278 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



number of the pages in the work up to 1,856. 

 The author hopes to begin the publication of 

 a sixth and carefully revised edition of the 

 whole book early in the autumn. We would 

 suggest that he add an index to the forth- 

 coming edition. 



Muter'' s Manual of Analytical Chemistry^ 

 several previous editions of which we have 

 noticed, now appears, revised by an Ameri- 

 can editor, Dr. Claude C. Hamilton. This 

 revision is based on the fourth English edi- 

 tion. The editor has made only such changes 

 as were required to adapt the book to the 

 United States Pharmacopoeia except in the 

 chapter on urine analysis, which has been 

 enlarged, and to which cuts of microscopic 

 sediments and other illustrations have been 

 added. The chapter on water analysis has 

 been altered to correspond with Wanklyn's 

 methods, as those are most generally used in 

 America. Several other processes have been 

 added, such as estimation of chloral hydrate, 

 of fat in milk, etc., and various minor changes 

 in arrangement have been made in the inter- 

 est of convenience in using the treatise. 



A volume of Elementary Lessons in Heat, 

 Light, and Sound has been prepared by 

 Prof. D. E. Jones (Macmillan, 70 cents). It 

 is an experimental book, intended for be- 

 ginners, and aims to bring out " one of the 

 chief advantages of science as an educational 

 subject — the training in the habit of obser- 

 vation, and of learning from things at first 

 hand." In the methods of reasoning, as 

 well as in the choice of words and subject- 

 matter, the author has endeavored to be as 

 simple and clear as possible. He has also 

 repeatedly tried and modified each experi- 

 ment so as to present it in a simple form, 

 and avoid the more usual causes of failure. 

 The book is illustrated. 



Part III of the Short Course of Eorperi- 

 ments in Physical Measurements, by Harold 

 Whiting (D. C. Heath & Co., $1.20), deals 

 with principles and methods. About half of 

 its three hundred pages are devoted to some 

 fifty tables, and notes on their arrangement 

 and use. This material is preceded by ten 

 chapters, in some of which such matters as 

 Observation and Error, and Reduction of 

 Results are treated, while the others deal 

 respectively with the several departments of 

 physics. 



A pamphlet is before us entitled The 



Universe and its Evolution, being a trans- 

 lated abridgment of a five-volume work in 

 Hebrew, by S. J. Silbersiein. The author 

 denies the law of gravitation, and asserts 

 that Kepler's laws not only are not explained 

 by it, but furnish evidence against it. He 

 brings forward many arguments to show 

 that the planets could not have been pro- 

 jected from the sun into their present orbits. 

 He maintains, further, that they could not 

 continue their revolutions indefinitely, for 

 the attraction of the sun would draw them in 

 upon that body, unless, as he affirms, motion 

 begets motion. In another chapter some of 

 Spinoza's ideas of God are combated, and 

 the author then unfolds his conception of 

 the universe. He considers the source of all 

 to be the Absolute Intellect, whose offspring, 

 the absolute essence, brought the atoms into 

 existence, and the atoms are controlled by a 

 force that he calls " centrality." This force 

 resides in the center of every body, and main- 

 tains the chai-acter of the body. Several 

 other physical laws are laid down, and the 

 larger work is referred to for a full statement 

 in regard to them. The author apparently 

 has not considered the modern nebular theory. 



The revision of The Chemical Analysis 

 of Iro7i (Lippincott, f 4) that has just been 

 made by the author, Andrew A. Blair, has 

 consisted in the correction of mistakes that 

 were apparent in the first edition, and the 

 adding of matter called for by the advance 

 in analytical chemistry during the past three 

 years. The Table of Atomic Weights has 

 been revised, and the Table of Factors has 

 been changed to correspond to the new val- 

 ues. 



A report on The Pcdiculi and Mallophaga 

 affecting Man and the Lower Animah, by 

 Prof. Herbert Oshorn, has been issued as a 

 bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. 

 It describes the various kinds of lice found 

 on man, the monkey, dog, goat, ox, hog, 

 horse, the rodents, poultry, and various other 

 animals, giving illustrations of forty-three 

 species. 



A pamphlet made up of Original Com- 

 munications of the Zymotechnic Institute has 

 been published by the director, Mr. /. E. Sie- 

 bel (2i2 Burling Street, Chicago). The papers 

 are reports of scientific investigations into a 

 variety of matters connected with the brew- 

 ing industry, such as the composition of the 



