92 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



New York City. Yet recreation and amusoment do not constitute the 

 entire object of this magnificient place ; several public spirited gentle- 

 men from the City have organizeil themselve as "American Museum 

 of Natural History," and procin-ed a chart(!r from the Lcsgislatiu'c. 

 They have raised about $40,000, and purchased 12770 specimens of 

 Natural History from various sotu-ces, which is to serve as a luiclcus 

 for a future collection. Prof. B. Waterhouse Hawkins has been engag- 

 ed in modeling and restoring to tiicir natural size and nppearance, sev- 

 eral extinct animals belonging to the Secondary Geological ^Epoch, 

 consisting of the gigantic Iladrosauras, thirty-nine feet in length; also 

 several of the Post-Tertiai"y Period, viz: Madodon, Mdinvioih, Mcya- 

 thcrimn, Mcgalonyx, Glyptodon, «fcc. 



A Zological Garden is in progi'ess and is constantly receiving valua- 

 ble additions from numerous sources. 



The Legislature of the State of New York have authorized the Board 

 of Commissioners "to erect, establish, conduct, and maintain on the 

 Central Park a Meteorological and Astronomical Observatory, and a 

 ^Museum of Natural History and a Gallery of Art, and the Ijuildings 

 therefor, and to provide the necessary instruments, furniture, and 

 equipments for the same." 



The ^Meteorological Department has been in full operation for the 

 past year, and the apparatus used are all self-registering and proba- 

 bly is the most accurate and comi)lete set on this Contimnit. It is 

 under the chai'ge of Daniel Draper, and it is to his ingenuity and 

 skill that this ()l)servatory has been j)Ut into such perfectness. The 

 barometer and the dry and wet bulb thermometers are registered by 

 means of a photogi-aphic apparatus, every variation is accurately in- 

 dicated, also the time when such variations occured. The fall of rain 

 and snow is registered by an ingenious contrivance, not only giving 

 the amount but the exact time of beginning and ending of each .show- 

 er. The direction, velocity and force of the wind are indicated 

 for every second of time during the whole twenty-four hours. 



Phosphate Bocks of Sotith Carolina, their History and Development. 

 With five Colored Illustrations, by Francis S. Holmes, A. M ., late 

 Professor of Geology and Paleontology' in the College of Charleston. 

 Published by Holmes' Book House, Charleston, S. C. pp. 87. 



Prof. Holmes gives a description of the various strata of rocks of 

 the "Great Carolina Marl Bed," their origin and formation, also some 

 accounts of their fossiliferous deposits, including the history of the 

 discovery of stone arrow^ heads, a stone hatchet, and human bones 

 in the Post-Pleiocene Age. Several analyses of various vegetable 

 products of Claris and Phosphate Rocks ai'e introduced showing the 

 gi"eat value of these deposits as fertelizers. 



Hand-Book of Mineral Analysis, by Frederich Wohler, Professor 

 of Chemisti-y in the University of Gottingen. Edited by Henry B. 

 Nason, Professor of Chemistry in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Insit- 



