November 5, 1886.] 



scmjvcu. 



421 



refinement and skill that centuries of scientific 

 education could furnish. Does this not suggest a 

 conception of law, of rationality, of an adapta- 

 tion between the human mind and the external 

 world, which is not yet fully appreciated? 



Besides the repetitions due to rhythm and the 

 scale, there are the more complicated ones due to 

 the repetition of phrases and arias. The Leit- 

 motiv and the variations of a theme are examples 

 of more complex modes of musical repetition. 

 The laws of harmony reveal the same tendency 

 towards a recognition of identity, in combination 

 with those numerical relations which underlie the 

 formation of the scale. The appreciation of the 

 more complicated harmonies depends on natural 

 gifts as well as on musical training. 



M. Soret considers the aesthetic aspects of color 

 as regards mixture, juxtaposition, repetition, in a 

 similar way ; and, though there are many sugges- 

 tive analogies thus brought out, the subject is 

 hardly sufiiciently well known to warrant precise 

 statements. 



The final portion of the address is devoted to 

 the beautiful in nature. In the animal world 

 symmetry is certainly evident ; and though this 

 symmetry is not perfect in various attitudes, still 

 we readily recognize its nature ; and, in fact, this 

 mobility is itself pleasure-giving. In the lower 

 forms of life, repetition of design, as the stripes 

 of a zebra, the markings of a caterpillar or a 

 butterfly, is abundant. Continuity and roundness 

 of outline is certainly a prominent feature of 

 animal forms. The mutilation or natural defect 

 of parts of the body spoils the regular effect, and 

 is thus ugly. Of course, as regards man, the 

 animal which we know so intimately, the psychic 

 elements play an active part in the conception of 

 beauty ; but these are not now under considera- 

 tion. By comparison we erect a type, an ideal, 

 and judge of beauty by its conformity to that ideal. 

 Turning to the vegetable world, we find exquisite 

 symmetry, graceful outline, and repetition of de- 

 sign, represented as before. And into that com- 

 bination of foliage with sky and earth which forms 

 scenery, these elements enter, but do not suffi- 

 ciently explain the enchanting effect of beautfful 

 landscape. In short, there is a physical basis of 

 aesthetics ; but it is far from perfectly understood, 

 and in part is so closely connected with higher 

 aspects of beauty, that its nature remains unre- 

 vealed. J. J- 



The Lehigh valley railroad is to be equipped 

 with the Phelps system of train telegraphy, by 

 which moving trains can be kept in constant com- 

 munication with headquarters or with any station 

 on the line of the road. 



RECENT PALEONTOLOGICAL PUBLICA- 

 TIONS. 



Revision of the Palaeocrinoidea. Part iii. By C. Wachs- 

 MUTH and F. Springer. Philadelphia, W. P. Kildare, 

 pr., 1886. 8°. 



Wachsmuth and Springer have issued separate- 

 ly an extract from the Proceedings of the Acade- 

 my of natural sciences, forming an octavo of 

 some two hundred pages, and containing a dis- 

 cussion of the classification and relations of the 

 brachiate crinoids with the conclusion of the 

 generic descriptions, errata, and a full index. 

 This important work forms part iii. of their re- 

 vision of the Palaeocrinoidea, and will be indis- 

 pensable to all students of that remarkable group 

 of animals. The total number of genera recog- 

 nized is 156 ; of species, 1,276. Sixty-one of the 

 genera are exclusively American ; forty-eight, ex- 

 clusively European ; forty-six are common to both 

 hemispheres ; one is peculiar to Australia. The 

 authors do not claim that all the species included 

 and referred to their proper genera in their Ust 

 are actually well founded : on the contrary, many 

 may prove eventually synonymous vsdth previous- 

 ly described forms. However, there are numer- 

 ous undescribed sj)ecies ; and the writers claim 

 that at least one hundred such are contained in 

 their own collection, to be hereafter described 

 and completely illustrated in a monograph of the 

 Palaeocrinoidea of North America. The group 

 formerly described by them as the family Ichthy- 

 ocrinidae, with the addition of Crotalocrinus and 

 Enallocrinus, is now erected into a sub-order, 

 Articulata, containing two families, — the Ichthy- 

 ocrinidae and Crotalocrinidae. Further indica- 

 tion of the details of a work which is in itself a 

 synopsis are impracticable within the limits to 

 which we are restricted, — a fact which we regret 

 the less, since all those directly interested will, 

 without doubt, possess and profit by the original. 



Geological survey of Alabama. Parts i. and ii. By T. H. 

 Aldrich and O. Meyer. Tuscaloosa, Geol. SMrt;.,1886. 8°. 



Bulletin No. 1 of the geological survey of Ala- 

 bama, directed by Prof. E. A. Smith, forms the 

 first contribution toward a work undertaken by 

 Mr. Truman H. Aldrich, illustrating the paleon- 

 tology of the tertiary formation in Alabama. 

 This work, which is to be the gift of Mr. Aldrich 

 to the state of Alabama, will embrace figures and 

 descriptions of all the shells found in the tertiary 

 deposits of the state, including reproductions of 

 figures published elsewhere, and, when finished, 

 vdll be one of the most complete works of the 

 kind published by any state. 



In the preparation of this bulletin, Mr. Aldrich 

 has personally gone over the greater part of the 

 ground, and has collected a large part of the ma- 



