852 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



introduction. The sliccts arc printed on 

 one side only, with a liberal margin, and 

 are not stitched. There is scarcely a vil- 

 lage in the early-settled part of the country 

 but has such trees, forming characteristic 

 features of its landscape, and serving as 

 memorials of interesting local events. Mr. 

 Gilson photographed these trees, and col- 

 lected the information about them in the 

 first place for his own gratification ; but, 

 finding others interested, he has published 

 a first installment of his material, and, if 

 enough copies of this part are sold to pay 

 expenses, other parts will follow. 



Exact Phonography : A System with Con- 

 NECTiBLE Stroke Vowel - Sign.s. By 

 George R. Bishop. New York: the 

 Author (at the New York Stock Ex- 

 change). Pp. 244. Price, $3. 



The question of providing stroke vowel- 

 signs, which could be written in with the 

 consonants without lifting the pen from 

 the paper, has engaged the attention of 

 many phonographers, but the results have 

 so far not been encouraging, and a con- 

 viction has arisen that, however desirable 

 tliis feature might be, it was impracti- 

 cable in a working short-hand. Mr, Bish- 

 op has, nevertheless, undertaken the task, 

 and has made a serious, persistent, and 

 ingenious attempt to conquer the diffi- 

 culty. The measure of bis success can not 

 be accurately given ; time and practical use 

 ■will be necessary to settle that ; but he may 

 fairly claim now to have shown that the ob- 

 stacle was not unsurmountable. That Mr. 

 Bishop's work should attain the ultunate 

 solution of the problem is not to be expect- 

 ed ; but it is certainly an approximation, 

 and probably furnishes the basis on which 

 the perfected scheme will rest. Tiie great- 

 est gain to be derived from the stroke vowel- 

 signs is in increased immediate legibility — a 

 very important matter. This is given part- 

 ly by increasing the list of alternate forms 

 by means of which a somewhat arbitrary 

 di.-'tinction may be effected between words 

 that otherwise would require to be written 

 alike and distingui.shed by the context, but 

 chiefly by the ability to include a vowel 

 which may bo perfectly decisive of the word 

 intended. The writer of the new system 

 will frequently have the opportunity to 

 choose whether he will sacrifice consonants 



or vowels ; while heretofore no choice was 

 left to him, provision having been made 

 simply to throw out the vowels in all cases, 

 to meet the requirement of speed. A mere 

 consonant outline is frequently entirely de- 

 void of suggcstiveness, although perfectly 

 unmistakable when the word to which it 

 belongs is found. The lack of convenient 

 vowel-signs also has probably helped to dis- 

 courage the adoption of phonography as a 

 medium of correspondence ; the labor of in- 

 serting the vowels being irksome to the 

 writer, and that imposed by their omission 

 being still 'more irksome to the reader. Mr. 

 Bishop's book is certainly worthy of atten- 

 tion from all who desire to become or to 

 remain professional short-hand writers. 



The JoiTRNAi, OF MonrHOLOOY. Yol. I, No. 

 1. September, 1887. Edited by C. 0. 

 Whitman, with the co-operation of Ed- 

 ward Phelps Allis, Jr. Boston: Giun 

 & Co. Pp. 226. 



The establishment of a new scientific 

 journal is a source of gratification to all 

 who are sufficiently acquainted with the 

 history of research in pure science to realize 

 the assistance, both to further acquisitions 

 and to practical applications of knowledge, 

 which is afforded by making known the re- 

 sults of investigations. Accounts of the 

 work of American zoologists, the editor of 

 the " Journal " remarks, are to be sought 

 "in the various publications of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, in voluminous reports of 

 government commissions, in the memoirs 

 and proceedings of societies and academies, 

 in the bulletins and memoirs of a few uni- 

 versities, and in numerous periodicals de- 

 voted to the natural sciences." As no 

 branch of science can make much progress 

 until the care of specialists succeeds its fit- 

 ful cultivation by investigators largely oc- 

 cupied with other subjects, so its literature 

 is much less accessible and effective when 

 scattered through a variety of scientific mis- 

 cellanies than when concentrated in a spe- 

 cial organ. The first number of " The 

 Journal of Morphology " gives evidence 

 that the previous lack of an American 

 zoological journal, ably edited, and printed 

 and illustrated in a liberal style, has now 

 been well supplied. The number comprises 

 the following seven papers : " Sphyranura 

 Osleri, a Contribution to American Helmin- 



