1890.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 45 



Other chapters bear upon matters of great importance to heahh. This 

 method of physical culture is especially fitted to the home and to schools 

 where little apparatus can be used. 



Scientific Catalogues. By W. P. Collins, London, England. 



Catalogue No. 19 (June, 1889) contains a list of scientific books on 

 Cryptogamia, Algae, including the Desmidieas and Diatomaceae, Bac- 

 teria, Ferns, Fungi, Lichens, and Mosses. 



Catalogue No. 21 (October, 1SS9) contains a list of Vertebrata, in- 

 cluding Amphibia, Mammalia, Aves, Pisces, and Reptilia. 



Catalogue No. 33 (December, 1889) ^^^ Microscopy (including Pet- 

 rography) , contains a large stock of pamphlets and excerpts from scien- 

 tific journals classified and arranged for easy selection. A list of micro- 

 scopical journals is also given. 



Notes 071 the Fishes of Cayuga Lake Basin. By S. E. Meek, 

 pp. 397-316 (reprint). 



This is a descriptive and annotated list of such fishes as the writer 

 found in 1885 and 1886. The nomenclature is that of Jordan and Gil- 

 bert. The specimens are at Cornell University. 



Lessons in Botany, By Alphonso Wood, A. M., Ph. D. I3°, 230 

 pp. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. (Price $1.00.) 



Children when twelve or thirteen years old may well begin the study 

 of Botany. Dr. Wood's " Lessons" may be used for the purpose. It 

 is beautifully illustrated with 533 figures, and has a carefully-prepared 

 pronouncing index and glossary. We wish that the number of tech- 

 nical terms were very greatly reduced, but even the learning of these 

 would furnish as much mental discipline as an equal amount of study 

 devoted to Latin. Wood's lessons were originally written more than 

 twenty years ago, but the editor has endeavored to incorporate the latest 

 histological and microscopical research. We hope the publishers will 

 take especial pains to introduce it into high-schools. In the Appendix 

 is an analysis of the natural orders, by means of which the family of 

 any plant in the United States may be determined, but there is no way 

 of determining genus or species. 



jEleme72ts of Astro?zomy. By Charles A. Young, Ph. D., LL. D. 

 13°. 473 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston. (Price $1.55.) 



This book is designed as a high school text-book. Much of the ma- 

 terial is taken from the author's " General Astronomy," and many of 

 the illustrations are used, but the entire matter has been carefully 

 w^orked over, eliminating the more complexed features. Many of the 

 statements are necessarily incomplete on account of the elementary 

 character of the book, but they are all correct and accurate so far as they 

 go. No mathematics higher than elementary algebra and geometry is 

 introduced ; in the foot-notes and in the appendix an occasional trigo- 

 nometric formula is given. 



The illustrations, over a hundred and fifty in number, are well exe- 

 cuted and many of them are geometrical in their nature, while others 

 are taken from photographs. Especially noteworthy among them are, 

 the great telescope of the Lick Observatory, the great sun spot of Sep- 

 tember, 1870, and the structure of the photosphere, map of the moon 

 from Neison, Gassendi, photographic telescope of the Paris Observa- 

 tory, the Melbourne reflector, and the various maps of the constellations. 



