130 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Authors and Publishers. A Manual of 

 Suggestions for Beginners in Literature. 

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

 96. 



The forcible presentation in this work 

 of the publisher's side of the questions on 

 which publishers and authors are supposed 

 to be liable to controversy or misunder- 

 standing has awakened a lively discussion 

 in the literary journals relative to the merits 

 and faults of the two classes. This is well, 

 for the subject is important, vague ideas 

 prevail about it, and the questions relating 

 to it should be settled, so that all can un- 

 derstand the situation, and be ready to ac- 

 cept it. This matter is, however, only an 

 incident in the general purpose of the 

 book, which is to teach young authors how 

 to compose their books and to make bar- 

 gains with publishers, so as to secure the 

 greatest advantages to themselves, and at 

 the same time make matters easy for the 

 trade. The work contains a description of 

 publishing methods and arrangements, di- 

 rections for the preparation of manuscript 

 for the press, explanations of the details of 

 book-manufacturing, instructions for proof- 

 reading, specimens of typography, the text 

 of the United States copyright law, and in- 

 formation concerning international copy- 

 rights, and useful general hints for authors. 

 All this is of practical value to those who 

 are bent on authorship, and are determined 

 to disregard the advice given in the book to 

 refrain from it. 



Record for the Sick-Room. Philadelphia : 

 P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 26. Price, 

 25 cents each, $2.50 per dozen. 



The book is a set of blank tables, each 

 ruled so as to give a record of the condi- 

 tion of a single patient during twelve hours. 

 Columns are provided to show the condition 

 of the pulse, temperature, respiration, and 

 bowels, the medicines and nourishment 

 given, the baths or lotions administered, 

 the temperature of the room, and general 

 notes on the condition of the patient, at 

 each hour, with space at the foot of the 

 table for the physician's directions and 

 memoranda for the nurse. The second page 

 of the cover is occupied with directions for 

 nurses, lists of poisons and their antidotes, 

 and instructions for emergencies. 



Contributions to the History of Lake 

 Bonneville. By G. K. Gilbert. Wash- 

 ington : Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 32, with Plates. 



This monograph is a part of the report 

 of the Director of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey. The study of which it re- 

 cords the results is one of a series designed 

 to include all the lakes of the Quaternary 

 formation. The geological structure of the 

 Great Salt Lake Valley indicates that it was 

 once the seat of an immense lake, with 

 shores a thousand feet above the level of 

 the present lake, while the mountains around 

 bear the marks of shore-lines at different 

 levels, testifying to a system of oscillations 

 of the waters of this great sheet. Mr. Gil- 

 bert's studies were directed to the determi- 

 nation of the period at which this lake ex- 

 isted, and of the order of its oscillations. 

 His conclusions are, that the history of the 

 lake reveals the existence of two periods of 

 maxima of moisture, separated by an inter- 

 val of extreme dryness ; that the time since 

 the Bonneville epoch has been briefer than 

 the epoch, and that the two together are in- 

 comparably briefer than such a geologic 

 period as the Tertiaiy ; that the period of 

 volcanic activity in the Great Basin, which 

 covered a large share of Tertiary time, con- 

 tinued through the Quaternary also, and 

 presumably has not yet ended; that such 

 earth-movements as are concerned in the 

 molding of continents had not ceased in 

 Western Utah at the close of the Bonne- 

 ville epoch, and presumably have not yet 

 ceased ; and that the Wahsatch Range has 

 recently increased in height, and presumably 

 is still growing. 



Libraries and Readers. By William 

 E. Foster. Pp. 136. Libraries and 

 Schools. Papers selected by Samuel S. 

 Green. Pp. 126. New York : F. Ley- 

 poldt. Price, 50 cents each. 



One of the good signs of the times is 

 the increased attention that is given to the 

 management of public libraries and the cul- 

 tivation of correct reading habits and a taste 

 for profitable reading in the general public. 

 Both these books bear on these objects. 

 The first relates to the direction of the at- 

 tention of those who visit the libraries to 

 the books that will be most advantageous 

 to them — facts to be learned as to each 



