April 12, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



285 



no alarm in southern California, and has never been known to have 

 injured what is called the natural Californica, Arizonica, or Mis- 

 souri vine or stock. No fertilizer is used by the viticulturists, as 

 the soil is too strong, if any thing, to produce a grape which shall 

 make a table wine with as little alcoholic percentage as possible. 



Los Angeles County, while it has achieved much success during 

 the past fifteen years in its production of hock, burgundy, and 

 claret, excels more particularly in its port, sherry, madeira, angelica, 

 and other sweet and heavy wines. The acreage of vineyards in 

 southern California is always increasing. 



The wine product of these vineyards for the past eleven years 

 was as follows : — 



Gallons. 

 1877 



i888 (estimated) 



In addition to the large quantity of wine and brandy manufac- 

 tured, 85,000 boxes of raisins were exported from Los Angeles 

 County alone, while the entire raisin pack for southern California 

 amounted for the same period to 1,250,000 boxes, as compared 

 vifith only 11,000 boxes in 1875. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Cha?nbers's Encyclopedia. New ed. Vol. III. Catarrh to Dion. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. 8°. $3. 



This volume, it is perhaps needless to say, maintains the same 

 excellence shown in the two already reviewed in these columns. 

 The number of illustrations is noticeable, as is also that of the 

 maps, five of which are given. These maps, of China, Colorado, 

 Connecticut, Delaware, and Denmark, show exactly what is wanted 

 by the general user of maps, — the location of the chief political 

 divisions and the towns, — very little or no attention being paid to the 

 physical features. This is noteworthy in view of the tendency, on 

 the part of some modern geographers, to lay special stress on the 

 physical features, at least in school-geographies and in some atlases, 

 but probably without due appreciation of the demand of the public 

 at large that a map shall be a convenient diagram of the location 

 of towns, counties, and states. It is doubtful whether it is often 

 important to a person using an atlas whether even the rivers are 

 carefully given. Rivers have ceased to have their former value as 

 avenues of communication, having been superseded by railroads. 

 It is likely, therefore, that a map showing the railways more clearly 

 than the rivers would more nearly serve the purposes of ordinary 

 every-day reference. We certainly indorse the maps as given in 

 this volume. 



A number of articles on American topics are specially copy- 

 righted in the United States ; and among these it is worthy of note 

 that an addendum is made to the article on "Cheese," to cover 

 American cheese, which is now so largely exported to England. 

 " Dairy Factories " is another of these American articles, this being 

 one more evidence of the development of entirely novel methods in 

 this country for providing cheese and butter. 



Grover Cleveland receives notice from an American pen ; but it 

 is a surprise to find so early an immigrant as Christopher Columbus 

 treated of by one of our countrymen. 



To indicate the character of the articles, we may mention that 

 most of the geological ones are contributed by Professor James 

 Geikie ; the botanical ones, by Professor Patrick Geddes ; the 

 philosophical ones, by Professor Seth ; and the legal ones, by Mr. 

 Thomas Raleigh. Professor Rhys has written on the " Celts ; " 

 the Duke of Argyll, on " Clans ; " Professor Legge, on " China ; " 

 Sir Edward Watkin, on the " Channel Tunnel ; " Lord Brassey, on 

 " Coaling Stations ; " Lord Napier and Ettrick, on " Crofters ; " 

 Mr. Goldwin Smith, on " Cromwell ; " Professor Nicholson, on 

 " Currency ; " Mr. E. W. Streeter, on " Diamonds ; " Mr. A. J, 

 Ellis, on " Dialect." The writers of literary biographies include 

 the names of Walter Besant, A. H. BuUen, Professor J. W. Hales^ 

 George Saintsbury, and Theodore Watts. 



Those who wish at hand a convenient reference-book, arranged 

 by topics, and not made up of the elaborate treatises of some of 

 the larger encyclopedias, should keep Chambers in mind. 



Harper s First, Second, Third, and Fourth Readers. 4 vols. 

 New York, Harper. 12°. 



If the rising generation is not properly educated, it will not be 

 due to a lack of books. Publishers vie with each other in bringing 

 out new school-books with all the improvements, both literary and 

 mechanical, that experience and ingenuity can suggest. Under these 

 circumstances, it is impossible that any one series of text-books should 

 possess very decided superiority over others of the same class; and 

 this is particularly the case with reading-books, on which so much 

 labor has been expended. Nevertheless new readers will from time 

 to time be needed, and the Messrs. Harper have sent us a series of 

 them which they claim are superior in some respects to any hith- 

 erto prepared. The first of the series, which is intended for very 

 young pupils, has been edited by Professor O. T. Bright ; the edi- 

 tor of the others being Mr. James Baldwin. The volumes of the 

 series are carefully graded, and the new words introduced in each 

 lesson are given in a table at the end of the lesson, while a pro- 

 nouncing and defining vocabulary of all the new words in the vol- 

 ume is placed at the end of the book. All the volumes are, of 

 course, illustrated : and every means has been used to make them 

 attractive to young persons, both in appearance and in their literary 

 contents. The third and fourth numbers of the series contain 

 many articles on history, the habits of animals, and other topics of 

 importance ; and in all the books moral lessons are inculcated as. 

 opportunity is presented. Throughout the series the attempt has. 

 been made to give the young reader really good literature, and the 

 attempt has been attended with a good deal of success. What- 

 ever may be the relative merit of these readers as compared with 

 others, their positive merit seems to us of a high order. 

 Longmans New Atlas. Ed. by George G. Chisholm. London 



and New York, Longmans, Green, & Co. 8°. $4. 



Three years ago we had occasion to remark favorably upon 

 ■' Longmans' School Geography," by George Chisholm. The same 

 author supplements his previous work most fortunately by the 

 present atlas. Acting upon the advice of the Royal Geographical 

 Society's committee, he has followed, as far as circumstances per- 

 mit, German educationists ; and the endeavor to make the best use 

 of German works on school geography has led to excellent results, 

 in the present atlas. The author has evidently been guided to a 

 great extent by " Sydow- Wagner's Atlas." The atlas is primarily 

 designed for use in schools. With this view, three things have 

 been aimed at as of chief importance, — first, the adequate repre- 

 sentation of the physical features; second, the careful and some- 

 what exclusive selection of names ; third, the facilitation of corn- 

 parison as to size between the countries and regions included in 

 the different maps. Physical features and pohtical outlines are 

 represented on the same maps. 



In the selection of names the chief aim has been to insert no. 

 more than are necessary, and this aim has been kept in view not 

 merely with the intention of rendering it possible to engrave all the 

 names clearly in fairly large letters. The maps have in many 

 cases been left comparatively bare in this regard, because every 

 superfluous name tends to reduce the utility of a map for educa- 

 tional purposes. In school-maps it ought to be regarded as one of 

 the first essentials that the names should be few. But the atlaa 



