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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



a large degree by the fact that the exhibi- 

 tion rooms and storage halls being filled to 

 their utmost capacity, it has become neces- 

 sary to cease to a large degree the custom- 

 ary efforts to add to the collections. Besides 

 other features, accounts are given of work 

 in the scientific departments, the library and 

 publications, the work of the Museum pre- 

 parators, accessions, co-operation of bureaus 

 and officers of the Government, and explora- 

 tions ; considerable space is given to de- 

 scribing the participation of the Smithsonian 

 Institution and the Museum in Centennial 

 Exhibitions at Cincinnati and Marietta, 

 Ohio ; and eight papers are published describ- 

 ing and illustrating collections. 



Games, Ancient and Oriental, and now 



TO PLAY THEM. By EDWARD FaLKENER. 



London and New York : Longmans, 

 Green & Co. Pp. 366. Price, $6. 



The author believes in the usefulness of 

 games because they afford needful relaxa- 

 tion to the mind, pleasant diversions to the 

 invalid and the afflicted, and means of bring- 

 ing friends together and promoting acquaint- 

 ance and fellowship. He directed his atten- 

 tion many years ago to the games of chess, 

 draughts, and backgammon, and to the for- 

 mation of magic squares. Elaborate works 

 have been written on the history of these 

 games, and instead of exploiting this branch 

 of the subject over again, he has preferred 

 to discuss the practical rules and principles 

 of each game. He expresses the opinion 

 that students may find that the games which 

 were established in years gone by contain 

 merits that are not always found in the new 

 and fanciful conceits of the day. The first 

 place is given to the games of the ancient 

 Egyptians, with the results of Dr. Birch's 

 researches on the "subject. The games are 

 Tau, or Robbers, which was afterward played 

 and called by the same name, Lucius Latrun- 

 culorum, by the Romans ; Senat, which is 

 still played by the modern Egyptians as 

 Seega ; Han, or the game of the Bowl ; the 

 Sacred Way, the Hiero Gramme of the 

 Greeks ; and Atep, which is played by Ital- 

 ians as Mora, Under the head of chess are 

 given Indian, Chinese, Burmese, Siamese, 

 Turkish, Tamerlane's, and double chess, and 

 the game of the Maharajah and Sepoy ; of 

 draughts, Polish and Turkish draughts, Wei- 



KH and Go, or the Chinese and Japanese 

 game of inclosing; German, Turkish, and 

 Indian backgammons. A considerable vari- 

 ety of magic squares are described, and all 

 the games are illustrated with photographic 

 reproductions and with diagrams. 



The Oak : a Popular Introduction to For- 

 est Botany. By H. Marshall Ward, 

 F. R. S., F. L. S. Modern Science Series, 

 No. III. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 175. Price, $1. 



For many persons trees have an interest 

 which is not possessed by the lowlier mem- 

 bers of the vegetable kingdom. Trees also 

 are what the modern art of forestry is con- 

 cerned with, and those who become interest- 

 ed in this subject on account of its economic 

 or sanitary bearings are very apt to want to 

 know something about the way in which trees 

 grow. To all such persons Prof. Ward's 

 book will be very welcome. In a brief in- 

 troduction the author describes the general 

 habit of the oak, and then, starting with the 

 acorn, he describes the unfolding of the em- 

 bryo, the development of the young plant, 

 and the form and functions of the mature 

 tree. There is a chapter on the structure 

 and technological peculiarities of oak timber, 

 followed by another dealing with the cultiva- 

 tion of the oak, and the parasites and fungi 

 which infest it. A number of illustrations 

 are given, showing the appearance of oak 

 wood injured by various fungi. Lastly, the 

 relationships of the oaks receive brief con- 

 sideration. 



The World-energy and its Self-conserva- 

 tion. By William M. Bryant. Chicago : 

 S. C. Griggs & Co. 1890. Pp. 304. 



This is a metaphysical inquiry into the 

 fundamental conceptions of the universe. 

 The author holds that the laws of thought are 

 necessarily the laws of things, and takes per- 

 fect consistency in consciousness to be the 

 ultimate and absolute ground of all certitude. 

 From this basis he attempts to formulate the 

 universe, and reaches the conclusion that the 

 one permanent reality of which the world we 

 know is a manifestation is spirit. Stated in 

 his own words, the conclusion to which his 

 argument leads is : 



" The world-energy is God. Its self- 

 conservation is the eternal process of crea- 

 tion. ' Evolution ' is the temporal aspect of 



