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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sonal experience in the mines ; but little of 

 it comes from books, for the literature of 

 the special subject is meager. Beginning at 

 the beginning, we have a brief reference to 

 the geological record previous to coal. Then 

 the composition of coal is elucidated, the 

 time when it was formed is defined, and the 

 situation of the coal-beds is described. The 

 history as it relates to our own period be- 

 gins with the discovery of coal and its intro- 

 duction into use. The account of the mines 

 includes the way into them, the plan of a 

 typical mine, " the miner at work," the ob- 

 stacles and dangers he has to encounter, 

 and the anthracite breakers. A chapter is 

 given to the bituminous coal mines. The 

 account of " The Boy Workers at the Mines " 

 is of particular interest to the young peo- 

 ple, and the chapter on " Miners and their 

 Wages " to searchers for facts. 



A Handbook of Obstetrical Nursing. By 

 Anna M. Fcjllerton, M. D. Philadel- 

 phia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 214. 

 Price, $1.25. 



The great number and variety of the 

 things to be attended to in a case of child- 

 birth, many of which are not so familiar as 

 the matters concerned in the treatment of 

 disease, together with their importance as 

 affecting two lives, make a special manual 

 on this subject highly desirable for the 

 nurse. It would be well, also, for every 

 mother to have read a book of this sort be- 

 fore her confinement, in order that she may 

 understand and co-operate in the efforts 

 of the physician and nurse for her wel- 

 fare, and be protected from the antiquated 

 wisdom and dismal tales of injudicious 

 friends. It would be difficult to make a 

 more comprehensive and practical book than 

 Dr. Fullerton's. It is an outgrowth of the 

 extensive practice of the hospital and the 

 systematic instruction of the nurses' train- 

 ing-school. The teachings which it embodies 

 are chiefly the substance of a series of lect- 

 ures delivered yearly by Dr. Anna E. Broo- 

 mall to the nurse-pupils of the Woman's 

 Hospital of Philadelphia, and they are fol- 

 lowed in the Maternity connected with that 

 hospital. The whole ground from the man- 

 agement of pregnancy to the ailments of 

 early infancy is covered. Directions, suffi- 

 ciently detailed for the use of a trained 

 nurse, are given for the care of the patient 



immediately before and during labor, for the 

 care of the new-born infant, and the man- 

 agement of the lying-in. The appliances 

 which the nurse will need to use, and the 

 articles of clothing for mother and child, are 

 described, and many of them are figured. 

 The Jenness-Miller reformed garments are 

 indorsed. A short chapter is devoted to the 

 appearance of infants in health and disease. 

 In the chapter on ailments of infancy the 

 couvcuse, or brooder, for keeping premature 

 infants warm, is described and figured. 

 Throughout the volume reference is made 

 easy by printing the subject of each para- 

 graph in the margin. 



Fossil Fishes and Fossil Plants of the 

 Triassic Rocks of New Jersey and the 

 Connecticut Valley. By John S. New- 

 berry. Washington : Government Print- 

 ing-Office (United States Geological Sur- 

 vey). Pp. 152, with 26 Plates. Price, 

 1. 



The Triassic rocks, according to Prof. 

 Newberry, probably furnished the first fos- 

 sils collected on this continent : fishes at 

 Durham and Sunderland, Conn. ; plants at 

 Richmond, Va. ; and the so-called bird-tracks 

 at Turner's Falls, Mass. While the forma- 

 tion has received considerable attention in 

 detail, no systematic collection or thorough 

 study of its fauna or flora as a whole was 

 attempted till about 1880, when Prof. Fon- 

 taine took it up for the fossil plants of the 

 Virginia and North Carolina Mesozoic coal 

 basins. His publication established the 

 parallelism of our new red sandstone with 

 the keuper of Europe. The animal remains 

 were left to be studied, and that work was 

 taken up by Prof. Newberry, with results 

 that are presented in this volume. The 

 special studies are preceded by a geological 

 sketch of the new red sandstone regions of 

 New Jersey and Connecticut, concerning the 

 relations of which to one another there ap- 

 pear to be different opinions. The Triassic 

 rocks are about five thousand feet thick and 

 present some singularities of structure. The 

 materials were probably derived from the 

 adjacent highlands. The rocks are charac- 

 terized by their red color, derived from the 

 oxide of iron, the presence of which proves 

 that they contained but little organic matter 

 when deposited. Their relations to the 

 Triassic beds of the interior and the western 



