■356 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 355 



gave the substance of two papers, — one on " The Little Brown 

 Crane in Rhode Lsland,'' and the other on " The Capture of the 

 Canada Jay near Cambridge, Mass." 



At the closing session of the congress on Friday, President J. A. 

 Allen presented a paper on the classification of the Maximilian 

 tytes of South American birds now in the American Museum. He 

 also presented a paper on " Seasonal and Individual Variation in 

 Certain Flycatchers of the Genus Elasnea." Mr. Frank M. Chap- 

 man read a paper on "The Forms of the Maryland Yellow- 

 Throat." President Allen read a paper on classification, in which 

 •the difficulties of the work were made evident. 



The next congress will be held in Washington the third Tues- 

 ■day in November, 1890. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Contimcom Creation. By Myron Adams. New York, 

 Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 12°. S'-5o. 

 This work is one of those attempts, now so numerous, to recon- 

 cile Christianity and science. The author is a clergyman, and the 

 views set forth in this volume are such as he has long taught to his 

 t;ongregation. He accepts the evolutionary philosophy quite as 

 unreservedly as any scientist could do, and endeavors to show that 

 it is in no way hostile to any essential truth of religion. There is 

 nothing in his views or arguments that is specially new ; but they 

 are presented in a style that is somewhat above the ordinary, being 

 not only clear and refined, but also of a true literary flavor. Mr. 

 Adams holds the view, which other Christian thinkers have ex- 

 pressed, that evolution is " the mode of God in doing things, in 

 "Causing things to come to pass." Creation is conceived as a con- 

 tinuous and never-ending process, and evolution as the universal 

 law of becoming." This idea of continuous creation is nothing 

 new, but has been held by many philosophers of the past, includ- 

 ing the Alexandrian Christians. But the prevalent doctrine of the 

 Church has regarded creation as a work done once for all by an 

 •omnipotent yfa^ ,• and hence, when the evolution theory appeared, 

 it was found to be out of harmony with the orthodox view. Of 

 course, Mr. Adams has no difficulty in showing that the new theory 

 is in no way inconsistent with a philosophical theism. It is curi- 

 ous, however, that nearly all the criticisms of Christianity with 

 which the world is now rife should be attributed to the evolutionary 

 school, for very few of them are original with that school. Most 

 of the changes now going on in the traditional religion are due to 

 other influences, and would have taken place just the same if evo- 

 lution had never been thought of. How far those changes have 

 already gone, Mr. Adams's book plainly shows ; for his Christian- 

 ity is so different from that of former times that it is hardly recog- 

 nizable under the same name. But he shows an excellent spirit 

 and a true religious earnestness, and his work will be interesting to 

 those who are interested in its subject. 



The Public Regitlatio7i of Railways. By W. D. Dabney. New 

 York, Putnam. 12". Sr.25. 



This is one of the most sensible books on the railway question 

 that we have seen, though it cannot be said to offer much that is 

 original. Most writers who discuss the railway question are ani- 

 mated either by hostility to the railway companies or by partiality 

 for them ; and it is pleasant to read a work that discusses the sub- 

 ject in a judicial spirit. Mr. Dabney 's book consists of two parts : 

 the first dealing with the legal aspects of the subject ; the second, 

 with the economical. He is opposed to any scheme for the pur- 

 "Chase and operation of the railways by the government, and gives 

 the usual reasons for this view. But, on the other hand, he holds 

 that the partial monopoly that necessarily attaches to the railway 

 business, and the vast power over industrial interests which the 

 ■companies wield, make it necessary that they should be carefully 

 supervised by public authority. He goes into the details of many 

 judicial decisions and questions of law affecting the railways, and 

 then takes up such ques'tions as those of pooling, discrimination, 

 "' the long and short haul," and many others ; and his opinions, 

 whether one agrees with them or not, are evidently the result of 

 ■careful study. He condemns discrimination between persons in 

 unqualified terms, but thinks that discrimination in favor of certain 



places is sometimes not only justifiable, but inevitable. The work 

 is worthy of perusal by all who wish to understand the subject and 

 to see justice done to all parties. 



Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk- Tales. By GEORGE B. Grinnell. 

 New York, Forest and Stream Publ. Co. 12°. $2. 



The author of this work has lived for several years among the 

 Pawnees, and, during his last visit to the tribe, gathered as many of 

 their familiar stories as he could, and set them down in writing 

 precisely as they were told to him. The hero stories are mostly 

 warlike, and relate particularly to horse-stealing, which, as Mr. 

 Grinnell reminds us, was simply a mode of warfare. It appears 

 that the Pawnees are adepts in personating wolves by dressing 

 themselves in skins or other appropriate disguises, and crawling on 

 all-fours ; and by this means they could approach close to an 

 enemy's camp without being discovered. Many of these stories 

 recount such exploits, and some are quite diverting. The folk-tales 

 are far more fantastic, and are full of the marvellous ; as, for in- 

 stance, the story of the Dun Horse. This animal was very wise 

 and a good conversationist ; but alter a while he died, and the men 

 of the tribe cut him up into little pieces. Very soon, however, a 

 strong wind blew upon the pieces, and they were put together 

 again, and the horse restored to life. 



Besides these native stories, Mr. Grinnell gives us a series of 

 notes on the Pawnee people and their customs, which will be of 

 use to students of such subjects. He attempts to trace the origin 

 and migrations of the tribe, but reliable information on these points 

 is very scanty. The religious sentiments of the Pawnees are said 

 to be strong, and their religious exercises frequent and fervent. 

 Some marvellous and inexplicable tales are told, and stated to be 

 true, of the doings of their medicine-men. The Pawnees are now 

 settled in the Indian Territory, and are rapidly dwindling in num- 

 bers. When the author first visited the tribe, " it numbered more 

 than three thousand people : now there are only a little more than 

 eight hundred of them." He thinks that some measures ought to 

 be taken to preserve a record of their language, and suggests that 

 the Smithsonian Institution should take the matter up. 



Electricity in our Homes and Workshops. By SYDNEY F. 

 Walker. New York, Van Nostrand. 16°. 



The ground covered by this work is somewhat limited, but it is 

 gone over thoroughly and conscientiously, leaving little to be de- 

 sired even by the most exacting. The intention of the author 

 when he began his task, as intimated in the preface, was to cover 

 the whole ground occupied by electrical apparatus ; but circum- 

 stances compelled him to limit his labors to what are known as 

 auxiliaries to the practical business of life, — those in which only 

 small currents are used. We hope, however, that the author, when 

 he realizes the eagerness with which books on such subjects, writ- 

 ten by competent men, are looked for by all interested in the popu- 

 lar side of electrical progress, will give us something in a similar 

 vein on electric lighting, transmission of power, electrical measure- 

 ments, and other topics. 



Mr. Walker explains, in easily understood terms, the every-day 

 working of many of the forms of electrical apparatus with which 

 experience has made us more or less familiar ; that is to say, he 

 explains, in language devoid of unnecessary technicalities, the 

 working of an electric circuit, the properties and application of the 

 magnet, and the theory and operation of galvanic batteries. He 

 also gives some chapters to electric bells and their fittings, to elec- 

 tric mining signals and their operation, and to telephonic apparatus. 

 But the most interesting chapter in the book is that which the au- 

 thor calls a "glossary of terms," but which is really something 

 more. It is by far the best popular explanation of electrical terms, 

 considering its brevity, that we know of; and, now that the daily 

 press is giving us a brief respite from the " overhead wire" sensa- 

 tion, we would commend this glossary to the newspaper reporters, 

 so that they may be prepared to do full justice to the technicalities 

 of electricity as soon as that subject comes uppermost again. The 

 multifarious uses of the electrical current have become so neces- 

 sary a part of our daily life, that those who wish to speak or write 

 intelligently of it must pay attention to its terminology. 



The book is well printed, neatly and substantially bound, and is 

 illustrated by 127 engravings. 



