LITERARY NOTICES. 



421 



oirs to scientific societies. He once believed 

 in the canal, but the illusion, he says, " has 

 fled, never to return, leaving behind a feel- 

 ing of ' bitter deception.' " He expresses 

 the firm conviction that the construction of 

 the canal on a level, on M. de Lesseps's line, 

 is a chimerical attempt, if not absolutely 

 impossible. Some of his reasons for believ- 

 ing thus are given in this pamphlet. 



Synopsis of toe Flora of the Laramie 

 Group. By Lester F. Ward. Washing- 

 ton : Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 160, with Thirty-four Plates. 



Besides the object suggested in the title 

 of this volume, the author has sought to 

 give a few illustrations of the flora from 

 new material, or from material more ample 

 and abundant than has heretofore existed. 

 The Laramie group, as described by Mr. 

 Ward, is an extensive brackish-water de- 

 posit, situated on both sides of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and extending from Mexico far 

 into the British North American territory, 

 having a breadth of hundreds of miles, and 

 representing some four thousand feet in 

 thickness of strata. The immense inland 

 sea of which it is the record, and which 

 occupied the territory now covered by the 

 Rocky Mountains, was partially cut off from 

 the ocean by intervening land-areas, but 

 had one or more outlets through them 

 communicating with the open sea which at 

 that time occupied the territory of the low- 

 er Mississippi and lower Rio Grande Val- 

 leys. This Laramie sea existed during an 

 immense period of time, and was finally, 

 but very gradually, drained by the elevation 

 of its bed, through the middle of which 

 longitudinally the Rocky Mountains and 

 Black Hills now run. The exact geological 

 age in which it existed is still under discus- 

 sion. 



Journal of the College of Science, Im- 

 perial University, Japan. Vol. I, Part 

 IIL Published by the University, To- 

 kyo, Japan. Pp. 124, with Nine Plates. 



The publication of such a journal as 

 this, with communications of the character 

 of those which it contains, largely by native 

 Japanese scholars, is a strong testimony to 

 the progress which European studies are 

 making in Japan. The present part of the 

 " Journal " contains papers on the forma- 



tion of the germinal layers in Chelonia, by 

 Professors Mitsukuri and Ishikarra ; " The 

 Caudal and Anal Fins of Goldfishes," by S. 

 Watase ; " The Giant Salamander of Japan," 

 by Professor C. Sasaki; "A Pocket Galva- 

 nometer " and " The Constants of a Lens,'' 

 by Professor A. Tanakadate ; " Some Occur- 

 rences of Piedmontite in Japan," by Pro-, 

 f essor B. Koto ; " The Severe Japan Earth- 

 quake of the 15th of January, 1887," by 

 Professor Sekiya ; and " Notes on the Elec- 

 tric Properties of Nickel and Platinum," by 

 i Professor C. G. Knott. 



A QUESTAO DOS VlNHOS Os VlNHOS Falsi- 



FiCADOS. (The Question of Wines — Fal- 

 sified Wines.) By Dr. Campos da Paz. 

 Rio de Janeiro. Pp. 373. 

 The author was formerly an effective 

 member of the Central Junta of Public Hy- 

 giene, and is adjunct to the Chair of Organic 

 and Biological Chemistry in the Faculty of 

 Medicine at Rio Janeiro. In the present 

 volume, he subjects the whole question of 

 the adulteration of wines to a careful exam- 

 ination, with many results of analyses and 

 experiments. 



The Microbes of Nitrification. By Manly 

 Miles. Pp. 4. 



Accepting the agency of an organized 

 ferment in the nitrification of plant-food, 

 the author, forecasting the future advantages 

 to arise from the methodical study of it, 

 recommends that provisions be made for 

 such study at agricultural colleges, and ex- 

 periment stations, and suggests outlines of 

 directions and methods for the studies. 

 Further, as the roots, particularly of legu- 

 minous plants, appear to exert influence 

 over the microbes, investigation may also 

 be profitably pursued in that direction. 



Proceedings of the Seventh Annual 

 Meeting of the Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Agricultural Science. 1886. 

 William R. Lazcnby, Columbus, Ohio, 

 Secretary. Pp. 88. 



The meeting was held in Buffalo in 

 August, 1886. The society has so far got 

 along without a constitution, expecting to 

 develop one out of its experiences. In the 

 mean time, so long as it works truly to its 

 name, a constitution will be quite dispensa- 

 ble. Among the papers read at the meeting 

 were two on the subject of dew and its 



