210 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 58. 



its alteration Products, Fermentation Indus- 

 tries, Milk, Textile Fibres of Vegetable and 

 Animal Origin, Animal Tissues and their Prod- 

 ucts, Destructive Distillation, Artificial Color- 

 ing Matters, Natural Dyes, Bleaching, Dyeing 

 and Textile Printing. A very complete index 

 iidds to the convenience and worth of the book. 

 The print is excellent, and numerous illustra- 

 tions are distributed through the text. It is, 

 as its name indicates, a 'handbook,' in which 

 the various subjects are concisely and clearly 

 explained, important topics being quite fully 

 considered, while details of less importance, 

 which often become so confusing and wearying 

 to the student or general reader, are but slightly 

 touched upon or entirely omitted. It is pre- 

 sumed that the reader who wishes minute and 

 •extended descriptions will look for them in the 

 larger works or special literature bearing on the 

 particular point in question. 



This book presents, to a greater extent than 

 any other work on the subject, processes and 

 apparatus employed in America and hence will 

 find favor with American readers. A transla- 

 tion which has appeared in German demon- 

 strates, however, that it is also appreciated on 

 the other side of the Atlantic. 



It is to be hoped that a companion volume 

 dealing with the inorganic side of technical 

 chemistry may soon appear. 



Frank H. Thoep. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



THE AUK, JANUARY. 



With the present number ' The Auk ' enters 

 upon its thirteenth year of publication as a 

 quarterly journal of Ornithology, and the ofiicial 

 organ of the American Ornithologists' Union. 

 The first article is a memorial sketch of the late 

 George N. Lawrence, of New York City, by D. 

 G. Elliot. Mr. Lawrence died in January, 

 1895, in the ninetieth year of his age, being the 

 last of the links connecting the present genera- 

 tion of ornithologists with the Audubonian 

 period. He was the last also of the great trio 

 of ornithologists — Cassin, Baird and Lawrence 

 — who from the middle of the century onward 

 laid anew the foundations of American orni- 

 thology. For a period of over fifty years Law- 



rence published almost continously on American 

 birds, more especially on those of the West In- 

 dies, Central and South America, on which he 

 was everywhere recognized as a leading author- 

 ity. Mr. Elliot, from long personal acquaint- 

 ance with Mr. Lawrence, was well fitted to un- 

 fold the tale of his simple life, which he has 

 here done with rare felicity. An excellent 

 portrait of Mr. Lawrence forms a fitting frontis- 

 piece to the number. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, in an article on 

 ' The Standing of Ardetta neoxena, ' illustrated 

 with a colored plate, gives the technical history 

 of a rare and peculiarly interesting Heron, de- 

 scribed about ten years since from a specimen 

 taken in the Florida Everglades, but now 

 known from about fifteen specimens, of which 

 seven have been taken at Toronto, Canada, one 

 each in Michigan and Wisconsin, and the rest 

 in Southern Florida. D. G. Elliot describes 

 two new Ptarmigans from the Aleutian Islands, 

 A. W. Anthony, a new woodpecker from Califor- 

 nia, Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., a new jay from 

 Mexico, and William Brewster, a new warbler 

 and sparrow from North America. George H. 

 Mackay writes of the Colony of Terns that still, 

 thanks to careful protection, have their home 

 on Muskeget Island, Massachusetts ; L. Beld- 

 ing gives a rendering in musical notation of 

 twelve songs of the meadow lark ; and Miss 

 Florence A Merriam writes at length on the 

 habits of the Phainopepla in California. Other 

 leading articles treat of the Pine Grosbeak, of 

 an important factor in the study of Western bird 

 life, and of the Thirteenth Congress of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, held in Wash- 

 ington, November 11-14, 1895. Some fifteen 

 pages are devoted to ' General Notes, ' under 

 which are grouped some thirty short articles 

 relating to the occurrence or habits of as many 

 little known birds, while nearly twenty pages 

 are devoted to reviews of current ornithological 

 literature. There are also several pages de- 

 voted to obituaries and to various items of orni- 

 thological news. 



THE AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, FEBRUARY. 



Notes on the Geology of Eastern California : By 

 H. W. Fairbanks. This part of the Great 

 Basin, on account of its desert character and re- 



