178 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 477 



— Natural Science is a new monthly review of natural history 

 progress. The object of the editors will be "to expound and deal 

 in a critical manner with the principal results of current research 

 in geology and biology that appear to be of more than limited ap- 

 plication." Articles are contributed to the first number by Jlr. 

 F. E. Beddard, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., Mr. A. S. Woodward, 

 Mr. R. Lydekker, Mr. J. W. Da\ is, Mr. G. A. Boulenger, Mr. J. 

 W. Gregory, Mr. G. H. Carpenter, and Mr. Thomas Hick. The 

 publishers are Messrs. Macmillan & Co. 



— Every teacher of physics will be glad to know that a tenth 

 edition of Maxwell's "Theory of Heat" has just been issued by 

 Longmans, Green, & Co. Lord Rayleigh is the editor, which is 

 sufficient to make all physicists confident that the necessary re- 

 vision has been well done. It is probable that no more suggestive 

 work was ever produced in the whole science of physics. It is 

 more than its name signifies, for a number of physical problems 

 are discussed, which are not usually treated under the head of 

 "heat." But no one should take up the book unless he is prepared 

 for some pretty intense study. It is not a popular work, but for 

 those competent to understand even portions of it it stands with- 

 out any equal as a guide to the study of physical science. 



— "A Guide to the Scientific Examination of Soils: Compris- 

 ing Select Methods of Mechanical and Chemical Analysis and 

 Physical Investigation " is the title of a book recently published 

 by Henry Carey Baird & Co., Philadelphia, at |1.50. It is atrans- 

 lation from the German of Dr. Felix Wahnschaffe, with additions, 

 by William T. Brannt. Mr. Brannt is editor of " The Techno- 

 chemical Receipt Book." The "Guide to the Scientific Examina- 

 tion of Soils" is a book for the agricultural chemist. There are 

 introductory chapters on " Derivation and Formation of the Soil," 

 and " Classification of Soils " ; but these are brief, and the main 

 purpose of the work is shovrn in the chapters bearing more direct- 

 ly on methods, mechanical and chemical, to be used in determin- 

 ing the soil-constituents and their plant-nourishing value. This 

 last depends, as is well known on more than mere chemical con- 

 stitution, and due attention is given to the determination of the 

 properties of the soil depending on physical as well as chemical 

 causes. 



— The name of nearly every appliance on the English railway 

 is different from the corresponding term applied on the American 

 railroad, yet many of the problems involved in the working of 

 rail transportation are the same. Only three or four years ago a 

 lecture on " The Working of an English Railway " was delivered 

 before the School for Military Engineering at Brompton Barracks, 

 England, by George Findlay, who, in addition to holding certain 

 rank in the volunteer service of England, is general manager of 

 the London and Northwestern railway. This lecture was natural- 

 ly devoted, to some extent at least, to the use of railways in mili- 

 tary opei-ations. It proved attractive, however, to a wider circle 

 of readers than the army officers to whom it was first delivered, 

 and the result was the first edition of " The Working and Man- 

 agement of an English Railway." Additions to the scope of the 

 original lecture were made to adapt it to its new public, with the 

 result that we now liave before us the fourth edition, published 

 in this country by Macmillan & Co. The subjects treated range 

 all the way from such as are purely mechanical — the permanent 

 way. rolling stock, signals, telegraphs, etc. — to questions concern- 

 ing the relation of the state to railways and the state purchase of 

 railways, which are to some extent social. There are some im- 

 perfections in the mechanical execution of the book, perhaps due 

 to the large number of copies printed, but it is sure to interest all 

 who want a popular expose of the ways in which the modern rail- 

 way has been brought into existence and the problems occupying 

 the minds of those now managing them. 



— Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, are the American 

 publishers of "Heroes of the Telegraph" (|1.40), by J. Munro, 

 which is brought out in England by The Religious Tract Society. 

 Mr. Munro has written a number of popular books on electricity 

 and the lives of workers in this comparatively new science. As 

 an Englishman, he gives first place to Sir Charles VVheatstone 

 among the heroes of the telegraph, and no one will wish to with- 



hold any of the honors due that great pioneer in electrical science, 

 especially as the author, in his second chapter devoted to S. B. F. 

 Morse, does full justice to him whom we Americans are proud to 

 consider as the inventor par excellence of the telegraph. But it is 

 not with him that work on the telegraph ceased. Much work re- 

 mained to be done before sub-marine cables and long and com- 

 plicated land-lines were a possibility, and so there are chapters 

 containing interesting accounts of the contributions to the tele- 

 graph made by Sir Wm. Thomson, Sir Wm. Siemens, Fleeming 

 Jenkin, Reis, Bell, Edison, Hughes, Gauss, Weber, Sir W. F. 

 Cooke, Bain, Dr. Werner Siemens, Latimer Clark, Count du 

 Moncel, and Elisha Gray. 



— So many ask for a really good elementary book in electricity 

 and magnetism that we are inclined to hope much usefulness for 

 "A First book of Electricity and Magnetism" (60 cents), by W, 

 Perren Maycock, recently brought out by Macmillan & Co., on 

 this side of the water. The book is an English one. the author 

 being a member of the English Institute of Electrical Engineers. 

 The author does not touch upon the modern electrical theories, 

 which are attracting so much attention, but which would be ex- 

 tremely unpromising subjects for popular exposition as they now 

 stand; but he certainly seems to give a clear statement of the 

 facts of electrical science in a way likely to be helpful to many 

 who have not the training to use such excellent books as those by 

 Silvanus Thompson or Fleeming Jenkin. 



— Another book intended to serve the same purpose as that 

 mentioned above has been published by Norman W Henley & 

 Co., New York, entitled "Electricity Simplified," by T. O'Sloane. 

 The autlior of this book has met with success as a writer of 

 primers on scientific subjects, his '• Home Experiments in Science" 

 and "The Arithmetic of Electricity" being doubtless known to 

 many of our readers. There is certainly a demand for an ele- 

 mentary book that will tell the uninitiated something of the won- 

 ders of electricity, and all seeking such information should ex- 

 amine Sloane's " Electricity Simplified." ($1.). 



— A notable literary article will appear in the April Forum by 

 Mr. Philip G. Hamerton, who discusses the important subject of 

 the Learning of Languages. Mr. Hamerton is one of the few 

 men who are absolutely as much at home in French as in English, 

 and his experience and observation make his article full of sug- 

 gestiveness. The historian, Professor Edward A. Freeman, writes 

 an autobiographical essay showing the growth of his opinions 

 and method of work. Mr. R. L. Garner, the student of the -speech 

 of monkeys, contributes the most interesting paper that he has 

 yet published on the results of his investigations. Other articles 

 in this number will be on the German Emperor's policy of remov- 

 ing restrictions upon trade, by Mr. Poultney Bigelow, his personal 

 friend; on German Colonization and Emigration, by Dr. Geffcken; 

 an explanation of the method of burial by the gi-eat funeral 

 monopoly in Paris, by Mr. Edmund R. Spearman, who has made 

 a special study of it for the Forum. 



— " Age of the Domestic Animals " is a treatise on the dentition 

 of the horse, ox, sheep, hog, and dog, and on the various other 

 means of determining the age of these animals, by Rush Shippen 

 Huidekoper, M.D., veterinarian (Alfort, France); professor of 

 sanitary medicine and veterinary jurisprudence, American Veter- 

 inary College, New York. This work presents a study of all that 

 has been written on the subject from the earliest Italian writers. 

 The author has drawn much material from the ablest English, 

 French, and German writers, and has given his own deductions; 

 and opinions, whether they agree or disagree with such investi- 

 gators as Bracy Clark, Simonds (in English), Girard, Chauveau, 

 Leyh. Ls Coque.'Goubaux, and Barrier (in German and French). 

 The illustrations have been mainly taken from these authors, and 

 it would be extremely difiicult to improve upon them. There are, 

 however, a large number of original illustrations on the horse, 

 cattle, sheep, and pig. To quote from the preface, "The author 

 has attempted to prepare such a booli as he feels would have been 

 of interest and service to himself in his association with animals 

 as a layman, and would have aided his studies and appreciation 

 of the anatomy of the teeth, dentition, and means of determining 



