418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the work demanded. Illustrations, more- 

 over, of horses, or of special points of them, 

 drawn without the aid of photography, are 

 liable to be affected by the bias of the art- 

 ist. In this book, photography, as far as 

 practicable, is relied on for illustration. For 

 further light on the respective points of 

 speed and strength in the horse, the con- 

 formation of other animals that are distin- 

 guished by the possession of one or other of 

 these gifts in a high state of perfection is 

 examined. A more exhaustive inquiry is 

 also made into the nature of the paces and 

 of the leap of the horse than has previously 

 been attempted ; the object being to obtain 

 from it exact deductions as to the best kind 

 of conformation for various forms of work. 

 The first principles of conformation having 

 been laid down, descriptions are given of 

 the structure of the body, the anatomy, the 

 mechanism of breathing, the distribution of 

 weight, the levers, the mechanism of loco- 

 motion and of draft, the attitudes and paces, 

 the comparative shape, the trunk, the limbs, 

 action, hardiness, and cleverness, condition 

 and good looks, weight-carrying and stay- 

 ing power ; blood, symmetry, and compensa- 

 tions, special points of various classes and 

 various breeds of horses, wild horses, asses, 

 the evolution of the horse, photographing 

 horses, and proportions of the horse ; con- 

 cluding with criticisms of painters' horses. 

 The book is furnished with a bibliography 

 and an index, and is illustrated with seventy- 

 seven plates, reproductions of photographs, 

 and two hundred and five drawings. 



In reading over the Rev. A. J. Church's 

 book of Stories from the Greek Comedians, 

 we are reminded again of the intense human- 

 likeness that pervades all the Greek writings, 

 which has given them their long life and 

 makes them as fresh and readable as the day 

 they were written. We should hardly an- 

 ticipate finding in the little pieces of Aris- 

 tophanes, written in the days of the Peleopon- 

 nesian war to make the Athenian populace 

 laugh over the petty vices and follies of their 

 fellow-citizens and reflect, if they would, 

 over their own course character sketches 

 that would fit as well to-day in New York 

 or any other American city: exposures of 

 tricks and devices to gain influence, wealth, 

 and power, from which those now familiar 



among our own politicians and speculators 

 might have been copied; views of similar 

 " rings " and similar demagogues currying 

 favor with the people in the same ways, and 

 a similar populace binding itself in consid- 

 eration of little bits of patronage and flat- 

 tery to them ; the " labor element " with its 

 demands and threats and the leaders bowing 

 to them. But these are all to be found in 

 one or another of the nine comedies of Aris- 

 tophanes ; and he might as well have lived 

 and written in New York or Chicago at the 

 end of the nineteenth century as in Athens 

 2,300 years ago. His manner of presentation 

 might be changed to suit modern fashions, 

 but the substance and the essential features 

 of the characters and situations would be 

 the same. Besides Aristophanes, Philemon, 

 Diphilus, Menander, and Apollodorus are rep- 

 resented in the book, having passed through 

 the Latin versions of Plautus and Terence. 

 Mr. Church does not give us the plays as 

 such, but the kernel of them, in the form of 

 stories, with parts of the dialogue. (Price, 

 $1.) 



The bulletin on TJie Salt and Gypsum 

 Industries of New York, contributed to the 

 New York State Museum by F. J. H. Mer- 

 rill, Assistant State Geologist, is published in 

 accordance with the law of 1892 relating to 

 the appropriation for the geological map. 

 Its purpose being not merely to publish such 

 new information as can be gathered, but to 

 give in concise form what has previously 

 been made public, besides the author's own 

 surveys, other authentic sources of informa- 

 tion have been drawn upon. The account 

 proper of the New York salt beds is pre- 

 ceded by general observations on the distri- 

 bution and origin of salt, the composition of 

 sea water, and the deposition of salt beds. 

 Then are given the story of the development 

 of the Onondaga salt field, the discovery of 

 rock salt, the geology of the salt and gyp- 

 sum, the altitude of the salt beds, well bor- 

 ing and tubing, the mining of rock salt, 

 analyses ; descriptions of the manufacture of 

 salt in the State of New York by solar 

 evaporation, direct fire evaporation, steam 

 evaporation, and vacuum evaporation ; with 

 comparison of brines and processes, and 

 statistics and facts. The account of the 

 gypsum industry in New York, following the 

 articles on salt, includes the descriptions of 



