May 10, 1888] 



NATURE 



29 



him," and also to remove from the mind of the reader the 

 unpleasant feeling he has all along had whilst perusing 

 the papers, that he was a party to a mean action in so 

 doing. 



The earliest essay, in an unfinished form, written whilst 

 in statu pupillari, is entitled " Some Remarks of a 

 Girtham girl on Female Education," and combats those 

 "male sycophants" who "would prevent us from com- 

 peting with you ; you would separate yourselves on your 

 island of knowledge, and sink the punt which would bear 

 us over to your privileged shore. Of all the twaddle — 

 forgive me, male sycophants ! — that the world has ever 

 heard, I think the greatest is that which you have talked 

 about female education." 



The second paper is a " Lecture on the Theory of Brain- 

 Waves, and the Transmigration and Potentiality of 

 Mental Forces." She takes the usual equation 



y 



a • 27r / , N 

 — sin — (vt - r). 

 r X 



and determines X by the method of mesmerism. " We 

 find the ratio of brain to brain— the relative strength 

 which one bears to another ; and then, by an application 

 of our formula, we can actually determine the wave of 

 thought, and read the minds of our fellow-creatures. An 

 unbounded field for reflection and speculation is here 

 suggested. Like all great discoveries, the elements of 

 the problem have unconsciously been utilized by many 

 who are unable to account for their method of procedure. 

 . . . The development of this theory of brain-waves may 

 be of great practical utility to the world. It shows that 

 great care ought to be exercised in the domain of thought, 

 as well as that of speech." Some verses follow, and then 

 we have Papers iii. and iv., which are, in our opinion, the 

 best part of the book, viz. a " Lecture on the Social Pro- 

 perties of a Conic Section," and the " Theory of Polemical 

 Mathematics." Paper v. contains a " Lecture upon Social 

 Forces, with some Account of Polemical Kinematics," 

 and Paper vi. carries on the preceding into " Polemical 

 Statics and Dynamics" ; Paper vii. expounds the " Laws 

 of Political Motion," and Paper viii. closes the book with 

 a lecture " On the Principle of Polemical Cohesion." We 

 ought to apologize for going into such detail, but our 

 account will show our readers that the present work does 

 not deal with mathematical discoveries. It is a "skit," 

 with the perusal of which a reader acquainted with 

 mathematics may while away, not unpleasantly, an odd 

 half-hour or two. 



Antipodean Notes. By " Wanderer." (London : Sampson 



Low, 1888.) 

 Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life. By John Free- 

 man. (Same publishers.) 

 The "notes" in the first of these two books do not 

 embody the results of a very wide experience. They 

 simply record some observations made by the author in 

 the course of a nine months' tour round the world. 

 "Wanderer" does not, however, pretend to offer an 

 exhaustive account of any of the subjects on which he 

 touches. He has an easy, pleasant style, and gives with 

 some vividness his first impressions of the scenes he 

 describes. The greater part of the book relates to New 

 Zealand, the practical, commercial, and social aspects of 

 which he had, he thinks, more and better opportunities of 

 studying than are obtainable by the majority of " globe- 

 trotters." There is a short but interesting chapter 

 on the Maoris, of whose qualities, as they have been 

 affected by contact with civilization, "Wanderer" has 

 no very exalted opinion. He admits, however, that 

 there are exceptions to what he calls " the average 

 of uselessness." One of the native members of the 

 House of Representatives is, he says, "highly edu- 

 cated, intelligent, and even eloquent." The question 

 whether women should be admitted to the House was 

 lately discussed, and the speech of this deputy on the 



subject was " by far the most brilliant and entertaining 

 of a debate in which many colonial legislators soared 

 above the ordinary level of dull mediocrity." 



The second book consists of a series of papers, some 

 of which were originally contributed to Melbourne news- 

 papers. They are written in rather too "smart" a style, 

 but contain much information which it would be hard 

 for Englishmen who may be interested in Melbourne to 

 find elsewhere. The book will no doubt be welcomed by 

 many visitors who will go this year to Melbourne to see 

 the Centennial International Exhibition. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of, 

 rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part 

 of Nature. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations. .] 



The Salt Industry in the United States. 



I CAN sympathize to a great extent with your correspondent 

 George P. Merrill en the question of salt statistics. For a 

 number of years I have been accumulating information on the 

 whole subject of salt, and have found the greatest difficulty in 

 obtaining much of a trustworthy character. The m )st extensive 

 salt literature is in Germany : even there ihe statistical part of the 

 subject is not dea't with so extensively as the geological, geo- 

 graphical, chemical, and manufacturing. Perhaps the most com- 

 plete salt literature is that of India, which is issued yearly by the 

 Government ; but it deals almo.-t exclusively with Indian salt. 



I am not much surprised that the information in our Encyclo- 

 paedias respecting the salt industry of the United States should 

 be so scanty. Most of the information derivable re-pecting it 

 has to be obtained from public newspapers, trade pamphlets, or 

 papers in scientific journals. It is true that, so far as the deposit 

 of Petit Anse, in Louisiana, is concerned, the United States 

 Government published an account of it shortly after the termina- 

 tion of the great war. Dr. Sterry Hunt, whom I had the 

 pleasure of meeting at Manchester at the British Association, has 

 written probably more than anyone else on American salts ; but 

 it must be borne in mind that it is only within the last twenty 

 years that the great salt discoveries in Western New York and 

 Michigan have been made. I have a complete or nearly com- 

 plete list of all the Michigan works, which was issued in the 

 Chicago Tribune of January 24, 1888. I have also before me a 

 copy of the Saginaw Courier of December 18, 1887. This gives 

 some valuable tables respecting the Michigan i alt. In Michigan, 

 in 1887, 3,944,309 barrels of salt were inspected by the salt 

 inspector. In 1869, only 561,288 barrels were made ; and in 1880, 

 2,676,588. There was more salt made in Michigan in 1887 than 

 had been made previously to 1869 in that State. The growth of 

 the salt manufacture has been exceedingly rapid in the States ; 

 hence the reason why so little is known of it outside the persons 

 interested in the trade. 



Within the last five or six years there has grown up a most 

 extensive salt manufacture in the Wyoming Valley in Western 

 New York. Already this new district bids fair to cut out entirely 

 the old Syracuse or Onondaga district. The make of American 

 salt has much more than doubled itself in the last ten years. I 

 am sure that personally I shall be much pleased if Mr. Merrill 

 will, either through your columns or direct to me, give any in- 

 formation more accurate than is obtainable from our Encyclo- 

 pedias. I am striving to establish at Northwich, the centre of the 

 Cheshire salt trade, a Salt Museum, and although I have been for 

 a long time accumulating specimens of salt from all parts, and 

 have, thanks to the East Indian Government, and through the 

 kind exertions of Mr. J. T. Brunner, M.P., our Parliamentary 

 representative, who is most handsomely furnishing the Museum, a 

 complete set of specimens of Indian salt, yet I find great difficulty 

 in obtaining works treating on salt, also maps, plans, and diagrams. 

 I trust, by degrees, to have a Museum perfectly unique, I believe. 



When I say that until the last two or three years our English 

 salt statistics have not been trustworthy, and that it is only by the 

 indefatigable exertions of Mr. Joseph Dickinson, II. M. Inspector 

 of Mines, assisted by myself and one or two other gentlemen 

 connected w ith our salt trade, that they are now very nearly com- 

 plete, Mr. Merrill must not be surprised at the difficulty of getting 



