February 3, 1893.J 



SCIENCE. 



69 



"Breathing Wells" in Missouri. 



I WOULD like to refer tho-se interested in the subject recently 

 presented in your columns (Dec. 16 and Jan. 13) to notes on such 

 wells in Nebraska, published in the American Naturalist, April 

 and May, 1883. The conclusions there presented harmonize with 

 those demonstrated by Mr. Willard and Professor Sweezy. 



The tendency of such wells to freeze was first brought to my 

 knowledge in connection with some that occur near Mt. Leonard 

 and Marshall, in Saline County, Missouri. They are frequent in 

 what I take to be an ancient channel of the Missouri River, which 

 has become filled, largely with sand. I was assured by several 

 persons directly acquainted with the facts, one of them experi- 

 enced in putting in and repairing pumps, that in such "blowing 

 wells" pumps not infrequently froze to the depth of 70 or 80 feet 

 below the surface, and in one case ice had been found in a pump 

 cylinder 100 feet down, which was about 10 feet above the water. 

 In all these cases the reservoir of confined air is in an extensive 

 deposit of dry sand connecting with the outer air through the 

 mouth of the well. J. E. Todd. 



Vermillion, S.D., Jan. 34. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



People of Finland in Archaic Times. Compiled by J. C. Bkown, 

 LL.D. London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, & Co. 

 390 p. 8°. 

 Br. Brown has in view the compilation of a series of volumes 

 on the ethnography of northern Europe, prepared for popular 

 study, of which this is the first. It is principally composed of 

 extracts and abstracts from the Finnish national epic, theKalevala, 

 and some additional material is obtained from other sources. The 

 whole forms an excellent popular introduction to the study of 

 this ancient and remarkable poem, and enables the reader to un- 

 derstand the cultural condition of the people among whom it 

 originated. 



Dr. Brown is inclined to assign the date of the con.struction of 

 the poem in its present form to about 1100 A.D. Doubtless, how- 

 ever, a great part of it is many centuries older, and the myths 

 and legends which it embodies are referable to an ancient, pre- 

 historic period, before the separation of the western Ugrian stock 

 into its various existing branches. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



" Highways and Byways of Europe" is the title of a volume 

 translated from the French of M. Jules Michelet by Mrs. Mary J. 

 Serrano and published by the Cassell Publishing Company. 



— Miss Kate Marsden's book, "On Sledge and Horseback to 

 the Outcast Siberian Lepers," the Cassell Publishing Company 

 will soon have ready. Ever since Miss Marsden began her work 

 among the outcast lepers of Siberia the world has been ready to 

 read her own story of her adventures and experiences. 



— "The Principles of Rank among Animals," by Professor 

 Henry Webster Parker, is the title of a paper read before the Vic- 

 toria Institute, London, Dec. 5, 1892. It is a condensed digest, 

 under eighteen heads of remark, of the recognized principles that 

 determine grade, and with incidental reference under each to 

 man's zoological position, but without touching the question of 

 his origin. A distinction is emphasized by the author between 

 anatomical and zoological position, as illustrated, for example, in 

 the three sub-classes of birds, which are based far more upon mode 

 of life than upon any morphological differences; also by the rank 

 given to singing-birds as justified by the function far more than 

 the anatomy of the syrinx. The ideal is still recognized in zool- 

 ogy, as in bird, flsh, and insect; the ideal of man is the antithesis 

 of that of anthropoids ; and by nearly every principle of zoological 

 rank he is shown to have a place quite apart, and in same respects 

 less near to anthropoids than to animals lower in grade. 



Bffspepsia 



Dr. T. H. Andrews, Jefferson 

 Medical College, Philadelphia, says of 



Horsford's Acid Phosphate. 



"A wonderful remedy which gave me 

 most gratifying results in the worst 

 forms of dyspepsia." 



It reaches various forms of 

 Dyspepsia that no other medi- 

 cine seems to touch, assisting 

 the weakened stomach, and 

 making the process of diges- 

 tion natural and easy. 



Descriptive pamphlet free on application to 

 Riimford Chemical AVorks, Providence. R. I. 



Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. 



For sale by all Druggists. 



Exchanges. 



[Freeof charge to all, if ofsatisfactorycharacter. 

 Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.l 



For sale or exchange. — I have a few copies of my 

 translation of "Strasburger's Manual of Vegetable 

 Histology, 1887," now out of print, which I will send 

 post-paid for %Z or for one dozen good slides illus- 

 trating plant or animal structure. Address A. B. 

 Hervey, St. Lawrence University, Cauton, N. T. 



The undersigned has the following specimens to 

 exchange for crystals of any eawtern or foreign lo- 

 calities or Indian relics: tin ore, metacinnabarite, 

 stibnite, garnierite, calenanite, hanksite, ulexite. 

 rubellite, lepidolite, blue and green onyx, Cal. pine- 

 ite, aragonite on chalcedony, cinnabar, double re- 

 fracting spar, clear and clouded, and others. J. R. 

 Bush, care of General Delivery, Los Angeles, Cal. 



For sale or exchange. — A private cabinet of about 

 200 species of fossils, well distributed geologically 

 and geographically. Silurian, about 40; Devonian, 

 about 50; Carboniferous, about 80; others, about 30. 

 Frank S. Aby, State University, Iowa City, la. 



For exchange —Minerals, fossils, F. W. shells, 

 land shells, native woods, Indian relics, two vols, 

 of Smithsonian reports, odd numbers of scientific 

 magazines, copper cents, etc., for good minerals 

 not in my collection, good arrow- and spear-heads 

 and natural history specimens of all kinds. Cor- 

 respondence solicited with list of duplicates. G. 

 E. Wells, Manhattan, Kan. 



For sale or suitable exchange.— A spectrometer 

 made by Fauth & Co., Washington, D. C, according 

 to the plan of Prof. C. A. Young. This instrument 

 is suitable for the most advanced investigations 

 and determinations. Cost originally $700 and has 

 been used but little. Will be disposed of at a con- 

 siderable reduction. Address Department of Phys- 

 ics, Ohio University, Athens, O. 



I will send British land and fresh-water shells in 

 return for those of America, any part, sent to me. 

 I have at present about fifty or sixty species, with 

 many varieties. W. A. Gain, Tuxford, Newark, 

 England. 



The Biological Department of Hamline University 

 desires to offer microscopic slides of animal tissues, 

 or whole animals, in exchange for flrst-class fossils. 

 Address correspondence to Henry L. Osborne, Ham- 

 line University, Hamliue. Minn. 



KiniUy tnention " Science " in 

 writing to Advei'tisers. 



IVaizts. 



WANTED.— American Journal of Conchology, 

 seven volumes. Parties having these for 

 sale will please address the undersigned, stating 

 condition and price. R.Ellsworth Call,Louisville,Ky. 



A GRADUATE ENGINEER will give instruction 

 evenings in geometry, trigonometry and sur- 

 veying, mechanics, physics, mechanical drawing 

 and general engineering construction. Five years' 

 experience in field and editorial work on engineer- 

 ing journal. References furnished. C. S. H., 102 

 Tribune Building, New York. 



\117ANTED.— By well - qualified and experienced 

 VV science master and associate of the Royal 

 School of Mines, London, aged 26 (at present in 

 England), a mastership \n technical college or uni- 

 versity for any of the following subjects: Engineer- 

 ing sciences, geology and mineralogy, physics, chem- 

 istry and metallurgy, etc.. etc. Can provide excel- 

 lent references and credentials. Apply, J. G., 17 

 Sussex St., Rochdale, England. 



A GRADUATE of the University of Pennsylvania 

 and a practical mineralogist of twenty years'* 

 experience desires to give his services and a cabi- 

 net of 25,100 specimens, all named, with about the 

 same number of duplicates, in minerals, crystals, 

 rocks, gems, fossils, shells, archteological and ethno- 

 logical specimens and woods to any institution de- 

 siring a fine outfit for study. The owner will in- 

 crease the cabinet to 50,000 specimens in two years 

 and will act as curator. Correspondence solicited 

 from any scientific institution. J. W. Hortter, 

 M.D., Ph.D., San Francisco, Cal., General P. O. 

 Delivery. 



THE RADIOMETER. 



By DANIEL S. TROY. 



This contains a discussion of the reasons 

 for their action and of the phenomena pre- 

 sented in Crookes' tubes. 



Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 



N. D. C, 



, 874 Broadway, N. Y. 



