304 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 192. 



abused my usurped license of wandering from 

 my text. 



Paul Shoeey. 



University of Chicago. 



The Story of the Atmosphere. By Douglas 



Archibald. Published in the Library of 



Useful Stories. New York, D. Appleton, & 



Co. 1897. Price, 40 c. 



In the ' Story of the Atmosphere,' Mr Archi- 

 bald has given us an excellent popular account 

 of the most important features of modern de- 

 ductive meteorology. His success in presenting 

 the subject in such an elementary manner is 

 really remarkable, and is without doubt due to 

 his many years' interest in this branch of the 

 science. Few Englishmen appear to have been 

 greatly attracted by the deductive treatment 

 of meteorology, and those who have shown by 

 their writings that they have been pursuing 

 this line of study have been most strongly rep- 

 resented by the Indian meteorologists, and 

 foremost and earliest among these must be 

 placed Blanford ; and no Englishman has fol- 

 lowed his lead more closely than Mr. Archibald, 

 whose writings have received well merited at- 

 tention during the past fifteen or twenty years. 



It is, then, with the knowledge that Mr. 

 Archibald is thoroughly familiar with his sub- 

 ject that we enter upon the perusal of his book ; 

 and, as we finish it, we must admit it to be an 

 important and very satisfactory addition to our 

 popular science literature. 



Mr. Archibald has shown great skill in select- 

 ing the material that he presents to the reader, 

 and he has given it in a very interesting man- 

 ner. It is, however, more of a student's book 

 than might appear at first sight. It is just the 

 book for a well educated man or woman to take 

 up and read as supplementary to studies form- 

 erly pursued in schools, and in the hands of a 

 teacher of meteorology or physical geography 

 it will prove a valuable addition to the elemen- 

 tary text-books on those sciences. 



Mr. Archibald's remarks on the origin and 

 height, nature and composition, pressure and 

 weight, of the atmosphere are clear and inter- 

 esting ; but the chief value of the book, in the 

 eyes of a specialist, lies in the chapters on the 

 temperature and motions of the atmospheric 



air. In these the author gives the reader the 

 full benefit of his study of meteorological litera- 

 ture of various lands during the last score of 

 years ; during which time dynamical meteor- 

 ology has made remarkable advances as a 

 science, owing to the labor of various eminent 

 physicists who have devoted considerable atten- 

 tion to it. In this portion of the book Ferrel's 

 work has been given the prominence which it 

 deserves, and the subjects presented have 

 probably never been given in a clearer manner. 

 It is interesting to note that the author has 

 wisely reproduced some of Ferrel's original 

 diagrams which have historic value. 



Probably the most interesting chapter to the 

 average reader is the one on ' Suspension and 

 Flight in the Atmosphere. ' This gives a succinct 

 account of aerial navigation of all kinds — bird 

 flights, ballooning, kite flying, air ships, etc. 

 The various problems pertaining to these are 

 elucidated and commented on with great dis- 

 crimination. The last chapter deals very 

 briefly but suggestively with ' Climate and 

 Life in the Atmosphere.' 



Frank Waldo. 



Great Smoky Mountains, N. C. 



NEW BOOKS. 

 Researches in the Vloa Valley, Honduras ; Caverns 

 of Copan. George Byron Gordon. Cam- 

 bridge, published by the Peabody Museum. 

 1898. Pp. 44 and 12 Plates. 



Catalogue of Scientific Periodicals, 1865-1895. 

 H. Caerington Bolton. Second Edition, 



1897. Washington, Smithsonian Institution. 



1898. Pp. vii+1247. 



Forestry Conditions in Northern Wisconsin. FlLl- 

 BERT Both. Madison, Published by the 

 State. 1898. Pp. vi+78. 



Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps. 

 George W. Peckham and Elizabeth G. 

 Peckham. Madison. 1898. Pp. iv+245 

 and 14 Plates. 



Symons' British Rainfall, 1897. G. J. Symons 

 and H. Sowerby Wallace. London, Stan- 

 ford. 1898. Pp. 239. 



Calcul des conduites d'eau. G. Daries. Paris, 

 Gauthier-Villars et fils. 1898. Pp. 194. 



