FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



137 



delphla : Public Education Association. Pp. 52; 

 and Francis Lieber. the Political Philosopher. 

 Bloomington, 111. : The University Press. Pp. 32. 



Hillern, W. von. HOher als die Kirche. New 

 York: American Book Co. Pp. 96. 25 cents. 



Homo, Novus. Ye Thoroughbred. New York : 

 The Health Culture Co. Pp. 129. 



Interstate Commerce Keports. Vol. VI, No. 

 21. Pp. 449 to 512. 



Justice, Maibelle. Love Affairs of a Worldly 

 Man. Chicago : F. Tennyson Neely. Pp. 311. 



King, R. M. School Interests and Duties. 

 New York : American Book Co. Pp. 336. $1. 



Lombard, Louis. Observations of a Bachelor. 

 Utica : L. C. Childs & Son. Pp. 148. 



Matthews, Brander. An Introduction to the 

 Study of American Literature. New. York : Amer- 

 ican Book Co. Pp. 256. $1. 



New York Academy of Sciences. Memoir I. 

 The Variation of Latitude at New York City. 

 Part I. Declination and Proper Motion of Fifty- 

 six Stars. Pp. 105. 



New York State Board of Charities. Annual 

 Report. Pp. 90. 



North, S. N. D. Factory Legislation in New 

 England. (From Bulletin of National Association 

 of Wool Manufacturers.) Boston, 1895. 



Nuttall, L.W. Flora of West Virginia. (Field 

 Columbian Museum. Publication 9. Botanical 

 Series. Vol. I, No. 2.) Pp.200. 



Palmer, T. S. The Jack Rabbits of the United 

 States. United States Department of Agriculture. 

 Bulletin No. 8. Pp.84. 



Perkins Institution, Sixty-fourth Annual Re- 

 port of the Trustees of. Boston. Pp. 275. 



Romanes, G. J., The Life and Letters of. Ed- 

 ited by his Wife. New York and London : Long- 

 mans, Green & Co. Pp. 360. $4. 



Salazar, A. E., Newman, I. K. Kosto kom- 

 paratibo en Chile del Gas i de la Elektrizidad 

 como Sistemas de Distribuzion de Energia. San- 

 tiago de Chile, 1896. Pp. 72. 



Savage, R. H. The Spider of Truxillo. Chi- 

 cago : F. Tennyson Neely. Pp. 326. 



Schutzenberger. Les Fermentations. Paris : 

 Felix Alcan. Pp.314. 



Spanhoofd, A. W. Germania Texts. Gervinus: 

 Lessing's Dramaturgic; Kurz: Lessing's Minna 

 vonBarnhelm; Goethe: Die KrOnung Josefs II; 

 Khull : Meier Helmsbrecht ; Kurz : Wieland's 

 Oberon; Wieland: Aus Goethe's Gedachtensrede. 

 New York : American Book Co. 10 cents a copy. 



Spencerian Penmanship. Vertical Edition. 

 New York : American Book Co. Seven Numbers. 



Trout, Grace Wilbur. A Mormon Wife. Chi- 

 cago : E. A. Weeks Co. Pp. 111. 



Zahm, Rev. J. A. Evolution and Dogma. 

 Chicago : D. H. McBride & Co. Pp. 461. $2. 



'gmsmmts of jfctettjcje. 



Commerce and Drought. The serious 

 loss which a prolonged drought may cause, 

 not simply to agriculture, but in an even 

 more marked degree to commerce, is drawn 

 attention to by Prof. L. M. Haupt, in a recent 

 number of the Journal of the Franklin Insti- 

 tute. He says : " One of the most impres- 

 sive lessons to be derived from the absence 

 of sufficient water for commerce is to be 

 found in the experience of the communities 

 on the upper Ohio River during the past sea- 

 son of exceptional drought. The harbor of 

 Pittsburg, which is made by the movable dam 

 at Davis Island, and the fixed dams of the 

 Monongahela slackwater system, forms a con- 

 venient basin in which to make up the tows 

 of coal boats and barges which supply the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries. It is the 

 custom to assemble these tows above the 

 dam and await the pleasure of Pluvius to 

 provide a flood with sufficient depth of water 

 to carry them out. During the past season 

 there has been no coal shipped by river be- 

 tween the 18th of April and the 28th of No- 

 vember (over seven months), and the accu- 

 mulation of the product had gone on until 



the tonnage tied up exceeded that of any 

 harbor in the world. For miles on both 

 banks of the river the steamers and their 

 fleets lined the shores, and the danger of their 

 being frozen in all winter was imminent, 

 when a heavy rain released two hundred thou- 

 sand tons ; but a part of these met a watery 

 grave on the shoals of Dead Man's Ripple, a 

 short distance below Pittsburg. The extent 

 of this congestion can not be appreciated by 

 one who has not seen it, and it is far-reach- 

 ing in its effects, as it directly concerns the 

 industries of millions of people. The actual 

 value of the plant tied up in the harbor 

 of Pittsburg alone, as stated by Hon. John 

 F. Dravo, Secretary of the Coal Exchange, 

 on November 7, 1895, was $6,500,000. 

 At the present time it is costing about two 

 thousand dollars per day to keep this ton- 

 nage afloat, besides interest on the invest- 

 ment. This ' tie-up of Nature has seriously 

 crippled the entire valley, as the railroads 

 can not do more than maintain a partial sup- 

 ply, and the price of fuel has risen in some 

 of the larger cities one dollar a ton." The 

 author cites the above incidents as showing 



