2 74 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



other poor qualities of the kerosene - oils 

 used in the State. He sought explanations 

 from the wholesale dealers and agents of 

 the oil companies, but could not get satis- 

 factoi-y ones ; and it was not till he had be- 

 gun to take measures for enforcing the laws 

 against selling adulterated or inferior goods, 

 that proper notice was taken of his remon- 

 strances. Then the agent of the Standard 

 Oil Company made a confession presenting 

 almost the identical statement made by Pro- 

 fessor Peckham, in the June number of the 

 " Monthly," of the deteriorated character of 

 the burning -oils in common use and its 

 causes ; and we refer our readers to Pro- 

 fessor Peckhani's article for more specific 

 information on the subject. 



The Azoic System and its Proposed Sub- 

 divisions. By J. D. Whitney and M. E. 

 Wadsworth. Cambridge, Mass. : Har- 

 vard Museum of Comparative Zoology. 

 Pp. 250. 



The authors review the whole literature 

 of their subject, beginning with the reports 

 of the Canadian and other British - Ameri- 

 can surveys, and following with those of the 

 New England and Atlantic seaboard States, 

 Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan, and 

 Wisconsin, and the Government surveys in 

 the West, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the condition of the theory of the Azoic sys- 

 tem. The reports examined concern the 

 results of forty years of work. In a second 

 part they give a " rmcme and general dis- 

 cussion " of their review, the result of which 

 is to lead them to the conclusion that " the 

 geology of a large portion of this country, 

 and especially that of Canada and New Eng- 

 land, is in an almost hopeless state of con- 

 fusion " ; and " that our chances of having 

 at some future time a clear understanding 

 of the geological structure of Northeast- 

 ern North America would be decidedly im- 

 proved if all that has been written about it 

 were struck out of existence." This con- 

 dition of things is largely ascribed to the 

 erroneous observations and theories of the 

 Canada survey, " which to a large extent 

 have been adopted and blindly followed on 

 this side of the Dominion boundary." Fi- 

 nally, " the present director of the Canada 

 survey appears to be sincerely endeavoring 

 to base his work on better methods than 

 those current under Lofran's administration. 



All who are interested in the solution of the 

 ditficult problems of Appalachian geology 

 will sympathize with him in these efforts ; 

 for . . . that which is done in Canada will, 

 if well done, be of great assistance to those 

 working on the south side of the Dominion 

 line." 



TijE Grimke Sisters : Sarah and Angelina 

 Grimke. The First American Women 

 Advocates of Abolition and Women's 

 Rights. By Catharine H. Birney. Bos- 

 ton: Lee & Shepard. Pp. 319. Price, 

 $1.25. 



The interesting characters to which this 

 volume is devoted are now historic. The 

 Grimke sisters have passed away, and the 

 record of their remarkable careers will have 

 a double interest : first, for those who knew, 

 admired, and loved them ; and, second, for 

 all others who take interest in those great 

 public events leading to the overthrow of 

 slavery in this country, with which these 

 ladies were early and long and intimately as- 

 sociated. Angelina and Sarah Grimk6 were 

 gifted women of superior intellectual stamp 

 and high moral aspirations, who gave their 

 lives to the active promotion of various re- 

 forms with fearlessness, independence, and 

 devoted purpose, to make the world better 

 as far as lay in their power. They were 

 both of a deeply religious cast of mind, and 

 entered early into church relations in their 

 native city of Chai-leston, South Carolina. 

 But the perfunctory round of ordinary re- 

 ligious exercises could not satisfy them. 

 Religion was in their blood, and the type 

 of it was that of tragic earnestness. They 

 were descended on the father's side from the 

 Huguenots, and on that of the mother from 

 the old Puritans, with whom religion was a 

 stern reality. Possessing hearts sj'mpathet- 

 ic with the sufferings of their fellow-creat- 

 ures, and heads endowed to discriminate 

 the means of relief, they could not remain 

 impassive in their Charleston environment. 

 The subject of slavery, with which they had 

 been, of course, long and painfully familiar, 

 took hold of them as a matter of religious 

 duty. They left the Episcopal Church be- 

 cause it seemed given over to worldliness, 

 and was unmindful of its Christian obliga- 

 tions to the slave. Angelina joined the 

 Presbyterians, in the hope of finding them 

 more alive to their practical religious duties. 



