754 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in stacks after being dried. The journey 

 was made in midsummer, and the melting 

 snows fed innumerable streams which were 

 tumbling over the rocks. The scenery was 

 everywhere beautiful and grand. 



At Hammerfest no ice forms in tide- 

 water during winter, and steamers continue 

 their trips from Christiania to Tromsoe near 

 Hammerfest as in summer. Snow, however, 

 falls on- the ground quite to the coast, and 

 in great quantity on the mountains. This 

 modification of ocean and coast climate is 

 due to the Gulf Stream. 



The author speaks in high terms of the 

 manners, habits, and morals of the Nor- 

 wegians, but less favorably of the Lapps as 

 respects their culture and refinement. Their 

 morals, however, are good. Those from the 

 mountain districts are rich in their flocks of 

 reindeer. Of these he saw immense droves, 

 but they did not relish the odor of Ameri- 

 cans, and he could best approach them 

 against the wind. A chapter is devoted to 

 this animal, and we are promised a volume 

 by Judge Caton on the American and Euro- 

 pean deer and their domestication. 



The Sanitary Journal. Edited by Ed- 

 ward Platter, M. D. Toronto : Dudley 

 & Burns. Monthly. $2.00 per annum. 



This is a new venture in the periodical 

 field, having commenced its career a few 

 months ago. Both in its editorial and its 

 selected matter it gives evidence of beinsr 

 conducted with ability. It is to be hoped 

 that the enterprise will be so sustained by 

 the Canadian public, that the editor may be 

 enabled to make good his promise of en- 

 larging the Journal at the beginning of 

 next year. 



Ox THE Composition of the Ground Atmos- 

 phere, TOGETHER WITH SOME EXAMINA- 

 TIONS OP THE Air in Smoking-Cars. By 

 Prof Wm. Ripley Nichols, of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Institute of Technology. 

 Prof. Nichols presents in this paper 

 the results of interesting investigations of 

 the quantity and properties of air contained 

 in the soil under a great variety of circum- 

 stances ; and especially in respect to changes 

 produced in it by processes of organic de- 

 cay in the soil at considerable depths. The 

 paper, which is of much value, is embodied 

 in the " Sixth Annual Report of the Massa- 

 chusetts State Board of Health." 



Navigation in Theory and Practice. By 

 Henry Evers, LL. D. 263 pages, 12mo. 

 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1875. 

 Price $1.50. 



This book is one of the volumes of an 

 EngUsh advanced science series of popular 

 text - books, republished in this country. 

 The work is intended to give the student 

 a clear insight into the theory and prac- 

 tice of navigation. It has been the aim 

 of the writer to make the subject as easy 

 and practical as possible, by presenting 

 the definitions, illustrations, etc., in ev- 

 ery variety of aspect. The book com- 

 prises thirteen chapters, treating succes- 

 sively and in detail the following subjects: 

 " Definitions and Preliminary Hlustrations," 

 " The Compass and its Declination," " The 

 Log, Log-line, and Log-glass," " Plane Sail- 

 ing," "Traverse Sailing," "Current Sail- 

 ing," "The Day's Work," "Parallel Sail- 

 ing," "Middle Latitude Sailing," "Merca- 

 tor's Sailing," "Great Circle Sailing," 

 " Sailing to Windward or plying to Wind- 

 ward," " Oblique and Current SaiUngs," and 

 to each chapter are appended numerous ex- 

 amples, illustrations, and exercises. 



Contributions to the Theory of Solubil- 

 ity. By IsiDOR Walz, Ph. D. Philadel- 

 phia : Collins, 1875. 



This paper is a reprint from the Amer- 

 ican Chemist for February, 1875, in which 

 the author attempts to trace some relations 

 between the solubility of substances, their 

 specific volume, and chemical constitution. 



Solution he defines to be the penetration 

 of the molecules of one or more substances 

 into the intra-molecular spaces of another 

 substance. Under this definition are given 

 five distinct classes of solubility, thus : of 

 solids in liquids, of liquids in liquids, of 

 gases in liquids, of solids in solids, includ- 

 ing alloys, and of gases in solids, as difiu- 

 sion of gases through metals. The subject 

 is carefully treated, and is presented in a 

 perspicuous and agreeable mannei. 



Harvard University. Bulletin of the Bus- 

 sey Institution, Jamaica Plain, Boston, 

 Part IV. Cambridge: Press of John 

 Wilson & Son, 1875. 



Of the six articles which compose the 

 present number, four are especially impor- 

 tant as giving the results of original re- 



