500 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 171. 



Talismans and Charms,' being replete with 

 curious lore. The sketch of ' Apothecaries and 

 their Bills ' throws light on early methods of 

 pharmacy. The title of this volume would 

 lead one to suppose that the romantic features 

 of alchemy at the court of Rudolph II. might 

 be included, but there is no reference to this 

 German Hermes. It is ungracious to criticise 

 a book by its omissions, but it is certainly 

 singular to find no mention of the host of Ger- 

 man alchemists who flourished under Rudolph 

 II. and under Augustus of Saxony. Surely the 

 careers of Sendivogius, of Richthausen, of Gus- 

 tenhover and of Botticher were suificiently 

 romantic ! Part II. of the volume contains 

 quotations of alchemical and pharmaceutical 

 interest from the writings of Chaucer, Shake- 

 speare, Spenoer, Soott, Dumas and other 

 authors. The illustrations are poorly selected, 

 and there is no index. 



H. Caerington Bolton. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



We have received from Messrs. Lemcke & 

 Buechner, New York, the first issue of a bib- 

 liography of German periodical literature, com- 

 piled by Dr. T. Dietrich, and published in 

 Leipzig by Fr. Andra's Nachfolger. The Bib- 

 liography aims to accomplish for German liter- 

 ature what is done by the English ' Index to 

 Periodicals' andoui' own ' Literary Index,' but 

 pays relatively more attention to scientific jour- 

 nals. Technical science and medicine, includ- 

 ing, it appears, physiology, etc., are however 

 excluded, owing to the indexes already estab- 

 lished. The present Bibliography, for the year 

 1896, contains about 8,500 titles from about 275 

 journals. It is a subject index, the entries not be- 

 ing made under the names of authors, which les- 

 sens its usefulness for scientific purposes. Such 

 a bibliography, however, will prove of much 

 value, and we cordially endorse the wish of the 

 compiler that it may be subscribed for by suf- 

 ficient libraries to pay the costs of publication 

 and permit of its enlargement. 



The Psychological Index, a bibliography of 

 the literature of psychology and cognate sci- 

 ences, has been issued for the year 1897. The 

 compilers, Dr. Livingston Farrand, Columbia 

 University, and Dr. Howard C. Warren, Prince- 



ton University, have this year been assisted by 

 M. N. Vaschide, Paris, and Dr. B. Borchardt, 

 Berlin, representing, respectively, Uannee psy- 

 chologique and the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie. 

 The value of the Index is greatly increased by 

 the promptness with which it is issued. It will 

 prove useful not only to psychologists, but also 

 to men of science in other departments having 

 some relation to psychology. No less than 

 2,465 titles are recorded for the year 1897. 

 Their distribution may be given as an illustra- 

 tion of the field covered by modern psychology, 

 general, 221 titles; genetic, comparative and 

 individual psychology, 626 ; anatomy and 

 physiology of the nervous system, 322 ; sensa- 

 tion, 142 ; consciousness, attention and intel- 

 lection, 269 ; feeling, 102 ; movement and 

 volition, 135 ; abnormal and pathological, 647. 

 The American Journal of Science for April 

 opens with an article by Professor Langley on 

 the bolometer. It has been used during recent 

 years to make a map of the lower spectrum, 

 but the publication of results has been delayed 

 in the Government Printing Office, and Pro- 

 fessor Langley here gives some account of the 

 improvements that have been made since the 

 instrument was first described. It is now about 

 400 times as sensitive as then, and will indicate 

 a change of less than one-ten-millionth of one de- 

 gree Centigrade. Mr. Arthur Durward contrib- 

 utes from the Jefferson Physical Laboratory of 

 Harvard University a series of measurements of 

 the temperature coefficients of the seasoned hard 

 steel magnets whose induction coefficients have 

 recently been investigated by Professor B. O. 

 Pierce. Mr. Charles T. Knipp describes a new 

 method of electrically giving seconds, without 

 reference, however, to other similar devices. 

 Other articles in the current number are : 

 ' Skull of Amphictis,' by E. S. Riggs ; ' Condi- 

 tion of Oxidation of Manganese precipitated by 

 the Chlorate Process,' by F. A. Gooch and M. 

 Austin ; ' San Angelo Meteorite,' by H. L. Pres- 

 ton ; Pre-Glacial Decay of Rocks in Eastern 

 Canada,' by R. Chalmers ; ' Datolite from Guan- 

 ajuato,' by O. C. Farrington ; ' Clinohedrite, a 

 new mineral from Franklin, N. J.,' by S. L. 

 Penfield and H. W. Foote, and ' Rhodolite, a 

 New Variety of Garnet,' by W. E. Hidden and 

 J. H. Pratt. 



