420 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



essays have therefore been made into it by 

 men ill fitted to add anything of a useful 

 character to our current conceptions. 



The author's thesis is that all worlds as 

 well as the ultimate particles of matter are 

 magnets, and that the planetary and stellar 

 motions are the expressions of magnetic at- 

 tractions and repulsions. According to his 

 idea, light and heat are not transmitted from 

 the sun, but are formed in our atmosphere by 

 the interaction of magnetic forces. The au- 

 thor has some good ideas, and in some things 

 he is in line with the most advanced views 

 of modern physics, but what is good is so 

 mixed up with a lot of insufferable rubbish 

 that it is nearly if not quite impossible to 

 disentangle the two. The book as a serious 

 philosophical work is greatly marred by the 

 flippant style of treatment and the introduc- 

 tion of a hypothetical personage from whom 

 the author derives the views he offers. 



University Extension. A Monthly Journal 

 devoted to the Interests of Popular Edu- 

 cation. Philadelphia : J. Haseltine Shinn. 

 $1.50 a year. 



The first number of this magazine ap- 

 peared in July, 1891, and already, before its 

 first volume is complete, its circulation has 

 become so large as to warrant a reduction to 

 half the original subscription price. The 

 contents of the numbers so far issued con- 

 sist of outlines and suggestions for carrying 

 on the new and popular form of educational 

 work to which the magazine is devoted, with 

 accounts of what has been done at the vari- 

 ous centers for this work. In the number 

 for April are articles on Class Work in Uni- 

 versity Extension, Extension Teaching in 

 Wisconsin, University Extension Work in 

 Mathematics, and An Unknown Quantity and 

 One Possible Value. The last article advo- 

 cates an extension of our free high-school 

 system by means of evening sessions, so as 

 to bridge the gap between the elementary 

 schools and the university-extension work. 

 The magazine is conducted by the American 

 Society for the Extension of University 

 Teaching, in Philadelphia. 



G. Masson, of Paris, has begun the pub- 

 lication of the Encyclopedic Scientifique des 

 Aide-memoire, or Memory-help Scientific En- 

 cyclopaedia, the volumes of which are pre- 



pared under the direction of M. H. Leaute, 

 member of the Institute of France. While the 

 publication is expected to be marked by a 

 practical character, it will at the same time 

 be truly scientific. It will be composed of 

 eight hundred volumes in small octavo, which 

 are expected to cover the entire domain of 

 the applied sciences. Each of the volumes 

 will be by an author who is an authority, and 

 will give in a condensed form the precise 

 present condition of science on its special 

 subject and of the practical conditions relat- 

 ing to it. The eight volumes which were to 

 have appeared on the first of April include 

 works on Chronic Delirium, by Dr. Magnan ; 

 Gynaecology, by M. A. Auvard ; Transmis- 

 sion of Force by Compressed or Rarefied Air, 

 by M. Al. Gouilly ; A Calorimetric Study of 

 the Steam-Engine, by M. V. Dwelshauvers 

 Dery ; Disease of the Respiratory Organs, by 

 Dr. Faisans ; Electrophysiology, by Dr. G. 

 Weiss ; Distribution of Electricity by Isolated 

 Installations, by M. R. V. Picou ; and Resist- 

 ance of Materials, by M. Duquesnay. 



A book by Julian Ralph, entitled Along 

 the Bowstring, is a guide-book to the south 

 shore of Lake Superior. The Bowstring which 

 gives it its name is the Duluth, South Shore 

 and Atlantic Railroad, which runs (on the 

 map) in a marvelously exact straight line from 

 Sault St. Marie to Duluth. Special descrip- 

 tions are given of Marquette and Presque Isle 

 and of Mackinaw ; and Dr. M. E. Wadsworth 

 contributes an interesting scientific chapter 

 on the Geology of the Marquette and Ke- 

 weenan Districts. Published by the Duluth, 

 South Shore and Atlantic Railroad. 



How to reduce your Weight, or Increase 

 it, a vivacious monograph by Celia Logan, 

 chatty and personal while intended also to be 

 practical, is defined as " an exposition of the 

 Salisbury plan." Its purpose, as outlined by 

 the author, is to make plain to every one how 

 an easy and sure deliverance from the burden 

 of corpulence is in his own hands ; and, inci- 

 dentally, to point out a way by which the 

 meager may, readily and agreeably, attain a 

 pleasing roundness of outline. The author 

 professes herself to have used her prescrip- 

 tion with [advantage. William A. Kellogg, 

 publisher, 1023 Sixth Avenue, New York. 

 Price, 50 cents. 



Notes on Beauty, Vigor, and Develop- 

 ment, published by Fowler & Wells Co., is a 



