LCO 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Scale," " Natural Filtration," and " House- 

 hold Filtration." Tlie two former sections 

 will be read with interest by the civil and 

 sanitary engineer ; the last, that on " House- 

 hold Filtration," directly concerns every fam- 

 ily in the land. Too often the quality of 

 water supplied to the inhabitants of our 

 cities is truly described as in the following 

 reply to a letter of inquiry: "When the 

 river is clear we have clear water ; when 

 the river is muddy we have muddy water." 

 Such a state of things necessitates the use 

 of domestic filters, many different forms of 

 which are described and criticised by Dr. 

 Nichols. 



The Old House altered. By G. C. Ma- 

 son, Architect. With Illustrations. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878. Pp. 

 185. Price, $2.50. 



The problem here considered is one that 

 is every day arising for solution — how to 

 modernize and beautify an old house. In a 

 series of chapters which take the form of 

 familiar letters the author first describes 

 the original form of an old mansion ; then 

 details the changes in its internal arrange- 

 ment and in its exterior, necessitated by 

 the requirements of modern life and of 

 modem culture ; finally, he tells us how these 

 changes have been made. Nor does Mr. Ma- 

 son restrict himself to the consideration of 

 the purely architectural aspects of the prob- 

 lem, for the old mansion had to be trans- 

 formed not only in itself, but also in its 

 fittings and furniture. There is room for 

 difference of opinion as to the desirability 

 of such transformations, and most persons* 

 would perhaps think it the better way to pull 

 down and build anew ; but, if regard for an 

 old house interferes to prevent its demoli- 

 tion, our author's plan of transforming and 

 modernizing it will deserve to be considered. 



Goethe's Faust. Erstek Theil. With In- 

 troduction and Notes by James Morgan 

 Hart. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

 1878. Pp. 286. Price, $1.25. 



The first part of " Faust " forms Vol. lY. 

 of Prof. Hart's series of" German Classics." 

 The English student of German will derive 

 from the editor's very brief grammatical and 

 critical notes, and from his learned intro- 

 duction, material aid in overcoming the dif- 

 ficulties of the text. 



Practical Chemistry for Medical Stu- 

 dents. By M. M. Pattison Muir. Lou- 

 don and New York : Macmillan & Co., 

 1878. Pp. 64. Price, 60 cents. 



The medical student will here find pre- 

 cisely that measure of information in pi-ac- 

 tical chemistry which is absclutely indispen- 

 sable for him to possess. The author's ob- 

 ject is in no wise to "cram" the student 

 for examination-day, but to put him in pos- 

 session of a few chemical principles, and to 

 famiharize him with certain chemical pro- 

 cesses, without which he cannot hope for 

 success in his chosen profession. 



The Blessed Bees. By John Allen. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878. Pp. 

 169. Price, $1. 



Under this quaint title, Mr. Allen pub- 

 lishes the record of a year's experience and 

 results in bee-keeping. Persons who may 

 be thinking of engaging in that pursuit will 

 doubtless learn much from this Httle book. 

 Bee-keeping, by modern methods, the author 

 informs us in the preface, is an art just as 

 much as growing wheat or fruit or stock ; 

 the profits which may be gained from it are 

 just as certain as the profits from any other 

 branch of rural labor, and are much larger. 



The Relative Proportions of the Steam- 

 Engine. By William D. Marks. Phila- 

 delphia: Lippincott, 1878. Pp. 161. 

 Price, $1.50. 



A long-felt want is here supplied, viz., 

 simple, practical formula? for the determina- 

 tion of the relative proportions of the com- 

 ponent parts of the steam-engine. Rankine 

 appears to be the only author in English 

 who has attempted to do this ; but his treat- 

 ment of the subject is so brief as to be 

 obscure. The present work is therefore a 

 very welcome contribution to the science of 

 the steam-engine. 



Flower-Painting. By Mrs. William Duf- 



FIELD. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

 1878. Pp. 46. Price, 50 cents. 

 The fact that this handbook of flower- 

 painting has already passed through twelve 

 editions in England speaks well for its pop- 

 ular character. Like all the volumes of the 

 series of " Art Handbooks " to which it be- 

 longs, it is a model of tasteful book-making. 



