SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



273 



Formation of Connecticut (W. M. Da- 

 vis), Geology of the Edwards Plateau, 

 etc., Texas (R. T. Hill and J. W. 

 Vaughan), North American Tertiary 

 Horizons (W. H. Dal 1), Glaciers of Mount 

 Rainier (I. C. Russell) and Rocks of 

 Mount Rainier (G. O. Smith), The 

 Franklin White Limestone of New Jer- 

 sey (J. E. Wolfe and A. H. Brooks), the 

 Geology of San Clemente Island (W. S. 

 T. Smith), Geology of the Cape Cod Dis- 

 trict (N. H. Shaler), and Recent Earth 

 Movement in the Great Lakes Region 

 (G. K. Gilbert). Part III contains pa- 

 pers on the gold districts of Alaska, by 

 G. F. Becker, J. E. Spurr, and H. B. 

 Goodrich ; Coal Fields of Puget Sound ( B. 

 Willis), the Judith Mountains of Mon- 

 tana (W. H. Weed and L. V. Pirsson), 

 Certain Mining Districts in Idaho (W. 

 Lindgren and F. H. Knowlton), and the 

 Mining Districts of the Telluride Quad- 

 rangle, Colorado (C. W. Purington). The 

 four papers in Part IV are a Report of 

 Progress of Stream Measurements dur- 

 ing 1S96, by A. P. Davis; the Water Re- 

 sources of Indiana and Ohio, by Frank 

 Leverett; New Developments in Well- 

 boring in South Dakota, by N. H. Dar- 

 ton; and Water Storage and the Con- 

 struction of Dams, by J. D. Schuyler. 



The purpose of Belle S. Cragin's Our 

 Insect Friends and Foes * is illustrated 

 from a passage in the author's own life, 

 cited in the preface : " In my younger 

 days, when Nature study was unknown 

 in schools and my problems had to be 

 solved by my own investigations or re- 

 main unsolved, I used to long for some- 

 body to write a book that would tell me 

 the things I wished to know, or show me 

 how to find them out for myself; and 

 that is what I have tried to do for you." 

 The beginning of the book is a chapter 

 on the collection, preservation, and care 

 of insects for specimens, giving explicit 

 directions for collecting them perfect, for 

 putting them to death, for mounting and 

 placing them in the cabinet, and for pro- 

 tecting them against vermin, dust, and 

 mold, with descriptions of the instru- 

 ments, cases, etc., that are used. In the 

 descriptions of insects no attempt is 

 made to mention any except the com- 



* Our Insect Friends and Foes. How to Col- 

 lect, Presen-e, and Stndy them. By Belle S. Cra- 

 gin. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp.377. 

 Price, $1.75. 



VOL. LTI — 22 



monest species, and not all of those. The 

 habitat, in most cases, is included in the 

 description. As a rule, most of the spe- 

 cies are those found in the States east 

 of the Rocky Mountains and north of 

 the Gulf States. Scientific names are at- 

 tached to the illustrations and a list 

 of popular names, with their scientific 

 equivalents. The descriptions are brief 

 and well adapted to the purpose indi- 

 cated in the quotation with which our 

 notice begins. 



In presenting a revision of their 

 Plane and Solid Geometry * Messrs. 

 Beman and Smith express their belief 

 as being, that amid all the schemes for 

 breaking away from the formal proofs 

 of Euclid and Legendre and leading the 

 student to independent discovery, the 

 best results are secured by setting forth 

 a minimum of formal proofs as models, 

 and a maximum of unsolved or un- 

 proved propositions as exercises. They 

 likewise share in the belief that such 

 of the notions of modern geometry as 

 materially simplify the ancient should 

 find place in our elementary text-books. 

 Accordingly, they have introduced va- 

 rious ideas, such as those of one-to-one 

 correspondence, anti-parallels, negative 

 magnitudes, general figures, prismatic 

 space, similarity of point systems, etc., 

 which are of real use in the early study 

 of the science. In general, whatever is 

 found to be usable in elementary work 

 has been inserted where it will prove 

 of most value. 



The plan of the investigation under- 

 taken by Mr. Walter Smith in his Meth- 

 ods of Knoicledge t is, first, to give a 

 definition of knowledge. The methods 

 are then considered by which men have 

 thought it possible to attain knowledge 

 of the self on the one hand, and the 

 not-self on the other. The common 

 view of philosophers and men of science 

 that truth is given in general concepts, 

 or universals, or categories, is taken up, 

 and the special form of the doctrine 

 given in empiricism is considered and 

 found to be a doctrine wanting in all 

 its forms. Yet it is pointed out that 



* New Plane and Solid Geometry. By W. W. 

 Beman and D. E. Smith. Boston: Ginn & Co. 



Pp. ?m. 



t Methods of Knowledge. An Essay in Episte- 

 mology. New York : The Macmillan Company. 

 Pp. 340. Price, §1.25. 



