126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which the ancient learning was embraced, 

 and, " had it not been for the efforts of Jew- 

 ish translators, it is quite likely that the 

 darkness of the middle ages would have 

 enveloped us a good while longer." They 

 were also active in the arts and trades, and 

 carried on commerce. These statements 

 are not bare assertions, but are sustained 

 by abundant citations and references to au- 

 thorities, which really constitute the bulk of 

 the volume. 



Lake Agassiz : A Chapter in Glacial Ge- 

 ology. By Warren Upham. Winona, 

 Minn. : Jones & Kroeger, Printers. Pp. 

 24. 



Lake Agassiz is the name given to a 

 body of water which is supposed to have 

 been formed in the basin of the Red River 

 of the North and of Lake Winnipeg, during 

 the final melting and recession of the ice- 

 sheet. Measured by the shore-line it was 

 175 miles, in a direct line 142 miles, from 

 north to south. At its greatest height its 

 outlet was about 1,055 feet above the sea, 

 and was then through the valley of the 

 Minnesota River, the flow to the north 

 which the rivers of the valley now take hav- 

 ing been restrained at that time by the 

 thickness of the continental ice-sheet. The 

 elucidating of these hypotheses is accom- 

 panied by a study in detail of the geological 

 features of the district supposed to have 

 been occupied by the lake. 



The Iroquois Book of Rites. Edited by 

 Horatio Hale, M. A. Philadelphia : D. 

 G. Brinton. Pp. 222. Price, $3. 



This is the second volume of the "Library 

 of Aboriginal American Literature" of which 

 Dr. Brinton has undertaken the publication. 

 The book itself is an aboriginal composition, 

 partly in the Mohawk and partly in the 

 Onondaga languages, and comprises the 

 speeches, songs, and other ceremonies which 

 composed the proceedings of the council 

 when a deceased chief was lamented and 

 his successor was installed in oflBce. The 

 ritual, which had been preserved by tradi- 

 tion for a period of unknown duration, was 

 reduced to writing at about the middle of 

 the last century, when many of the mem- 

 bers of the tribes having learned to write 

 in the orthography devised by the mission- 

 aries, the chiefs of the great council directed 



its composition in that form for permanent 

 preservation. Copies of one part of the 

 work were obtained by Mr. Hale from John 

 Smoke Johnson, Speaker of the Great Coun- 

 cil, and a descendant of Sir William John- 

 son, and Chief John Buck, Record Keeper; 

 and of the other part, from the interpreter 

 Daniel La Fort, of Onondaga Castle. Be- 

 sides the ritual-books in their originals and 

 English translations, with glossaries and 

 notes, the volume contains a history of the 

 Iroquois nation and league, an exposition of 

 its policy, an account of the origin and com- 

 position of the books, a review of the his- 

 torical traditions of the nation, and an 

 analysis of the Iroquois language. The 

 book is one of great ethnological value, in 

 the light it casts on the political and social 

 life, as well as the character and capacity, 

 of the people with whom it originated. 



"The HoMffiOPATHic Leader.'' Edited by 

 Walter Williams Cowl, M. D., and As- 

 sociates. Monthly: July, 1883. Pp. 

 78. Price, per year, $4. 



This is the first number of a new maga- 

 zine, the intended character of which is in- 

 dicated by its name. It contains, besides a 

 poetical salutatory, nine contributed articles 

 on subjects of disease and treatment, edi. 

 torial articles, notes, and proceedings of 

 homoeopathic societies. The editor reports 

 upon a kind of election he has taken among 

 the practitioners called homoeopathic, for 

 the purpose of determining to what extent 

 they adhere to the original principles of the 

 school, in which they have been accused of 

 indulging a growing laxity. So far as the 

 " returns " have come in, the majority still 

 appear to " continue to believe in infinitesi- 

 mals and dynamization, they still believe in 

 the law of similars, and continue to honor 

 the man who declared the fact and proved 

 its truth." 



A Practical Arithmetic. By G. A. Went- 



worth, a. M., and Rev. Thomas Hill, 



D. D., LL. D. Boston : Ginn, Heath & 



Co. Pp. 351. Price, 81.10. 



There is much that is new in this book 



as compared with the arithmetics of ten years 



ago, notably in the arrangement. After five 



pages on " Numbers," " Decimal Fractions " 



are at once introduced, and are explained by 



means of the divisions of United States 



