204 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 85. 



circumstance that the discarded element may- 

 be a vowel, a consonant, or even one or more 

 syllables, i. e.,a. sound or combination of sounds. 

 This method of abridgement admits of a com- 

 prehensive application of the principle of the 

 stenographic root to which the proper affixes 

 may be joined. 



The recognition and use of the fonosteno- 

 grafic root introduces for the first time in short- 

 hand systems the rational application of the 

 natural but unconscious linguistic process of 

 adaptation to the purposive abbreviation of 

 words. This root (also called ' sound root ' or 

 ' phonetic radical ') is not of course the etymo- 

 logic root of the word or words to be written ; 

 it is defined as the ' strong and significant ' ele- 

 ment of the word; in its use the author grasps 

 and utilizes a well known law of verbal abridg- 

 ment which supplies an easy and natural rule 

 for the simple and effective contraction and ab- 

 breviation of vocables. It would seem that in 

 his new system the author has found the golden 

 mean between the highest rapidity and readiest 

 legibility — between those phonographic systems 

 which, owing to complex structure and conse- 

 quent illegibilty in practice, can be acquired 

 only by the highly gifted or the tirelessly in- 

 dustrious, and those other systems which have 

 been rendered simple in structure by ' such 

 limitations in principles and development' as 

 to deprive them of the requisite adaptability to 

 the exacting needs of the reporter. In the 

 terse language of the author, " the former class 

 appeals to a high standard of culture; the lat- 

 ter addresses itself to a lower plane of mental 

 capability and development; the former taxes 

 too heavily the head, and the latter demands 

 an impossible dexterity of the hand." Hith- 

 erto shorthand has commonly been pursued 

 empirically, with little or no regard to linguistic 

 principles, and it is a gratification to note an at- 

 tempt to bring it within the domain of linguistic 

 science. J. N. B. Hewitt. 



A Concise Handbook of British Birds. By H. 



KiRKE SwANN. London, John Wheldon & 



Co. 1896. 16°. pp. 210. 



The author of this recent addition to the ap- 

 parently endless series of books treating of 

 British birds, claims for his work a unique place 



among its fellows on the ground of its small 

 size and conciseness. 



No space is given to remarks on the faunal 

 position of the region under consideration, 

 analyses of the birds which occur in it, synopses 

 or keys to higher gi-oups, or other preliminary 

 or explanatory matter, it evidently being as- 

 sumed that the reader is already more or less 

 an ornithologist who will use the book as a 

 pocket manual for ready reference. 



Consequently, immediately after a ' list of 

 genera, ' we begin with ' Order Passeres, ' 'Fam- 

 ily Turdidse ,' 'Subfamily Turdinse ' — names _ 

 merely — ' Genus Turdus,' which is briefly de- ■{ 

 fined. Then follows the species with a short 

 statement of its ' habitat ' — a term which is arbi- 

 trarily used as "meaning the region inhabited 

 during the breeding season " — plumages, man- 

 ner of occurrence, haunts, notes, nest, eggs and 

 food, all very much condensed and with no 

 sti'iving for literary effect, but making useful, 

 if not very readable, summarized biographies. 



The most interesting point in Mr. Swann's 

 book for American naturalists is his pro- 

 nouncedly un-British stand in favor of trino- 

 mials. He seems to fully recognize — indeed, 

 to glory in — the depth of his depravity, and 

 remarks that he cannot expect to ' ' escape cen- 

 sure for adopting the despised system, ' ' adding 

 the fair challenge that, ' ' until some of our orni- 

 thologists can suggest some other way of allow- 

 ing a name to a recognised race without giving 

 it the name of a species, I will adhere to trino- 

 mials." After this bold declaration can any 

 one doubt that Mr. Swann's excommunication 

 will speedily follow ? 



Frank M. Chapman, 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 PSYCHE, AUGUST. 



The genus Orphula with its three New Eng- 

 land species forms the subject of the continua- 

 tion of A. P. Morse's paper on N. E. Tryxalinse. 

 A. R. Grote writes on the condition of the 

 nomenclature of the species of Apatela. H. G. 

 Dyar describes the early stages of Cosmosoma 

 auge, and also the apparatus by which he con- 

 ceives the noise made by Dionychopus niveus to 

 be produced. Notice of a few recent publica- 

 tions completes the number. 



