LITERARY NOTICES. 



849 



resented in this one by seven chapters, two 

 of which "are on subjects not treated in 

 any former edition." In the second chap- 

 ter, on the Principles and Theory of Vision 

 with the Compound Microscope, the results 

 of the past twenty years' labors of Dr. Abbe, 

 of Jena, have been summarized in a manner 

 that has received Dr. Abbe's hearty com- 

 mendation. In treating many of the other 

 topics Dr. Dallinger has had the aid of emi- 

 nent specialists. The book is increased by 

 two hundred and fifty pages over the size of 

 the last edition. Great pains have been 

 taken to bring the text up to the most recent 

 knowledge of experts, and the illustrations 

 have been increased by the addition of nine- 

 teen new plates, many being colored, and 

 three hundred woodcuts, making the whole 

 number over eight hundred. 



The Phosphates of America. By Francis 

 Wyatt. New York : The Scientific Pub- 

 lishing Company. Pp. 187. Price, $4. 



The best evidence of the usefulness of 

 this book is that a second edition was re- 

 quired within a week from the publication 

 of the first. After setting forth the value 

 of phosphates in producing fertility of soils, 

 the author describes in successive chapters 

 the deposits of phosphates and the modes of 

 mining them employed in Canada, South 

 Carolina, and Florida. Lists of companies 

 engaged in phosphate-mining, with their 

 capitalization, are given, also the expenses 

 of working, the equipment required, and the 

 selling prices of the products. These chap- 

 ters are illustrated with many views of mines, 

 drying-sheds, and machinery for handling 

 and treating the ores. The manufacture of 

 sulphuric acid is then described, after which 

 the making of superphosphates is treated, 

 and a final chapter contains methods of an- 

 alysis of the materials and products of these 

 manufactures. The author states that the 

 volume embodies many facts, figures, and 

 suggestions resulting from long observation 

 and an extremely varied practical experience, 

 and he trusts that it will prove highly profit- 

 able to all classes of persons interested in 

 the production, manufacture, sale, and con- 

 sumption of commercial fertilizers. He has 

 aimed to couch the information in common 

 language, avoiding, as far as possible, chemi- 

 cal formulas and technical terms. 

 VOL. XL. — 57 



The first volume of a monograph on Tlie 

 Tannins has been published by Prof. Henry 

 Trimble (Lippincott, $2). It contains chap- 

 ters on the discovery, general characters, 

 and the detection and estimation of tannins, 

 followed by a detailed treatment of gallo- 

 tannic acid. An index of authors, an index, 

 or more properly a chronological table, of 

 the literature of tannin, and a general index 

 to the volume, are appended. 



The Experiment's arranged for Students 

 in General Chemistry, by Profs. Edgar F. 

 Smith and Harry F. Keller (Blakiston), has 

 reached a second and enlarged edition. It 

 is adapted to beginners, and is not intended 

 to displace the instructor, but rather to as- 

 sist him. Pieferences are made to Richter'a 

 Inorganic Chemistry, but any other suit- 

 able book may be used instead. Thirty- 

 seven diagrams of apparatus are given, and 

 questions and problems arc interspersed 

 throughout the directions for experiments. 

 The volume is interleaved with blank leaves 

 for notes. 



Radical Wrong;; in the Prfccpts and Prac- 

 tices of Civilized Man, by /. Wilson (the author, 

 Newark, N. J., $1), is devoted to condemning 

 practices of modern social life that, in the 

 opinion of the author, are wrong. Mr. Wilson 

 denounces war, cruelty to animals, capital 

 punishment, private ownership of land, tak- 

 ing payment for the use of money, dis- 

 posing of property by will, etc., with equal 

 emphasis. 



The second volume of the exposition of 

 the Hermetic Philosophy, by an editor who 

 signs himself in an enigma (Slyy, of the "/T. 

 B. of Z."), is published by the J. D. Lippin- 

 cott Company, Philadelphia ($1). The work 

 as a whole includes lessons, general dis- 

 courses, and explications of " fragments " 

 from the schools of Egypt, Chaldca, Greece, 

 Italy, Scandinavia, etc., designed for students 

 of the Hermetic, Pythagorean, and Platonic 

 sciences, and Western occultism. The pres- 

 ent volume contains the second lesson on the 

 Principles and Elements of Things, and a 

 discourse from Porphyry on Auxiliaries to 

 the Perception of Intelligible Nature. The 

 introduction comprises a notice of Sanchonia- 

 thon, the ancient Phoenician philosopher and 

 historian, and the text of the fragment of 

 his Cosmogony and Theogony which has 

 been preserved by Eusebius ; and the dis- 



