May 22, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



291 



of the Giants." Besides these, a number of abstracts of other 

 papers are given. The volume is illustrated with numerous en- 

 gravings, and is issued iu creditable style. The society is to be 

 congratulated on this evidence of its prosperity. 



The Old Navy and the New. By Reae-Admieal Dauiel Ammen. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. 8°. $3. 



In these days of the new navy we are apt to forget the old- 

 timers, and all that they did to build up a solid foundation and 

 educate the younger officers, so that the modern vessels can in 

 their turn be models of efficiency as the wooden craft were. In 

 this work the author tells a plain story of events, at home and 

 abroad, just as he found them; and although he had no very 

 startling adventures to punctuate his active career, there are many 

 valuable lessons for officers about starting out for a naval life. 

 The excellent habit of keeping a diary here bears good fruit, as 

 the main dependence has quite evidently been placed upon notes 

 taken at the time, with an occasional " freshening of the nip " by 

 reference to official logs kept on board the vessels and afterward 

 turned in to the navy department. 



Among other points worthy of note are the meeting for the first 

 time with men-of-war fitted with steam machinery, rifled guns, 

 and other modern improvements of the day. The idea of the life- 

 raft, or "balsa," which now forms an important feature in the 

 outfit of vessels of war as well as passenger steamers, and for 

 which thanks are largely due the author, seems to have struck 

 him quite early in life. The efficiency of the ram as a fighting 

 factor also impressed itself upon the admiral years ago, and the 

 outcome is the modern ram that is now building for the navy. 



The experience gained while on duty in the coast survey, and 

 at the naval observatory, enabled the admiral, while chief of the 

 Bureau of Navigation, to have carried on some very scientific 

 work in relation to determining longitudes by telegraphy, and 

 also surveys of the Isthmus, which latter are to-day resulting in 

 the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal. 



The former work by the same author, " The Atlantic Coast 

 during the Civil "War," so effectually covers the period of the Civil 

 War that the present work unfortunately deals but slightly with 

 the interesting events of that period. A very prominent feature 

 of the book is the intimacy from boyhood that existed between 

 the author and General Grant. The close of the volume contains 

 some very interesting letters, which, among other things, show 

 very plainly the very high regard and the warm friendship that 

 the great hero of the war had for the admiral. 



The book commends itself not only to professional men but to 

 all who take a proper interest in the well-being of the navy. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



Among the articles in The Chautaiiquan for June are, "The 

 Intellectual Development of the English People," by Edward A. 

 Freeman; "Hungary's Progress and Position," by Albert Shaw; 

 " Studies in Astronomy, IX.," by Garrett P. Serviss ; " The Ameri- 

 can Patent System," by Walter Hough; "Dr. Schliemann — 

 The Excavator of Ancient Troy," by Thomas D. Seymour ; "Ameri- 

 can Glass Workers," by F. M. Gessner; "Periodic Changes in Cli- 

 mate," by E. Richter; "The Latest Phases of Electricity," by 

 Robert W. Prentiss; and " College Girls," by Kate Gannett Wells. 



— " Philomythus, an Antidote against Credulity," Dr. Abbott's 

 new book, is devoted to a discussion of Cardinal Newman's essay 

 on ecclesiastical miracles. It will appear in a second edition, with 

 a new preface, from the press of Macmillan & Co., New York. 



— Mr. H. E. Haferkom, Milwaukee, Wis., has published a 

 translation, by Dr. Fr. Brendecke, of Koch's first communication 

 to the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift on the cure of tuber- 

 culosis. Explanatory notes have been inserted and the subject 

 put into more popular shape by the editor, Dr. Max Birnbaum. 



— D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, are just issuing "Comparative 

 View of the Executive and Legislative Departments of the Gov- 

 ernments of the United States, France, England, and Germany," 

 by John Wenzel, assistant librarian of the College of Liberal Arts, 

 Boston University. This consists of outUnes of the four great 

 constitutional governments, arranged in parallel columns in such 



a way that similar topics are grouped together. By this arrange- 

 ment comparison can readily be made. Professor Woodrow Wil- 

 son of Princeton, the author of " The State," has examined the 

 manuscript, and made suggestions and corrections. 



— The seventh volume of the new edition of " Chambers's En- 

 cyclopasdia," to be published in June by the J. B. Lippincott 

 Company, will contain articles on " Mysteries," by Baring-Gould; 

 " Cardinal Newman," by Hutton; and Mr. Blackmore discourses 

 about orchards; Stanley Lane-Poole writes about "Mecca and 

 Medina," Dr. Head on " Numismatics," Dr. John Murray on the 

 "Pacific," and Canon Taylor on "Names." " Palestine " en- 

 gages two contributors, Mr. Besant and Professor Hull. 



— Certainly an entirely new departure in journalism is made in 

 The Engineering Magazine, the first number of which appeared in 

 April. This is not an addition to the numerous trade papers, but 

 is intended to give each month, in untechnical language, articles 

 by competent writers on engineering matters likely to interest the 

 public. Such topics are : " Epidemics and Water Pollution," 

 treated by George W. Rafter; "Danger Signals about the Boiler," 

 by Robert Grimshaw ; " The Rapid Transit Problem in New York," 

 by T. Graham Gribble; " Building the Steamship in America," by 

 Horace Lee; " The Tall Office- Buildings of New York," by John 

 Beverley Robinson; "Our Old-Fogy Methods of reckoning Time," 

 by Sandford Fleming; and " Splendid Record of the Electric Rail- 

 way," by Frank J. Sprague. All these and more appear in the 

 May number. The Engineering Magazine Company, World Build- 

 ing, New York City, are the publishers. 



— The North Carolina Experiment Station has just issued a 

 twenty-page bulletin (No. 76) on plant-diseases, by Gerald Mc- 

 Carthy, the station botanist, illustrated by eleven engravings 

 showing the appearance of diseased plants and the best forms of 

 spraying-apparatus. This bulletin contains a brief and pointed 

 chapter on vineyard and orchard hygiene, and treats in fuU of the 

 following diseases: rot, mildew, and anthracnose of the grape; 

 peach-rot; black-knot of plum and cherry; apple, pear, and 

 quince scab; leaf- blight of pear; fire-blight of pear; peach-yel- 

 lows; potato-blight; rust of cereals ; buntof wheat; smutof oats; 

 smut of corn ; ergot of rye. This bulletin will be sent free to all 

 names on the regular mailing list of the station, and to others 

 within the State who apply for it. Only a limited number of 

 copies will be available for distribution outside the State. These 

 •will be sent, so long as the supply lasts, to applicants who inclose 

 six cents. Address North Carolina Experiment Station, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 



— Messrs. Fords, Howard, & Hulbert have published a small 

 book by Amos K. Fiske entitled "Beyond the Bourn." It pur- 

 ports to give the experience of a man during a visit to the spirit- 

 world, whither he was transported while he lay unconscious from 

 a railroad accident. He meets his old friends in the spirit-world, 

 who instruct him in the mysteries and the enjoyments of the life 

 they lead. A considerable portion of the book, however, is occu- 

 pied with the account of a visit which he and his spirit friends 

 made to a planet far distant from the earth, but peopled by a race 

 of beings similar to men, only in a more advanced stage of devel- 

 opment. They are represented as living in a veritable Utopia, 

 surpassing even Mr. Bellamy's; yet they have reached it by vol- 

 untary action and cooperation without any help from the State. 

 The book is fantastic throughout, and for the most part shallow, 

 and it sheds no light on the great subjects with which it deals. 



— Some photographs of luminous objects (taken by their own 

 light) will be reproduced in the June Scribner by mechanical pro- 

 cesses, directly from the original negatives. All amateurs will be 

 interested in the pictures, which show fireworks, interiors by 

 lamplight, rolling-mills, electric discharges, sun-dogs, and other 

 curious subjects. William H. Rideing (who has all his life been 

 familiar with steamship affairs) contributes to the same number 

 the third of the Ocean Steamship series, on " Safety on the At- 

 lantic." He gives an account of the precautions and devices 

 which have made ocean travel one of the safest methods of loco- 

 motion. He prints the following remarkable record for 1890: 

 " Nearly two thousand trips were made from New York alone to 



