LITERARY NOTICES. 



271 



thor's blundering stupidity in regard to the 

 first law of motion. But the curious thing 

 about it is that the writer in "Science" is 

 inclined to attribute the scientific incapacity 

 of this metaphysical author to Spencer him- 

 self, or, rather, to make it a result of famili- 

 arity with Spencer's works. He says : "Mean- 

 while, let the case serve as a warning to 

 those who imagine that our American pub- 

 lic is to receive useful instruction in element- 

 ary physical science from the now popular 

 works of the great teacher of the evolution 

 philosophy. Here is a very good student, 

 indeed — diligent, logical, and ingenious. 

 What philosopher could hope for a better ? 

 He has carefully studied Mr. Spencer's 

 works, and this is what he has got out of 

 them." A gem of judicial criticism, truly, 

 of which " Science " may well be proud ! 



Indiana : Department of Geology and Nat- 

 ural History. Eleventh Annual Report, 

 1881. Pp. 414, with 55 Plates. Twelfth 

 Annual Report, 1882. Pp. 400, with 38 

 Plates. By John Collett, State Geolo- 

 gist. Indianapolis, Ind. 

 Indiana possesses much geological inter- 

 est. The formations, from the Lower Silu- 

 rian to the Carboniferous, are well exposed 

 in their order from east to west, and abound 

 in limestones and sandstones suitable for va- 

 ried economical purposes, lime, cement, and 

 coal, while the northern part of the State is 

 deeply covered with glacial drift. Springs 

 and streams abound. The soil in the central 

 and northern parts is deep, and contains the 

 elements of a prolonged fertility. As late 

 as 1880 timber was spoken of in Professor 

 Collett' s report as still in excess. It is of 

 hard wood, and suitable for fine work. Coal 

 is found in fields covering an area of 7,000 

 square miles, which are entered in all direc- 

 tions by railroads. The non-caking " block- 

 coal " is found within an area of 600 square 

 miles, and is a valuable metallurgical agent. 

 The coal-mines employ a capital of $2,500,- 

 000, and the same sum represents the value 

 of the product of 1882. The building- 

 stones are of various and excellent quali- 

 ties. The oolitic limestone of Lawrence, 

 Monroe, Owen, Crawford, Harrison, and 

 Washington Counties is easily worked, de- 

 velops in hardening a strength of from 

 10,000 to 12,000 pounds to the square inch, 

 takes on an agreeable color, is of imprece- 



dented purity, and gives a promise of dura- 

 bility. Pure glass sand is found in four 

 counties, gravel is "common as air," lime 

 and cement are " so abundant as to escape 

 attention " ; brick-clay is " as common as 

 water " ; kaolin and fire-clay occur in work- 

 able beds, natural gas is mentioned, and 

 some salt is produced. Fine fossils abound 

 in all the formations. Professor Collett has 

 added much to the value of his reports by 

 calling in the aid of persons already famil- 

 iar with the geology of the State and their 

 own counties, and of scientific experts. In 

 these volumes and the preceding report for 

 1880 we have, besides the special surveys 

 of ten counties, descriptions of fossils by 

 Dr. J. C. McConnell, of Washington, D. C, 

 Professor James Hall, and Dr. C. A. White ; 

 a paper on palaeozoic botany, by Professor 

 Lesquereux ; a flora of the elevated region 

 of the State; and a microscopic study of 

 potable waters, by the Rev. Dr. Curtis. Spe- 

 cial attention is given to archaeological feat- 

 ures. 



A Text-Book of the Principles op Physics. 

 By Alfred Daniel, M. A., Lecturer on 

 Physics in the School of Medicine, Edin- 

 burgh. London : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 

 653. Price, $5. 



In its general method this book follows 

 the "mode of teaching under which the 

 whole of natural philosophy is regarded as 

 substantially a single science, in which scat- 

 tered facts are collected and co-ordinated by 

 reference to the principles of dynamics and 

 the great experimental law of the conserva- 

 tion of energy." The treatise confines itself 

 strictly to the field denoted by its title, ap- 

 plications of principles and matters of sole- 

 ly historic interest being rigidly excluded. 

 After some preliminary considerations of 

 measurements, including the measurement 

 of force and of energy, there is a chapter 

 devoted to kinematics, in which waves and 

 simple harmonic motions are treated at con- 

 siderable length. The essential or general 

 properties of matter are next stated, and 

 then the characteristics of each of the three 

 states of matter. The opening of the chap- 

 ter on heat well illustrates the character of 

 the book, and is as follows : 



Heat is a form of energy. It would, perhaps, 

 indeed be more correct to say that we designate un- 

 der the one name heat two totally distinct forms of 



