424 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 359 



result by back- ploughing every alternate furrow, making it a 

 dam. Surely the practice, recommended by some, of subdividing 

 the rainfall by furrows running up and down a slope, must be 

 more wasteful in the final result than an occasional rushing break 

 of the water retained by the process above described. 



Cyclones and tornadoes are amply discussed in the light of the 

 latest investigations. A diagram of equatorial and polar currents 

 would aid such readers as are not familiar with the general theory 

 of winds ; and there seems to be in this book an over-valuation of 

 winds in the production of the great ocean-currents. In regard to 

 tornadoes, observation would teach that the author's advice to 

 construct houses of brick or stone in tornado regions is not wise. 

 A massive stone building is torn to pieces as easily as one of wood, 

 and with far more danger to the occupant. In fact, the stone 

 foundations of a house are sometimes swept clean off, level with 

 the ground. In the path of the tornado there is but one security, 

 — an outside underground refuge with most direct access from the 

 living-rooms of the house, such as by a trap-door and stairs, if the 

 ordinary cellar stairway is not near the south-west corner. The 

 roar of the storm may readily be mistaken for that of cars. The 

 funnel of the cloud may follow at some interval the accompanying 

 general storm, when one least e.\pects devastation. There may 

 not be a moment to lose in going to an out-of-doors tornado- 

 refuge, which some have recommended. And there should be not 

 only ingress from the cellar, but some mode of egress from the cave 

 in case the cellar entrance is blocked by cUbris, and especially in 

 case the wrecked house takes fire. Certainly, in exposed regions, 

 fifteen dollars spent in rightly providing a refuge is worth the peace 

 of mind it brings, though the terrible disaster never comes. 



The concluding chapter on soils is of interest to every intelligent 

 reader as well as to cultivators of the ground. Happily, it must 

 have come into many rural homes in its first form as a magazine 

 article. Of course, the great expense of this volume is its engrav- 

 ings, such a full-page picture as that of the Yellowstone Falls 

 probably costing two hundred dollars. But, many of the woodcuts 

 having already paid something like their cost in the magazine, it is to 

 be regretted that a cheaper edition on less costly paper is not issued 

 along with this luxurious one ; lighter, too, for the very heavy 

 paper in a book of this size is a considerable weight to hold, in this 

 instance three and a half pounds. Large type and very thick 

 paper are suitable in books of a pictorial sort for brief entertain- 

 ment rather than continuous reading. 



" Evohttion of Sound" Euolved. By M. J. Thompson. Cincin- 

 nati, Standard Publishing Co. 8°. 



There once lived in this town (by " this town " we mean New 

 York) a certain Dr. Hall, who was much given to violent attacks 

 on all that had been considered as reasonable by ordinary mortals 

 in the results of the investigations of scientific men. It may be 

 that some of our readers will remember the doctor's attack on the 

 wave-theory of sound, and his vehement appeals to scientific men 

 to answer his arguments against the validity of the conception we 

 now have of the way in which sound is propagated. It cannot be 

 said that opportunity for discussion was lacking, for the warlike 

 doctor even went so far as to establish a journal — The Scientific 

 Arena — for the very purpose of furnishing a suitable medium for 

 open discussion of the merits of his arguments. But all this was 

 to little purpose till the author of " ' Evolution of Sound ' evolved," 

 at that time professor of science in Garfield University, Wichita, 

 Kan., published a number of letters, pointing out how the doctor 

 had wandered a Httle from the paths of wisdom. These have been 

 collected in book form ; and, even if they did not serve the pur- 

 pose of opening the eyes or ears of Dr. Hall, it may happen that 

 there will be others who will find in them answers to attractive 

 sophistry or to their own doubts. 



Appended to these letters is reprinted Professor Thompson's 

 graduation thesis at Ann Arbor, on the measurement of chemical 

 affinity. 



Motintaineering in Colorado : the Peaks about Estes Peak. By 

 Frederick H. Chapin. Boston, Appalachian Mountain 

 Club. 12°. 



The Appalachian Mountain Club is made up of those men and 

 women, boys and girls, who, for the most part living not far from 



Boston, delight in taking walks. The most of their excursions are, 

 per force of circumstances, taken through the most attractive re- 

 gions to be found near their homes. But every year one or more 

 parties start for a tramp through the White Mountains, a winter 

 tramp in that region being a yearly feature of the club's doings. 

 All this leads to an increase in the intelligent interest in the hills 

 and mountains visited, and is very pleasant as a recreation for 

 those able to take part. 



The volume now before us shows that one member has had the 

 temerity to venture thousands of miles from the usual haunts of 

 his colleagues. We have in it a record of his wanderings through 

 unfrequented valleys, and even those hitherto unvisited by white 

 men, of his clamberings over peaks, and of the views he saw. 

 Fortunately our author was an admirable photographer, and for- 

 tunately again his negatives fell into the hands of good engravers, 

 as we are enabled, by the excellent and numerous pictures with 

 which the volume is embellished, to gain some idea of what was 

 spread before his eyes. 



The book is well written, contains a good deal of information! 

 such as is told in the narratives of travellers, and is a real contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of one of the few out-of-the-way and yet 

 wild corners of our country. 



The Graphic Systejn of Object Drawing. By HoBART B. JACOBS 

 AND Augusta L. Brower. New York, A. Lovell & Co. 

 75 cents. 



The aim of the authors of this admirable series of drawing- 

 books is to give the pupil a clear idea of form, to help him to ex- 

 press that idea on paper, and to give him command of his pencil, 

 so that he can draw the objects about him. The plan of the work 

 is so simple that any teacher can use it ; and a manual for the 

 teacher's use, which accompanies the set of drawing-books, makes- 

 the system plain even to those entirely unskilled in the art. The 

 course is intended to cover four years of practice, and is adapted 

 for use in both public and private schools. The part of the series 

 intended for the primary course deals only with single objects m 

 outline ; the part for the intermediate course is devoted to drawing 

 from groups of objects ; in the part prepared for the grammar de- 

 partment, studies in tones and values are given ; and for the high 

 school, thorough instruction in drawing from life is found. Man- 

 uals for the four departments, or four-years' courses, are pro- 

 vided. 



While the methods for work given in this series are based on the 

 systems current in many of the best schools of art, and on the 

 practice of the most successful art teachers, no attempt is made to 

 attain the critical accuracy to-be expected in more advanced text- 

 books. The authors claim for it simply an original and highly 

 efficient arrangement of lessons ; and no one who carefully exam- 

 ines the system will deny that it is one which will naturally call 

 forth the interest and develop the powers of the pupil. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



A history of American literature, by Karl Knortz of this city, 

 will be published shortly in Berlin by Hans Lustenoder. 



— John P. Morton & Co., Louisville, Ky., have in preparation a 

 work on " Kentucky Jurisprudence," by Lewis N. Dembitz of the 

 Louisville bar. 



— The American Writing Machine Company, Hartford, Conn., 

 has issued a pamphlet showing a selection of writing-papers suita- 

 ble for use on the Caligraph. 



— " Odds and Ends from s. Literary Junk Shop " is the title of a 

 priced catalogue of new and second-hand books just issued by A. 

 S. Clark, 34 Park Row, this city. It contains many points of inter- 

 est to book-buyers. 



— Thoroughly earnest work is being done in behalf of tariff re- 

 form by the New York Weekly Post, which holds that the time to- 

 discuss this economic question is now rather than in the heat of a 

 presidential campaign. Every issue of the paper contains articles 

 bearing upon some phase of the subject, together with questions 

 by doubting readers, with answers by the editor, all tending to fa- 

 cilitate and simplify the discussion. The Post is compiling a di- 



