LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



Geonojiy : Crkation of the Continents by 



THE OCEAN-CORRENTS. By J. StANLET 



Grimes. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott 

 & Co. Pp. 116. 



The author of this book is introduced 

 by the Ptev. W. R. Coovert as a writer who 

 published a book to advocate theistic evolu- 

 tion — " a volume which was more Darwin- 

 ian than Darwin himself, excepting that 

 it was decidedly and avowedly theistic " — 

 eight years before the " Origin of Species " 

 was issued. He has also published a work 

 bearing on spiritism and mesmerism. The 

 purpose of the present volume is to expound 

 a theory that all the elevations of the earth's 

 crust have resulted from the sinking of the 

 ocean-basins, or of smaller local basins, be- 

 neath the weight of the sediment ; that this 

 sediment was collected by elliptical currents 

 working in the waters, of which three pairs 

 are supposed, causing three pairs of sinking 

 basins, corresponding with the North and 

 South Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian 

 Ocean basins ; that the fluid or plastic lava 

 forced from beneath the sinking basins was 

 driven under the crust in the interoceanic 

 spaces, and, raising them up, created three 

 pairs of continents. The configuration and 

 relative situations of the continents and 

 ocean-basins, etc., are accounted for in 

 other propositions. 



Sunlight. By the author of " The Begin- 

 nings," "The Biography of Dust," etc. 

 Pp. 70. 



A series of letters, by Mr. N. P. Malet, 

 first published in " The Northern Whig," of 

 BeKast, Ireland, in elucidation of a theory 

 that light, not heat, is the primary and po- 

 tent force, separate from heat. From his 

 premises the author deduces that the heat 

 attributed to the sun is in reality generated 

 by the action of the sun's light on the gases 

 of the earth. Extending his theory to a 

 general cosmogony, he holds that the natu- 

 ral beginnings of this earth and the other 

 planets and asteroids were separate, nebu- 

 lous gaseous masses gravitating in space, 

 till they were in turn sensible to the light 

 of the sun, and became the worlds of this 

 solar system. Vegetation is accounted for 

 by supposing that the seeds of the first 

 plants were brought to the earth by vapors 

 or gases from other worlds. 



An Account of the Progress of Chemis- 

 try IN the Year 1883. By Professor 

 H. Carrington Bolton. Washington: 

 Government Printing-Office. Pp. 32. 



The " Account " has been prepared for 

 the Smithsonian Report for 1883, and is 

 here given in separate form. It records the 

 more important discoveries in chemistry, 

 and the new processes and applications 

 brought to light during 1883, arranged un- 

 der the heads of " General and Physical," 

 " Inorganic," and " Organic," a chemical 

 bibliography of the year, and notices of 

 chemists who died during the year. 



Rural Schools; Progress in the Past; 

 Means of Improvement in the Future. 

 Washington: U. S. Bureau of Educa- 

 tion. Pp. 90. 



This is Number 6 of the " Circulars of 

 Information" of the Bureau of Education 

 for 1884. It was prepared by Miss Annie 

 T. Smith, under the direction of the Com- 

 missioner of Education, to collate the infor- 

 mation accessible on the subject. It em- 

 braces a review of the present condition 

 of ungraded schools ; comparisons of the 

 courses of study and the daily programme 

 for the distribution of time and subjects in 

 schools of Michigan, Virginia, and Wiscon- 

 sin, with those employed in France, Switzer- 

 land, Prussia, and Austria ; papers on " Ped- 

 agogic Principles," and suggestions on spe- 

 cial points in teaching. 



The Composition and Methods of Analysis 

 OF Human Milk. By Professor Albert 

 R. Leeds, Ph. D. Pp. 24, with Plates. 

 PaorassoR Leeds here compiles the anal- 

 ysis of eighty specimens of human milk. 

 Considerable variety is exhibited in the re- 

 sults. Many of the samples appear to con- 

 tain a body hitherto unknown, and not yet 

 isolated or determined, which gives in the 

 ethereal extract of the copper albuminate 

 an emerald-green solution. While the super- 

 ficial physical characteristics of the mother 

 are not shown to be related to differences in 

 the composition of the milk, an intimate 

 connection appears with actual physical con- 

 ditions. The samples obtained from women 

 of over-robust habit were not so rich in al- 

 buminoids as those from pronounced anae- 

 mic women. Generally speaking, the best 

 milk was obtained from lean women in good 

 physical condition. 



