LITERARY NOTICES. 



503 



may safely assume, from the skill and enter- j 

 prise of the publishers, that they will attain 

 still greater perfection as the work proceeds. 

 Its editorial management is in the very best 

 hands. Mr. Meehan is the conductor of the 

 principal garden magazine of the country ; 

 and his thorough familiarity with botany, 

 and his long practical acquaintance with 

 horticulture, qualify him in a peculiar man- 

 ner for the management of such an enter- 

 prise as this. The work will, therefore, 

 combine great beauty of execution in the 

 colored illustrations with a careful, trust- 

 worthy, and judicious text. Accompanying 

 each plate there is a brief technical descrip- 

 tion, and three or four page3 of general 

 information in regard to the plant in ques- 

 tion, its genus, geographical distribution, 

 and mode of growth. The work is not of- 

 fered as a complete illustrated flora of North 

 America, the extent and expense of which 

 would put it beyond popular reach, and pro- 

 long its publication for many years. Its 

 scope is therefore limited to a selection of 

 the most beautiful and interesting native 

 flowers and ferns of the United States, pref- 

 erence being given to those most worthy of 

 cultivation and available for garden decora- 

 tion. After speaking of the difficulty of 

 preparing a thoroughly systematic scientific 

 work on the American flora, the editor re- 

 marks : 



" It must not be inferred from this, however, 

 that the present work ia absolutely without sys- 

 tem. It will be seen that the selection made for 

 these two volumes covers a wide range of coun- 

 try, and offers a number of representatives of 

 leading genera, chosen with reference to their 

 various habits and to different geographical cen- 

 tres. These volumes are therefore absolutely 

 complete in themselves, and may be said to give 

 a good general idea of the floral wealth of oar 

 country. Those who are satisfied with the 

 knowledge thus obtained may rest here. But 

 it is hoped that the more enthusiastic lovers of 

 flowers will welcome the succeeding volumes, 

 which it is proposed to publish after the conclu- 

 sion of this series. Each of the following series 

 is also to consist of two volumes, and to form a 

 complete whole by itself." 



In the preparation of the work Mr. Mee- 

 han has had the important advantage of 

 freely using the unrivaled facilities of the 

 botanical garden at Cambridge, which he 

 cordially acknowledges, as also the assist- 

 ance kindly given him by various eminent 

 botanists. The work is elegant, attractive, 



and meritorious, and we think it is certain 

 to have a large patronage. 



Experimental Science Series for Begin- 

 ners. II. Sound : A Series of Simple, 

 Entertaining, and Inexpensive Experi- 

 ments in the Phenomena of Sound, for 

 the Use of Students of Every Age. By 

 Alfred Marshall Mayer, Professor of 

 Physics in the Stevens Institute of Tech- 

 nology. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 181. 



The second volume of this admirable 

 series of books is now published, and its 

 author is to be congratulated for more than 

 fulfilling the promise of the opening vol- 

 ume. No less than one hundred and thirty 

 experiments in sound are given, all of which 

 are original in the simplified means by which 

 the effects are produced. They, moreover, 

 cover the whole ground of acoustics in so 

 complete a manner that the pupil who goes 

 through the volume, making all the experi- 

 ments, will get an actual and living knowl- 

 edge of the science, such as he can never 

 acquire by reading any number of larger 

 works. A list of apparatus to be used in 

 the experiments on sound is given at the 

 close of the volume, and can be purchased 

 complete at the cost of $27.50. But, as 

 Prof. Mayer remarks in the preface, " the 

 student may find it cheaper to hunt up the 

 materials, and then make his own appara- 

 tus ; but so many have desired to have the 

 sets ready for use, that I have complied 

 with their request. Of course, it will be 

 understood that the instrument-maker must 

 be paid for the time taken in finding the 

 objects in the market, and for the labor and 

 skill spent in making the apparatus, and in 

 packing it in convenient boxes." 



Matter and Motion. By J. Clerk Max- 

 well, M. A., LL. D. New York: D. 

 Van Nostrand. Pp. 224. 



This monograph, by the eminent physi- 

 cist and professor of Cambridge, is one of 

 the best things that have yet appeared in Van 

 Nostrand's " Science Series." Like every- 

 thing from Clerk Maxwell, it is clear, and, 

 although the general treatment of dynamics 

 is mathematical, there are many valuable 

 definitions and much information iD the 

 book that will be available for the general 

 reader 



