LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



chapters are of four different sorts : family 

 chapters, composed of the parents and chil- 

 dren of a single family ; chapters in schools 

 in which teachers and pupils may join ; 

 chapters organized and conducted entirely 

 by young persons ; and chapters of adults. 

 The chapters of single States are brought 

 into harmonious action through confedera- 

 tions, which are called Associations, of which 

 the ones most prominent at present are the 

 Philadelphia Assembly and the State Assem- 

 bly of Iowa. Until this year the Agassiz 

 Association has found in the "St. Nicholas" 

 a medium of communication between its 

 branches and members and with the public; 

 but finding it needed more space than that 

 journal could afford, it was determined to 

 establish a special organ of its own, and 

 "The Swiss Cross" is the result. The open- 

 ing number is adorned with a full-page 

 portrait of Professor Agassiz. The editor 

 gives a history of the Agassiz Association, 

 from which we derive the facts we have re- 

 lated ; and then the real work of the maga- 

 zine begins. This consists in the publica- 

 tion of papers in natural history, science, ex- 

 periment, and observation, contributed by 

 members of the Association or other writ- 

 ers ; of a " Children's Hour " (in large type) ; 

 of miscellaneous matter ; and of " Reports 

 from Chapters." With these regular feat- 

 ures, the second number gives a sketch and 

 portrait of the late Isaac Lea, " the Nestor 

 of American naturalists." The editor has 

 plans for correspondence schools and for 

 association tables at the biological labora- 

 tories, some of which are already begun. 



Ham-Mishkax, the Wonderful Tent. By 

 the Rev. D. A. Randall, D. D. Cincin- 

 nati : Robert Clarke & Co. Pp. 420. 



This book is described as " an account 

 of the structure, signification, and spiritual 

 lessons of the Mosaic Tabernacle erected in 

 the Wilderness of Sinai." Its design is to 

 give as clear and intelligent a statement as 

 is possible of the literal structure of the 

 tabernacle, and in connection with that to 

 present the spiritual lessons the different 

 parts of the building and its furniture sug- 

 gest or are designed to teach. The author 

 hopes also that the effect of his work may 

 be to promote the development of the re- 

 ligious faculty of his readers. To make the 



account more life-like, it is cast in the 

 shape of a narrative of a journey through 

 the wilderness — which the author actually 

 made — and of conversations among the 

 scenes associated with the tabernacle. The 

 account is preceded by a biography of the 

 author, with a portrait. 



Geological History of Lake Lahontan, 

 a Quaternary Lake of Northwestern 

 Nevada. By Israel Cook Russell. 

 Washington : Government Printing- 

 office. Pp. 228. 



The explorations reported in this vol- 

 ume are a continuation of the " Quaternary 

 Geology of the Great Basin," begun by Mr. 

 G. K. Gilbert when the present geological 

 survey was organized, and have been car- 

 ried out by the author and his assistants 

 under Mr. Gilbert's direction. The theory 

 of the work is based upon the conclusion to 

 which the geological evidence points, that 

 the valleys of the Great Basin were at one 

 time — which is determined to have been in 

 the Quaternary period — occupied by an ex- 

 tensive series of lakes, of which those to 

 which the names of Lahontan (after Baron 

 La Hontan, one of the early explorers of 

 the head-waters of the Mississippi) and 

 Bonneville have been given. Lake Lahon- 

 tan filled a valley along the western border 

 of the Great Basin at the base of the Sierra 

 Nevada ; Lake Bonneville occupied a corre- 

 sponding position on the east side of the 

 Great Basin, at the foot of the Wahsatch 

 Mountains. The former was mostly within 

 the limits of the present State of Nevada, 

 the latter in Utah. Lake Bonneville cov- 

 ered 19,750 square miles, and was 1,000 

 feet in its greatest depth ; Lake Lahontan 

 covered S,422 square miles, and had an ex- 

 treme depth, where Pyramid Lake now is, 

 of 886 feet. Lake Bonneville overflowed 

 northward ; Lake Lahontan did not over- 

 flow. Both lakes had two eras of high 

 water, separated by a period of desiccation. 

 As Lake Lahontan did not overflow, it be- 

 came the receptacle for all the mineral 

 matter supplied by tributary streams and 

 springs ; of which that in suspension was 

 deposited as lacustral sediments, and that 

 in solution as calcareous tufa, or appeared 

 as desiccation products after the lake evap- 

 orated. The present lakes of the basin are 



