JUNE 14, 1901.] 
as a sub-topic, somewhat illogically as it would 
seem. 
Many minor uses of clays, as in cements, 
paints, paper-filling, road-materials, etc., are 
next reviewed, and then the various tests of 
different clay products are described as an aid 
to the practical worker. An extensive com- 
pilation of clay analyses, an excellent bibliog- 
raphy and a directory of clay workers in New 
York State conclude the bulletin. 
The book is encyclopedic in treatment and 
will prove a valuable work of reference not 
only within but without the State. 
J. F. Kemp. 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 
SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 
THE first number has been issued of Kirch- 
hoff’s Technische Blatter, a weekly periodical not 
intended for popular reading, but having for its 
purpose the accurate rendition of scientific and 
technical matter. The idea of its editor and 
publisher is to supply these ‘leaves’ not only 
to individual subscribers but, and principally, 
to the subscribers to the newspapers, as supple- 
ments to regularissues. By this plan the news- 
paper is able to offer its readers popular but 
scientifically correct accounts of current prog- 
ress and advances in technical departments, 
written by scientific men of recognized stand- 
ing and often without appreciable additional ex- 
pense. The list of already promised contribu- 
tions includes articles by a large proportion of 
the leading scientific men of Germany and 
many in other countries. The first num- 
ber contains, for example, articles on the 
Berlin-Cologne electric railway by Arthur 
Kirchhoff, on metallurgical work by Dr. Wed- 
ding, on his flying machine by Hofmann, 
on the steam-turbine by Professor Kubler, 
and a variety of other interesting matter, well 
condensed as also well selected. The en- 
terprise is a novel one and deserves success. 
One would think that such a plan would prove 
practicable in the United States, more than in 
Europe; since many of our newspapers, no- 
tably the New York Sun and the Times, have 
long owed something of their reputation to 
their interest in, and accuracy of statememt 
SCIENCE. 
947 
regarding, scientific and technical matters. 
Like the new German periodical, they have se- 
cured their information from experts familiar 
with the subjects discussed and competent not 
only to present a clear and concise account of 
a scientific or technical advance, butalso to ad- 
vise regarding the importance of the matter 
and the advisability of giving it space. Fads 
and frauds and follies are thus avoided. 
I, BL, WN, 
The American Naturalist for May begins with 
an account of ‘Two New Myrmecophilous 
Genera of Aberrant Phoridz from Texas,’ by 
Charles T. Bruce, these being wingless Diptera 
of a family before unknown in America. L. B. 
Walton discusses ‘The Metathoracic Pterygoda 
of the Hexapoda and their Relation to the 
Wings,’ concluding that the typical thoracic 
segment possesses the components of both ptery- 
godum and wing, and Vernon L. Kellogg con- 
siders ‘Phagocytosis in the Postembryonic 
Development of the Diptera.’ H.S. Jennings 
has a paper ‘On the Significance of the Spiral 
Swimming of Organisms,’ considering that by 
means of this many creatures, even those not 
symmetrical, are enabled to pursue what in the 
main is a straight course. The ‘Synopses of 
North American Invertebrates’ contains the 
second part of the Hydromeduse, by Chas. W. 
Hargitt. The ‘Reviews of Recent Literature’ 
are unusually numerous, occupying nearly 40 
pages. 
The Plant World for May contains the final 
part of ‘Hints on Herborizing,’ by A. H. Cur- 
tiss ; ‘The Asparagus Rust,’ by Byron D. Hal- 
stead, and many briefer articles, notes on current 
literature and reviews. In the ‘Families of 
Flowering Plants,’ Charles L. Pollard treats a 
number of families of the Rosales. 
The Journal of the Boston Society of Medical 
Sciences for April 23, contains ‘ A Contribution 
to the Normal Histology and Pathology of the 
Hemolymph Glands,’ by A. S. Warthin ; a sec- 
ond paper on ‘ The Relation between Physique 
and Mental Work,’ by Henry G. Beyer, in 
which additional evidence is adduced to show 
that, as a rule, physical and mental ability go 
hand in hand, and an article on ‘Typhoid 
