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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



their analNtical features is insisted upon, and 

 that side has been made prominent ; and an 

 important part of the course consists in the 

 identification of unknown compounds and 

 tlie quantitative separation of mixtures by 

 methods devised by the student himself with 

 the help of the knowledge gained from the 

 experiments with known substances. 



In his book on the Freezing Pointy Boiling 

 Pointy and Conductivity Methods of chemical 

 laboratory work (Easton, Pa. : Chemical Pub- 

 lishing Company, 75 cents). Prof. Harry C. 

 Jones aims chiefly to give an account of the 

 operations involved in carrying out these 

 methods in the laboratory. But, observing 

 that they are rarely treated in a single work 

 from the points of view of both theory and 

 practice, and regarding the mere mechani- 

 cal application of any scientific method as 

 a matter of comparatively little significance, 

 he has sought also to give enough of the 

 theoretical ground on which each of them 

 rests to enable the student to work with 

 them intelligently, and to see clearly their 

 scientific significance and use. 



Another addition to D. Appleton and Com- 

 pany's series of Home-Reading Books is TTie 

 Animal World^ its Romances and Realities, a 

 reading book of zoology, prepared by Frank 

 Vincent on a similar plan with his book on The 

 Plant World, which has found much favor. 

 As in the other book, the subject has been 

 approached from as many conspicuous and 

 characteristic points as possible. The selec- 

 tions are made with a view to the entertain- 

 ment they may give as well as to the instruc- 

 tion, and to their fitness to awaken the curios- 

 ity of readers and stimulate them to indepen- 

 dent observation and investigation. Poetical 

 extracts are admitted, Wordsworth, Emerson, 

 Ferdinand Freiligratb, Shelley, Procter, Mat- 

 thew Arnold, Holmes, Charles Lamb, and 

 William Blake being represented among 

 them. Something is given about every grand 

 division of the animal kingdom ; and articles 

 are inserted on The Task of Classification 

 and The Distribution of Animals. 



The Forester, a valuable journal advo- 

 cating the preservation and care of forests, 

 arboriculture, and the economical manage- 

 ment of timber, formerly published and 

 edited by Mr. John GifEord at Princeton, 

 N. J., has passed under the control of the 



American Forestry Association, which, en- 

 larging and improving it, will make it its 

 organ. It is intended to give prominent at- 

 tention in each number to some one phase ; 

 as the White Pine Situation in the January 

 number of 1898, the National Forest Re- 

 serves in the February, the Spruce Supply in 

 the March, and Tree- planting in the April 

 numbers. 



Prof. David P. Todd insists, in his New 

 Astronomy for Beginners, on the value and 

 adaptability of astronomy as a laboratory 

 study. It is pre-eminently a science of ob- 

 servation, and there is no sufficient reason 

 why it should not be so pursued. " Al- 

 though the pupil's equipment be but a yard- 

 stick, a pinhole, and the rule of three, will 

 he not reap greater benefit from measuring 

 the sun himself than from learning mere de- 

 tail of methods employed by astronomers ? " 

 The science is presented, not as a mere se- 

 quence of isolated and imperfectly connected 

 facts, but as an interrelated series of philo- 

 sophical principles ; rudimental principles of 

 navigation in which astronomy is concerned 

 are explained ; observatories and their in- 

 struments are described ; the law of uni- 

 versal gravitation is more fully expounded 

 than is usual in elementary books ; various 

 questions receive special attention ; while 

 mathematical results are given, the beauty 

 and interest of the study are not obscured 

 by unnecessary mathematical processes ; and 

 the importance of the student's thinking 

 rather than memorizing has been everywhere 

 kept in mind. The book is commendable in 

 its matter and manner. (Published by the 

 American Book Company. Price, $1.30.) 



The principal subject mentioned in the 

 Records of the American Society of Natural- 

 iMs for December, 1896, is the report of the 

 committee on the practicability and the ways 

 and means of further prosecuting antarctic 

 research. The committee had given the mat- 

 ter some time and consideration, but was not 

 yet in a position to state definitely the possi- 

 bilities of the undertaking in question. 



Under the title of Parasitic Wealth, or 

 Money Reform (Chicago, Charles H. Kerr 

 & Co., $1), John Brown issues " a manifesto 

 to the people of the United States and to the 

 workers of the whole world," calling atten- 

 tion to financial and social reforms which he 



