854 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Memoire SCR LE Fer Natif du Groenland, 



ET SUR LA DOLERITE QUI LE RENFERME. 



(Memorandum on the Native Iron of 

 Greenland and on the Dolerite which 

 incloses it.) By J. Lawrence Smith, of 

 Louisville, Ky. From the " Annates de 

 Chimie et de Physique," Fifth Series, 

 vol. xvi., 1879. Paris : Gauthier-Villars. 

 Professor Nordenskj5ld found in Green- 

 land during his expedition of 1870 consid- 

 erable masses of native iron inclosed in the 

 dolerite rocks of Gvifak, in the Island of 

 Disco. Several authors have regarded the 

 metal as of meteoric origin, but Messrs. 

 Johnstrup and Steenstrup, of Copenhagen, 

 have expressed a different opinion, and M. 

 Daubree, of Paris, is in doubt. The pres- 

 ent treatise describes the special studies of 

 the author upon different specimens of the 

 iron, and the conclusions he has derived 

 from them. The iron is found inclosed in 

 solid blocks in the mass of the dolerite. It 

 is of different degrees of purity, some of 

 the specimens being malleable and contain- 

 ing from 80 to 93 per cent, of metal, and oth- 

 ers composed of the oxide, or of iron mixed 

 with dolerite. From careful analyses of the 

 specimens and an investigation of their con- 

 stituents and surroundings, Mr. Smith comes 

 to the conclusion that the iron can not be 

 of meteoric origin, but is of terrestrial 

 production, and originated in the secondary 



Die Entavicklfng des Menschen-geschlech- 

 TEs. (The Development of the Human 

 Race.) By Dr. Adelrich Steinach, of 

 New York. Basel, Switzerland : Bcuno 

 Schwabe. 



This volume, though it has been the 

 first to appear, is intended to be the second 

 part of a work on the Bystem of organic 

 development. It considers the subject from 

 the Darwinian but not from the materialis- 

 tic point of view. It first regards man in 

 his place in the world, in the mechanical 

 and teleological aspect, afterward as related 

 to the animals and as related to the indi- 

 viduals of his own species. Under the last 

 head are given discussions of the differences 

 among men and the manner in which they 

 are formed, the hereditability of character 

 and race-features, and the conditions and 

 relations under which the propagation and 

 spread of the race are carried on. The 

 question of the unity of the species is con- 



sidered as pertinent to this point. The 

 place of man in time forms a second divi- 

 sion of the subject ; under it are discussed 

 the origin of the race and the light thrown 

 upon it by the earliest relics that have been 

 discovered, and the centers from which the 

 different families have spread. The devel- 

 opment of intelligence is treated of in a 

 third division, as related to culture, lan- 

 guage, and civilization, the last head includ- 

 ing the three subdivisions of development 

 in religious and moral views and regula- 

 tions, the development of social life and 

 usages, and industrial and scientific efforts. 

 The plan of the work is systematic, the 

 method o£ treatment and the style are plain 

 and straightforward, the thoughts are richly 

 illustrated with citations of facts, and the 

 manner is modest. 



Das Bier und seine Bereitung einst und 

 jetzt. Freie Ztmotechnische Studien. 

 (Beer and its Manufacture formerly and 

 now. Free Zymotechnic Studies.) By 

 Hans ton der Planitz. Munich : R. 

 Oldenbourg. 



The author of this monograph is a young 

 man who received a part of his education 

 in the United States, and has sin«e been as- 

 sociated in scientific and practical opera- 

 tions in connection with brewing works in 

 Germany. He has intended to give all that 

 is known respecting beer, and has embodied 

 in his not very large pamphlet a great 

 amount of historical, technical, and statisti- 

 cal information. He traces the history of 

 beer from ancient Egypt, wliere it appears 

 to have been first mentioned, to Greece ; 

 and discusses the theory that it was carried 

 to western Europe through Armenia, Scythia, 

 and the Celtic and Teutonic migrations. 

 The extent and condition of the manufac- 

 ture and trade in the middle ages and the 

 usages of the time in respect to them next 

 come under view, after which we are brought 

 down to the present, with its carefully stud- 

 ied processes and the recognition of beer 

 as a staple article of production and con- 

 sumption in nearly all countries. In this 

 department the fruits of scientific studies 

 are reviewed, the arguments for and against 

 the use of beer are mentioned, and the 

 place it occupies in the economy of the in- 

 dustrial and commercial world is defined. 

 The statistical information is full and de- 



