166 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 188. 



sable to any one who wishes to keep up to date. 

 The eight chapters into which the work is 

 divided are devoted to collecting ; tools and 

 materials ; casting ; birds ; mammals ; fish, rep- 

 tiles and crustaceans ; skeletons ; and the re- 

 production of foliage for groups. There is in 

 addition an appendix giving the addresses of 

 reliable iirms from whom tools and materials 

 may be purchased. All these contain important 

 information and all are based on personal ex- 

 perience, and while naturally in some cases 

 much of the ground has already been covered, 

 yet it is surprising to see how much there is not 

 only new, but good. The most important chap- 

 ter is that relating to the mounting of mammals, 

 and particularly of large mammals, ability to do 

 this well being the crucial test of a taxidermist. 

 Time was when they were stuffed in the most 

 literal sense of the word, but the last twenty 

 years have wrought a great change, and it no 

 longer suffices to simply fill a big mammal with 

 straw ; he must be fitted to a nicety over a 

 manikin modeled into shape with the greatest 

 care. Mr. Kowley's special device is the papier 

 mache manikin made on wire cloth, and this he 

 claims when the skin is properly glued on will 

 stand the test of time , a claim that is borne out 

 by the appearance of specimens mounted in this 

 manner, although we can be more certain of 

 the result ten years fi'om now. Only those who 

 have had a practical acquaintance with the 

 mounting of large mammals and watched their 

 behavior in steam-heated halls can appreciate 

 the desirability of some process that will give 

 freedom of manipulation and prove enduring, 

 for, like Mr. Rowley, we have seen the wreck 

 and ruin of some beautiful specimens that sim- 

 ply went to pieces through the splitting of the 

 skin, brought about by atmospheric changes. It 

 might, however, have been well to have briefly 

 described the manikin of excelsior, giving it as 

 an alternative, since in the majority of cases it 

 will do very well, and one without experience 

 might hesitate before attempting the somewhat 

 more difficult palter mache method. 



Another valuable chapter is that devoted to 

 the reproduction of foliage and flowers, for 

 while this subject is well treated by Montagu 

 Brown, yet he unfortunately omits a most im- 

 portant piece of information which Mr. Rowley 



supplies, namely, how to make the ' fabric ' 

 which is the basis of it all. While this repro- 

 duction may not be taxidermy, it has yet be- 

 come an important matter since the modern 

 museum calls, or should call, for the exhibition 

 of groups showing animals amid their natural 

 surroundings, and unless these surroundings are 

 duplicated with great skill the result is dis- 

 couraging. 



The chapter on skeletons, though brief, is 

 very good, although we suspect it would not 

 occur to any one not familiar with the man- 

 ner in which things are done at the American 

 Museum to suggest the use of porcelain bath 

 tubs for macerating purposes. 



In regard to fishes Mr. Rowley well says that 

 in most cases they are better reproduced by 

 casting than by skinning and mounting the 

 skin, and this is emphatically true of the larger 

 species which seem to delight in setting at 

 naught all efforts to mount them. 



Here and there one could wish for just a little 

 more information than is given, but as one of 

 the aims of the book was to supply a good 

 manual at a moderate price, conciseness was 

 necessary and the book can be recommended 

 not only to those who wish to be, but to those 

 who already are taxidermists. 



F. A. L. 



Water and Public Health. By James H. Fuer- 



TES. New York, John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 



75. Price, SI. 50. 



The method adopted by Mr. Fuertes, of sta- 

 ting many of his statistics in graphic form, is 

 very acceptable to the general reader. The 

 eye will grasp the meaning of a chart, and the 

 mental picture of the same will be retained, 

 while groups of simple figures make but a small 

 impression. 



An excellent point, insisted on by the author 

 and forcibly illustrated, is that Europe is far 

 ahead of us in the matter of carefully purifying 

 such public waters as are suspected of being 

 contaminated, and he further shows that Amer- 

 ica cannot expect immunity from epidemic dis- 

 ease should she continue the use of polluted 

 supplies. The book is a valuable contribution 

 to the literature of Water Supply. 



W. P. Mason. 



