to the drainage systems of 

 the regions. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Hampton Tracts. Cleanliness and Disinfec- 

 tion, by Elisha Harris, M, D., pp. 19 ; and Our 

 Jewels, by Mrs. M. F. Armstrong, pp. 27. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1879. Price, 5 

 cents each. 



The Native. Flowers and Ferns of the United 

 States. By Thomas Meehan. Vol. II. Second 

 Series. Parts 19 and 20. Philadelphia : The 

 American Natural History Publishing Co. 



A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited 

 bv George Grove, I). C. L. Part 9. Vol. II. 

 London and New York : Macmillan & Co. 1880. 

 Price, $1.25 per part. 



Report of the Chamber of Commerce of the 

 State of New York on Railroad Transportation. 

 New York. 1880. Pp. 24. 



The Food of Birds. Bv S. A. Forbes. From 

 " Transactions of Illinois State Horticultural 

 Society." Vol. XIII. 1879. Pp.57. 



Historical Sketch of Henry's Contribution to 

 the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. By William B. 

 Taylor. Washington. 1879. Pp. 108. 



Money and a Measure of Value. By John F. 

 Smith Oak Lawn (Rhode Island) Home Pub- 

 lishing Co. 1880. Pp.23. Price, 10 cents. 



Three Approximate Solutions of Kepler's 

 Problem. By H. A. Howe, A. M. Cincinnati 

 Society of Natural History. Pp.6. 



A Plea for Cold Climates in the Treatment of 

 Consumption. By Talbot Jones, M. D. Reprint 

 from the "New York Medical Journal. Fp. 6'i. 



"The Oriental and Biblical Journal " Edited 

 bv Pev. Stephen D. Peer. Quarterly. Vol. 1. 

 No. 1. January, 1880. Chicago: Jameson & 

 Morse. Pp. 48. Price, $2 a year. 



Annual Report of the Wisconsin Geological 



