392 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



coals, clays, peats, salines, and mineral 

 waters, marls, cements, building-stones, 

 and other useful materials, the value of 

 said substances for economical purposes 

 and their accessibility ; also an accurate 

 chemical analysis of the various rocks, 

 soils, ores, clays, peats, marls, and other 

 mineral substances, of which complete 

 and exact records shall be made." 



The natural-history survey will " in- 

 clude, first, an examination of the vege- 

 table productions of the State, embrac- 

 ing all trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses, 

 native or naturalized in the State ; sec- 

 ond, a complete and scientific account 

 of the animal kingdom as properly rep- 

 resented in the State, including all mam- 

 malia, fishes, reptiles, birds, and in- 

 sects. 1 ' 



There is also to be a meteorological 

 investigation of the climate of the 

 State, barometrical and thermometrical 

 observations and measurements of ele- 

 vations and depressions of the land, 

 with a view to the formation of an au- 

 thentic map. 



It will be a part of the work to col- 

 lect specimens of " all rocks, soils, ores, 

 coals, fossils, cements, building- stones, 

 plants, woods, skins, and skeletons, of 

 animals, birds, insects, and fishes, and 

 other mineral, vegetable, and animal 

 substances and organisms discovered or 

 examined in the course of said surveys, 

 to be preserved for public inspection, 

 free of cost, in the University of Min- 

 nesota, in rooms convenient of access 

 and properly warmed, lighted, venti- 

 lated, and furnished, and in charge of a 

 proper scientific curator; and they 

 shall also, whenever the same may be 

 practicable, cause duplicates, in reason- 

 able numbers and quantities, of the 

 above-named specimens to be collected 

 and preserved for the purpose of ex- 

 changes with other State universities 

 and scientific institutions." 



The movement in this case, it is evi- 

 dent, has been initiated mainly in the 

 interest of the geological survey, but it 

 is to be hoped that the larger objects 



of education to which it is a means 

 will not be lost sight of. The univer- 

 sity will undoubtedly be benefited by 

 taking the responsibility of the work, 

 but the movement will fall greatly 

 short of the good it might accomplish 

 if it is not vitally connected with the 

 educational system of the State. In 

 the cities of Minnesota are growing up 

 numerous normal schools and high- 

 schools, which have a right to share in 

 the general benefits of the undertak- 

 ing. The specimens obtained by the 

 several departments of the survey are 

 to be collected in the University Mu- 

 seum at St. Anthony, and we are told 

 that duplicates will be exchanged with 

 other State universities and with sci- 

 entific societies. But should not the 

 claims of the people of the State be 

 considered first, and should not the 

 local schools be furnished with mate- 

 rials for cabinets representing the re- 

 sources of their own State, and be en- 

 couraged to contribute something tow- 

 ard the general object by observations 

 and collections in their own districts \ 

 We should be glad to see this element 

 incorporated in the Minnesota experi- 

 ment. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



International Scientific Series, No. III. 

 On Foods. By Edward Smith, M. D., 

 F. R. S. D. Appleton h Co. 



A good, popular book on foods ha9 long 

 been wanted, and, as the object of the In- 

 ternational Scientific Series is to furnish val- 

 uable and instructive reading for the gen- 

 eral public, this subject was early provided 

 for by securing the best authority in Eng- 

 land to treat it. Dr. Smith is well and 

 widely known by his extensive course of 

 physiological experiments on the influence 

 of foods and alcoholic liquors upon the hu- 

 man system, published in the " Philosophical 

 Transactions" in 1859; by his official work 

 as government inspector of practical dieta- 

 ries for hospitals and almshouses ; and by 

 his various publications upon the subject 

 of food and diet. A new work was, how- 



