176 



SCIENCE. 



[N. !S. Vol. IV. No. 84. 



the melting point and critical temperature of a 

 number of compounds, and shows how this 

 ratio is constant for certain ones ; but these be- 

 long to such widely different classes of com- 

 pounds and the facts at hand are so slight that 

 no generalizations can be drawn. 



Aluminium Alcoholates : By H. W. Hillyer. 

 When attempts were made to preserve some 

 amalgamated aluminium by keeping it in a solu- 

 tion of mercuric chloride in absolute alcohol, it 

 was found that the aluminium acted quite vio- 

 lently on the alcohol forming aluminium alco- 

 holate. A number of alcohols were found to 

 act in the same way and the subject is now be- 

 ing investigated by the author. 



The Conductivity of Solutions of Acetylene in 

 Water: By H. C. Jones. The author calls 

 attention to the fact that the results published 

 by Jones and Allen, showing acetylene to be 

 considerably dissociated in water, are not cor- 

 rect. He has repeated the work and finds that 

 it has a very slight conductivity. He attributes 

 the previous error to some unknown impurity. 

 This number contains reviews of the following 

 books : 



Water Supply, W. P. Mason ; A Dictionary 

 of Chemical Solubilities, A. M. Comey ; Milk, 

 Its Nature and Composition, C. M. Aikman. 

 J. Elliott Gilpin. 



THE AUK. 



The Auk for July (Vol. XIII., No. 3) opens 

 with an article by Herbert K. Job, on 'The 

 Ducks of Plymouth County, Massachusetts,' 

 wherein the author presents the results of 

 many years' observations in a condensed report 

 on the 28 species known to occur. Dr. Walter 

 Faxon gives, with prefatory remarks, a list of 

 nearly 200 drawings of Georgia birds made by 

 John Abbot between 1790 and 1810. Some 160 

 species are represented, including several which 

 were then unknown to science. Publication, 

 or rather the lack of it, seems to have been Ab- 

 bot's only bar to immorta-lity as an ornitholo- 

 gist. 



Mr. O. Widmann discourses pleasantly on 

 ' The Peninsula of Missouri as a Winter Home 

 for Birds,' and Mr. A. W. Anthony gives evi- 

 dence of the breeding of the Black-vented 

 Shearwater off the coast of southern California 



with other interesting notes on the habits of 

 this species. In giving his ' Observations on 

 Histrionicus histrionicus in Maine,' Mr. Arthur 

 H. Norton writes of a comparatively little 

 known species, while Mr. Euthven Deane adds 

 a page to the life history of the Passenger 

 Pigeon, in which our interest increases as it 

 ' takes its flight. ' Notes from Bermuda, that 

 refuge for feathered waifs and strays, are al- 

 ways of value, and in commenting on the Ber- 

 mudan avifauna Dr. Prentiss tells of the recent 

 colonization of the Mocking-bird and European 

 Goldfinch. The latter was accidentally intro- 

 duced in 1893 by escaping from a vessel at St. 

 George's, and so favorable have the conditions 

 proved that already it is quite common. The 

 English sparrow, the most abundant resident 

 species, is spoken of as ' aggressive, offensive 

 and despised. ' 



Somewhat over a dozen pages are devoted to 

 reviews of recent ornithological books and pa- 

 pers, and about an equal number to records of 

 the capture of more or less rare species or 

 brief original observations of unusual interest. 



The colored plate of this issue is an excellent 

 illustration of the handsome Ptarmigan (Lago- 

 pus evermanni), from Attu Island, described by 

 Mr. D. G. Elliot in the January number. 



NEW BOOKS. 



PrantVs Lehrbuch der Botanik. Herausgegeben 

 und neu bearbeitet von Dr. Ferdinand Pax. 

 10th edition. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 

 1896. Pp. x+406. M. 4. 



Grundriss der Entwicklungs geschichte des Men- 

 schen und der Sdugethiere. Dr. Oscar 

 SCHULTZE. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 

 1896. Erste halfte Bogen 1-11. Pp. 176. 

 M. 5. 



Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkenntnisskritik. 

 Friedrich Dreyer. Leipzig, Wilhelm En- 

 gelmann. 1895. Pp. xiii+223. M. 4. 



Psychologische Arbeiten. Herausgegeben von 

 Emil Kraepelin. Leipzig, Wilhelm En- 

 gelmann. HefteL,IL,IIL Pp.488. M. 12. 



Beitrcige zur Psychologie und Philosophie. Her- 

 ausgegeben von Dr. Gotz Martius. Leip- 

 zig, Wilhelm Engelmann. Bd. I. Heft I. 

 Pp. 159. M. 4. 



