418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the more complex. Instead of this, sub- 

 jects are treated in no particular logical 

 order, and the reader could only get a very 

 confused jumble of ideas after going over 

 the book. The authors start out with a 

 brief discussion of the theory of electricity, 

 which, even if clearly stated, which it is not, 

 could be comprehended only after some ac- 

 quaintance with electrical phenomena. The 

 Holtz and Topler static electric machines are 

 described, so far as their mechanical con- 

 struction is concerned, before the reader is 

 acquainted with any of the phenomena of 

 static electricity, and no attempt is made to 

 explain the principles of their action. 



The meaning of electric terms is in 

 many cases not explained until after they 

 have been used in the description of appara- 

 tus, and even then in the most cursory way. 

 On the whole the beginner could read the 

 book with but little profit, and it is too 

 scrappy and incomplete to be of much serv- 

 ice to any one at all acquainted with the 

 subject. 



Pictures from Roman Life and Story. By 

 the Rev. A. J. Church, M. A., lately 

 Professor of Latin in University Col- 

 lege, London. Illustrated. New York : 

 D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 344. Price, 

 $1.50. 



In this series of sketches, Prof. Church, 

 the author of Stories from Homer, Stories 

 from Virgil, has depicted various phases of 

 life at Rome under the emperors. We are 

 introduced to the friends of Maecenas at his 

 villa ; pass a day at the home of Horace ; 

 attend the elder Pliny at his studies, and 

 follow Martial about the shops of Rome and 

 to the poet's club. Not very different was 

 this early institution from its modern name- 

 sake. It included thirty members, but might 

 have had three hundred, and the only draw- 

 back to enjoyment was that the poets had 

 to listen to each other's verses ! Overwork 

 was not suspected in those vigorous days, 

 and the indefatigable author limits his hours 

 of study only by his capacity to keep awake. 

 He listens to reading at the bath and a short- 

 hand writer accompanies him in his carriage 

 journeys. By such remarkable industry, 

 during a life of fifty-six years, the elder 

 Pliny accomplished a history in twenty-one 

 volumes, a natural history in thirty-seven, 

 and one hundred and sixty note-books. But 



there are stirring sights to be witnessed in 

 Rome as well as marvels of literary labor — 

 the great fire, the gladiatorial contests, the 

 burning of the Capitol. These, and pictures 

 of conquest, intrigue, and cruelty, fill the 

 darker spaces of the panorama. However, 

 we learn " there were noble men and women 

 even in the worst days of Rome," and their 

 fidelity to high purpose and true heroism 

 challenge the admiration of all ages. 



Elementary Lessons in Heat. By S. E. 

 Tillman. New York : John Wiley and 

 Sons, 1892. Second edition. Pp. 162. 



These lessons have been prepared by 

 Prof. Tillman to meet the requirements of 

 his class-room at the West Point Military 

 Academy, and are designed for the use of 

 teachers and students generally. They cover 

 the usual subjects of a text-book on heat put 

 in a clear and consise form, and, besides this, 

 Prof. Tillman has given special attention to 

 meteorological phenomena, following Prof. 

 Ferrel in the subject of atmospheric circu- 

 lation, and the theories of tornadoes and 

 storms. 



Sunshine. By Amy Johnson, LL. A. Lon- 

 don and New York : Macmillan & Co. 

 Pp. 502. Price, $1.75. 



It may be judged that the author of this 

 work, a teacher of science at South Kensing- 

 ton, has been extremely successful in holding 

 the interest of her audiences. The material 

 of this volume is mainly a reproduction of 

 lectures to her classes upon the subject of 

 light. These are given in the form of stories, 

 and the experiments to which they naturally 

 lead are performed conjointly by teacher and 

 children, while suggestions are added for 

 other tests to be made at home. Sun im- 

 ages, shadows, and photographs are studied 

 in turn. The laws of reflection and refrac- 

 tion, lenses and their uses, the spectrum and 

 the rainbow are explained and variously illus- 

 trated. The beautiful phenomena of fluores- 

 cence and phosphorescence and the action 

 of sunlight upon the leaf-green form interest- 

 ing chapters. Soap-bubbles are treated in four 

 lectures. The films are shown in the shapes 

 of windmill, mushroom, and liquid prism. A 

 bubble is blown within a bubble, one tinted 

 with aniline green being seen plainly within 

 another of ordinary color, and a letter-weight 



