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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ed with the rainfall of the district. Mr. 

 Becker proposes a theory that the Comstock 

 fissure taps water-ways leading from the 

 crests of the great range of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada. Under this theory, if the heat is 

 conveyed to the lode by water from great 

 depths, the variations in temperature are 

 readily explained, by supposing variations in 

 the distribution of the heated water. 



Mr. Lord's volume " Comstock Mining 

 and Miners " is chiefly historical, and has a 

 peculiar interest in that it describes an epi- 

 sode in the development of one of the most 

 important American enterprises, and relates 

 one of the most wonderful stories in mine- 

 working that it has ever been given to tell. 

 The dangers faced by the miners from the 

 extreme heat and other causes are vividly 

 sketched. " The service demonstrates anew 

 how elastic are the limits of human endur- 

 ance when men are drawn on by some mas- 

 terful passion. The bounds of possibility 

 then confine their achievements but not their 

 attempts. . . . Death alone has the power 

 to say to miners, ' Thus far shall ye go and 

 no farther ! ' for no endurable suffering 

 will bar their progress ; nor will the loss 

 of life even make them pause, unless the 

 scourge of heat shall strike them down like 

 a pestilence. Of late years heat has killed 

 strong men in almost every deep mine in 

 the lode, and in some mines the deaths so 

 caused have been frequent." The ultimate 

 effect of this extreme heat on the miner's 

 constitution, even when it does not result in 

 immediate death, is also to be considered ; 

 and, besides this, all the ordinary dangers of 

 deep mining exist here in aggravated forms. 



Contributions to the Fossil Flora of the 

 Western Territories. Part III. The 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary Flora. By Leo 

 Lesquereijx. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp. 283, with 60 Plates. 



This, although published under the di- 

 rection of Major Powell, is the eighth vol- 

 ume of the Hayden reports. It contains, 

 first, descriptions of the cretaceous flora, 

 including a large number of new species, 

 some representing rare and very remarkable 

 plants, accompanied with general remarks 

 on the geology of the Dakota group, and on 

 the character of the plants with regard to 

 climate and their affinities with plants of 

 succeeding geological periods. The second 



part contains a revision of the plants of the 

 Laramie group. The third part reviews the 

 floras of the White and Green River regions, 

 which are separated into two groups. The 

 relations of these plants with the flora of the 

 Gypses of Aix, France, which is generally 

 regarded as of the lowest Miocene or Oli- 

 gocene, are indicated. The fourth part re- 

 lates to Miocene plants described from spe- 

 cimens obtained from the Bad Lands, Cali- 

 fornia, and Oregon. The plants of the 

 cretaceous Dakota group, as known mostly 

 from their detached leaves, are striking from 

 the beauty, the elegance, and the variety 

 of their forms, and from their size. The 

 multiplicity of forms recognized for a single 

 species is quite as marked as it might be 

 upon any tree of our forests. In analyzing 

 the leaves by detail, " we are by-and-by 

 forcibly impressed by the strangeness of the 

 characters of some of them, which seem at 

 variance with any of those recognized any- 

 where in the floras of our time, and unob- 

 served also in those of the geological inter- 

 mediate periods. Not less surprised are we 

 to see united in a single leaf, or species, char- 

 acters which are now generally found sep- 

 arated in far -distant families of plants." 

 The flora of the Laramie group (Eocene) is 

 quite distinct from the cretaceous. The 

 Green River group includes the famous Flo- 

 rissante Basin, of which we have already 

 given some account. The Miocene plants, 

 which are described by groups according to 

 where they occur, have not been sufficiently 

 recovered to authorize any reliable conclu- 

 sion regarding their relative stage in either 

 group. 



Madam Row and Ladt Why. By Charles 

 Kingsley. New York : Macmillan & 

 Co. Pp. 321. Price, 50 cents. 



Tnis book, which now appears in a con- 

 venient volume of the series of " Globe 

 Readings from Standard Authors," is de- 

 scribed in the title-page as " First Lessons 

 in Earth-Lore for Children." It presents, in 

 the form of a pleasing allegory, the work- 

 ings of the geological agencies that have 

 contributed to the shaping of the globe, and 

 the present appearance of its surface, and 

 their results ; the operations being supposed 

 to be performed by a " Madam How," under 

 the direction of a mysterious " Lady Why." 



