264 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 431 



ences of Philadelphia to investigate the natural history of Yucatan 

 and Mexico. The paper also includes a list of the Crustacea col- 

 lected upon the west coast of Florida in the spring of 1886 by 

 Professor Heilprin and Mr. Joseph Willcox, under the auspices of 

 the Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, and the de- 

 scription of a new Isopod, collected by the Academy's expedition 

 to the Bermuda Islands in 1888. It is remarkable that the shores 

 of Yucatan and Mexico, portions of the American continent among 

 the first to be discovered by Europeans, should be among the last 

 to have their zoology investigated. Nothing whatever, with one 

 or two isolated exceptions, has been known hitherto of the fauna 

 of the shores of Yucatan, and very little of that of the eastern 

 coast of Mexico. The material collected by the expedition has 

 added considerably to the knowledge of this region. 



— The late Richard A. Proctor, according to Literary News, 

 was gifted with a remarkable memory. Thackeray was his fa- 

 vorite novelist, and he could repeat verbatim page after page of 

 "The Newcomes; " so much in fact that the dear old Colonel 

 became an unmitigated bore to his former friends. 



— The officers for 1891-93 of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History will be: president, George L. Goodale; vice presidents, 

 William H. Niles, B. Joy Jeffries, Samuel Wells ; curator, Alpheus 

 Hyatt ; secretary, Samuel Dexter ; treasurer, Charles W. Scudder ; 

 librarian, Samuel Dexter. 



— The Fiske range-finder, which was first described in these col- 

 umns last year, has been very favorably received by the naval 

 departments of several different countries, the remarkable results 

 obtained by the exhaustive trials carried out on board United 

 States war-ships having given a sufficient guarantee of the prac- 

 tical value of the instrument. In the American navy the range- 

 finder was installed on board the "Baltimore," and from the exten- 

 sive trials made with it there, during six months at sea, the 

 writers of the official report state that it is accurate within three 

 per cent on ranges up to 5,000 yards. In France, according to 

 Engineering, the range finder has been mounted on board "Le 

 Formidable," the flagship of the French Mediterranean fleet, and 

 extensive trials were made in February last with the instrument 

 to determine the distance between vessels having a relative motion 

 of from to 28 knots. Under these conditions the results were 

 found to be accurate within five per cent. From experiments on 

 fixed objects the commission in charge report that the instrument 

 could be used by trained observers under the conditions of com- 

 bat, and they remark that a specially valuable feature of the in- 

 strument is that it enables the observer to record the distance — to 

 within a very small percentage — between forts or ships, before 

 firing grows heavy. Difficulty in observation would, of course, be 

 increased in a heavy seaway, but not so much as would the ac- 

 curate pointing of the guns, so that the range-finder can be always 

 relied on to give more accurate work tban the guns. The com- 



Publications received at Editor's Offic 

 April 27-May 2. 



Ammen, D. The Old Navy and the New. Philadel- 

 phia, Lippincott. 553 p. 8". $3. 



Brooks, W. K, The Oyster. Baltimore, Johns Hop- 

 kins Press. 230 p. 12°. 



D'Anvees, N. The Story of Early Man (2d ed.). 

 New York, Whittaker. 140 p. 12°. 40 cts. 



D'Anvers, N. The Lite Story o( Our Earth (2d ed.). 

 New York. Whittaker. 165 p. 18°. 40 cts. 



Fine, H. B. The Number-System of Algebra. Bos- 

 ton and New York, Leach, Shewell, & Sanborn. 

 131 p. 12°. SI. 



Jones, D. E. Elementary Lessons in Heat, Light, 

 and Sound. London and New York, Macmillan. 

 280 p. 18°. 70 cts. 



Keep, R. P. The Essential Uses ol the Moods in 

 Greek and Latin, Set Forth in Parallel Arrange- 

 ment. Boston, G-inn. 56 p. 16°. 



New York, Fifth Annual Report of the Factory In- 

 spectors of the State of. Albany, State. 673 p. 

 8°. 



Ott, 1. The Modern Antipyretics: Their Action in 

 Health and Disease. Easton, Pa., Vogel. 52 p. 

 8°. 



Our LANGnAGE. Vol. I., No. 1. April, 1891. New 

 York, F. A. Fernald. 8 p. 4°. m. 60 cts. per 

 year. 



Parsons. J, R., Jr. Prussian Schools through 

 American Eyes. Syracuse, Bardeen. 91 p. 8°. 

 $1. 



RooPER, T. G. Apperception; or. The Essential 

 Mental Operation in the Act of Learning. Syra- 

 cuse, Bardeen. 52 p. 12°. 50 cts. 



Trelease, W. The Species of Epilobium Occurring 

 North of Mexico. St. Louis, Nixon-Jones Co. 

 Pr. 117 p. 48 pi. 8°. 



VoK Meyer, E. A History of Chemistry from Ear- 

 liest Times to the Present Dav. London and 

 New York, Macmillan. 556 p. 8°. $4.50. 



WlNOHELL, N. H. & H. V. Iron Ores of Minnesota 

 (Bulletin No. 6, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surrey of 

 Minnesota). 430 p. 8°. Geol. Map and 44 pi. 



A SYSTEM OF 



EASY LETTERING. 



By J. H. CROIUWBIili, Pb.B. 



Twenty- sis different forms of Alphabets. The 

 space to be lettered is divided into squares, and 

 with these as a guide the different letters are drawn 

 and inked. Price, 50 cents, postpaid. 



E. & F. N. SPON, 12 Cortlandt Street, New York. 



OFWHAT USE IS THAT PLANT? 



You can find the answer in 



SMITH'S ''DICTIONARY OF 

 ECONOMIC PLANTS." 



Sent postaid on receipt of $3.80. Publish- 

 er's price, $3.50. 



SCIENCE BOOK AGENCY, 



47 Lafayette Place, New ITork 



** The Week, one of the ablest papers on the con- 

 tinent." — Descriptive America. 



THE WEEK, 



A Canadian Journal of Politics^ Literature^ Science 



and Art. 



PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY. 



$3.00 per Year. Sloo for Four Months. 



THE WEEK has entered on Its EIGHTH year of 

 publication, greatly Improved In every respect, 

 rendering It more wortby the cordial support of 

 every one Interested in the maintenance of a first- 

 class literary Journal. 



The independence in politics and criticism which 

 has characterized THE WEEK ever since Its first 

 issue will be rigidly maintained ; Hnd unceasing ef- 

 forts will be made to Improve lt^J literary character 

 and increase its attractiveness as a journal for the 

 cultured home. Many new and able writers are 

 now, or have promised to become, contributors to 

 its columns, and the constant aim of the Publisher 

 will be to make THE WEEK fully equal lo the best 

 literary journals in Britain and the United States. 



As heretofore. Prof. GOldwin Smith will, from 

 time to time, contribute articles. London, Paris, 

 Washington and Montreal letters from accomplished 

 correspondents will appear at regular intervals. 

 Special Ottawa Letters will appear during the ses- 

 sions of Parliament. 



THE WEEK being the same size as " Harper's 

 Weekly,*' is the largest paper of its class on the 

 continent. 



SEND FOR FREE SAMPLE COPY. 



C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, Publisher, 



5 Jordan St., Toronto, Canada. 



THE 



AMERICAN GEOLOGIST FOR 1891 



AND 



BIEN'S NEW ATLAS OF THE METROPOLI- 



will be given to New Sul»§cribers to the 



Geologist for $25.00 (wliich is the regular 

 price of the Atlas alone) , if ordered through 

 the Geologist. 



For other premiums see the Geologist for 

 Nov., Dec, and Jan. Address 



THE GEOLOGICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 



Minneapolis, Minn. 



THE BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



A monthly illustrated journal of botany in 



all its departments. 



25 cents a number, $2.50 a year. 



Address PUBLISHERS BOTANICAL GAZETTE, 



CrawfordsTille, Ind. 



Publications of the Universi y of Pennsylvania. 



SERIES I>f 



Philology, Literature and 

 Archaeology. 



Vol. I. now ready. 



1. Poetic and Verse Criticism of the Beign of Eliza- 



beth. By Felix E Schelling, A.M., Assistant 

 Professor of English Literature. $1.00. 



2. A Fragment of the Babylonian '■ Dibbarra" Epic. 

 By Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of 

 Arabic. 60 cents. 



3. a. ITpo? with the Accusative. 6. Note on a Pas, 

 sage in the Antigone. By William A. Lamberton 

 A.M., Professor of the Greek Language and Lit- 

 erature. 50 cents. 



4. The Gambling Games of the Chinese in America. 

 F^n t^n and Pdk k6p piii. By Stewart Culin, 

 Secretary of the Museum of ArchsBology and 



40 cents. 



In preparation . 

 The Terrace at Persepolis. By Morton W. Easton, 



Ph.D., Professor of Comparative Philology. 

 An Aztec Manuscript. By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D., 



Professor of American Archaeology and Linguis- 

 tics.'^ 

 A Monograph on the Tempest. By Horace Howard 



Farness. Ph.D., LL.D. 

 Recent Archfeological Explorations in New Jersey. 



By Charles C. Abbott, M.D , Curator of the 



American Collections. 

 Archfeological Notes in Northern Morocco. By Tal- 



cott Williams, A.M., Secretary of the Museum 



of Egypti^fin Antiquities. 

 a. On the Aristotelian Dative, b. On a Passage in 



Aristotle's Rhetoric. By William A. Lamberton, 



A.M., Professor of the Greek Language and 



Literature. 

 A Hebrew Bowl Inscription. By Morris Jastrow, 



Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Arabic. 

 The Life and Writings of George Gascoigne. By 



Felix E. Schelling, A.M., Assistant Professor of 



English Literature. 

 The Papers of this Series, prepared by Professors 

 and others connected with the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, will take the form of Monographs on the 

 subjects of Philology, Literature, and Archgeology, 

 whereof about 200 or 250 pages will form a volume. 



The price to subscribers to the Series will be $1.50 

 per volume; to others than subscribers, $2.00 per 

 volume. 



Each Monograph, however, is complete in itself, 

 and will be sold separately. 



It is the intention of the University to issue these 

 Monographs from time to time as they sha" be pre- 

 pared. 



Each author assumes the responsibility of his own 

 contribution. 



]sr. 



D. O. HOD&ES, 



47 Lafayette Place, New York, N. Y. 



BOOKS : Honr to get ttaem. If there is any 

 book or pamphlet that you want, write to the Science 

 Book Agency, 47 Lafayette Place, New York. 



