123 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nature of wave-motion through solid bodies. 

 Two epicentrums were found one near 

 Woodstock, about sixteen miles northwest 

 of Charleston, the other almost due west of 

 the city and about thirteen miles distant. 

 In the investigation of the tracts around 

 these points Captain Dutton gives high 

 praise to the labors of Mr. Earle Sloan, of 

 Charleston. The paper occupies three hun- 

 dred and twenty-eight pages, and is copious- 

 ly illustrated with views of ruined buildings, 

 displaced tracks on the railroads, fissures 

 and craterlets in various places, and with 

 maps and diagrams. Prof. N. S. Shaler 

 contributes to this volume a report on The 

 Geology of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, com- 

 prising the general structure of the district, 

 its superficial geology, the structure and na- 

 ture of the bed-rocks, and the relations of 

 the region to the anticlinal axis of which it 

 forms a part. This paper also is fully illus- 

 trated. There is an account of the Forma- 

 tion of Travertine and Siliceous Sinter by 

 the Vegetation of Hot Springs, prepared by 

 Walter H. Weed, which is illustrated with 

 many views of the springs in the Yellow- 

 stone National Park. The volume includes 

 also a report On the Geology and Physiogra- 

 phy of a Portion of Northwestern Colorado 

 and Adjacent Parts of Utah and Wyoming, 

 by Charles A. White, containing maps and 

 diagrams. 



English Prose : Its Elements, IIistort, 

 and Usage. By John Earle, Rawlin- 

 sonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the 

 University of Oxford. New York : G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. Pp. 530. Price, $3.50. 



To give a brief though incomplete char- 

 acterization of this work, it may be called a 

 book on rhetoric, but it is deeper and broader 

 than such a description would imply. The 

 first chapter deals with choice of expression, 

 giving parallel lists of words of Anglo-Saxon, 

 of French, and of classical origin, and point- 

 ing out the principles which should guide a 

 writer in using one or another of these syno- 

 nyms in a given place. Some of ihe higher 

 grammatical considerations are next dis- 

 cussed, after which the author passes to the 

 bearing3 of philology on the writing of Eng- 

 lish prose. These chapters, with a short 

 one on "mechanical appliances" i. e., capi- 

 tals and punctuation marks make up what 

 the author calls the analytic portion of the 



treatise. The subject is next treated syn- 

 thetically in five chapters. The first two of 

 these deal with the leading characteristics 

 of prose diction elevation, lucidity, variety, 

 novelty, and figure being enumerated under 

 this head. Separate chapters are devoted 

 to idiom and to euphony, and a discussion 

 of style closes this portion of the volume. 

 A brief history of English prose follows. 

 This history is divided into three periods: 

 the first extends from the eighth century to 

 what the author calls the first culmination 

 of English prose in the tenth, and the sec- 

 ond ends in the fifteenth century. A clos- 

 ing chapter, entitled The Pen of a Ready 

 Writer, is a good sample of the whole book. 

 Under this head the author affirms that " it 

 is not an easy matter to write English prose 

 that is worth reading." A great number of 

 rules, directions, and cautions are to be con- 

 sidered, he says ; but the mind of the writer 

 should not be burdened with a conscious- 

 ness of these rules at the time of writing. 

 Next after rudimentary grammar and the 

 reading of good authors, philology is the 

 preparation required for writing English. 

 The writer should strive to gain command 

 of the wealth of the English vocabulary. 

 As to classical training, he takes the ground 

 that it is excellent for some purposes, but 

 not for forming an English style. He rec- 

 ommends a study of the English prose of 

 the tenth century, and notes with approval 

 a tendency of current writers to select their 

 leading words from the true mother tongue. 

 The severe drill in choosing words which is 

 enforced by the writing of poetry is a good 

 preparation for writing prose. The volume 

 has an index to quotations, but no general 

 index. 



Biological Lectures delivered at the Ma- 

 rine Biological Lauoratory of Wood's 

 IIoll. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp.250. 



All but two of the ten lectures in thi3 

 volume were delivered during the summer 

 of 1890. They are published as a contri- 

 bution to educational literature, and as a 

 means of making known the needs and pos- 

 sibilities of biological work to the patrons 

 of the laboratory and to the general public. 

 One important purpose of this course of 

 lectures was, as stated by Prof. C. 0. Whit- 

 man in the preface, "to bring specialists 



