13° 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



writings. The lecture of Dr. Netto, -who is 

 Director-General of the National Museum, 

 presents a summary in the French language 

 of the results of archaeology in Brazil, and 

 is devoted largely to the explanation of the 

 principal features of the papers contained 

 in the " Archivos." 



Lorenz Ai.ma -Tadema : riis Life and 

 Works. By Georg Ebers. New York: 

 William S.'Gottsbergcr. Pp. 94, with 

 Thirteen Plates. 



Alma-Tadema — a Frisian by birth — is 

 one of the foremost of English painters, 

 and an artist whose style — except as he 

 may have had imitators — is unique. His 

 favorite themes are the severe classical and 

 mediaeval. Dr. Ebers is his close friend, 

 and has undertaken to present this review 

 of his life and works under the impulse of 

 the thought that " he who knew him so 

 well as a man also understood him as an 

 artist, and would probably be able to give 

 a faithful picture of his life." The illus- 

 trations are representations of some of the 

 artist's most famous works. 



Lettre a Monsieur Ernest Renan a 

 rr.oros de l'Inscription Phenicienne 

 Apocryphe (Letter to M. Ernest Renan 

 respecting the Apocryphal Phoenician 

 Inscription). By Dr. Ladislau Netto. 

 Rio de Janeiro. Pp. 35, with Plates. 



In 1872 Dr. Netto submitted to the His- 

 torical, Geographical, and Ethnographical 

 Institute of Brazil a pretended Phoenician 

 inscription which was said, by one Joaquin 

 Alves da Costa, to have been found by his 

 slaves on one of his estates. It was after- 

 ward ascertained, and Dr. Netto was con- 

 vinced of the fact, that the inscription was 

 false. In this letter, addressed to M. Renan 

 as "one of the most illustrious Orientalists 

 of modern times," the author explains his 

 relations to the matter, for which he has 

 been subjected to unfavorable criticism, but 

 which appear to have been entirely honest. 



Kidnapped. By Robert Louis Stevenson. 



New York : Charles Seribucr's Sons. 



Pp. -VIX. Price, $1. 



This story — of the Highlands and the 

 Highland life of Scotland at a period when 

 the land was tormented by contentions — 

 Bets forth flie adventures of David Balfour 

 in the year 1751 ; "how he was kidnapped 



and cast away ; his sufferings in a desert 

 isle ; his journey in the wild Highlands ; 

 his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart 

 and other notorious Highland Jacobites; 

 with all that he suffered at the hands of his 

 uncle." The author is known as a story- 

 teller of vigor and dramatic force, and as 

 vivid in description ; and the picture on 

 the cover, of a Highlander jumping over a 

 waterfall, promises exciting times to the 

 reader. 



Fourth Report of the United States En- 

 tomological Commission. By Charles 

 V. Riley. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp. 147, with Maps 

 and Plates. 



This report relates to the cotton-worm, 

 concerning which it embodies the final re- 

 port, with a chapter on the boll-worm. 

 The investigation of the cotton-worm was 

 begun in 1878, and continued during four 

 years ; and the results of it, according to 

 the showing here given, have been fruitful. 

 The history of the subject and the various 

 matters relating to the worm, its depreda- 

 tions, and the treatment of the pest, are 

 gone into with considerable elaboration. 

 In the successive chapters of the report are 

 considered the natural history of the insect ; 

 its past marked appearances and the reme- 

 dies proposed, chronologically arranged ; the 

 distribution and anatomy of the Aletia ; 

 the cotton belt, its characteristics and pecul- 

 iarities ; the influence of soil, weather, etc., 

 upon the first appearance of the worms and 

 their increase and destructivencss ; the nat- 

 ural enemies of the insect ; means of de- 

 stroying the worm ; machinery and mechan- 

 ical devices adapted to that purpose ; the 

 literature of the subject ; insects liable to 

 be confounded with the true cotton-worm ; 

 and the boll-worm. 



The Mystery of Pain. By James Hinton, 

 M. I). Boston: Cupples, Upham, & Co. 

 Pp. 120. 



From the introduction to this book by 

 Dr. J. R. Nichols, we learn that its author 

 was for many years a sufferer from de- 

 spondency, and a victim to much mental 

 and physical pain, and was also a deeply 

 religious man. He himself employs, to 

 illustrate the reason of pain, the supposition 

 of an island, the climate of which is so 



