LITERARY NOTICES, 



»3J 



In the present report, Mr. Curtis gives a 

 clear and systematically ordered description 

 of the district, its geolog)-, and the several 

 mining locations, with their characteristic 

 features. Among the tojjics particularly 

 considered are the surface geology, the struct- 

 ure, and the ores of Prospect Mountain and 

 Ituby mil, the ore deposits, the source and 

 manner of deposition of the ores, the occur- 

 rence of water in the mines, the methods of 

 mining and timbering, and of working the 

 ores, an accouut of Adams Hill, and " the 

 future of the Eureka district." We are 

 pleased to observe that Mr. Curtis's work in 

 this field has elicited warm commendation 

 and high testimonials to its value from for- 

 eign experts : Ilerr V. Groddeck, Director of 

 the Clausthal School of Mines, Austria, hav- 

 ing studied the report " with the greatest 

 interest," has expressed his appreciation of 

 " the instruction and suggestions contained 

 in it," and adds : " It is always wonderfully 

 pleasing to me to see with what intensity 

 and with what rich results your country 

 pursues the study of ore deposits." Ilerr 

 F. Posepny, Inspector of Mines for Austria, 

 who has visited Eureka, and has drawn 

 some interesting comparisons between its 

 features and those of some of the Hunga- 

 rian mines, characterizes this work as one 

 which "is destined to play an important 

 part in the technical literature of ore de- 

 posits. When I glance over what I know 

 from actual inspection, and what I know 

 through the literature of the ore deposits of 

 your country, I am more and more convinced 

 that North America will be the coming 

 school for the study of ore deposits." Herr 

 Posepny adds that he is much interested in 

 the results of Mr. Curtis's examination of 

 counti-y rock for minute quantities of met- 

 als, as the subject has been taken up in his 

 own country from a practical stand-point. 



Memoirs of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences. Vol. II., 1883. Washington : 

 Government Printing-OfBce. Pp. 262. 



The present volume contains four mem- 

 oirs, of which the most voluminous is the 

 full account of the eclipse of the sun, of 

 May, 1883, and of the United States Expe- 

 dition to Caroline Island, in the South Pa- 

 cific Ocean, to view it. Included in this 

 memoir are several special papers of con- 



siderable general interest, among which are 

 the narrative of the voyage to Caroline 

 Island and return, the history and general 

 description of the island, various scientific 

 and technical memoranda respecting it, ita 

 botany, zoology, and butterflies ; and par- 

 ticular reports of eclipse observations by 

 eleven associates of the expedition. The 

 whole is attractively illustrated with maps 

 and views of the island and its peculiar 

 scenery, and representations of various 

 features of the eclipse. The second mem- 

 oir is Professor S. P. Langley's paper on 

 the " Experimental Determination of Wave- 

 lengths in the Invisible Prismatic Spec- 

 trum " ; the third is by Professor William 

 II. Brewer, " On the Subsidence of Particles 

 in Liquids " ; and the fourth is the paper 

 of Alexander Graham Bell " Upon the For- 

 mation of a Deaf Variety of the Human 

 Race," of which we have already given a 

 brief abstract. 



Dinocerata. (United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, Vol. X.) By Otdniel C. Marsh, in 

 charge of the Divisioa of Paleontology. 

 Washington. 



This monograph contains the full record 

 of an extinct order of mammals, of which the 

 author has made special studies. The only 

 locality where remains of the Dinocerata 

 have been found is an Eocene lake-basin in 

 Wyoming, and there his first discoveries 

 were made by Professor Marsh in 1870. 

 The specimens collected in this and suc- 

 cessive expeditions are now in the museum 

 at Yale College, and represent more than 

 two hundred individuals of the Dinocerata, 

 besides the remains of many other verte- 

 brata hitherto unknown. Seventy-five of 

 these have portions of the skull preserved, 

 and in more than twenty it is in good con- 

 dition. Three genera have been established 

 in this order : .Dinocei'as, Marsh ; Tinoceras, 

 Marsh ; and Uiiitatherium , Leidy. The skull 

 of Dinoceras mirahile is long and narrow ; 

 it supports on the top three pairs of bony 

 elevations or horn-cores, which form its 

 most conspicuous feature, and suggested 

 the name of the genus (SejfJj, terrible, and 

 Kipas, a horn). There are no upper incisors ; 

 the canines in the male are enormously de- 

 veloped, forming sharp, trenchant, decurved 

 tusks. The brain of the Dinocerata is se- 



