272 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 350 



— D. Appleton & Co. have ready " A Text-Book of Animal 

 Physiology," with introductory chapters on general biology and a 

 full treatment of reproduction, by Dr. Wesley Mills. They have 

 nearly ready " Lessons on Hygiene," a revision of " How We Live," 

 by James Johonnot and Eugene Bouton, prepared under the direc- 

 tion of Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, superintendent of the Educational 

 Department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 



— Charles Scribner's Sons have ready the second volume of the 

 ■" Cyclopaedia of Music and Musicians," vi-hich contains, besides 

 many text portraits of musicians and singers and facsimile scores 

 and autographs, full-page etched portraits of Gounod, Handel, 

 Haydn, Lasso, Liszt, Lully, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Mozart, Paine, 

 Palestrina, and Purcell ; and a new book by Donald G. Mitchell 

 (Ik Marvel) entitled " English Lands, Letters, and Kings, from 

 Celt to Tudor." 



— Harper & Brothers published on Oct. ii a volume on the 

 ■" Constitutional History of the United States," by George Ticknor 

 Curtis. It is a revised edition of Mr. Curtis's earlier work, which, 

 though published thirty years ago, remains to-day the established 

 authority on the history of the formation and adoption of the Con- 

 stitution. Many years ago Silas Wright, then United States senator 

 from New York, requested George Bancroft to write a life of Martin 

 Van Buren, and furnished a complete collection of papers and 

 letters as materials for the work. From these and other sources 

 Mr. Bancroft compiled a biography which Van Buren, when he saw 

 the manuscript, pronounced to be authentic and true as a record of 

 facts relating to himself. Party feeling ran high at the time, and 

 Mr. Bancroft deemed it best to postpone the publication of the 

 work until the character and career of Van Buren could be judged 

 without prejudice. Nearly coincidently with the author's eighty- 

 ninth birthday, Messrs. Harper & Brothers published this biogra- 

 phy, which is entitled " Martin Van Buren to the End of his Public 

 Career." In his preface Mr. Bancroft says, " In my recent revision 

 of the original manuscript, I have made no change that could affect 

 Van Buren's approval of it as thoroughly correct." 



— Messrs. John Wiley & Sons have just issued " A Chart Rela- 

 tive to the Composition, Digestibility, and Nutritive Value of Food," 

 prepared by Professor Henry A. Mott, Ph.D., LL.D. The sub- 

 jects of the chart are arranged under the following heads : " Rela- 

 tive Value of Foods;" "Digestibility of Foods;" "Most Easily 

 Digested Substances ; " " Daily Proportions of Carbon and Nitro- 

 gen in the Food of Different Ages per Pound Weight of the Body ; " 

 "Substances absorbed and discharged during Twenty-four Hours ;" 

 ■" Amount of Digestive Fluids secreted Daily, and the Proportion 

 of their Chief Constituents ; " "A Dinner that will digest within 

 Two Hours ; " " Uses of Food in the Body ; " " Way in which 

 Nutrients are used in the Body, and supply it with Strength ; " 

 •" Nitrogen and Carbon required Daily to support Life ; " " Alimen- 

 tary Substances in a Dry State required Daily for the Support of 

 an Ordinary Workingman of Average Height and Weight ; " 

 ■" Standards for Daily Dietaries ; " " Standard for Ordinary Man 

 doing Moderate Muscular Work;" "Warmth and Strength de- 

 rived from Various Articles of Food and Drink ; " " Composition 

 of Various Meats ; " " Composition of Meat Extracts ; " " Composi- 

 tion of Fish and Shell-Fish ; " " Composition of Vegetables ; " 

 " Composition of Farinaceous Foods ; " " Composition of a Hen's 

 Egg ; " " Composition of Cocoa ; " " Composition of Coffee ; " " Com- 

 position of Tea ; " " Composition of Various Kinds of Cheese ; " 

 ■" Analyses of Cheese ; " " Analysis of Milk ; " " Analysis of the 

 Products of the Dairy ; " " Analysis of Condensed Milk ; " " Analy- 

 sis of American Wines;" "Approximate Analysis of a Man;" 

 " Fruits arranged in the Order of their Contents of Free Acid 

 expressed as Hydrate of Malic Acid ; " " Fruits arranged in the 

 Order of their Contents of Sugar;" "Fruits arranged according 

 to the Proportion between Acid, Sugar, Pectin, Gum, etc. ; " 

 " Working Power of the Human Body ; " " Thermotic Power and 

 Mechanical Energy of Ten Grains of the Material in its Normal 

 Condition when completely burned in Oxygen and when oxidized 

 into Carbonic Acid ; " " Water and Urea in the Animal Body ; " 

 "Ingredients and Food-Materials;" " Quanlily of Nitrogen and 

 Carbon in loo parts of Various Alimentary Articles." The price 

 of the chart, mounted on rollers, is $1.25. 



— Ticknor & Co. have just published a limited edition of the late 

 Carl Pfeiffer's work, " American Mansions and Cottages," con- 

 taining one hundred folio plates in a portfolio. They have also 

 just ready a one-volume edition of Charles Wickes's " Illustrations 

 of Spires and Towers of the Mediseval Churches of England." 



— Edward Atkinson has contributed an article on " The' Art of 

 Cooking," which will open the 'November Po/>u/ar Science Monthly. 

 In jt he points out what enormous quantities of food and fuel are 

 wasted in ordinary cooking, and describes the " cooker " and " oven" 

 invented by him, which need but a wonderfully small quantity of 

 oil or gas, and cannot spoil the food. Col. Garrick Mallery's ad- 

 dress before the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, on " Israelite and Indian," will be published in the same 

 number. It shows the remarkable similarity between the mortuary 

 customs and religious beliefs and practices of the two peoples, but 

 Col. Mallery draws a conclusion from this parallel unfavorable to 

 the suggested descent of the Indians from the " lost tribes." "The . 

 Decadence of Farming," as shown by the number of farms for sale 

 and the prevalence of farm mortgages, will be explained by Mr. 

 Joel Benton in this number (the writer maintaining that our modes 

 of taxation bear more heavily on the farmers than on any other 

 class); and there will be a copiously illustrated article on " Sensi- 

 tive Flames and Sound-Shadows," by Professor W. LeConte Stevens, 

 embodying some very curious instances in which sound has been 

 found to behave liKe light. 



— Casey's " Treatise on Spherical Trigonometry," published by 

 Longmans, Green, & Co., London and New York, is intended as a 

 sequel to the author's " Treatise on Plane Trigonometry." The 

 book contains much that is new; the author, as is customary now, 

 having culled rich material from the latest mathematical papers. 

 There is a large number of examples furnished, which are believed 

 to cover the ground completely. Professor Casey is professor of 

 higher mathematics and mathematical physics at the Catholic 

 University of Ireland. 



— The Forest and Stream Publishing Company announce for 

 publication " Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales," by George 

 Bird Grinnell. The book is said to present a faithful delineation 

 of the Indian's character and his daily life. 



— Mr. George Curzon, M.P., who made a detailed examination 

 of the Transcaspian country last fall, has written an account of his 

 travels ; and his " Russia in Central Asia in 1 889 " and the "Anglo- 

 Persian Question " will be published soon by Longmans, Green, & 

 Co., both in London and New York. It will contain maps from 

 the latest investigations, some forty illustrations, and a bibliog- 

 raphy. 



— S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago, have just issued a translation 

 from the Danish, by Professor Julius C. Olson of the University of 

 Wisconsin, of Peter Lauridsen's work entitled " Vitus Bering, the 

 Discoverer of Bering Strait." They will publish soon a new edition, 

 from new plates, of Dr. J. R. Boise's " First Lessons in Greek," 

 revised, with the advice and approval of the author, by Professor 

 G. Pettengill of Ann Arbor High School. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. announce for publication " Russell's Chro- 

 matic Chart," by E. P. Russell, director of Conservatory of Music, and 

 teacher of music in the State Normal School, Oneonta, N.Y. This 

 chart is designed to teach music-students the habit of thinking the 

 tone as well as reading it, so that the mind may perceive the tone 

 before the voice executes it. It is of great help in teaching the 

 intervals by quick transitions from one key to another. It is of the 

 greatest value in the study and execution of the chromatic scale. 

 The teacher will observe that the chart will, if carefully and intelli- 

 gently used, help the articulation and enunciation to a remarkable 

 degree. It is believed that the chart is a practical help, of which 

 every wide-awake and progressive teacher will desire to make con- 

 stant use. The size of the chart is 42 inches by 55 inches. They 

 have also just published the " Common School Song Reader," by 

 W. S. Tilden, teacher of music in the State Normal School, Fram- 

 ingham, Mass., and will issue during the autumn and winter of 

 1889, " Open, Sesame I" edited by Mrs. B. W. Bellamy and Mrs. M. 

 W. Goodwin, — a collection of prose and verse, comprising more 

 than a thousand selections, carefully edited, and arranged for com- 



