LITERARY NOTICES. 



705 



influences chiefly in the way of ill-regu- 

 lated desires; and the law of natural 

 selection rightly expounded will teach 

 us that, if we wish to survive, we must 

 cultivate all the qualities that make for 

 fitness, and repress those that tend to 

 produce unfitness. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Earth and its Inhabitants. By Elisee 

 Reclus. North America, Vol. I. New 

 York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 496. 

 Price, sheep, $6 ; half morocco, $*7. 



The American edition of this great de- 

 scriptive work, by the eminent French geog- 

 rapher Reclus, has now reached the section 

 devoted to North America. This division 

 will probably require four volumes, the 

 first of which is now before us. A chapter 

 sketching the early discoveries in the New 

 World and the chief features of the West- 

 cm Continent introduces the volume. This 

 is followed by detailed descriptions cf the 

 northern parts of the continent, comprising 

 Greenland, the neighboring islands, Alaska, 

 and the British possessions, including Cana- 

 da. The physical features, flora, fauna, and 

 inhabitants of each region are fully described. 

 In the account of Greenland the glaciers of 

 that ice-bound land are a prominent feat- 

 ure. Their distribution, extent, rates of 

 movement, and mode of termination are de- 

 scribed, and their appearance and arrange- 

 ment are represented by many pictures and 

 maps. The nature of the illustrations in 

 this work is already known to our readers 

 from the article on Greenland and the Green- 

 landers, in the Monthly for last July, for 

 which some of them were borrowed. The 

 geography of Alaska is given with much de- 

 tail so far as it is known, and the progress 

 of exploration in that Territory is sketched. 

 Here, again, the glaciers demand considera- 

 ble attention. Maps show the zones of tem- 

 perature and trees, and the distribution of the 

 native tribes and the animals is also point- 

 ed out. About three hundred and fifty pages 

 are devoted to Canada and the other British 

 provinces in North America. The reader is 

 led from the rivers and fiords of British Co- 

 lumbia, through the wild Northwest Terri- 

 tory, among the posts of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, and the lakes of the Winnipeg 

 VOL. xxxviii. 48 



region, then down the St. Lawrence through 

 Ontario and Quebec, to the Maritime Prov- 

 inces, finally reaching Labrador and New- 

 foundland. The description deals with be- 

 sides the natural features the social and 

 political conditions, trade, languages, reli- 

 gions, etc., of the several divisions of the 

 country. The full-page pictures, which are 

 liberally scattered through these chapters, 

 represent wild scenery of the central and 

 western regions, the features and dress of 

 the natives, and the large towns on the east- 

 ern rivers and seaports. The maps, which 

 arc very numerous, are from actual surveys, 

 and hence contribute to the scientific accu- 

 racy which is characteristic of the whole 

 work. Statistics of area, population, trade, 

 etc., are given in appendixes. 



The Meteoric Hypothesis : a Statement op 

 the Results of a Spectroscopic Inquiry 

 into the Origin of Cosmical Systems. 

 By J. Norman Lockyer. London and 

 New York : Maemillan & Co. Pp. 560. 

 Price, $5.25. 



The purpose of this volume is to bring 

 together and co-ordinate the observations 

 which have been made up to the present 

 time on the spectra of the various orders of 

 cosmical bodies in connection with labora- 

 tory work on which the author has been en- 

 gaged since 1868. It embodies in a con- 

 nected form, among other matters, various 

 reports made by him through the Solar Phys- 

 ics Committee to the Royal Society. It is, 

 in fact, a natural sequel to the Chemistry 

 of the Sun, published in 1S87, in which were 

 presented researches suggesting that many 

 solar phenomena might owe their origin to 

 falls of meteoric masses on the sun's sur- 

 face. The theory here presented is sub- 

 stantially an enlargement and extension to 

 the universe of the hypotheses therein set 

 forth. Beginning with a chapter of history 

 and facts on the fall and nature of meteor- 

 ites, the author treats in successive chap- 

 ters of the Spectroscopy of Meteorites ; Me- 

 teorites in the Air, in the Solar System, and 

 in Space ; Proposed New Grouping of Cosmi- 

 cal Bodies ; the Origin of Binary and Mul- 

 tiple Systems ; and the Variability in Light 

 and Color of Cosmical Bodies. Among his 

 principal General Conclusions are : that all 

 self-luminous bodies in the celestial space 

 are composed either of swarms of meteorites 



