4 
of 
SCIENCE. 
i.e Mammal from the Kansas Pliocene. 
vonus was described in 1852 by Dr. John 
various fragmentary remains obtained 
dditional species have since been de- 
based upon the still more uncertain 
the teeth alone. The genus has thus 
had a very doubtful existence, or has been merged into 
Dicotyles. Vhe recent acquisition by the University of 
Kansas of several skeletons of a species, which, from the 
comparison of Leconte’s figures, I believe belongs here, 
enables me to,give for the first time satisfactory generic 
characters. ‘Lhis species, which may be known as P. 
leptorhinus Will., is of about the samé’size as the type, P. 
compressus Lec., from which it is at once distinguishable 
by the angle of the jaws, which is shaped as in Dycotyles, 
though not at all inflected. From /. sfrzatus Marsh, 
from the Pliocene of Nebraska, the absence of striation 
of the second premolar tooth (upon which the species 
was based) will separate it. A figure of the restored 
skeleton, with a full description, will shortly be given. 
For the present, the following characters will be of in- 
terest: ‘he dentition is like that of Dvzcoty/es, except 
that the incisors are much smaller, and the third lower 
one is wholly wanting. The molars show a partial con- 
fluence of the cusps, but the difference from Decofv/es in 
this respect is not striking. The most remarkable char- 
acter which the genus shows is the entire absence of the 
outer toes on both hind and fore feet. They are repre- 
sented by short splints, which do not reach to the middle 
of the conjoined metapodials. There are other charac- 
teristic differences in the carpus and tarsus, which will be 
best shown by the aid of figures. The animals were de- 
cidedly stouter in form than the living peccaries and stood 
about thirty inches in height. The last premolar of the 
milk series had three series of cusps. : 
S) Wee WinEmismon: 
Lawrence, Kansas. 
BOOCK-REVIEWS 
wm 
Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten tiber ALeteorologie und 
Erdmagnetismus. erausgegeben von Prof. Dr. G. 
HELLMANN. 
No.1. Z. Reynman, Wetterduechtemn. Von qwahrer Ly- 
hkenntniss des Wetlers, 1510. Kacsimiledruck mit einer 
Einleitung. Berlin, A. Ascher & Co., 1893, 4to, 
42,14 p. 6 marks ($1.50). 
No. 2. Blaise Pascal. Récit de la Grande Experience de 
P Equilibre des Ligueurs. Parts, 1648. Facsimile- 
druck mit einer Einleitung. Berlin, A. Ascher & Co., 
1893, 4t0, 10,20 p. 3 marks (75C.) 
In view of the growing interest that is being shown 
those infant twin sisters of astronomy—meteorology and 
terrestrial magnetism—it may not be amiss to call the 
attention of the readers of Scrence to the above-named _ 
series of excellent reprints in facsimile of rare old books 
and charts that have been epoch-making in the subjects 
named. Additional importance is to be attached to 
these reprints in that they are edited by a scholar whose 
keen critical ability and power for careful, painstaking 
research have put him in the front rank of the meteor- 
ologists and bibliographers of the day. 
With the codperation of the German Meteorological 
Society and its Berlin branch, the above two numbers 
have been issued and others promised, such as Luke 
Howard’s ‘‘On the Modifications of Clouds, 1803,” in 
which we have the first attempted classification of cloud 
formations; ‘‘ Halley’s Isogonic Chart of 1700 ’—the first 
of the kind; ‘‘ Humboldt’s Isotherms, 1817 ’—the earliest 
drawn; and others. As the chief object in view is to 
Vol. XXIII. No. 581 
make these classic works, the originals of which are well- 
nigh unobtainable and very expensive, accessible to every 
One interested, they are published at the low price named 
above. Professor Hellman and his coéperators have thus 
earned for themselves the highest praise and deserve the 
heartiest coGperation., 
No. 1, a most elegant volume, is a facsimile reprint 
(preceded by a careful and critical discussion by Professor 
Hellmann) of the oldest meteorological book printed in 
German. It may, thus, apparently, have more of a local 
interest. ‘he fact, however, that it ran through seventeen 
editions in thirty-four years, the earliest being in 1505, 
of which no trace can now be found, and that it was 
almost literally translated in ‘‘The Boke of Knowledge 
of Thynges Vnknown, apperteyning to Astronomy, with 
certain necessarye Rules,” published in London in 1585, 
already enhances the interest in the book. It was besides 
incorporated in many other works. It was the first 
attempt at emancipation from the astrological supersti- 
tions of the day. In their stead the author ‘strove to 
substitute simple rules (many in rhyme) based upon 
natural laws and phenomena. The book thus possesses 
an interest not only to the professional meteorologist, but 
also to the bibliographer, the historian, the student of — 
folk-lore, in fact, to all who are interested in the gradual ~ 
growth of the human mind and in the throwing off of the ~ 
shackles imposed by the Middle Ages. Of the seventeen 
4 
5 
4 
‘ 
editions, Professor Hellmann, through correspondence 
with one hundred and fifteen libraries, could barely trace 
more than three dozen copies. ‘The reprint has been 
made from the second edition of r5ro, the only copy of 
which being in the possession of Professor Hellmann. Of 
Reynman little could be learned except that he lived im 
classtc Nuremberg, about 1520, and was thus a contem- 
porary of such illustrious men as Georg Hartmann, 
Albrecht Diirer, and a host of eminent scientists. In 
writing his book he drew largely upon a large astrological 
treatise by Guido Bonatti, an Italian astrologer of the 
thirteenth century, which was published in 1491, and 
upon ‘* Oposculum repertorii prognosticum in mutationes 
zris, 1485,’ by Firmin de Belleval, a Frenchman, ot ier- 
wise unknown. 
No. 2. This volume will surely interest every scientist. 
It is the reprint of a work of the greatest rarity, as but 
three copies, two in Paris and one in Breslau, could be 
found, the one in Breslau being used in the reproduction. 
In this volume is given the first experimental proof that 
the pressure of atmospheric air is the cause of the rising 
of mercury (or any other liquid) in an inverted tube pre- 
viously exhausted of air and placed in a trough of 
mercury—the memorable experiment of ‘Torricelli (or 
rather one of his pupils), in 1643. Up to the time of the 
publication of this interesting tract, the universal belief ~ 
was that the cause was to be sought in nature’s horror 
vacu. The experiment was most carefully and scrupu- 
lously carried out by Perier, a brother-in-law of Pascal. 
The first eight pages of the facsimile reprint form the~ 
letter of instructions sent to Perier by Pascal, Nov. 15, 
1647. On Sept. 22, 1648, Pascal received the happy news 
from Perier of the successful outcome of the experiments. 
(See p. 17-20). Perier filled two tubes with mercury and 
saw that their readings agreed at Clermont. He then 
emptied one and carried it to the top of the Puy de Dome 
(3550 feet above Clermont) and after filling it again with 
mercury, found the reading less. After repeating the ~ 
experiment at a station half-way down, he descended to ~ 
Clermont and again filled his tube, but now found that 
it read the same as the one previously left there. Hence, ~ 
ascent in the air or decrease in height of superincumbent ~ 
atmosphere meant a fall in the barometric reading, or ~ 
decrease in pressure. The conclusion was at ence evident ~ 
? 
