64 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 338 



he was soon to engage. Returning to England, he was in a few 

 years employed to assist in laying out and building the Liverpool 

 and Manchester Railway, on which Stephenson's locomotive engine 

 attained its memorable success. After a while he quarrelled with 

 Stephenson, and parted from him ; but he speedily found employ- 

 ment elsewhere, and for many years was occupied on various rail- 

 roads in Great Britain and Ireland, and afterwards in Germany, Spain, 

 and Brazil. He also built the suspension-bridge over the Dnieper 

 River at Kief, — a structure half a mile long, the construction of 

 which occupied seven years. 



Such were the works performed by Vignoles ; and they entitle 

 him, as his biographer justly says, to a high position among the 

 pioneers of modern engineering. The man had also some excel- 

 lent personal qualities, such as honesty, energy, and conscientious- 

 ness in work ; he had considerable literary skill, as the extracts 

 from his diary and letters show ; and he was considered a pleasant 

 companion in society. On the other hand, as his biographer ad- 

 mits, his temper was not the best; and besides his quarrel with his 

 grandfather, which is left unexplained, he had others with Stephen- 

 son and Brunnel, which are passed over lightly in this book, but 

 which were evidently not to his credit. He was also unskilful 

 financially, and at one time lost eighty thousand pounds through 

 his own imprudence, with the result that he had to begin all anew. 

 In spite of his faults, however, he was a useful man ; and the rec- 

 ord of his life is an interesting story, particularly for members of 

 the engineering profession and for all persons interested in railway 

 history. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



The Catholic Publication Society Company will publish im- 

 mediately "An Explanation of the Constitution' of the United 

 States of America," prepared for the use of Catholic schools and 

 academies, by Francis T. Furey. 



— Professor Max MuUer's new book on "Natural Religion," 

 being the Gifford lectures which he delivered at Glasgow last year, 

 will be issued here in a few days by Longmans, Green, & Co. 



— Lee & Shepard will publish shortly " Pens and Types, or' 

 Hints and Helps to Those who Write, Print, Speak, Teach, or 

 Read," a volume full of new and original matter, by Benjamin 

 Drew. 



— The Forest and Stream Publishing Company have published 

 a book on " Log Cabins and How to Build and Furnish Them," by 

 William S. Wicks, illustrated with many plans and other illustra- 

 tions. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. have issued a catalogue and announce- 

 ments for 1889. Although this catalogue is complete, yet, as it is 

 primarily designed for high-school and college instructors, it gives 

 but very little space to their common-school publications. 



— The delegates of the Clarendon Press will shortly issue Mr. 

 Oliver Aplin's " Birds of Oxfordshire ; " the second volume (treat- 

 ing of electro-dynamics) of Messrs. Watson and Burbury's " Mathe- 

 matical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism ; " and a new edition 

 of the fourth volume (on the dynamics of material systems) of 

 Professor Bartholomew Price's " Treatise on Infinitesimal Cal- 

 culus." 



— Messrs. Triibner & Co. will publish, probably in October, 

 " An Account of the Aborigines of Tasmania, their Manners, 

 Customs, Wars, Hunting, Food, Morals, Language, Origin, and 

 General Characteristics," by Henry Ling Roth, assisted by E. 

 Marion Butler. The work will contain a chapter on the osteology, 

 by Dr. J. G. Garson, and a preface will be contributed by Dr. E. 

 B. Tylor. Numerous autotype plates, from original drawings made 

 by Edith May Roth, will illustrate the text. The edition will be 

 strictly limited to subscribers. 



— Funk & Wagnalls have in preparation an " Encyclopsedia of 

 Missions." The encyclopasdia proposes to give the history, geog- 

 raphy, ethnology, biography, and statistics of missions, from the 

 apostolic times to the present. There will be full maps, diagrams, 

 and a copious index. The best authorities on missions in this 

 country and in England have been consulted, and the materials are 



being furnished from all parts of the mission-field, by those best 

 qualified to give the most accurate and complete information. 



— Rand, McNally, & Co. have just issued the " Globe Series of 

 School Maps," an entirely new series, newly engraved on a large 

 scale, and corrected by the latest official and private data. The 

 series comprises seven maps, — the United States, North America, 

 South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the world on Mer- 

 cator's projection. All excepting the map of the world (which 

 is 58 by 41 inches) are 66 by 44 inches, — a size which permits of 

 their use in the largest schoolrooms, where the details can be seen 

 by the entire class. 



— The annual report of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion will hereafter be issued in the form of a monthly bulletin, the 

 issues of each calendar year constituting a volume. These bulle- 

 tins will be consecutively paged, and the December number will 

 contain an index to the entire series of the year, thus putting them 

 in convenient shape for preservation for reference. By this change 

 the results of the station's work for each season will be placed be- 

 fore the farmers of the State nearly or quite a year earlier than 

 was possible when the annual report was issued in a single volume 

 at the close of the year. The bulletins will be sent to any resident 

 of Ohio free of charge, on application to the Experiment Station, 

 Columbus, O. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. announce for publication Sept. i the 

 " Common School Song-Reader : A Music-Reader for Schools of 

 Mixed Grades," by W. S. Tilden, teacher of music in the State 

 Normal School, Framingham, Mass. This book is designed to 

 adapt and apply the principles of the national system of musical 

 instruction to those schools where the special conditions and grad- 

 ing are such that the full and regularly graded series cannot be so 

 conveniently and effectively used. While containing an interest- 

 ing repertory of school-songs, new and old, which fits it for use 

 where systematic instruction in music is not attempted, it is espe- 

 cially intended for those schools in which the principles of elemen- 

 tary instruction and singing by note are to be taken up according 

 to the most approved methods. Very full instructions for teachers 

 are given at each step. Besides the work in the reading course, a 

 collection of easy pleasing songs in one, two, and three parts (with 

 bass clef), will be found. 



— Robert Grant, the author of " The Confessions of a Frivolous 

 Girl," has written the third article in Scribner's Fishing Series for 

 the August issue, entitled " Tarpon Fishing in Florida." Mr. Grant, 

 during the past winter, made a special trip to St. James City, Fla., 

 to gather material for this article, and had the good fortune during 

 the second day's fishing to capture an enormous tarpon, six feet 

 long, and weighing 132 pounds. His description of his three-hours' 

 fight with this tremendous fish is one of the most graphic pieces of 

 sportman's literature of recent years. The article is fully illus- 

 trated from photographs made at the time, which have been care- 

 fully redrawn by Burns, Woodward, and others. President Henry 

 Morton, in his article on " Electricity in Lighting," will describe 

 the actual processes of manufacturing dynamos and incandescent 

 lights as carried on in some of the largest factories in this country. 

 The illustrations add very much to these descriptions, as they are 

 made from instantaneous photographs taken while the men and 

 women are at work. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. announce for publication in the College 

 Series of Greek authors, " Euripides, Iphigenia among the Tau- 

 rians," edited by Professor Isaac Flagg. Professor Flagg's " Iphi- 

 genia " is not based upon any other commentary, but is an inde- 

 pendent work, adapted to the needs of American colleges, and de- 

 signed to facilitate the sympathetic study of this most charming 

 and justly celebrated drama of Euripides. Since the play is well 

 suited to be taken up as a first tragedy in a course of Greek 

 reading, both the introduction and the notes have been written 

 with especial regard to the enlightenment of beginners in the dra- 

 matic literature. At the same time, the finer insight and higher 

 cravings of the advanced reader are constantly remembered. The 

 introduction sets forth the celebrity of the play, with quotation in 

 full of the most memorable classical passages that bear upon it ; 

 sketches the legend in its literary and popular development ; ex- 



