94 THE AMEKICAN MONTHLY [April, 



Dr. A. A. Julien read a paper entitled, " Notes on a new Ochraceoiis 

 Thallophyte." The regular meetings occur on the first and third Fri- 

 days of each month at No. 64 Madison avenue. 



Illinois State Society. 



Tuesday ; January 22, i88g. — On the occasion of its annual conver- 

 sazione, the Calumet Club put its elegant club-house at the disposal of 

 the Society. A fashionable audience of about 350 ladies aftd gentlemen 

 responded to the invitations. On the first and second floors were ar- 

 ranged seventy microscopes, and, as the slides were all changed at 9 

 o'clock, there were 135 slides on exhibition. Among those which at- 

 tracted most attention were specimens of unfiltered drinking water taken 

 from a large building in the centre of the city, and mounted by Prof. J. 

 H. Long and Mr. Mai'k Powers. Mr. W. H. Bullock exhibited a large 

 number of slides, one containing the eye of a beetle. On the third floor 

 a beautiful and elaborate stereopticon exhibition was given. 



Troy Scientific Association, N. Y. 



Monday, February 4, i88g. — The microscopical section met at the 

 residence of Joseph McKay. An exhibition of objects was made by C. 

 E. Hanaman. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Merck's Index of Fine Chemicals and Drugs for the Materia 

 Medica and the Arts. By E. Merck. 8°, pp. 168. New York, 

 1S89. 



This purports to be a catalogue of all drugs and chemical products 

 used by the physician or druggist. Over 4,000 different articles are 

 specified. The alphabetical arrangement is excellent. Blank columns 

 are given in which to insert prices, memoranda, etc. Synonyms are 

 freelv given, melting points, chemical composition, and miscellaneous 

 notes of value. There is a useful table of abbreviations at the close. 

 The reader is exhorted at the bottom of each of 154 pages thus : " When 

 ordering, specify Merck's ! " This indicates an advertising purpose in 

 the volume, and seems to us an unnecessary blemish. 



A Manual of the Vertebrate Animals of the Norther?t United 

 States, inclusive of Marine Species, By David Starr Jordan. 

 Chicago. A. C. McClurg & Co. 1SS8. 12 , pp. 375. $2.50. 



Few treatises on systematic zoology or botany have the good fortune 

 to run through several editions and become indispensable, but President 

 Jordan's Manual seems likely to. Fifteen years ago a little pamphlet 

 key to our birds was published by him. Twelve years ago the first 

 edition of the present Manual was issued to give collectors and students 

 who are not specialists a ready means of identifying the families, genera, 

 and species of our vertebrate animals. Two years later a second edi- 



