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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of our homes, offices, and factories were 

 more perfect than it is. In this book the 

 accounts of the modes of action of climates, 

 forms of exercise, kinds of labor, etc., are 

 brought together and presented in intelligible 

 shape. Published in Philadelphia by F. A. 

 Davis. 



The third of the Studies in History, Eco- 

 nomics, and Public Law, published by Co- 

 lumbia College, is a History of Municipal 

 Land Ownership on Manhattan Island, by 

 George Ashton Black (Prof. E. R. A. Selig- 

 man, 50 cents). Mr. Black describes the 

 transactions and policy of the city of New 

 York concerning land from 1654, when, un- 

 der the name of New Amsterdam, it acquired 

 its first piece of real estate, down to the be- 

 ginning of sales by the Commissioners of the 

 Sinking Fund in 1844. Sixteen maps of 

 parts of the city accompany the monograph. 



The U. S. Artillery School at Fort Mon- 

 roe, Va., has begun the publication of a 

 quarterly magazine called the Journal of the 

 United States Artillery. The first number 

 contains articles on the motion and velocity 

 of projectiles, our artillery organization, and 

 the Chilian Navy. The subscription price is 

 $2.50 a year. 



The New World is a quarterly review of 

 religion, ethics, and theology, the first num- 

 ber of which has been issued recently (Hough- 

 ton, $3 a year). It is under the charge of 

 an editorial board consisting of Profs. C. C. 

 Everett and C. H. Toy, of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, President Orello Cone, of Buchtel Col- 

 lege, and Rev. N. P. Gilman, author of The 

 Laws of Daily Conduct, the last named be- 

 ing the managing editor. The prospectus 

 states that " the new quarterly will be open 

 to able and constructive thinkers, without 

 regard to sectarian lines. The New World 

 which its editors have in mind is that which 

 is developing under the light of modern sci- 

 ence, philosophy, criticism, and philanthropy 

 all of which, rightly viewed, are the friends 

 and helpers of enduring religious faith. To 

 positive and constructive statements of such 

 an order of things, as distinguished from the 

 old world of sectarianism, obscurantism, and 

 dogmatism, the New World is pledged." 

 Each number will contain 200 pages. In 

 the first number the opening article is on 

 The Evolution of Christianity, by Lyman Ab- 

 bott ; and other contributors are C. C. Ever- 



ett, J. G. Schurman, W. R. Alger, C. H. Toy, 

 J. E. Carpenter, T. R. Sheer, E. H. Hall, and 

 C. B. Upton. There is a department of Book 

 Reviews, and in future it is intended to have 

 in each number a survey of current periodi- 

 cal literature on religious subjects. The New 

 World frankly admits the influence which 

 the doctrine of evolution and the scientific 

 method of research are exerting in the field 

 of religion, and promises well to become a 

 force that shall carry this influence onward 

 to a more perfect freedom and to an unre- 

 stricted acceptance of the truth. 



The poems by H. L. Gordon, in the hand- 

 some volume entitled The Feast of the Vir- 

 gins and other Poems, having been printed 

 for the author's friends rather than for the 

 public, are hardly subjects for criticism. 

 They were for the most part composed dur- 

 ing the author's life in the Northwest on 

 the frontiers of civilization and bear the 

 marks of the personal acquaintances which 

 he says he has had with Indians of the Da- 

 kota and Ojibway nations. A considerable 

 proportion of them relate to Indian subjects, 

 and, in versifying Dakota legends, the at- 

 tempt has been made to present faithfully 

 many of the customs and superstitions and 

 some of the traditions of that people. While 

 very little poetic license has been taken with 

 their traditions, none has been taken with 

 their customs and superstitions. These poems 

 may therefore be regarded as contributions to 

 Indian lore. Published in Chicago by Laird 

 & Lee. 



Simeon Pease Cheney, author of the Amer- 

 ican Singing-Book, was a musician and music 

 teacher, who lived thirty summers in a bird- 

 haunted grove, and who took notice of bird 

 songs in Vermont, New Hampshire ; St. Law- 

 rence County, New York ; and southern Mas- 

 sachusetts. In his sixty-seventh year, with 

 no authorities but his own observations for 

 he never read but four books about birds, 

 and these not till more than half the work 

 he accomplished was done he undertook the 

 collection of New England bird-songs. His 

 intention was to write a book for the young 

 people of New England, to be made up of 

 bird-songs and observations on the domestic 

 animals, with special reference to their sev- 

 eral forms of utterance, and of notices of the 

 music of inanimate things. He died with 

 his work unfinished in May, 1890. His notes 



