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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



survival of the fittest is illustrated. In 

 the seventh essay certain facts of animal 

 distribution as related to the origin of 

 species are considered; in the eighth 

 (Latitude and Vertebrata) the curious 

 biological problem of the possession of 

 more numerous vertebrae by northern 

 than by tropical fishes is considered a 

 problem the solution of which on any 

 other hypothesis than that of the deri- 

 vation of species would be impossible. 

 The evolution of mind is then taken up 

 as the sum total of all psychic changes, 

 actions, and reactions, and this develop- 

 ment is extended to nations the laws of 

 whose greatness " expand themselves 

 from the laws which govern the growth 

 of the single cell." In the essay on De- 

 generation a lesson is drawn in favor 

 of individual initiative. Hereditary In- 

 efficiency is discussed in view of the dan- 

 ger from pauperism. Some of the aspects 

 of the woman question are considered in 

 another of the essays. In the paper on 

 The Stability of Truth some recent 

 enunciations of Lord Salisbury, Mr. Bal- 

 four, and Haeckel respecting science are 

 criticised. The last essay is on The Strug- 

 gle for Realities, and concerns the rela- 

 tions of science and conservatism, the 

 Church, etc. 



Mr. Robert P. Porter's volume on In- 

 dustrial Cuba * deals with living ques- 

 tions of the island. It aims to give a 

 description of Cuba as it appeared to the 

 author when he visited it in the fall 

 of 1898 as special commissioner of the 

 United States to report on its industrial, 

 commercial, and financial condition. It 

 is the result of nearly seven months' in- 

 quiry and hard work, in which the island 

 was visited three times, more than five 

 hundred witnesses were examined, and 

 " numerous statements " were studied 

 and analyzed. Among the special sub- 

 jects treated of are the political and eco- 

 nomical condition of Cuba, the outlook 

 for labor, the population, sanitary work, 

 Colonel Waring's report, municipal prob- 

 lems in Havana, banks and currency, 

 the revenue and tariffs, commerce, sugar, 

 tobacco, mines and mining, agriculture 



* Industrial Cuba. Being a Study of Present 

 Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Sug- 

 gestions as to the Opportunities presented in the 

 Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and 

 Labor. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 428. Price, $3.50. 



and stock, timber and fruit, transporta- 

 tion, navigation, education and religion, 

 and the outlook for the future. 



Natiiralists and bibliophiles have rea- 

 son to be grateful to Mr. Call for his 

 verbatim reproduction of Rafinesque's 

 Ichthyologia OJiioensis.* The book is of 

 importance as constituting, in the lan- 

 guage of the editor, the foundation of 

 fresh- water ichthyology in America. No 

 book dealing specifically with the Ohio 

 Valley area as a region has since been 

 published. The original description of 

 many fish forms which are now rec- 

 ognized by ichthyologists as good spe- 

 cies were first given in this book, and 

 many have not since been reprinted. 

 Further, the book contains the first 

 and most complete description, to date, 

 of the Ohio River from Pittsburg down, 

 with notices of all its tributaries. Its 

 value as a book about fishes is not 

 limited to the Ohio River, for the spe- 

 cies of that stream are found, to a 

 greater or less extent, throughout the 

 Mississippi Valley, so that it is in ef- 

 fect a necessity to all students of the 

 fresh-water fishes of that territory. The 

 editor regrets that Rafinesque did not 

 preserve in some manner the types of his 

 genera, instead of which, when the tech- 

 nical description was completed and 

 some common form, if one was known, 

 was referred to, the specimen was dis- 

 carded or rejected. Hence his descrip- 

 tions can not be compared conveniently 

 with prepared specimens in cabinets or 

 with descriptions made from them, but 

 the student must go to the river and look 

 up the living fish. The original papers 

 of Rafinesque on fishes were published in 

 The Western Review and Miscellaneous 

 Magazine, Lexington, Ky., in 1819, 1820, 

 and 1821. The matter was then ar- 

 ranged in book form from the same type. 

 Two different systems of pagination re- 

 sulted. These have both been indicated 

 in the present edition by the insertion 

 of the numbers at their proper places. 

 The reprint is an exact copy of the 



* Ichthyologia Ohioensis: or Natural History 

 of the Fishes inhabiting the River Ohio and its 

 Tributary Streams. By C. 8. Eaflnesque. A 

 Verbatim and Literatim Reprint of the Original, 

 with a Sketch of the Life, the Ichthyologic Work, 

 and the Tchthyologic Bibliography of Rafinesque. 

 By Richard Ellsworth Call. Cleveland : The 

 Burrows Brothers Company. Pp. 175. Price, $4. 



