5 66 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



First Annual Report of the Boakd of 

 Health of Detroit. 1882. Detroit, 

 Michigan : 0. W. Wight, Health-Officer. 



The report appears in the form of a 

 " frank, earnest discourse to citizens on sub- 

 jects of sanitary importance at home," rath- 

 er than of a scientific discussion of hygi- 

 enic concerns. Among the subjects consid- 

 ered are the board's system of dealing with 

 contagious and infectious diseases ; the pre- 

 ventive management of small-pox ; the sew- 

 erage and house-drainage system of Detroit ; 

 the question of slaughtering in the city ; 

 the administrative method in the case of the 

 abatement of nuisances ; the purity of the 

 ice-supply; the milk-supply; the "smoke 

 nuisance " ; and the water-supply. Other 

 equally important subjects are reserved for 

 future reports. 



Van Nostrand's Science Series, Nos. 59, 

 60, and Gl. Railroad Economics, by 

 S. W. Robinson, C. E. ; Strength of 

 Wrought-Iron Bridges, same author ; 

 Potable Water and the Relative Ef- 

 ficiency of Different Methods of de- 

 tecting Impurities, by Charles Wat- 

 son Folkard. New York : D. Van Nos- 

 trand. Pp. 131, 175, 138. Price, 50 

 cents each. 



Mr. Robinson's " Railroad Economics " 

 is the fruit of an official tour of inspection 

 under the direction of the State Commis- 

 sioner of Railways, over the railroads of 

 Ohio, and is intended to bring out such 

 facts observed, and call attention to such 

 features of practice, as shall assist in the 

 attainment by railroads of a uniform stand- 

 ard of excellence. The second work, which 

 has also been prepared in connection with 

 the State railway inspection service of 

 Ohio, furnishes practical formulas for 

 beams, struts, columns, and semi-columns, 

 as calculated by the author in the perform- 

 ance of his work of examining bridges for 

 strength and trustworthiness. The formu- 

 las are not otherwise generally accessible in 

 published form. Mr Folkard's " Potable 

 Water " is the substance of an essay origi- 

 nally presented to the British Institution 

 of Civil Engineers, and considers the vari- 

 ous ways in which water becomes contam- 

 inated ; the methods employed to detect 

 and determine the extent of contamination, 

 and their value ; the bearing of the results 

 of biological and microscopical research on 



the question, and the adequacy or inade- 

 quacy of proposed remedial measures. 



Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club. Trans- 

 actions No. 3. Ottawa, Canada. (W. 

 Hague Harrington, Secretary-Treasurer.) 

 Pp. 66, with Two Plates. 



The record is for the year ending March 

 21, 1882. The club has one hundred and 

 fifteen members. Four excursions were 

 held during the summer ; a conversazione 

 was given on the 6th of January, and a 

 lecture on the " Capabilities of the Prairie 

 Lands of the Northwest, as shown by their 

 Flora and Fauna," was delivered by Pro- 

 fessor Macoun, on the 7th of April. Re- 

 ports of the geological, botanical, entomo- 

 logical, ornithological and oological, and con- 

 chological branches are included among the 

 Transactions, with papers on the " Geology 

 of the Ottawa Palaeozoic Basin," " Pine 

 Life," "The Utica Slate," and other sub- 

 jects. 



Report of the Board of Commissioners of 

 the Ninth Cincinnati Industrial Ex- 

 position, 1881. (J. R. Murdoch, Secre- 

 tary, Cincinnati.) 



The Ninth Exposition is believed to have 

 far exceeded in completeness and novelty all 

 that preceded it. The departments of Art, 

 Horticulture, and Natural History, were full 

 of interest and attractiveness, and the ex- 

 pert tests of machinery, a new feature, 

 added greatly to the attractions of that de- 

 partment. 



The American Citizen's Manual. Part I. 



Edited by Worthington C. Ford. New 



York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 146. 



Price, SI. 



This is the fifth of Messrs. Putnam's 

 series of hand-books on " Questions of the 

 Day." It gives plain statements for the in- 

 formation and guidance of citizens, on the 

 nature, distribution, and functions of our 

 governments, national, State, and local, the 

 electoral system, and the regulations sur- 

 rounding the exercise of the franchise and 

 the verification of the results, and the char- 

 acter of our civil-service administration. 

 The present condition of civil-service abuse 

 and the need of reform are clearly shown 

 under the last head. A succeeding volume 

 will more fully consider the functions of 

 government. 



