276 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



blance of one species to another that is bet- 

 ter endowed with means of defense, or with 

 some other desirable possession. Mr. Bed- 

 dard frequently cautions investigators against 

 proceeding as if the sight or taste of animals 

 were the same as that of man, for in the 

 questions here discussed the point of view is 

 important. The volume closes with an ac- 

 count of the chief differences in coloration 

 between the sexes of animals, and a statement 

 of the leading theories proposed to explain 

 them. The text is illustrated with four col- 

 ored plates and thirty-six woodcuts. 



Natural History Lessons. Part I, Shelter, 

 Food, and Clothing. By George Ashton 

 Black. Part II, Plants and Animals. 

 By Kathleen Carter. New York : 

 Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 98. Price, 54 

 cents. 



Science is rapidly acquiring the means 

 for teaching its great pedagogical lesson that 

 most knowledge may be obtained better 

 from the study of things than from the study 

 of books. This little manual is such a means. 

 The first part of it is adapted to children of 

 the usual primary-school age, and the second 

 part to those in grammar-school grades. Its 

 method requires constant practice in obser- 

 vation and investigation upon the objects 

 and processes studied or upon pictures of 

 them, thus giving the child at the outset of 

 his education a thorough grounding in the 

 natural way of acquiring knowledge. Prang's 

 Lithographs of the Trades and Mr. Calkins's 

 Manual accompanying them are expected to 

 be used where the actual operations can not 

 be witnessed. 



Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of 

 Washington, Vol. XI. Pp. 618. 



The presidential addresses delivered be- 

 fore the Philosophical Society in 1888, 1889, 

 and 1890, together with thirteen papers on 

 special scientific topics, form the body of 

 this volume. AVith these are printed the 

 minutes of the society and of the Mathe- 

 matical Section for 1888 to 1891, the rules 

 and lists of officers and members of the so- 

 ciety. Among the papers is one on The Ob- 

 servation of Sudden Phenomena, by Prof. 

 S. P. Langley, in which is described a mech- 

 anism for lessening the error in observation 

 represented by the " personal equation." 

 Prof. F. W. Clarke has a paper on The Rela- 



tive Abundance of the Chemical Elements ; 

 another is by Everett Hayden on Hurricanes 

 in the Bay of North America ; and John R. 

 Eastman has a record of The Progress of 

 Meteoric Astronomy in America, containing 

 important catalogues of meteorites and 

 meteoric showers. As the subject of his 

 presidential address in 1891, Major Clarence 

 E. Dutton took the practical matter of 

 Money Fallacies. The Evolution of Serials 

 published by Scientific Societies is traced 

 by W J McGee. The other papers deal with 

 various technical matters. 



■ 

 Florida, South Carolina, and Canadian 



Phosphates. By C. C. Hoyer Millar. 



New York : The Scientific Publishing 



Co. Pp. 223. Price, $2.50. 



The practical and commercial side of 

 phosphate mining occupies almost the whole 

 of this volume, although it is supplemented 

 by some notes on the geology of phosphate 

 deposits and numerous tables of chemical 

 analyses. The raising of phosphates from 

 the beds of streams, the mining of pebble- 

 deposits and of rock phosphates are described 

 briefly, and copious information is given in 

 regard to transportation, freights, prices, 

 cost of production, companies engaged in 

 the business, and similar matters connected 

 with the industry. About half the volume 

 is devoted to the Florida operations, South 

 Carolina and Canada dividing the other half 

 between them. An appendix contains analy- 

 ses of a variety of foreign phesphates. 



Under the title Cardiac Outlines a man- 

 ual for physicians has been prepared by Will- 

 iam Ewart, M. D. (Putnams). It is devoted 

 to the physical examination of the heart and 

 the recording of the results of such examina- 

 tion. The mode of recording the observa- 

 tions advised is by means of diagrams, in 

 various parts of which are arrows to be 

 crossed out if the sounds for which they 

 stand are absent. There are fifty-two fig- 

 ures, and several leaves bearing the diagram 

 referred to are bound into the volume. 



A handsome manual of directions for 

 Leather Work has been prepared by Charles 

 G. Leland, whose manuals on several other 

 minor arts are well known (Macmillan & Co. 

 $1.50). It is eminently practical, begiiming 

 with a description of tools and materials and 



