848 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Spencer and Darwin, and of the investiga- 

 tors who have worked in their spirit. The 

 author proposes to apply an extension of 

 Mr. Spencer's principles to the study, and 

 starts out with the proposition that mental 

 phenomena are modes of chemical energy. 



Annual Report of the Chief Signal-Offi- 

 cer TO THE Secretary or War for the 

 Year 1883. Washington: Government 

 Trinting-Office. Pp. 1,164, with Forty- 

 eight Plates. 



Thirty enlisted men were instructed in 

 signal-service duties at Fort Myer. Efforts 

 were made to add to the number of officers 

 who can be depended upon for weather- 

 predictions. The stimulus which the work 

 of the bureau has given to the study of me- 

 teorology is noticed with gratification. The 

 preparation of a text-book containing an 

 elementary course of meteorology has been 

 begun, and a new treatise from a philo- 

 sophical, mechanical, and deductive point 

 of view is in hand. From 84-4 to 88'3 per 

 cent of the " indications " published during 

 the previous ten years to 1883 were verified, 

 and from 75 to 83*9 per cent of the cau- 

 tionary signals displayed since 1874. The 

 scientific work of the bureau was pursued 

 in applications too numerous to be named 

 specifically here. The number of stations 

 had to be decreased on account of insuffi- 

 ciency of appropriations ; but 376 were in 

 operation in June, 1883, and work for the 

 service was done by 19 officers and 500 en- 

 listed men. Eeports were received from 

 335 foreign stations, 59 steamship lines, 

 605 vessels, and 339 voluntary observers. 

 The publications of the service include the 

 " Monthly Weather Review," the " Monthly 

 Summary and Review," the " International 

 Bulletin," the " Meteorological Record," and 

 several special papers. 



Osteology of Ncmenius Longirostris. By 

 R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. a. Pp. 32, with 

 Plates. 



NuuENirs Longirostris is the long-billed 

 curlew, which Captain Shufeldt observed 

 alive at Egmont Cay, Florida, and studied 

 anatomically in Wyoming. Besides minute 

 descriptions of this bird, his monograph in- 

 cludes notes upon the skeletons of other 

 American Limicolce. 



The Asiatic Cholera, as it appeared at 

 Suspension Bridge in July, 1854, and its 

 Lessons. By Frank H. IIamilton, M. D. 

 Pp. 26. 



The outbreak described was sudden, vio- 

 lent, and narrowly limited in its spread to 

 ground of a peculiar physical condition. The 

 disease appears to have been introduced by 

 a company of German immigrants, who were 

 " dumped " upon the banks of the river 

 from the cars, and was propagated with 

 wonderful speed among the people, mostly 

 employed on the suspension-bridge, living 

 in the favorable locality. Dr. Hamilton's 

 conclusions appear to agree, generally, with 

 the view of Dr. Pettenkofer, that, while the 

 implanting of a germ may be essential to 

 the inception of cholera, the violence of the 

 attack and the rapidity of propagation are 

 largely dependent on soil-conditions. 



Comparative Study of the New High 

 German Language, Theoretical and 

 Practical. By William W. Valen- 

 tine. Richmond, Va. Seventy speci- 

 men pages. 



Professor Valentine believes that the 

 modern languages, especially German, arc 

 as capable of philosophical study as any of 

 the ancient tongues which have been avow- 

 edly treated in that manner, and whose 

 capacity for such treatment has been ex- 

 tolled, and that such study of them is most 

 valuable as a means of intellectual training. 

 The present pamphlet is intended to present 

 an outline or suggestions, indicating the 

 principles on which the study should be 

 based, and the manner in which it can be 

 pursued, and is offered tentatively in antici- 

 pation, provided the plan finds favor, of the 

 preparation of a full treatise. 



Description of Carcharodon Carcharias. 

 By W. G. Stevenson, M. D. Pough- 

 keepsie, N. Y. Pp. 8, with Plate. 



The various descriptions given of this 

 fish, which is otherwise known as the " man- 

 eater shark," are so very imperfect and 

 confusing that the author says, with Pro- 

 fessor D. S. Jordan, that " there is no good 

 description of the animal extant." A shark 

 of this species was taken in August, 1883, 

 near Nantucket, and specially examined by 

 Dr. Stevenson. The present monograph is 

 the fruit of this study. 



