5 6 4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in vertical columns; and in horizontal red 

 lines within the columns the lives of the 

 persons whose names the lines respectively 

 bear, with arrowheads pointing out the 

 years of their birth and death. The chart 

 is otherwise arranged in three grand divi- 

 sions, viz., literature, thought, discovery, in- 

 vention, etc. ; second, fine arts ; and, third, 

 music ; while prominent movements and 

 events marking the progress in each division 

 are duly and plainly noticed. Attached to 

 the chart is an index, by the aid of which 

 each name recorded may be easily found. 



A series of seventy-two Normal Tem- 

 perature Charts, by Decades, for the United 

 States and the Dominion of Canada, com- 

 piled by Mr. A. J. Henry, and published 

 by the Signal Department under General 

 Greely, comprises reductions of observa- 

 tions from about sixty stations, selected so 

 as to represent the entire area of the coun- 

 try. These charts, it is observed, have be- 

 come a necessary aid in the work of the 

 Forest Division, and have been published in 

 the expectation that they will also become 

 valuable adjuncts in the duties of local ob- 

 servers, with reference to forecasting the 

 weather and furnishing information ; as well 

 as to observers charged with the preparation 

 of weekly or monthly crop bulletins. 



Prof. Adolphe Dreyspring's method of 

 teaching the French and German languages 

 is conformed to the maxim Repetitio mater 

 stitdiorum, or the rule of constant repetition. 

 He uses only a limited vocabulary and en- 

 larges it slowly ; and exercises the pupil in 

 all possible changes hi the use and order of 

 these words, and hi a great variety of adap- 

 tations. Then he tries to make his lessons 

 interesting and amusing by casting them in 

 the form of a story, and illustrating them 

 with pictures which, while pleasing to the 

 eye, suggest the translation. The French 

 Reader, on the Cumulative Method, is intend- 

 ed to follow the Easy Lessons in French, as a 

 first attempt at more extended reading. In 

 it the pupil will find a vocabulary familiar 

 from the Easy Lessons, to which much has 

 been added that is new. The book recites 

 the story of Rodolph and Coco the chimpan- 

 zee, which has been composed with consider- 

 able knowledge of what children like, and is 

 adapted to instruct them and amuse them at 

 ,once. (American Book Company.) 



A Report on the Higgimville Sheet, La- 

 fayette County, is the first of a series of 

 similar reports which are to be issued by the 

 Geological Survey of Missouri, Arthur Wins- 

 low, State Geologist, containing the results of 

 detailed examination in the respective areas. 

 The localities selected for such work are 

 those which are of prominent economic im- 

 portance or of great geological and scientific 

 interest. The form of publication is novel, 

 and is intended to bring forward the map 

 and section sheet as the prominent features, 

 subordinating the report to them. Hence, 

 the form of the modern small map sheet is 

 adopted, with a scale of an inch to the 

 mile, each map representing a quarter of a 

 degree on each side, or one sixteenth of a 

 square degree. The map is geological and 

 topographical, and is accompanied with a 

 section sheet containing cross-sections of 

 profiles and underground structure and num- 

 bered columnar sections showing details of 

 geological formations. 



Truth in Fiction, by Paul Carus (Open 

 Court Publishing Company, Chicago), in- 

 cludes Twelve Tales with a Moral, or rather 

 allegories, for only the first one, The Chiefs 

 Daughter, is a real story, and in that the 

 allegorical significance is as prominent as are 

 the incidents. The lesson taught by it is that 

 while we may throw away ordinances and 

 ceremonies, we need not forget the princi- 

 ples and the truths which they cover, and 

 which they are intended to symbolize or 

 suggest. In the second story, After the 

 Distribution of the Type, the doctrine is sug- 

 gested that, while the man passes away, his 

 work, that which he taught and gave to 

 mankind, lives on eternally ; and in that is 

 the real immortality. In like manner the 

 particular forms of doctrine and philosophy 

 which Mr. Carus upholds are presented, 

 and agnostic principles are defended, or 

 those features which he regards as absurd 

 are satirized, in the other stories. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Agricultural Experiment Stations, Bulletins. 

 Iowa, Massachusetts: Analysis of Commercial 

 Fertilizers. Ohio: Bulletin and Eleventh Annual 

 Report. 



Agriculture, United States Department of. 

 North American Fauna of the Death Valley Ex- 

 pedition. Pp. 394. With Plates. 



Bishop, Cortlandt F. History of Elections in 

 the American Colonies. New York: Columbia 

 College. Pp.297. 



