LITERARY NOTICES. 



707 



Elephant Pipes in the Museum of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Daven- 

 port, Iowa. By Charles E. Putnam. 

 Pp. 40. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Davenport has two pipes in the shape of 

 elephants, and three inscribed tablets, which 

 are claimed to have been found among abo- 

 riginal relics. Their genuineness has been 

 doubted by some, and has been attacked by 

 Mr. Henry W. Henshaw, in the report of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology. This essay is a 

 vindication of their authenticity by a mem- 

 ber of the academy. Behind the question 

 immediately at issue lies the controversy 

 respecting the origin of the mound-build- 

 ers, on which archaeologists are dividing. 



Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poi- 

 sonous. Edited by Julius A. Palmer, 

 Sr. Boston : L. Prang & Co. Pp. 4 of 

 Text, with Twelve Chromo-lithographic 

 Plates. 



Regarding the edible mushrooms as sup- 

 plying most valuable and delicious food, the 

 author seeks to furnish a guide in the selec- 

 tion of species that shall admit of no mis- 

 take being made. The letterpress pages 

 furnish general directions for recognizing 

 and gathering the useful species and avoid- 

 ing the dangerous ones ; and the plates give 

 exact portraits of both kinds, in their natu- 

 ral sizes and colors, with botanical descrip- 

 tions, and directions for preparing them for 

 the table. The same information is given 

 in a cheaper form in two charts, one con- 

 taining the useful, the other the dangerous 

 kinds. Mr. Palmer's qualifications for the 

 description of these plants are attested by 

 the fact that he has for more than ten years 

 directed his attention and experiments to 

 ascertaining the edible or noxious qualities 

 of the various species of mushrooms abound- 

 ing in our fields and woods. 



A Course of Practical Instruction in 

 Botany. By F. 0. Bower and Sidney H. 

 Vines. London : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 

 226. Price, $1.50. 



This work has grown out of the course 

 of botanical instruction which was begun in 

 1873 by Mr. W. Thistleton Dyer in the Nor- 

 mal School of Science at South Kensington, 

 in which the same plan was adopted as Pro- 

 fessor Huxley had found convenient for the 



animal side of morphology. Mr. Dyer's pur- 

 pose, to put the results of his experience in 

 teaching methods in the form of a hand-book, 

 which he has not been able personally to 

 carry out, has been fulfilled by his success- 

 or, Mr. Bower, in the matter of laboratory 

 instruction for the types selected, and by 

 Dr. Vines in the matter of method and the 

 morphology of the cells. The plan of the 

 teaching is typical specimens having been 

 selected of well-known or easily identified 

 plants to give the pupil directions for 

 making careful and minute examinations of 

 all their parts, their structure, and their 

 visible qualities. This volume, which is 

 designated as Part I, is devoted to the 

 phanerogams and the pteridophyta. 



The Basic Pathology and Specific Treat- 

 ment of Diphtheria, Typhoid, Zymot- 

 ic, Septic, Scorbutic, and Putrescent 

 Diseases generally. By George J. Zieg- 

 ler, M. D. Philadelphia : George J. Zieg- 

 ler, M. D. Pp. 225. Price, $2. 



The author's treatise is based upon and 

 unfolds the theory that the diseases in ques- 

 tion are "dependent upon, or complicated 

 with, one common basic, alkaline, pathoge- 

 nic factor, mostly the volatile alkali ammo- 

 nia, incidental to all forms of life, and dif- 

 fering only in quantity and the constitu- 

 tional and local manifestations and compli- 

 cations arising from diverse etiological and 

 pathological conditions, yet underlying and 

 intensifying them all." 



A Manual of the Theory and Practice 

 of Topographical Surveying by Means 

 of the Transit and Stadia. By J. B. 

 Johnson, C. E. New York : John Wi- 

 ley & Sons. Pp. 113. Price, $1.25. 



The author is Professor of Civil Engi- 

 neering in Washington University, and was 

 formerly Engineer of the United States 

 Lake and Mississippi River Surveys. The 

 system which he explains is well adapted to 

 preliminary railroad and canal surveys; 

 surveys of drainage-basins, reservoir, dam, 

 and bridge sites ; the location of ditches 

 and pipe-lines ; and, in fact, to surveys of 

 any kind demanding a knowledge of the 

 topographical features or of the contours of 

 the ground. He has had, as objects in view 

 in preparing the work, to make a manual 

 useful to students and in the work in the 



