LITERARY NOTICES. 



127 



celestial phenomena. The old pictures of 

 spiral nebulae are hardly worth retaining, 

 except for the purpose of comparison, when 

 such photographs as those of Mr. Roberts, 

 the Henry Brothers, and others are obtain- 

 able. An interesting feature of the illus- 

 trations retained from the preceding editions 

 is the series of pictures of double and mul- 

 tiple stars. These are of material assist- 

 ance to the amateur in observations of close 

 doubles whose components can barely be sep- 

 arated by the highest powers of the tele- 

 scope. In this edition the stars in the pict- 

 ure of that wonderful vari-colored cluster 

 which Sir John Herschel discovered near 

 Kappa Crucis, and which he compared to a 

 casket of many-hued gems, have been repre- 

 sented of their proper colors, and the effect 

 is both pleasing and instructive. 



The catalogues of binary and multiple 

 stars, and of variable, red, and temporary 

 stars, add much to the usefulness of the vol- 

 ume devoted to the starry heavens. 



We are acquainted with no book that 

 contains so much practical information for 

 tbe amateur about the instruments of the 

 astronomer, their construction, and the 

 methods of mounting and using them, as 

 does the second volume of Mr. Chambers's 

 work. This information ranges from the 

 magnifying powers of different forms of eye- 

 pieces and the proper adjustment of object- 

 glasses to the construction of observatories 

 and the discussion of the best methods of 

 adjusting and mounting telescopes, transit 

 instruments, astronomical clocks, and so on. 

 There is a great variety of practical hints 

 and directions for the guidance of the ama- 

 teur in the actual work of observation. 



In view of the great development of pop- 

 ular interest in astronomy which the past 

 ten years have witnessed, such a work as 

 this must find a rapidly increasing circle of 

 readers ; and the author was probably wise 

 in enlarging its scope, in the face of the 

 great increase of cost involved in the change 

 from one volume to three. 



Ninth Annual Report of tite United States 

 Geological Survey, 18S7-88. J. W. 

 Powell, Director. Washington. Pp. 

 717, quarto. 



In reviewing the work of the many di- 

 visions of the Geological Survey during its 

 ninth year, the director states that topo- 



graphical surveys covering 52,062 square 

 miles have been made by the Division of Ge- 

 ography. The largest areas were surveyed 

 in Missouri, New Mexico, Virginia, Texas, 

 and Arkansas. In Massachusetts, the sur- 

 vey undertaken in co-operation with the 

 State authorities was completed. The ex- 

 amination of the swamp and marsh lands 

 along the Atlantic coast south of New York 

 was continued. These lands, "deleterious 

 to health in their natural condition, an ob- 

 stacle in the way of approach to the sea, re- 

 pellent to the settler, to agriculture, and to 

 manufactures, they yet hold out the hope 

 of highly productive utilization through the 

 judicious application of capital." Investi- 

 gations were carried on also in many other 

 localities, and much laboratory and office 

 work was done. The director gives sketches 

 of the life-work of four prominent members 

 of the survey whose deaths occurred dur- 

 ing the year, namely, F. V. Hayden, R. D. 

 Irving, James Stevenson, and Thomas Hamp- 

 son. Reports from the several chiefs of di- 

 visions give the details of the work in their 

 several departments. Of the papers accom- 

 panying the director's report, the most ex- 

 tended one is on the Charleston earthquake 

 of August 31, 1886, by Captain Clarence E. 

 Dutton. The chief result obtained from this 

 study is a close approximation to the rate at 

 which an earthquake wave moves, and this 

 is found to coincide with the theoretical 

 rate. Although severe labor was expended 

 for many months in an attempt to obtain 

 some information respecting the cause of 

 earthquakes, the data yielded nothing on 

 this point. The monograph is introduced 

 by accounts of the earthquake by three resi- 

 dents of Charleston who experienced it. One 

 of these, by Mr. Carl McKinley, of the News 

 and Courier, was prepared for the annual 

 report of the city government. Dr. G. E. 

 Manigault, of the Charleston College, was 

 selected to prepare an account especially for 

 this record, and the third was written by 

 Mr. F. R. Fisher. The following chapters 

 embrace detailed studies of the local effects 

 of the earthquake and of the epicentral 

 tracts, a summary view of the effects through- 

 out the country, a computation of the depths 

 of the foci, and discussions of the isoseis- 

 mals, the speed of propagation through the 

 ground of the principal vibrations, and the 



