SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



279 



the Santa Cruz Mountains, by George H. 

 Ashley; Fishes of Sinaloa, by David Starr 

 Jordan ; and Contributions to Western Bot- 

 any, by Marcus E. Jones. Entomology, con- 

 chology, zoology, and paleontology are also 

 represented. The volume is accompanied by 

 a frontispiece and seventy-four other plates. 



The fourteenth volume of Transactions 

 of the New York Academy of Sciences tes- 

 tifies to considerable activity during the 

 year 1894-95. This volume contains papers 

 on geological subjects by Arthur Hollick, J. 

 F. Kemp, G. F. Matthew, W. D. Matthew, 

 and Heinrich Ries ; on biological subjects 

 by Gary N. Calkins, Harrison G. Dyar, and 

 George S. Huntington; while chemistry is 

 represented by Bohuslav Brauner, botany by 

 N. L. Britton and T. H. Kearny, Jr., astrono- 

 my by Herman S. Davis and J. K. Rees, min- 

 eralogy by G. F. Kunz, and physics by R. 

 A. Millikan. Forty-nine plates accompany 

 these papers. A considerable number of 

 papers that were read during the season 

 either appear elsewhere or have not been 

 published. 



Again Wurtz's Elements of Modern Chem- 

 istry comes to us in a revised (the fifth 

 American) edition (Lippincott, $1.80). Dr. 

 Greene, the translator, has associated Dr. 

 H. F. Keller with himself in this revision 

 and enlargement, which is designed to bring 

 the book thoroughly up to date. The vol- 

 ume now consists of 808 duodecimo pages, 

 and contains 136 cuts. 



Bulletin No. 119 of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey is A Geological Reconnoissance in 

 Northwest Wyoming, by George H. Eldridge 

 (Geological Survey, 10 cents). It gives a 

 sketch of the topography and general geol- 

 ogy of the region, and points out the chief 

 features of its economic geology. First 

 among its useful minerals is a fair quality 

 of coal; petroleum, building stone, brick 

 clays, and a small quantity of gold are also 

 found. 



In a treatise entitled The Constitution 

 and Functions of Gases, the Nature of Ra- 

 diance, and the Law of Radiation, the author, 

 Severinus J. Corrigan, gives a technical 

 presentation of his theory of gases, the basal 

 concept of which is that the atoms of which 

 each molecule of gas is composed revolve 

 about the center of the molecule. He holds 



that his theory enables him to demonstrate 

 the existence of some heretofore unknown 

 properties and functions of gases, to deter- 

 mine the probable nature and the properties 

 of the luminiferous ether and the effective 

 temperature of the sun, and to indicate the 

 probable origin of all thermal, electric, and 

 magnetic forces. (Printed by the Pioneer 

 Press, St. Paul) 



A problem which is receiving increasing 

 attention of late years, namely, what to read, 

 is considered by W. M. Griswold in A De- 

 scriptive List of Books for the Young (the 

 author, Cambridge, Mass.). Biography, Ge- 

 ography, History, Exploration, Natural His- 

 tory, Poetry and Fiction, Amusements and 

 Occupations, and Literature are the chap- 

 ter headings. " Natural Science " is dis- 

 posed of in one page, seven works being 

 recommended. Considering the broad field 

 which this title is usually supposed to cover, 

 the treatment seems a trifle inadequate. 

 That branch of knowledge which has pro- 

 duced the steam engine, the electric light, 

 the telephone, the phonograph, the printing 

 press, modern astronomy, and chemistry, 

 which is supplying material every day tend- 

 ing toward solutions of some of the still nu- 

 merous unsolved problems of existence in 

 fact, which is the great motive force behind 

 modern civilization ought certainly to be 

 represented by more than one page in a list 

 that gives thirty-three pages to fiction. 



Among the many desirable winter re- 

 sorts which are readily accessible to the in- 

 habitant of the eastern United States, there 

 is perhaps none in which more natural beauty 

 and historic interest are combined with an 

 equable temperature than the Windward Isl- 

 ands. It was on one of them that Columbus 

 first set foot in the New World, and since 

 then they have had a most varied and unique 

 history. In a little book of descriptive travel, 

 Cruising among the Caribbees (Scribners, 

 $1.50), Charles A. Stoddard, of the New 

 York Observer, has given an attractive and 

 interesting account of a winter visit to this 

 curious little group. A general description 

 of each island, both as regards topography, 

 industries, and inhabitants, is given " in the 

 rough." Various queer customs and super- 

 stitions and bits of myth and folklore are 

 recounted, and the whole is woven in with 



