S CIENTIFIC LIT ERA T URE. 



559 



comparability in data from census to census, lack of co-ordination, certain 

 specified faults in method, and faults in the textual analysis of the figures. 

 A summary of the answers received to the circular letter of questions is ap- 

 pended, particularly of the answers to the request to suggest what special 

 information might be furnished by the twelfth census which is not in the 

 eleventh. Many of the writers point to the desirability of a permanent 

 census bureau. The committee has a right to congratulate itself, as it 

 does, " upon this noteworthy collection of papers — the result of the scien- 

 tific zeal and effort of so many men." 



GENEEAL NOTICES. 



The qualification of Mr. Frederick 

 A. Ober to write a boolc about Puerto 

 Rico and its Resoin'ces * is indicated by 

 the facts that he visited every point of 

 importance on the island in 1880, and 

 revisited it as West Indian Commis- 

 sioner for the Columbian Exposition. 

 To the fruits of observations made dur- 

 ing these two visits he has added infor- 

 mation gathered from the books that 

 have been written about Puerto Rico by 

 Spanish and other officers. A plain, con- 

 cise account of the island is presented, 

 ■without sensational exaggerations and 

 free from apparent padding. It begins 

 ■with the consideration and estimation of 

 tlie commercial and strategic value of the 

 island. Next its coastal features, rivers — 

 of which it seems to have a relatively 

 good supply — and harbors are described. 

 Then the climate, which is " hot and 

 moist, yet in the main less injurious to 

 the health of white people than that of 

 adjacent islands"; seasons, which are 

 not very variable ; and hurricanes, which 

 appear to be rather an important fea- 

 ture. As to products, they are of course 

 tropical, and grow, as in Mexico, in three 

 zones of climate and vegetation. Consid- 

 ering these more specially a chapter is 

 given to Sugar, Tobacco, CofTee, and Ca- 

 cao; another to Fruits, Spices, Cereals, 

 and Food Plants; and a third to Dyes, 

 Drugs, Woods, and Minerals. The chapter 

 on Natural History includes accounts of 

 game and insect pests. The topographic 

 description begins with San Juan, the 

 capital, and takes in the cities and 

 towns of the coast and the inland towns 

 and routes of travel. A few words are 

 devoted to the government as it has 

 been, and the general characteristics of 



* Puerto Rico and its Resources. By Frederick 

 A. Ober. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 

 Pp. 282, with Map. 



the people are briefly sketched. Ac- 

 coimts of their foods, drinks, diversions, 

 etc., are given, after which the author 

 passes to the Indians of Puerto Rico. 

 Two chapters relate to the general and 

 the recent history of the island respect- 

 ively. Considerable information of a 

 statistical character is included in an 

 appendix. 



President D. »Sf. Jordan's Footnotes 

 to Evolution * is made up of popular es- 

 says or addresses on the general subject 

 of organic evolution which were given 

 originally as oral lectures before Uni- 

 versity Extension Societies. Three of 

 them have been also published in this 

 Monthly, and as many in another maga- 

 zine. Besides the author's own twelve 

 essays, he has inserted in this volume 

 three other papers of special importance, 

 setting forth the present state of knowl- 

 edge concerning the methods of evo- 

 lution and of heredity. These are on 

 the Factors of Organic Evolution as dis- 

 played in the Process of Development, by 

 Prof. E. G. Conklin; the Physical Basis 

 of Heredity, by Prof. F. M. McFarland ; 

 on The Testimony from Paleontology, by 

 Prof. J. P. Smith. President Jordan's 

 own essays begin with a discussion of 

 the kinship of life. This is followed by 

 three articles on evolution, relating to 

 its nature, elements, and factors from 

 the point of view of embryology, and an 

 application of the subject in the paper 

 on The Heredity of Richard Roe, in 

 which the rise of race types from the 

 survival of the existing race with its best 

 results modified and preserved by the 



* Footnotes to Evolution. By David Starr 

 Jordan. 'With Supplementary Essays by Edwin 

 Grant Conklin, Frank Mace McFarland, and 

 James Perrin Smith. New York: D. Appleton 

 and Company. Pp. 392. Price, §1. 



