152 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XXI. No. 528 



to know. There are some sins of omission and commission, 

 however. Among the former may be mentioned the lact that 

 the alternating current dynamo is not touched upon, or very 

 briefly. No instructions are given as to what should be done in 

 case, when a dynamo arrives, it is found to be connected for 

 running in the opposite way to which the foundations, etc., 

 necessitate its turning. Instructions for reversing the connec- 

 tions of a series machine when it fails to start up or under com- 

 pounds would also be of use. The writer has had on many occa- 

 sions to travel several hundred miles to remedy these simple 

 troubles. A warning about the necessity and method of keeping 

 armatures and fields free from moisture when lying boxed up, 

 might also be added with benefit. Among the latter may be 

 mentioned the direction to lay an armature on waste (page 23), 

 as the latter is often full of pieces of iron, etc., which might ruin 

 the insulation. Sand-paper is preferable to emery for polishing 

 of commutators, as the latter frequently contains particles of 

 iron. The remedy proposed on page 30 for a shunt dynamo 

 which will not pick up is impracticable. 

 Altogether, this is a very useful and clear little book. 



R. A. F. 



Electrical Experiments. By G. E. Bonney. New York, Whit- 

 taker & Co. 

 This book is a collection of simple experiments with magnets, 

 induction coils, influence machines, and plating baths Mr. 

 Bonney is already favorably known through his books on the 

 making of induction coils, electroplating, etc., and this volume is 

 quite up to the others 



Manual of Irrigation Engineering. By H. M. Wilson, C.E New 

 York, J. Wiley & Sons. 1893. 851 p. 8°. $4. 

 While text-books and elementary treatises on the general sub- 

 ject are threatening to flood the market and the profession, the 

 promise of an overplus of good treatises on special branches of 



engineering, by competent specialists, is by no means serious. 

 Good works of the latter class are always welcome to the average 

 practitioner, and this seems to be one of the kind which is likely 

 to prove both useful and welcome. It is written by an author who 

 has had experience in America, Europe, and India, and contains 

 the fruits of both original investigation and discreet compilation. 

 The book is prepared mainly with reference to the needs of the 

 engineer having charge of work of this kind in the western por- 

 tion of the United States, and includes accounts of the current 

 methods there in use, as well as of such systems observed abroad 

 as are most likely to prove useful in this country. The collection 

 and distribution of water, but not its application to crops and to 

 its minor uses, constitute the subject chosen for treatment. Much 

 new material is here published, especially relating to earth-dams 

 and elevation of water by pumping The author makes api)lica- 

 tioii, in a very sensible manner, of the principle, too little recog- 

 nized by writers on engineering subjects, that, while no hesita- 

 tion should ever be felt in regard to the use of mathematics in 

 the development of the subject in hand, its use should always 

 be confined to the minimum quantity, and the most elementary 

 methods, consistent with the effective accomplishment of the 

 purpose in view. The average reader, even though a professional 

 and a practitioner, does not purchase his library with the view of 

 admiring the scholarship, the pedantry, or even the genius of 

 authors. 



The importance of this subject may be realized when it is 

 stated, as by this writer, that 25,000,000 of acres are made fruit- 

 ful in India alone by irrigation ; in Egypt there are about 6,000,- 

 000, and in Europe about 5,000,000 acres. In the United States, 

 where tliis process of conquering nature has but just begun, are 

 now about 4,000,000 acres of irrigated lands. Thus, about 

 40,000,000 acres of soil are made to produce crops: land which 

 would otherwise have remained desert. 



The book is well and freely illustrated, and its typography is 

 that alwaj'S seen, in the technical works of its publishers. It is 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 

 Biological Society, Washington. 



Mar. 11. — Frank Baker, Recent Discov- 

 eries in tlie Nervous System ; Vernon Bailey, 

 The Burrow of the Five-Toed Kangaroo- 

 Rat; E. M. Hasbrouck, The Breeding of the 

 Bald Eagle near Mount Vernon (with exhi- 

 bition of eggs). 



New York Academy of Sciences, Biologi- 

 cal Section. 



Feb. 13. — A paper on the "Functions of 

 the Internal Ear '" was presented by Dr. F. 

 S. Lee, based upon study of dog-fish. The 

 results of experiments were given, showing 

 that the semi-circular canals are sensory 

 organs for dynamical (rotational) equilib- 

 rium, otolithic parts for statical (resting) 

 equilibrium. Each canal appreciates move- 

 ment in its own plane, and by a definite 

 functional combination of canals all possi- 

 ble rotational movements are mediated. 

 This theory explains compensating move- 

 ments of eyes, fins, and trunk. The method 

 of experiment was that of sectioning the 

 branches of the acoustic nerve and stimula- 

 tion (by rotational movemenls)of the swim- 

 ming fish. In a paper by Bashford Dean, 

 on the Marine Laboratories of Europe, a 

 series of views were shown of the stations 

 of Naples, Banyuls, Roscoff, Plymouth, 

 Arcachon, the Helder, and St. Andrew's. 

 H. F. Osborn described the foot of Artionyx, 

 the new member of the order Ancylopoda 

 Cope. It is distinguished from C'halico- 

 therium by the character of aucle and pes, 

 which present a marked resemblance to 

 the Artiodactyla, while Chalicotlierium 



represents these structures as found in Peris- 

 sodactyla. Both genera are ungulate in 

 aucle joint, but the phalanges terminate in 

 claws, and, in view of the double parallelism 

 between these two forms and the two sub- 

 divisions of Ungulates, it was suggested to 

 divide the Ancylopoda into the Artionychia 

 and Perissonychia. 



Society of Natural History, Boston. 



Mar. 15. — H. C. Ernst, Cultures of a New 

 Pathogenic Bacillus, Illustrating Methods 

 of Isolation ; Warren Upham, Deflected 

 Glacial Strise in Somerville, Notes on the 

 Tertiary Strata of the Fishing Banks Be- 

 tween Cape Cod and Newfoundland. 



Beading Matter Notices. 



Ripans Tabules cure hives. 

 Ripans Tabules cure dyspepsia. 



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