302 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 352 



planets, and comets ; the second, to be issued at an early date, 

 will contain an account of astronomical instruments and practical 

 astronomy ; and the third will be devoted to the starry heavens- 

 Each volume will have its own index, and will be sold, as it in 

 truth will be, as a distinct book, though of course forming part of 

 the series of three. 



Of speculation there is little to be found within the covers. If 

 one looks for discussion of the possibility of life on any of the 

 planets aside from the earth, he is likely to be disappointed. But 

 the book is full of straightforward statements of the facts so far as 

 we know them, and it may be said that it is well brought up to 

 date. 



Chambers' s Encyclopadia. New edition. Vol. IV. Dionysius to 

 Friction. Philadelphia, Lippincott. 8°. $3. 



This volume contains a gcodly number of articles of specially 

 scientific interest. The list of American contributors is not large, 

 nor is it to be expected that it should be. Oliver Wendell Holmes, 

 perhaps, leads in importance in this list with an article on Emerson. 

 The others by Americans are on local geographical matters and on 

 Ben Franklin. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to call attention again to the purpose 

 of this encyclopsedia, which gives authoritative matter well con- 

 densed in its short articles, which often come down to a single 

 paragraph ; yet many ask which is the best of the encyclopaedias, 

 and show that they are not acquainted with the characteristics of 

 those offered. 



In this volume we have short articles, devoid of all technicalities, 

 on dynamos, electric light and railway, by Professor J. A. Ewing ; 

 earthquake, by Professor James Geikie ; electricity, by Professor C. 

 G. Knott; evolution, by Professor Patrick Geddes; exhibitions, by 

 H. Roscoe Dumville ; force, by Professor Tait. But we could fill 

 a page with a list like this. 



There are eight colored maps in the volume, — one of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, another of Florida, the others be'ng devoted to 

 Europe, England, and France. A colored plate shows the flags of 

 all nations. 



There is as much space given to electricity as to any other sub- 

 ject in the volume, the article sketching the phenomena of electrifi- 

 cation, electric currents, and resistance, and the resulting electroly- 

 sis and thermo-electric effects. We do not find any reference to 

 the lately developed Hertz effects, which were probably published 

 too recently for insertion. The limitations in the scope of this 

 main article are atoned for in the adjunct articles on atmospheric 

 and medical electricity, electric fishes, electric light, railways, elec- 

 tro-metallurgy, and others to the number of a dozen or more. 



The article on exhibitions is naturally examined at this time, and 

 it is somewhat amusing to find the Paris exhibition of this year re- 

 ferred to in the past tense ; which shows, however, a due amount 

 of care in bringing the matter up to date. 



Hints to Travellers, Scientific and General. Edited for the 

 Council of the Royal Geographical Society by Douglas W. 

 Freshfield and Capt. W. J. L. Wharton. 6th ed. 

 London, The Royal Geographical Society. 24°. 



These " Hints to Travellers " had their origin in a report made 

 to the council of the Royal Geographical Society as long ago as 

 1854. This report was drawn up by Admiral Fitzroy and Lieut. 

 Raper of the Royal Navy, and aimed to answer the numerous 

 queries addressed to the society as to the proper instrumental out- 

 fit for explorers. 



This report, to which were added some suggestions by Admirals 

 Smyth and Beechey, Col. Sykes, and Mr. Francis Gallon, was 

 published in the journal of the society, and republished in pamphlet 

 form. 



The exhaustion of this first edition led, in 1S64, to a revision, in 

 which Sir George Back, Admiral Collinson, and Mr. Galton, as- 

 sisted ; chapters on photography by Dr. Pole, and collection of ob- 

 jects in natural history by Mr. Bates, being added. 



The editions of 1871, 1878, and the fifth, the date of which we 

 do not now recall, followed. In each some wise development of 

 the original plan, without any undue increase in the bulk of the 

 volume, has taken place. The second edition was designed to 



help a person proposing to explore some wild country, who would 

 know what astronomical and other scientific outfit he ought to take 

 with him, and what observations he might attempt, with a pros- 

 pect of obtaining valuable results. In the fifth edition one object 

 was to furnish such help as might be possible within the compass 

 of a pocket-book to the explorer who had acquainted himself with 

 the use of instruments, that he might win the more valuable geo- 

 graphical results during his wanderings. Geology and anthro- 

 pology were added subjects, to which some attention was paid, 

 and some medical and surgical information were introduced fronti 

 the pen of Surgeon-Major Dobson. 



The present editors have not attempted any change in the char- 

 acter of the book, the previous alterations and additions having 

 met with general approval. Capt. Abbey has brought up to date 

 the photography, and the meteorology has been revised by Mr. H. 

 F. Blanford. Mr. J. S. Keltic has something to say on commercial 

 geography. 



Coal and the Coal Mines. By HoMER GREENE. Boston and 

 New York, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 24°. 75 cents. 



This is one of the Riverside Library for Young People. The 

 object of this series is to furnish books which shall contain reliable 

 information written in language likely to be intelligible and attrac- 

 tive to young people without a descent to " childese." This special 

 number is not so long as to be likely to weary a young person 

 attempting to read it, and it is published at a low price ; so that it 

 is the more likely to fall into the hands of those for whom it is in- 

 tended. 



Young folks are not young folks long ; and each of us, as he has 

 passed through that stage, has needed, among other things, the 

 books suited to a year, or at most two or three years, then to be 

 thrown aside for others. So in " Coal and the Coal Mines " the 

 publishers have made no attempt to show the capabilities of their 

 art, except in making a book that opens well, and is clearly printed. 

 Every feature is in good taste, but there is no evidence of lavishness in 

 wide margins and heavy calendered paper. It is*an attractive and 

 serviceable book for the use it is to have. 



We say " it is to have," for we judge that " Coal and the Coal 

 Mines " is sure to have a good many readers, — young readers, and 

 very likely old ones. There is to be found within the covers a 

 straightforward statement of how coal was discovered, how it was 

 found that it could be used to best advantage, and how, when at 

 last it was needed for use in large amounts, ingenuity was set at 

 work to get the coal from the earth. 



All this could be told so that little human interest should exist in 

 the telling. But Mr. Greece has lived among the miners ; and 

 he carries his reader with the miner down to his hazardous work,, 

 letting him know wherein it is hazardous and wherein alluring, and 

 carries him through to the end of a day of profit, or possibly of 

 destruction. Some of the tales he has to tell are intensely exciting,, 

 and make one look on a shovelful of coals with a feeling of interest 

 in the human skill and courage that have placed them at our dis- 

 posal, and wonder whether we are quite justified in throwing then:> 

 heedlessly on the fire. 



Yes, we think those who take up " Coal and the Coal Mines " will 

 finish it, and that they will be the better-informed men or women, 

 boys or girls, for the reading of it. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



The Worthington Company will publish on Nov. I " A 

 Study of Ben Jonson," by Algernon Charles Swinburne. 



— De Wolfe, Fiske, & Co. have ready "Essentials of the Metric 

 System," by George Jackson, with explanation of its principles, and 

 examples for practice. 



— The Writers' Publishing Company, New York, have just 

 issued " A Directory of Catholic Colleges, Academies, and Leading 

 Schools in the United States for 1889 and 1890." 



— J. W. Bouton is soliciting subscriptions for the "Salon of 

 Paris " for 1889. Like its predecessors, it will illustrate the princi- 

 pal works by the photogravure process, one hundred plates being 

 promised in various colors, and the majority of them full-page. 



