LITERARY NOTICES. 



279 



letter so that it would not fail to be under- 

 stood by any one who went through the 

 spelling-book in the old-fashioned way. Dr. 

 Leigh's " Pronouncing Orthography" retains 

 the common form of every word, but silent 

 letters are printed in hair-line type, and the 

 significant letters are so modified that it is 

 always plain what sound they stand for. 

 Ten or a dozen primers and readers by va- 

 rious authors have been published in Leigh's 

 pronouncing editions. Professor March uses 

 Dr. Leigh's types for nine single letters 

 and five digraphs in his "A B C Book." 

 "Words containing silent letters are post- 

 poned to a later stage. A part of his gen- 

 eral method is to have the pupils begin to 

 write with the first lesson, but this may be 

 omitted if the teacher prefers. The transi- 

 tion from any of the primers mentioned 

 above to common print is said to be easy, 

 but, if it seems desirable to keep the pupils 

 longer on the phonetic print, second readers 

 or other supplementary matter can be had 

 in most of the systems for this purpose. 



ZoiiLOGic Whist and Zoonomia. By Hy- 

 LAND C. Kirk. New York : McLoughhn 

 Brothers. In4 Cards. Price, $1. 

 An attempt is made in these cards to 

 combine amusement, as it is sought in play- 

 ing whist, with instruction in the principles 

 of a science. The cards, on which the clas. 

 sification of animals is graphically repre- 

 sented, are arranged in two packs of fifty- 

 two cards each, one including the verte- 

 brates, the other the invertebrates. Each 

 pack is divided into four suits, representing 

 the classes and thirteen orders. The rank 

 of the orders being fixed according to num- 

 bers printed on the cards, the game is played 

 as whist is played. The game of zoonomia 

 is played with all the cards, or a smaller 

 number, and is in effect an exercise on the 

 qualities of the orders of animals represented 

 upon them. 



The Tehuaxtepec Ship- Railway. By E. 



L. CoRTHELL, Civil Engineer. Pp. 32, 



with Plates. 



This is the substance of an address that 

 was delivered before the Franklin Institute 

 in December last, in which the plan of the 

 railway as projected by Captain Eads is ex- 

 plained, and its feasibility and the prospec- 

 tive advantages to be derived from carrying 

 it out are considered. 



Papers of the Asierican Historical Asso- 

 ciation. Volume I, No. 1 : Keport of 

 Organization and Proceedings. Pp. 44. 

 No. 2 : Studies in General History and 

 the History of Civilization. Bv Andrew 

 D.White. Pp.28. >;ew Yo'rk : G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. Price, 50 cents each. 



The American Historical Association was 

 organized at Saratoga in September, 1884, 

 with Andrew D. White as president, and 

 Herbert B. Adams, of Cornell University, as 

 secretary, for the promotion of historical 

 studies, and has registered already, for a 

 society so new, a large list of members. It 

 will pubUsh original contributions to history 

 in the form of serial monographs, each com- 

 plete in itself, bearing its own title, pagina- 

 tion, and price ; but the monographs will be 

 also numbered in the order of their publica- 

 tion, and paged continuously with the se- 

 ries, for the annual volume. They are sent 

 to members of the Association who pay their 

 annual fee of three dollars, and to other 

 persons for four dollars a volume. The ad- 

 dress of President White is a forcible pre- 

 sentation of the value of historical studies, 

 and suggests ways in which they may be 

 made most efficient. 



Efficiency and Duration of Incandescent 

 Electric Lamps. Report of Committee, 

 Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania. Pp. 

 127. 



A special committee was appointed by 

 the Board of Managers of the Franklin In- 

 stitute in November, 1884, to conduct ex- 

 aminations and make tests of the efficiency 

 and life-duration of incandescent lamps. It 

 having prepared a code of conditions to 

 which all competitors were expected to con- 

 form, Weston, Edison, Woodhouse and Raw- 

 son, Stanley - Thompson, and White lamps 

 were entered, for competition or for compar- 

 ative examination. The history of the test- 

 ing, its incidents, and its results, are record- 

 ed in detail in the report. 



Transactions of the Sixteenth and Sev- 

 enteenth Annual Meetings of the Kan- 

 sas Academy of Science (1883, 1884). 

 E. A. Popenoe, Manhattan, Secretary. 

 Pp. 145. 



The Kansas Academy is evidently a 

 working body. This volume of the " Trans- 

 actions " contains notices or abstracts of 

 forty-nine papers and reports read at the 

 two meetings, all of them of much local and 



