280 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fire to the sawdust that was mixed with 

 them. 



The advantages of electric lighting for 

 mills are dwelt on at some length, the dif- 

 ferent systems being described and the cost 

 compared. The latter contains the results 

 actually obtained at the Globe Mills in 

 Woonsocket, where the expense of lighting 

 a weave-room three hundred feet by sixty- 

 six, by gas, was nearly twice the cost of 

 lighting the same room by electricity, gas 

 costing $2.20 per thousand feet. Only one 

 hundred and seventeen incandescent lamps 

 were employed, where two hundred and six- 

 teen gas-burners had been used, making the 

 cost per light very nearly the same. The 

 dangers of electric lighting are admitted, 

 and the precautions to be taken are enumer- 

 ated. 



The second portion of the book treats 

 of the restriction of injury from fire by 

 means of the application of sound princi- 

 ples of building pertaining to slow-burning 

 construction. The features of bad con- 

 struction and the elements of safe construc- 

 tion are considered, and formulae are given 

 for the strength of beams, planks, floors, etc. 



The book is handsomely printed in large 

 clear type, on good paper, and bound in 

 " fiery red " cloth, which makes it rather 

 suggestive. It is a book that could be read 

 with advantage by many others than build- 

 ers and owners of mills, and it is to be 

 hoped that its practical suggestions may 

 accomplish what its author aims at a re- 

 duction in the number and extent of mill- 

 fires, with the attendant loss of life and 

 property. 



Easy Star Lessons. By Richard A. Proc- 

 tor. Illustrated with Forty-eight Star 

 Maps and Thirty-five Woodcuts. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882. Pp. 

 219. Price, $2.50. 



The object of this last book of the dis- 

 tinguished astronomer is to teach the star 

 groups, and enable the learner to find them 

 on the sky. Instead of the usual star maps 

 that represent the entire visible heavens 

 and require to be held upside down, or side- 

 ways, in tracing out the constellations, four 

 maps are given for each month of the year, 

 namely, a northern, a southern, an eastern, 

 and a western map, making forty-eight in 



all. The maps are printed in blue, the stars 

 in white ; the principal stars of each con- 

 stellation are joined by dotted lines, and the 

 names of the constellation are given, but 

 the usual imaginary pictures of bulls, fishes, 

 and dragons are all omitted, so that the map 

 more nearly resembles the sky than is usual. 

 Lines are drawn to represent the horizons 

 of New Orleans, Louisville, Philadelphia, 

 and Boston ; also of London, England. The 

 zenith of each place is likewise given. Sev- 

 eral pages of letterpress accompany each 

 set of star maps, and explain the method 

 to be followed in tracing out each group, 

 and woodcuts are employed in the text to 

 exhibit the position of the larger stars as 

 related to the bulls and bears of the sky. 

 This method of separating the real from the 

 imginary will be a boon to the star-gazer 

 and the student, for it is very pleasant to 

 know the stars to be able, like Milton's 

 hermit, to 



"... Bit and rightly spell 

 Of every star that heaven doth show." 



RErORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 



for the Year 1880. Washington: Gov- 

 ernment Printing-Office. Pp. 914. 



The commissioner asserts that the im- 

 portant relation which his department sus- 

 tains to the interests of education is be- 

 coming constantly more apparent ; and that 

 the year covered by the present report was 

 marked by a great increase in the amount 

 and value of the information received at 

 the office with reference to the conduct of 

 education in our own and foreign countries, 

 and by a corresponding increase in the pub- 

 lic demand for the distribution of informa- 

 tion. The department is endeavoring to 

 secure a more exact particularity and defi- 

 niteness in the educational statistics from 

 the different States, so that they may show 

 more clearly the condition of the schools, 

 the proficiency of the pupils, and the degree 

 of attention that is given to each branch of 

 study. It has succeeded so far that the re- 

 ports from Ohio give the number of pupils 

 in each of the branches taught, and those 

 of more than a dozen other States give ap- 

 proaches to the result. Advance is claimed 

 in the consideration shown in the arrange- 

 ment of courses of study to psychological 

 conditions and the necessities of pupil life. 

 An approach has been made in the last ten 



