LITERARY NOTICES. 



499 



Strength of Beams under Transverse 

 Loads. By W. Allan. Pp. 114. Also 

 Sewerage and Sewage Utilization. 

 By AV. C. Corfield, M. A. New York : 

 Van Nostrand. Tp. 128. Price, 50 

 cents each. 



In the first of these two little volumes 

 the practical builder will find a discussion 

 of the most important and common cases 

 of horizontal beams under vertical loads. 

 The problems are worked out without hav- 

 ing recourse to the higher matliematies. 

 The second volume contains, in abridged 

 form, a series of lectures delivered by Prof. 

 Corfield before the School of Military Engi- 

 neering at Chatham, England. The ques- 

 tion of sewerage and sewage utilization is 

 one of the urgent problems of modern life, 

 and it yet awaits satisfactory solution. 

 Meanwhile, Mr. Van Nostrand does the 

 public a service by placing within the reach 

 of all the views of so eminent an engineer 

 as Prof. Corfield upon these subjects. 



Notes op the Manufacture of Pottery 

 AMONG Savage Races. By Ch. Fred. 

 Hartt, a. M. Pp. 70. Rio de Janeiro : 

 South American Mail print. 



Prof. Hartt here, in the first place, 

 briefly considers the question of the origin 

 of the ceramic art. When, where, how did 

 it originate? No positive answer can be 

 given to these questions. Like other hu- 

 man arts, it is the result of a long evolu- 

 tion, and its simple beginnings we may 

 never be able to find out. So much, how- 

 ever, is certain, namely, that the finest 

 porcelain wares are the true lineal descend- 

 ants from the pottery of the savage. The 

 author next considers the materials em- 

 ployed and the methods followed in the 

 building of a vessel. Before the advent of 

 Europeans, pottery in America was made 

 by hand, the potter's wheel being unknown. 

 He finds the method of fashioning vessels 

 out of coils of clay widely practised in 

 South America. The manufacture is every- 

 where exclusively in the hands of the women. 



The Difference of Thermal Energy 

 transmitted to the Earth by Radia- 

 tion FROM Different Parts of the So- 

 lar Surface. Pp. 10. 



This is a reprint of a communication in 

 Nature by Mr. John Ericsson, in which he 

 points out defects in Father Secchi's method 



of measuring the intensity of the sun's radi- 

 ant heat. Secchi's method is that of pro- 

 jecting the sun's image on a screen, and 

 then measuring the temperature at different 

 points by means of tliermopiles. Ericsson 

 adopts the method of direct observation, 

 and employs a special apparatus devised by 

 himself. Mr. Ericsson estimates the ab- 

 sorption by the solar atmosphere at not 

 over 0.144 of the radiant heat emanating 

 from the photosphere. The intensity of 

 radiation from the border of the sun he 

 estimates at 0.638 of the intensity of radia- 

 tion from an equal area of the central region. 



Check - List of Noctuidj: of America, 

 north of Mexico. By A. R. Grote, 

 A. M. Pp. 28, with Plate. Price, $1. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. : Reinecke & Zesch. 



Op the twelve hundred North American 

 species of Noctuce, less than thiity, we are 

 informed by Mr. Grote, are considered iden- 

 tical with European forms. The facts seem 

 to point to a common origin of many of the 

 forms, and it is the author's opinion that 

 the European and North American JVoctuce 

 are in part descended from species living 

 over a common territory, and that the Gla- 

 cial epoch separated the stocks. The list 

 of species here given includes a complete 

 synonymy of the Noctuidce of America north 

 of Mexico, so far as known. It is invalu- 

 able to the student of entomology. 



State Medicine in its Relations to In- 

 sanity. By Dr. Nathan Allen. Pp. 

 31. 



Dr. Allen considers the subject of in- 

 sanity in the six New England States. He 

 finds that in Massachusetts, from 1850 to 

 18*70, the increase of insanity was 12 per 

 cent, greater than the increase of popula- 

 tion, and the same is to be said of the other 

 New England States. He favors consign- 

 ing the chronic insane to homes, instead of 

 keeping them in hospitals. What they 

 need is, not medical treatment, but suitable 

 exercise, sunlight, air, proper nourishment, 

 etc. He also advocates the adoption by 

 the State of measures for the prevention of 

 insanity. The dissemination of more cor- 

 rect views of the true way of living and a 

 more rigid observance of the laws of health 

 and Nature would, no doubt, greatly dimin- 

 ish the frequency of mental disease. 



