274 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



tories, drawn chiefly from the printed re- 

 ports of the superintendents thereof, and it 

 concludes with an abstract of the public- 

 school laws of &ach State and Territory. A 

 later appendix contains the report of the 

 General Agent of Education in Alaska for the 

 year 1886-'87. Among the subjects to which 

 the commissioner directs attention are the 

 purpose and condition of secondary instruc- 

 tion, the need to professional students of a 

 previous liberal course of study, and the 

 value of manual training in its influence on 

 the mind. 



The American Geologist. Vol. I, No. 1. 

 January, 188S. Minneapolis. Monthly. 

 Price, $3 a year. 



The geologists of America are to be con- 

 gratulated that their branch of science now ; 

 has its special journal in this country. This 

 magazine, it is announced, will be devoted 

 to geology in its widest sense, " It will in- 

 clude, therefore, within the scope of its dis- 

 cussions and contributions all the sciences 

 that are kindred, and that contribute by 

 their more special investigations, to the gen- 

 eral science of geology. It will hence serve 

 as a medium of intelligence to the stra- 

 tigrapher, the pctrographer, the paleontolo- 

 gist, the mineralogist, the fossil botanist, the 

 climatologist, the chemist, the physicist, the 

 seismologist, the glacialist, the anthropolo- 

 gist, and the astronomer, in all those direc- 

 tions where their special investigations bear 

 directly upon the constitution and history of 

 the globe." The "Geologist" will also make 

 a special effort to aid the teacher of geol- 

 ogy, both by suggestmg methods of in- 

 struction, and by furnishing new facts and 

 illustrations. It will urge co-operation and 

 organization among geologists, and will aim 

 to preserve and increase that general inter- 

 est in geological science which supports both 

 private and national investigations. The 

 editors and proprietors are Prof. Samuel 

 Calvin, Prof. Edward W. Claypole, Dr. Pcr- 

 sifor Frazer, Prof. L. E. Hicks, E. 0. Ulrich, 

 Dr. A. Winchell, and Prof. N. H. Winchell. 

 The first number contains six short articles, 

 an editorial on " Geology in the Educational 

 Struggle for Existence," and another review- 

 ing "Irving and Chambcrlin on the Lake 

 Superior Sandstones." There are also de- 

 partments for book-notices, and for personal 

 and scientific news. It must be confessed 



that the " Geologist " starts out with a some- 

 what sectional aspect— only one of its seven 

 editors residing east of Ohio, and only one 

 of the six body articles in this number, that 

 on the International Congress, dealing with 

 anything but Western formations. The lat- 

 ter feature, at least, should be corrected in 

 future numbers. 



The Movements of the Eakth. By J. Nor- 

 man LocKYER, F. R. S. London and New 

 York : Macmillan & Co. Pp.130. Price, 

 paper, 60 cents. 



In this little volume the author has pre- 

 sented a general view of that part of astron- 

 omy relating to the planet on which we live. 

 The first chapter deals with methods and in- 

 struments for measuring angular space, and 

 is followed by a chapter on the measurement 

 of time. The rotation of the earth, the 

 earth's revolution, and the conditions of its 

 revolution, are successively described, and 

 the closing chapter is devoted to such re- 

 sults of rotation and revolution as the suc- 

 cession of day and night and of the seasons, 

 precession and nutation, etc. The style of 

 the book is clear and popular, though with- 

 out special effort to be entertaining. The 

 author intends to follow this volume with 

 others, dealing with other celestial bodies. 



Food Adulteration and its Detection. By 

 Jesse P. Battershall, Ph. D., F. C. S. 

 New York and London: E. and F. N. 

 Spon. Pp. 328. Price, $3.50. 



The public has at least partly awakened 

 to the dangers which the avarice of dishon- 

 est dealers in food-products is spreading 

 around it more thickly than ever before, 

 and it 'is calling upon health-officers, chem- 

 ists, physicians, and the reputable dealers 

 in these articles for protection. The special 

 scientific knowledge needed by those who 

 stand in this relation to the public is fur- 

 nished by the present work, which is de- 

 signed to be a trustworthy guide to the 

 latest and most approved methods of de- 

 tecting foreign substances in foods and bev- 

 erages. The articles treated comprise the 

 common infused drinks, dairy products, bread 

 and bread materials, sugar, alcoholic bever- 

 ages, water, spices, etc., and the tests de- 

 scribed are both chemical and microscopical. 

 The volume is illustrated with photomicro- 

 graphic plates showing the appearance. 



