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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 352 



— Harper & Brothers will publish shortly " Cathedrals and 

 Abbeys in Great Britain and Ireland," a large volume containing 

 over forty illustrations. The Rev. Richard Wheatley, D.D., has 

 prepared the descriptive text. 



— The Fot'tim for November contains the following articles: 

 ■" American Rights in Behring Sea," by President J. B. Angell of 

 the University of Michigan, which is an historical explanation of 

 the jurisdiction over these waters, and a correction of the erroneous 

 popular supposition concerning it ; " Public Opinion and the Civil 

 Service," by E. L. Godkin, editor of the New York Eventing Post, 

 who describes the puzzling stage in the agitation for reform, both 

 political parties preaching it, and neither heartily practising it (he 

 declares an advance to complete reform or the fatal degradation of 

 the government inevitable, and points out the deep meaning of the 

 agitation) ; " Modern Claims upon the Pulpit," by the Very Rev. 

 F. W. Farrar, Archdeacon of Westminster, who declares that the 

 two worst pitfalls of the pulpit are theological dogma and specula- 

 tive discussion, taking very radical ground against dogmatic the- 

 ology ; " The Owners of the United States," by Thomas G. Shear- 

 man, the New York statistician (this article we referred to at 



length in last week's issue) ; " Industrial Co-operation in England," 

 by Professor F. G. Peabody of Harvard, — a study made in Eng- 

 land, of the practical workings of the system, its success, statistics 

 of its growth, and its moral significance, explaming why co-opera- 

 tion has not yet succeeded in the United States ; " Municipal Con- 

 trol of Gas-Works," by Bronson C. Keeler of St. Louis, — a com- 

 parison of municipal and private control in the principal cities, 

 American and European, and the cost of gas and its price to the 

 consumer in each of these cities ; " The Cost of Universities," by 

 President David J. Hill of the University of Rochester, who sets 

 down the wealth, the income, and the expenses (including salaries 

 to professors) of the chief German and American schools, and ex- 

 plains their financial conduct ; " Wendell Phillips as an Orator," 

 by Rev. Carlos Martyn of New York, — a critical study ; " Re- 

 ■quirements of National Defence," by Adjutant-Gen. J. C. Kelton 

 of the United States Army, who shows the inadequacy of the 

 militia of the States, and explains what would constitute a sufficient 

 trained force in case of sudden war, — a military study of our de- 

 fenceless condition, and the duty of the National Government ; " The 

 Domain of Romance," by Maurice Thompson, — a critical article 

 to show that this is the most romantic era of modern times, and 

 that Darwin is the master-mind of the epoch ; " Types of Ameri- 

 can Women," by Professor H. H. Boyesen of Columbia College. 



— "A Review of the Family Delphinidje," with forty-seven 

 plates, by Frederick W. True, curator of the Department of Mam- 

 mals, United States National Museum, is issued as Bulletin No. 36 

 of the museum. More than four years ago the writer formed a de- 

 termination to prepare a monograph of the species of dolphins 

 which occur on the coasts of North America. It immediately be- 

 came apparent, however, that a proper comparison of the species 

 ■described respectively by European and American naturalists 

 •could not be made without an examination of the types. A large 

 proportion of the species of the family were established by Gray, 

 whose descriptions are for the most part too brief and vague to 

 serve as the basis of critical comparisons, while the descriptions of 

 some other writers on the subject are almost equally insufficient. 

 Such being the condition of the literature, he resolved to visit the 

 museums of Europe, and to examine all the type specimens to 

 which he could gain access. Professor Baird, the late director of 

 the museum, very kindly consented to his being absent during the 

 winter of 1883-84, and he accordingly spent about four months in 

 England and on the continent of Europe in the study of the speci- 

 mens in question. This bulletin is the result. 



— The New York Society of Pedagogy has published through 

 Messrs. Appleton a pamphlet by George B. Newcomb, on " Teach-' 

 ing School Children to Think." The author remarks on the obvious 

 fact that the reasoning-powers of children are exercised in their 

 ■earliest years, though the higher powers of abstraction are not de- 

 veloped until later. He then goes on to suggest modes by which 

 the power of thought may be cultivated in the child's mind ; but 

 we do not find any thing new or striking in what he says. His 

 inost useful suggestion is that the teacher should not only present 



facts in rational connection, but also take care that they be ration- 

 ally apprehended by the child. He has a few words in favor of 

 manual training, but what that has to do with cultivating the 

 reasoning- powers we are unable to see. By the way, we should 

 be glad to know from what number of the London TnnesMr. New- 

 comb took the quotation given on p. 12. 



— November begins the twentieth year of The Century Maga- 

 zine. The opening pages are devoted to a generous instalment of 

 the long-expected autobiography of Joseph Jefferson. The first of 

 the " Present-day Papers " is entitled " The Problems of Modern 

 Society," and it has a preface signed by the group who are putting 

 forth these timely essays. Dr. Langdon writes this paper. The 

 other members of this group are Professor Shields, Bishop Potter, 

 Drs. Hunger and Dike, Seth Low, and Professor Ely. George 

 Kennan has a chapter of " Adventures in Eastern Siberia." The 

 history, purposes, and methods of the new " GroUer Club " of New 

 York are fully described by Brander Matthews, and illustrated with 

 drawings of rare GroUer book-covers, etc. Mrs. Foote, in her 

 " Pictures of the Far West," portrays " The Winter Camp." The 

 authors of the Lincoln Life treat of " The Second Inaugural," 

 " Five Forks," and " Appomattox." Mr. Cole's unique engravings 

 of the " Old Masters " are to continue with few intermissions dur- 

 ing the coming year. This month he gives two examples of 

 Benozzo Gozzoli. One of the most curious articles which The 

 Century has published is entitled " The ' Newness,' " and is by the 

 late Robert Carter, himself an eye-witness of the vagaries of the 

 transcendental movement in New England. There are brief papers 

 on " The Southern Cadets in Action," " Who ever saw a Dead 

 Cavalryman ? " " Shooting into Libby Prison," " Prohibition," 

 " American Game Laws," " Copyright Reform," " Free Kinder- 

 gartens," " Governor Seymour." "The Methodist Church South," 

 etc." 



— " Unless we can concentrate legislative leadership, we shall 

 suffer something like national paralysis. We have no one in Con- 

 gress who stands for the nation, . . . and so management and 

 combination which may be effected in the dark are given the place 

 that should be held by centred and responsible leadership in the 

 focus of the national gaze." This is the keynote of the paper by 

 Mr. Woodrow Wilson, on the " Character of Democracy in the 

 United States," which opens the Atlantic Monthly for November. 

 Another political paper, called " The French-in-Canada," is con- 

 tributed by Mr. Eben Greenough Scott, whose paper on " La 

 Nouvelle France " will be remembered. Artists and amateurs will 

 be interested in " Allston and his Unfinished Picture," — passages 

 from the journals of Mr. Richard H. Dana, — a series of extracts 

 contributed by Mr. Charles Francis Adams about Mr. AUston's 

 last and unfinished picture of " Daniel interpreting to Belshazzar 

 the Writing on the Wall." "Materials for Landscape Art in 

 America," by Charles H. Moore of Harvard University, will also 

 interest the same class of readers. There are also a half-literary, 

 half-historical article on " Some Romances of the Revolution " (a 

 consideration of William Gilmore Simms's novels) ; a paper on 

 " The Nieces of Mazarin ; " and a sketch on " Marie Bashkirtseff," 

 which gives a picture of this impressionable, and in a certain sense 

 typical, " daughter of Gaul." 



— In 1878 there was published by Professor J. M. Macoun, of 

 the Geological Survey, Ottawa, Can., a check-list of the plants at 

 that time known to occur in Canada. This list has for some years 

 been out of print ; and since it was issued many new species have 

 been discovered, and the names of many more have been changed. 

 At the earnest request of botanists both in Canada and the United 

 States, he has published, and now offers for sale, what he believes 

 to be a complete list of the phaenogamous and vascular cryptoga- 

 mous plants of Canada. The " Catalogue of Canadian Plants," 

 issued by the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, has 

 been used as a basis, but a large number of species discovered since 

 it was published are included in the list. Many genera, too, have 

 been revised by specialists, and their revisions have been used in 

 the preparation of the check-list. Where names of species or 

 varieties have been changed, both the name by which a plant is 

 now known and that by which it is called in the catalogue are 

 shown in the list. 



