136 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Eamsey, George M. Philosophy of Phenom- 

 ena. Boston: Banner of Light Publishing Com- 

 pany. Pp. 208. 



Reprints. Allen, Arthur: Extra-organic Evo- 

 lution. Pp. 2.— Babcock, S. M., and Russell, H. L. : 

 Organized Ferments in Milk; a New Factor in 

 the Ripening of Cheese. Pp. .32.— Bangs, Out- 

 ram: The Land Mammals of Peninsular Florida 

 and the Coast Region of Georgia. Pp. 80.— Brig- 

 ham, A. P.: TopoCTaphy anil Glacial Deposits of 

 Mohawk Valley. Pp. 32. with map.— Chamberlain, 

 C. J. : Winter Characters of Certain Sporangia. 

 Pp.5, with plate. — Coulter, J. M.: Contribution 

 to the Life History of Ranunculus. Pp. 16, with 

 plates.— Dorsey, G. A.: The Geography of the 

 Thimsian Indians. Pp. 7; A Copper Mask from 

 Chimbote, Peru. Pp. 2, with plates.— Herter, C. 

 A., M. D.: On Certain Relations between Bacte- 

 rial Activity in the Intestine and the Indican of 

 the IJrine. Vyt. 4; Some Aspects of the Doctrine 

 of Autointoxication. Pp.20.— Hollick, Arthur: A 

 New Fossil Grass from Staten Island; A New 

 Fossil Monocotyledon from the Yellow Gravel at 

 Bridgeton, N. J.; and Affinities of Caulinites Ad. 

 Brong. Pp. 8, with plates —Kemp, J. P.: Physi- 

 ography of the Eastern Adirondacks in the Cam- 

 brian and Ordovician Periods. Pp. G, with plate. 

 — Miller, M. L. : A Preliminary Study of the 

 Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico. Pp. 48, with plates. 

 — Newberry, J. S. : New Species and a New Genus 

 of American Palaeozoic Fishes, etc. (edited by 

 Basliford Dean). Pp. 24, with plates.- Prosser, 

 C. S.: The Permian and Upper Carboniferous of 

 Southern Kansas. Pp. 28. — Prudden, T. Mitchell: 

 Pathology and the Department of Pathology 

 (.Columbian University). Pp. 20.— Reeve, C. H., 

 Plymouth, Ind.: Money. What it is. Its Only 

 Function. Pp. 16.— Franklin Institute : Smoke 

 Nuisance, The, and its Regulation, with Special 



Reference to the Condition prevailing in Phila- 

 delphia (Improved Furnaces, Autonihtic Stokers, 

 etc.). Pp. !tl.— Stuver. E.: The Relation of Food, 

 Air, and Exercise to Healthy Growth and Devel- 

 opment. Pp. 7 — White, T. D. : A Contribution 

 to the Petrography of the Boston Basin. Pp. 40, 

 with plates; The Original Trenton Rocks. Pp. 3. 



Rotch, A. Lawrence. Observations made at 

 the Bine Hill Meteorological Obser\'atory in ]8t'6. 

 Cambridge, Mass., Astronomical Observatory of 

 Harvard College. Pp. 128, with plates. 



Smithsonian Institution. Report of the United 

 States National Museum for 1895. Pp. 1080.— A 

 Catalogue of Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast, 

 1769 to 1897 (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 

 edge). By E. S. Holden, Pp. 2.53.— A Revision 

 of Tropical African Diplopoda, of the Family 

 Strongylosomatidse. By O. F. Cook. Pp. 14. 



St. Amand, Imbert de. Napoleon III and 

 his Court. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 Pp. 407. $1..50. 



Spencer, J. W. Great Changes of Level in 

 Mexico and the Interoceanic Connections. Roch- 

 ester, N. Y. : The Geological Society of America. 

 Pp. .34. 



Tappeiner, Dr. H. Introduction to Chemical 

 Methods of Clinical Diagnosis. Translated by 

 E. J. McWheeney. New York : Longmans, 

 Green & Co. Pp. 152. 



United States Commission of Fish and Fish- 

 eries. Report of the Commissioner for the Year 

 ending June 30. 1897. Pp. 171. 



Vincent, Frank. The Animal World : Its 

 Romances and Realities. A Reading Book in 

 ZnOlogy. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 

 Pp. 240. 60 cents. 



■XKt^wxtnXs 0t ^citMct, 



Folklore of the Yew Tree. — Various rea- 

 sons are cited by Dr. John Lowe, in his book 

 on yew trees, as having been given to account 

 for the planting of yews in churchyards. 

 The yew is said to be sacred, the Druids 

 having sacrificed in groves of theai, and the 

 character of the tree having been preserved 

 when Christianity superseded Druidisin. 

 Evelyn thought that the trees were planted 

 there so as to have them handy to furnish 

 branches for processions, and other authors 

 believed they furnished a substitute for the 

 sacred palm. The yew is, in fact, still 

 called palm by rustics in East Kent. One 

 writer affirms that the evergreen was con- 

 sidered typical of the immortality of the 

 soul. The supposition that the tree was 

 planted to afford shelter to the buildings is 

 contradicted by the fact that the yews are 

 seldom large enough or near enough to the 

 church to protect it. Dr. Lowe believes that 

 these churchyard trees were planted in order 

 to insure a continual supply of bow staves 

 for the English bowmen. A general planta- 



tion of yew trees for the use of archers was 

 directed in the reign of Richard III, and in 

 the reign of Elizabeth they were ordered 

 planted in churchyards to insure their culti- 

 vation and protect cattle from their leaves. 

 Foreign as well as English yew was used for 

 bows, and the rate of prices fixed by an act 

 of Elizabeth indicates that the foreign was 

 preferred. The best bows, it is said, were 

 made of Spanish yew. The yew tree has 

 poisonous properties which affect both men 

 and animals when they eat too copiously of 

 it, and a drug of considerable value is ex- 

 tracted from it. English schoolboys are said 

 to be fond of taking the small red fruit of 

 the yew into their mouths, chewing it, and 

 then spitting it out, while they are careful 

 not to swallow any. The berries when thus 

 used go by the name of " spitagobs." 



Predeterminate Selection. — Telesis is the 

 name given by Lester F. Ward to that prin- 

 ciple or that faculty of mind which pursues 

 some definite end. It is further explained 



