276 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and sixty pages are given to Mineral Bodies. 

 Water is chosen as a representative natural 

 object, and its remarkable properties are 

 explained step by step, so as to bring out 

 the fundamental physical principles involved 

 in the three states of matter. Ten pages 

 are then given to the properties of Living 

 Bodies, and the Primer closes with a few 

 observations on immaterial objects. 



We refer elsewhere to the series of 

 works to which this book belongs, with a 

 view of guarding against their miseinploy- 

 ment in schools. 



Health and Health Resorts. By John 

 Wilson, M. D. Philadelphia : Porter & 

 Coates. 



Dr. Wilson is of the opinion that many 

 erroneous notions prevail among the Ameri- 

 cans as to the value of health resorts, espe- 

 cially those of foreign countries, and he has 

 therefore in this work undertaken to state 

 the value of such places and the conditions 

 that must be fulfilled as to diet, treatment, 

 etc., in order to obtain their benefits. After 

 a short consideration of health and disease, 

 he considers the general principles of regi- 

 men for invalids at health-stations, and the 

 therapeutical action of mineral waters, their 

 use and abuse, and the value of baths. He 

 also considers the best winter-stations for 

 consumptives and a number of the foreign 

 mineral springs. Dr. Wilson insists that it 

 is not necessary to go away from this coun- 

 try to get all the advantages of foreign 

 springs, as there is scarcely one of these 

 that has not its counterpart in this country. 



Memorandum in regard to Instruction in 

 the Mechanic Arts. By Edward At- 

 kinson. Prepared at the Request of the 

 Committee on Prisons of the Massachu- 

 setts Legislature. 



In this memorandum Mr. Atkinson urges 

 the adoption of such a course of instruction 

 with actual practice in workshops, in the 

 reformatory institutions of the State, as has 

 been carried on for some years in the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology. The suc- 

 cess of this system has been so gratifying 

 at this institute that Mr. Atkinson believes 

 it can not but be of great value in prisons 

 and reformatories. He submits a plan of 

 a workshop to accommodate four hundred 



pupils, and arranged to give instruction in 

 carpentry, blacksmithing, foundry-work, 

 vise-work, brazing, wood- and metal-working 

 and finishing. The only objection Mr. At- 

 kinson finds to his plan is in the fact that 

 graduates of such reformatories will be much 

 better qualified to earn a living than most 

 of the graduates of the common, and some 

 of the graduates of the higher, institutions 

 of learning. 



The Cotton-Worm. By Charles V. Riley, 

 M. A., Ph. D. Washington: Govern- 

 ment Printing-Office. 1880. 



This is the third bulletin issued by the 

 United States Entomological Commission, 

 and is devoted to a summary of the natural 

 history of the cotton-worm, with an account 

 of its enemies and the best means of con- 

 trolling it. Illustrations are given of the 

 worm and its enemies, as well as of the 

 various machines designed to be used in 

 exterminating it. Much valuable informa- 

 tion will be found in it of service to the 

 planter, both as to the peculiarities of the 

 worm, and on the best means of protection. 

 The bulletin is sent to those desiring it, 

 upon application to Washington. 



A Subject-Index to the Publications of 

 the United States Natal Observa- 

 tory from 1845 to 1875. By Edward 

 S. Holden. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. 1879. 



Professor Holden states that the twen- 

 ty-two volumes issued from this observatory 

 from 1845 to 1875 contain, on the average, 

 five hundred pages each of valuable obser- 

 vations and discussions, which it is desirable 

 should be easily accessible. He has, there- 

 fore, undertaken this very excellent index. 

 It is in the form of a quarto, of seventy-two 

 pages, in paper binding. 



Report on the Lands of the Arid Re- 

 gions of the United States. With 

 Maps. By J. W. Powell. Second edi- 

 tion. Washington : Government Print- 

 ing-Office. 1879. 



In the first three chapters of this volume 

 Major Powell treats of the physical charac- 

 teristics of the arid regions of the United 

 States, and the rainfall of the Western por- 

 tions of the country. Mr. G. R. Gilbert has 

 four chapters on the water-supply, on irri- 



