LITERARY NOTICES. 



853 



bulletins, most of which have been noticed 

 in this magazine, deal with corn-growing, 

 the examination and care of milk and cream, 

 spraying plants, fruit-growing, tomatoes, in- 

 sects injurious to plants, the clover rust, 

 anl a variety of minor investigations. 



An Examination of FingaVs Cave, by J. 

 P. MacLean (Clarke, 75 cents), is an account 

 of this famous cavern enlarged from a re- 

 port made by Prof. MacLean to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution in 1887. The island of 

 Staffa contains several caverns besides the 

 one of chief prominence, and these receive 

 brief mention. The author's description of 

 Fingal's Cave consists mostly of Sir Joseph 

 Banks's account of his visit in 1772, which 

 is inserted in full, and quotations from 

 other sources. The origin of the cave is 

 discussed, and reasons are given for not be- 

 lieving it to be the work of man. The vol- 

 ume is illustrated from drawings by the 

 author and from other sources. 



Harper's Sixth Reader (American Book 

 Company, 90 cents) is devoted to British 

 authors, and completes the series to which 

 it belongs. Attention is called by the pub- 

 lishers to the gradation in the several classes 

 of selections as they are herein arranged : 

 those pertaining to modern history occur in 

 chronological order, so also do the articles 

 on Roman life and customs. Among the 

 lessons are views of American institutions 

 from English standpoints, examples of the 

 best of British fiction and humor, and essays 

 on questions of morals and personal duty. 

 While many of the selections are new to 

 school readers, a large number of acknowl- 

 edged classics are also included. Both the 

 living and the earlier writers are repre- 

 sented. Notes on the author and on the 

 unusual words of each piece are appended. 



The paper of Mr. George M. Dawson, of 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, On the 

 Later Physiographical Geography of the 

 Pocky Mountain Region in Canada, is a 

 monograph of a like order of those of which 

 members of our own Geological Survey have 

 produced a large number. Relating to what 

 is virtually an extension into the British 

 Provinces of the identical regions with 

 which our own geologists are concerned, it 

 may be grouped with their special memoirs 

 as constituting one of a mass of materials by 

 the aid of which American geology is being 



shaped into a more extensive, systematic, 

 and harmonious scheme than has been ap- 

 plied to any other region. The western 

 border region of the continent is defined by 

 Mr. Dawson as being formed by a series of 

 more or less nearly parallel mountain sys- 

 tems, with an average breadth in British 

 Columbia of about four hundred miles, and 

 tending in a direction similar to that of the 

 Pacific shore line, the position of which in 

 fact depends upon that of these orographic 

 features. In traversing this generally 

 mountainous zone which the author calls 

 the Cordillera belt from east to west, we 

 cross the Rocky Mountains ; what may be 

 classed together as the Gold Ranges (in- 

 cluding the Selkirk, Purcell, Cariboo, and 

 other ranges) ; the Coast Ranges ; and an 

 irregular mountain system the Vancouver 

 system of which Vancouver Island and the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands are unsubmerged 

 parts. A region between the mountain and 

 the Coast Ranges, without important mount- 

 ain ranges, is referred to as the Interior 

 Plateau of British Columbia. The paper 

 has special reference to changes in elevation 

 and the history of the Glacial period, and is 

 divided into two parts : I. Mesozoic and 

 Tertiary History ; and II. Glacial History. 



TJw Fruits of Culture is a comedy in four 

 acts by Count Leo Tolstoi (Tucker, Boston). 

 It deals with spiritualism, the principal scene 

 being a bogus seance. The characters are 

 Russian nobility, learned persons, servants, 

 and peasants. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



American Chemical Society. Journal, Decem- 

 ber, 1890. Index number. New York : John Pol- 

 heinus. $3 a year. 



Appalachia, December, 1890. Boston : W. B. 

 Clarke & Co. Pp. 80. 50 cents. 



Bardeen, C. W , Syracuse. N. T. College Pre- 

 paratory and Lower Grade Schools. Pp. 5. 



Brown, D. Walter, New York. The American 

 Patent System. Pp. 64. 25 cents. 



Census Bulletin, No. 16. Population of the 

 United States by States and Territories, 1S90. Pp. 

 10. 



Chambers, George F. Descriptive and Practical 

 Astronomy. Oxford, England : Clarendon Press. 8 

 volumes. Pp. 14S4. 



Chanute, O. Aerial Navigation. New York : " 

 Kailroad and Engineering Journal. Pp. 36. 



Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion. Report for 1890, and Bulletins 24 and 25. 



Cox, Charles P. Faith-healing in the Sixteenth 

 and Seventeenth Centuries. New York : De Vinne 

 Press. Pp. 21. 



De Garmo, Charles. Witt's Tales of Troy. 

 Bloomington, I1L : Public School Publishing Co. 

 Pp.68. 



