January 4, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



15 



an article entitled " Horses of the Plains." Mr. Kennan, in an 

 article entitled " The Life of Administrative Exiles," presents 

 some of the most astounding facts gathered by him in Siberia. The 

 article is without illustrations. The writer says in introducing it, 

 that to present a large number of closely related facts concerning 

 this branch of the subject in the chronological order in which they 

 were obtained would be to scatter them through half a dozen arti- 

 cles, and thus deprive them of much of their cumulative force and 

 significance. He therefore groups these facts in a single paper, 

 which necessitates a brief interruption of the narrative, and an 

 omission, for a single number, of the illustrations. This, he re- 

 marks, enables him to deal broadly and comprehensively with one 

 of the most interesting and important phases of the e.tile system. 

 In " Topics of the Time " are discussed " Annexation, or Fed- 

 eration .? " "Separate Municipal Elections," the question "Are 

 We Just to our Architects .' " and " A Crisis in the Copyright Agi- 

 tation." " Open Letters " deal with " Lawyers' Morals," the " Life 

 of Lincoln," and " The Mother's Right." 



— In the January " Popular Science Monthly " there are four 

 illustrated articles, one of which, " The Guiding-Needle on an Iron 

 Ship," opens the number. In this paper, Lieut. -Commander T. A. 

 Lyons, U.S.N., tells why the various masses of iron on shipboard 

 interfere with the working of the compass, and explains how the 

 trouble is remedied. " House-Drainage from Various Points of 

 View," is the title under which Dr. John S. Billings, U.S.A., de- 

 scribes, with illustrations, the present condition of this complex 

 problem. Very timely and interesting is Mr. W. H. Larrabee's 

 copiously illustrated paper on " Sea-Lions and Fur-Seals." Two 

 articles that will interest teachers and parents are " The Sacrifice 

 of Education," a protest against the abuse of examinations ; and 

 " Inventional Geometry," by E. R. Shaw, which tells how geometry 

 has been made a pleasure to pupils using the book prepared by 

 Herbert Spencer's father. Eighteen drawings made by boys and 

 girls in working out the problems are inserted. " Town-Life as a 

 Cause of Degeneracy," is the subject of an instructive paper by 

 G. B. Barron, M.D. The nature of " Genius and Talent " is de- 

 scribed by Grant Allen in his peculiarly happy vein. W. D. Le 

 Sueur contributes a strong article under the title " Science and its 

 Accusers," in which he affirms that science is simply truth, and 

 that, while men and theories may properly be criticised, opposition 

 to science is absurd and vain. Professor Langley's address on 

 " The History of a Doctrine " is concluded in this number. " The 

 Suanetians and their Home," is an account, by D. W. Freshfield, 

 of an interesting people dwelling in the Caucasus region. Some 

 additional facts concerning " Gauss and the Electric Telegraph " 

 are given, and the subject of the usual sketch and portrait is Rev. 

 Moses Ashley Curtis, the North Carolina botanist. Professor C. 

 H. A. Bulkley, D.D., contributes a letter on " The Relation of 

 Altruism to Egoism," criticising Mr. Smiley 's recent article. The 

 " Editor's Table" deals with "The March of Practical Science" 

 and " The Abuse of Examinations ; " and the " Miscellany " and 

 "Notes" are varied and instructive. 



— The tenth volume of the " Proceedings of the United States 

 National Museum " has just been issued. The signatures com- 

 posing the volume were issued from April, 1887, to October, 188S. 

 Like the preceding issues, the volume contains primarily essays on 

 zoological subjects, although others are not wanting. The greater 

 part of the work is occupied by papers prepared by the scientific 

 corps of the National Museum, while others treat upon the collec- 

 tions of the museum. In an appendix a catalogue of the contribu- 

 tions of the section of graphic arts to the Ohio Valley Centennial 

 Exposition at Cincinnati is given. 



— The fifth volume of the "Mineral Resources of the United 

 States," by David T. Day, has just been issued by the United States 

 Geological Survey. It covers the calendar year 1887. The statis- 

 tical tables contained in the former volumes have been brought for- 

 ward, but repetition of descriptive matter has been avoided wher- 

 ever possible. The result of Professor Day's careful investigations 

 shows an aggregate value of $538,056,345 for the mineral indus- 

 tries of the United States. This is nearly $73,000,000 more than 

 the product in 1886, and considerably more than $100,000,000 in 



excess of the year 1885. Of many items which have contributed to 

 this result, all the metals increased in quantity, except gold and the 

 minor metal nickel, and nearly all increased in price. The signifi- 

 cance of this is seen in the increased production of the fuels neces- 

 sary for reducing these metals and preparing them for use. All 

 of these fuels, including natural gas, show a marked increase. 

 The value of building-stone increased considerably, but this appar- 

 ent advance is principally due to a more careful canvass of this in- 

 dustry than has been possible in previous years. Professor Day 

 does not consider it probable that the great total recorded for 1887 

 will be equalled in the present year. 



— " A Course of Mineralogy for Young People " (Agassiz Asso- 

 ciation course) is published by G. Guttenberg, teacher of natural 

 sciences in the Erie High School, Erie, Penn. In this course it has 

 been attempted to present the study of stones in such a manne» 

 that any bright boy or girl over twelve years of age can, without 

 the aid of a teacher, become a fair mineralogist, being able to ex- 

 amine and determine all of the more important minerals, including 

 the ores of the useful metals. 



— The new edition (1889) of " The Electricians' Directory and 

 Handbook " is in preparation. It is published at " The Electri- 

 cian " office, I Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C. 



— An arrangement has been made by which the " Political Sci- 

 ence Quarterly " and " The New Princeton Review " are consoli- 

 dated. The publishers of the " Political Science Quarterly " (Ginn, 

 & Co.) have purchased " The New Princeton Review," and the 

 latter journal will be merged into the former. The political and 

 economic questions to which " The New Princeton Review " has 

 devoted so much of its attention, and which are engrossing more 

 and more the attention of the public, will form, as heretofore, the 

 special field of the " Political Science Quarterly." The point of 

 view and method of treatment which have won for both journals 

 such cordial recognition and such extensive support will remain 

 unchanged. Certain features of " The New Princeton Review " 

 which have specially commended themselves to the public will be 

 incorporated in the " Political Science Quarterly ; " and as Profes- 

 sor Sloane, the editor of " The New Princeton Review," will be 

 associated in future with the work of the " Political Science Quar- 

 terly," the cause of sound politics can only gain by this union of 

 forces. 



— Laidlaw Bros. & Co., 137 West 41st Street, New York City,, 

 have just issued " The Declaration of Independence and the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, in German, French, and English, in 

 Parallel Columns," translated by A. H. Laidlaw, jun.; French and^ 

 German revised by Professors Hellmrich, Schoeder, and Fezandi^^ 

 The translations have been carefully made. Historical notes have 

 been interspersed throughout the work, and an appendix supplies- 

 interesting tables on matters of permanent importance. Blank 

 pages have been added for the reception of grammatical and his- 

 torical notes, for the insertion of appropriate clippings from period- 

 icals, and for the collection of references to interesting pages of 

 other works. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*j,*Corres^ondet}ts are regicested to be as brief as possible. The writer's name is. 

 in all cases required as proof of ^^ood faith. 



Twenty copies of the number containing kis communication will be furnished 

 free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of 

 the journal. 



The Soaring of Birds. 

 To the tests proposed in " Science " (Dec. 7, pp. 267, 268) for 

 Mr. Gilbert's ingenious hypothesis that birds, in soaring, utilize the 

 varying velocities and directions of the horizontal air-currents at 

 different levels, one might perhaps add this : that the inclined planes 

 of the circles described should be observably related to the direc- 

 tion, etc., of the wind at the earth's surface, and of the cloud-drift 

 above. For instance : if the upper current, relatively to the lower, 

 was from the north, we might expect the higher side of the circle 

 to be the north side, or else to be that side along which the biri 

 was flying southward. 



