July 27, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



141 



The most valuable matter to one interested in 

 distribution is the list of one hundred and 

 eleven breeding birds, which concludes the 

 chapter on migration. The work, which was 

 published privately, contains a little over one 

 hundred pages, and is illustrated by six fairly 

 good half-tone plates, representing nests or 

 nesting sites. The text is good and we are 

 glad to recommend the book to the consider- 

 ation of the public. A K F 



D. Lange's little book, ' Our Native Birds and 

 how to protect them and attract them to our 

 homes'* is one of the many popular treatises is- 

 sued for the commendable purpose of awakening 

 public interest in the protection of birds. To 

 make the matter more available and easy of ref- 

 erence the various subjects are treated in eight 

 sections, some of which are further subdivided 

 into chapters. Among the causes of the de- 

 crease of song birds given by the author are lack 

 of proper nesting places, lack of water, the Eng- 

 lish sparrow, boys, collectors, birds on hats, and 

 the cat (which, in the opinion of the reviewer, 

 destroys more bird life than all the others com- 

 bined). For the purpose of protecting the birds 

 and encouraging them to come to the door yards 

 he advocates planting trees, shrubs and vines for 

 them to live in, putting up nesting boxes for 

 breeding purposes, providing an abundance of 

 water for drinking and bathing, and regular 

 feeding in winter and during unfavorable 

 weather generally. 



He very properly deprecates the killing of 

 predaceous mammals and advocates protection 

 for the birds of prey. We rather wish the 

 chapter on ' Birds before Uncle Sam ' had been 

 omitted, but the book as a whole is well got up 

 and should be read by all bird lovers. 



A. K. F. 



BOOKS EECEIVED. 



A Treatise ore ihe Theory of Screws. Robert Stawell 

 Ball. Cambridge, The University Press ; New 

 York, The Macmillan Company, 1900. Pp. xix + 

 544. 18s. 



The Contents of the Fifth and Sixth Books of Euclid Ar- 

 ranged and Explained. M. J. M. Hill, Cam- 

 bridge, The University Press; Nev? York, The Mac- 

 millan Company, 1900. Pp. xii + 143. 

 * Macmillan Co., 66 Fifth avenue. New York 



City. Price, $1.00. 



Aberration and the Electromagnetic Field. Gilbert 

 T. Walker, Cambridge, The University Press ; 

 New York, The Macmillan Company, 1900. Pp. 

 xix -f 96. 5s. 



Exploitation eommerciale des forets. M. H. Vanul- 

 beeghe. Paris, Ganthier-Villars, 1900. Pp. 155. 



Les Phenomenes de Dissolution et leurs Application. V. 

 Thomas. Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1900. Pp. 196. 



Tonometrie. F. M. Eaoult. Paris, G. Carr^ and C. 

 Naud, 1900. Pp. 116. 



V Elimination. H. LoEENT. Paris, G. Carre and C. 

 Naud, 1900. Pp. 75. 



An Outline of the Theory of Thermodynamics. Edg AR 

 Buckingham. New York and London, The Mac- 

 millan Company, 1900. Pp xix +205. §1.90. 



SCIENTIFIC JO URNAL8 AND ARTICLES- 

 The Journal of Geology for May-June, 1900, 

 opens with an article on ' Methods of Study- 

 ing Earthquakes,' by Charles Davison. Three 

 methods of determining the epicenter are dis- 

 cussed, depending respectively on the direction 

 of the force, the time of occurrence at successive 

 points, and the intensity of the shock. Double- 

 shock earthquakes are put into two classes : 

 those in which two successive shocks, separated 

 by an interval of fifteen seconds or more, pro- 

 ceed from a single epicenter ; and ' twin earth- 

 quakes,' having two foci whose impulses are 

 due to the same initial stress. In these the in- 

 terval between the two shocks varies from zero 

 to a few seconds. E. E. Barbour describes 

 ' Glacial Grooves and Striae in Nebraska,' giv- 

 ing the geographical distribution of glaciation 

 and the direction of the striae. Charles E. 

 Monroe notes a ' New Area of Devonian Eocks 

 in Wisconsin.' The area is a small one near the 

 northern boundary of Ozankee county in the 

 vicinity of the village of Lake Church. He 

 gives a list of Devonian fossils from this outcrop. 

 C. E. Keyes contributes an article on ' Kinder- 

 hook Stratigraphy.' The data of recent deep 

 well drillings along the Mississippi Eiver are 

 brought to bear upon the perplexing question 

 of the correlation of the Kinderhook beds at 

 Burlington, la., with those of Illinois and Mis- 

 souri. In a paper on the ' Probable occurrence 

 of a larger area of Nepheline-beariug rocks on 

 the northeast coast of Lake Superior,' Frank D. 

 Adams describes thin sections of rocks from a 



