July 29, 1892.J 



SCIENCE. 



67 



at the horizon in the south loomed up, but not so bright as the 

 first, nor had it any of the upper characteristics of the first, nor 

 did it last over five minutes. When this second light faded a 

 third loomed up in the north, quite as bright at the horizon as the 

 first, but it was obscured or cut off from our view by a stratus 

 cloud. This cloud was about 10° above the horizon, at its under 

 side (which, by the way, was its most northern limit). This 

 limit, I judge from my frequent observation of clouds, was fully 

 twenty-five miles north of us. We could see the light through 

 one hole in the cloud near its bottom (or distant) side, and also 

 through several thin places, but could not determine its upper 

 shape. This third light (counting the southwestern light as the 

 first) lasted about five minutes, when a fourth light loomed up in 

 the north-west, and, very bright at the horizon, reached upward 

 about 15", lasted a few minutes, and faded out as did the others. 

 Then one appeared in the north-east, in the direction of Rockville ; 

 but we were so near the town we were sure it was the new electric 

 Jight (we had been gone a week), but on entering the town found 

 the old gasoline lamps still doing service. 



On the first appearance of these lights at the horizon, I thought 

 I saw a flash of light, not as a blaze, but as if a mirror had been 

 turned so as to flash the light into ray face, then away so quick 

 I could not be certain what I saw. Young Mcintosh thought he 

 saw the same flashes of light when the great lights first made 

 their appearance. 



I saw this same electrical storm (if that is what it is) in the 

 summer of 1884, from the town of Clinton, Indiana, and in July, 

 I think. It had all the features I have given of this, except the 

 one in the south-west with its three lights and dark segment, here- 

 in described. The Clinton display was watched by apparently the 

 whole population of the place, and was described by the Clinton 

 Argus at the time. 1 reported it to the U. S. Signal Office at the 

 time, as I was then making voluntary observations for that office. 



The small light I have described as seen in the south-west, in the 

 first light last Saturday night, is a new feature, so far as I know or 

 can learn from my authorities. These lights occurred from about 

 lialf past nine to half past ten o'clock at night. 



I wish to hear from others who may have seen these lights, by 

 letter or paper containing published account of them. 



KockviUe, Ind., July 17. JOHN T. CAMPBELL. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



■Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report of the State 

 Geologist for the year 1891. Trenton, 1893. Maps and 

 plates. 

 To this report Professor E. D. Salisbury contributes a paper 

 called " A preliminary paper on drift or Pleistocene formations of 

 New Jersey." The title is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as 

 there are few statements in it concerning the New Jersey forma- 

 tions. It embraces mainly an account of the nature of the drift, 

 the formation and movements of glacial ice, the work effected by 

 ice, and a summary of the development, movements, and work 

 accomplished by the icesheet of North America. New Jersey is 

 incidentally mentioned, and the only new contribution made is 

 the statement concerning the discovery of the remains of a once 

 extensive drift-deposit south of the terminal moraine. It is con- 

 cluded that this was deposited by an ice-sheet previous to the 

 formation of the great moraine; and that " the interval which 

 elapsed between the first and the last glacial formations of New 

 Jersey was several times as long as that which has elapsed since 

 the last." Assistant Geologist C. W. Coman contributes an in- 

 teresting paper on the oak and pine lands of southern New Jer- 

 sey. The topographical survey showed that in 1888 there were 

 only 430,730 acres of cleared land in the southern counties, against 

 1,826,000 acres of forest. The proportion has not been greatly 

 altered since. Both uplands and swamps are heavily covered 

 with timber, much of which is valuable for various purposes. 

 "From a little distance a cedar swamp presents the appearance 

 of a solid mass of dark green, while even when in the midst of it 

 the eye can penetrate but a few yards among the thickly cluster- 

 ing, smooth, gray trunks. The gum and maple swamps are 

 scarcely less dense, and are even more difiicult to penetrate. 



because of the abundance of underbrush, amid which the poison 

 sumac, Bhus venenata, is sure to be encountered by the unwarv. 

 The trees are often very large, exceedinglOO feet in height. The 

 demand for white cedar for shingles, siding, planking for boats, 

 and such other purposes as require great durability under exposure 

 to the weather, far exceeds the supply." Much of the uncleared 

 land is well adapted for fruit raising and " truck " gardening, 

 and there is still room for a large addition to the permanent popu- 

 lation of the State. 



Mr. C. C. Vermeule, the consulting engineer and topographer 

 of the survey, gives a comprehensive review of the water supply 

 and water power of the State, with tables of rain-fall and evap- 

 oration, and accounts of the guaging of numerous rivers. A 

 table is also given of all the water powers, with mention of the 

 owner, kind of mill, fall, and horse-power. It is the intention to 

 publish the full report on water power in the State as Volume III. 

 of the final report some time during the present year. Finally, 

 notes are given by other hands on artesian wells, on the Passaic 

 River drainage and the active iron mines in the State. The infor- 

 mation given cannot fail to be of value to the inhabitants of the 

 commonwealth. Joseph F. James. 



Nature Readers — Seaside and Wayside, No. 4. By Julia 

 McNair Weight. Boston, D. 0. Heath & Co. 1892. 8°. 

 361 p. 70 cents. 



This volume is one of a series of reading-books written, the 

 author tells us, " to direct the minds of our youth in their first 

 studies to the pleasant ways of Natural Science." The earlier 

 numbers of the series were devoted to lessons on the habits of 

 animals and plants, but the present volume deals with a much 

 wider range of subjects. The book begins with a lesson on the 

 origin and structure of the globe and passes on to the considera- 

 tion of the geological epochs and of the animals and plants that 

 characcerize them. It is, in fact, a collection of brief essays on 

 important topics in astronomy, geology, palaeontology, and 

 zoology. The diversity of topics would seem calculated to cause 

 confusion in the mind of a child ; but this is, perhaps, an evil 

 inseparable from the modern system of education. 



Though the facts are presented in a somewhat too fanciful 

 dress,, the information is for the most part accurate, and the au- 

 thor has taken great pains to point out that there are exceptions 

 to many of the general statements. She has included, so far as 

 possible, the results of the latest investigations. 



A few noticeable errors should be corrected. For example, the 

 pig is made to figure as a typical odd-toed ungulate (p. 349). On 

 page 300 the sperm whale is mentioned as the "Greenland sperm 

 whale," which is, of course, misleading, as this animal is only 

 vary rarely found in Arctic waters. In another place (p. 148) the 

 author refers to the squirrels and rats as being the first mammals 

 to appear on the globe, a statement which no palaeontologist 

 would accept. We notice again (p. 320) that the vampire bats 

 are described as " very large bats given to blood-sucking " This 

 is quite erroneous, as the true vampires, Desmodus and Diphylla, 

 are small bats, remarkable chiefly in the modification of their 

 teeth and digestive organs. 



The influence of English text books is apparent in different 

 parts of the volume. The common mole, for example, is described 

 under the name of the European genus Talpa ; although as the 

 book is presumably intended for American children, it would 

 have been better to mention Scalops or Scapanus, to which genera 

 the commonest American moles belong. We can hardly find 

 fault with our author in this instance, however, seeing that no 

 general treatise on American mammals has been published for 

 nearly half a century. 



In the illustrations, with which the book is well supplied, ar- 

 tistic effect has been aimed at rather than strict accuracy; a 

 number of them are entirely fanciful and represent only creatures 

 of the imagination. They could be replaced to advantage, in our 

 opinion, by figures of some of the real wonders of animate 

 nature. 



In spite of these defects the book is a good representative of its 

 class, and the lessons will doubtless be read by children with in- 

 terest and profit. F. W. T. 



