April 3, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



541 



purposes in road-majdng is fully treated. We 

 presume the chemistry and technology of 

 cements have been fully treated in other 

 works by the same author; but we think the 

 omission in the present work of this subject 

 has been a mistake, as many problems in road 

 construction depend for their successful solu- 

 tion upon a thorough and discriminating 

 knowledge of the nature and quality of the 

 cements that are upon the market. 



Another defect of the work of a more seri- 

 ous nature, arises from the attempt of an 

 engineer to discuss problems that do not per- 

 tain to engineering. We refer to the entire 

 discussion of the subjects embraced in Chapter 

 SIII. This work is published in 1903, yet 

 a careful examination of the entire chapter 

 fails to disclose anything more recent than 

 about two years, and most of it is ten years 

 old. The chapter is evidently written up 

 'from the book,' instead of from actual ex- 

 perience and personal knowledge; hence the 

 discussion proceeds without discrimination. 

 - It "is not to be expected that an author will 

 discuss all subjects equally well; but it is to 

 be regretted that in a work furnishing in 

 other respects so much material of permanent 

 value, this important subject of asphalt pave- 

 ment should be discussed in such a manner as 

 to be often misleading and generally of but 

 little worth. 



While the work will greatly aid the build- 

 ers of city streets, we believe it will especially 

 commend itseK to that larger body of intel- 

 ligent men who are at this time interested 

 in the improvement of country roads, and to 

 them we commend its careful perusal. 



S. F. Peckham. 



BCIENTIFIO JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The March number of the Biological Bul- 

 letin, Volume rV., No. 4, contains the follow- 

 ing papers: 



W. M. Wheeiek and J. P. McClendon: 'Di- 

 morphic Queens in an American Ant {Lasius 

 latipes WaUh).' 



Eatph S. Lillie: 'Fusion of Blastomeres and 

 Nuclear Division without Cell-division in Solu- 

 tions of Non-eleotrolytes.' 



Chables T. Betjes : ' The structure and Signifi- 

 cance of Vestigial Wings among Insects.' 



S. J. Holmes : ' Death-Feigning in Terrestrial 

 Amphipods.' 



Edmund B. Wilson : ' Notes on the Reversal 

 of Asymmetry in the Regeneration of the Chelae 

 in Alpheus heteroohelis.' 



Florence Peebles : ' A Preliminary Note on 

 the Position of the Primitive Streak, and its Re- 

 lation to the Embryo of the Chick.' 



The principal contents of the National 

 Geographic Magazine for March include ' The 

 Canadian Boundary,' by John W. Foster, ex- 

 Secretary of State (a review of the methods 

 by which the line has been adjusted and 

 marked) ; ' Mountains of Unimak Island, 

 Alaska,' by Ferdinand Westdahl ; ' Opening 

 of the Alaskan Territory,' by Harrington 

 Emerson; 'The Forests of Canada,' 'Work 

 in the Far South,' ' The Development of 

 Cuba,' ' Theories of Volcanic Action.' Geo- 

 graphic notes and literature. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 



At the 139th meeting of the society, held 

 in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, 

 Wednesday evening, February 25, 1903, an 

 important discussion on the ' Genetic Classi- 

 fication of Ore Deposits,' begun on January 

 14, was continued. 



Mr. Emmons, in opening the discussion, 

 remarked that the classification of ore de- 

 posits on a purely genetic basis had been pro- 

 posed, not as a practical classification, or one 

 that could at the present day be anything 

 more than tentative, but mainly for the pur- 

 pose of bringing out the theoretical views to 

 which various workers had arrived as the re- 

 sult of their studies. It seemed, therefore, 

 important to distinguish what was purely 

 speculative from what had actually been dem- 

 onstrated. Messrs. Weed and Spurr, who' had 

 opened the discussion, ascribed an importance 

 to igneous agencies which probably would not 

 be admitted by a large class of workers in the 

 field, especially as applied to certain deposits 

 given as types of one or the other of their 

 classes. This application seemed based on 

 speculation rather than on actual demonstra- 

 tion. The important question seemed to be 

 the capability of igneous magmas to supply 



