August 31, 1888. J 



SCIENCE. 



107 



mend it. It appeals to ' true amateurs,' — boys who have a scien- 

 tific turn of mind, and men who have some leisure from their work, 

 but who have not the facilities that a laboratory offers. 



The tools required are of the simplest kind, no turning-lathe or 

 expensive apparatus being needed. Most of them are to be found 

 in the ordinary equipment of a householder : the rest may be pur- 

 chased for a few dollars. The materials, too, are inexpensive and 

 easy to get. 



The directions in this book are full and clear, and where it is 

 necessary dimensional drawings are given. When the amateur has 

 built every thing that is described, he will find himself in possession 

 of quite a complete set of apparatus for electrical e.xperiments, — 

 galvanometers, electroscope, condenser, voltmeter, Wimhurst ma- 

 chine, induction-coil, etc.; and, if he compares the cost of them 

 with the catalogue prices, he will have cause to congratulate him- 

 self. But the most important thing he has acquired is a skill in 

 manipulation, and a knowledge of the instruments that will enable 

 him to experiment usefully with them. 



There are some verbal errors in the book, — we do not usually 

 speak of " S hours' resistance," for example, — but they do not take 

 away its usefulness. In that part of the appendix, however, that 

 treats of accumulators, there is the serious mistake of confusing dis- 

 charge-rate with storage-capacity. Page 174 had better be omitted. 



Popular Chemistry. By J. Dorm.\n Steele. New York, 

 Barnes. 16°. 

 This is the familiar ' Fourteen Weeks in Chemistry,' revised and 

 brought down to date, with some additions in appendices describ- 

 ing methods of manipulation and simple analyses. The object of 

 this successful book was, by bringing out prominently such ele- 

 mentary facts in chemistry as would be likely to interest the average 

 boy or girl, to give the most of them such a smattering of knowl- 

 edge as would give a key to many of the chemical changes they 

 would be likely to observe in every-day life, and to leave such a 

 pleasant impression with the few as might lead them to further 

 study. The book has served its purpose well in the past, and, in 

 its new form, is likely to have a continued usefulness for some time 

 to come. The revision has been done by competent hands. A 

 useful glossary, giving the pronunciation of chemical terms, is one 

 of the additions. The chapters on organic chemistry have been 

 completely re-arranged and to a great extent re-written. 



An Index to E)igmeeri)ig Periodicals, 1S83 to 1887 Z7iclusive. 

 By Fr.\ncis E. Galloupe, M.E. Boston, 30 Kilby Street ; 

 New York, Eng. News Pub!. Co. 294 p. 12°. 



The progress in developing material resources, in recent years, 

 has created a vast amount of engineering literature, which is scat- 

 tered through the various engineering journals. To render a large 

 amount of this available, has been Mr. Galloupe's task, who has 

 sought, in a handy little volume containing about ten thousand 

 references, to cover the contents of the leading journals during the 

 past five years. The matter seems to be arranged admirably under 

 topics. The book will certainly serve a purpose with all interested. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mr. G. W. Littlehales, assistant in the Hydrographic OflSce, 

 has completed a monograph on ' Recent Developments in Great 

 Circle Sailing.' Lieutenant Dyer, in charge of the office, who has de- 

 voted much time and labor to the study of this subject, will write the 



preface. Henry Holt & Co. announce as in preparation, ' Briefer 



Course in Physics,' by George F. Barker ; ' Dissection of the Dog,' 

 as a basis for the study of physiology, by W. H. Howell ; ' Brief 

 History of the United States,' by Alexander Johnston, professor in 

 Princeton College (this book is intended to meet the needs of teach- 

 ers who desire a briefer and more elementary text-book than the 

 author's well-known ' History of the United States ; ' it is, however, 

 very far from being a condensation of that work); ' Greek Litera- 

 ture,' by Thomas Sergeant Perry; ' Chemistry (Advanced Course),' 

 by Ira Remsen ; ' Das Wesentliche der Deutschen Grammatik,' by 

 A. W. Spanhoofd ; and ' First Lessons in Political Economy,' by 



Francis A. Walker. D. Van Nostrand, New York, announces 



' The Elements of Electric Lighting,' by Philip Atkinson, for speedy 

 issue ; also ' Modern Reproductive Processes,' being a manual of 



instruction in the art of reproducing drawings, engravings, manu- 

 scripts, etc., by the action of light, by Mr. Ernst Lietze ; a transla- 

 tion of the Russian work of Woeikof on • The Climates of the 

 Earth,' by Prof. Cleveland Abbe of the Signal Office ; a large and 

 important work by Col. George E. Waring, jun., being a general 

 treatise on city, town, and village sewerage and drainage, and land 

 drainage; and 'Plate Girder Construction,' by Isami Hiroi, the 

 latest issue in the Van Nostrand's Science Series. G. S. Fel- 

 lows & Co., New York, announce ' Memory Systems, New and 

 Old,' by A. E. Middleton. This is the first American edition from 

 the second English edition, revised and enlarged, with bibliography 

 of mnemonics, 1325-1888, by G. S. Fellows, M.A., of the Wash- 

 ington High School. They also announce ' Protection Echoes from 

 the Capitol," by Thomas H. McKee, containing twelve hundred 

 aphorisms and leading principles of the protective policy. Cup- 

 pies cS: Hurd have in press a volume on ' Typical New England 



Elms and Other Trees.' Harper & Brothers have just ready 



Walter Besant's ' Fifty Years Ago.' This is an illustrated account 

 of English life, customs, and manners half a century ago, when 

 Queen Victoria ascended her throne. G. P. Putnam's Sons pub- 

 lish ' The Story of Media, Babylon, and Persia,' including a study 

 of the Zendavesta or religion of Zoroaster from the fall of Nineveh 

 to the Persian war (continued from ' The Story of Assyria '), by 

 Zenaide A. Ragozin. in their Story of the Nations Series, illustrated 

 with maps and woodcuts ; and ' A Sketch of the Germanic Constitu- 

 tion,' from early times to the dissolution of the empire, by Samuel 



Epes Turner. Roberts Brothers publish ' Harvard Vespers,' a 



volume of addresses to Harvard students, by Francis G. Peabody, 

 Phillips Brooks, Edward Everett Hale, Alexander McKenzie. George 

 A. Gordon, and Andrew P. Peabody, delivered during 1886, 1887, and 



1888. James J. Chapman, Washington, D.C., will issue early 



in September McPherson's ' Hand-book of Politics for 1888.' It 

 will cover the proceedings of the second session of the last Congress 

 (49th), and the first session of the present Congress (50th), and will 



give the final facts as to every pending public measure. Das 



Centralblatt fiir Bibliotliekswesen for July contains a remarkable 

 article by J. Gildemeister of Bonn, on the ' Oriental Literature of 

 the Discovery of America,' containing some curious particulars, 

 taken from a Mohammedan work, of the voyage of an Indian ship, 

 which, after driving about in the ocean for eight months, was cast 



on to the shore of the New World. For the first time in its 



history The Century will devote a single issue — the forthcoming 

 September number — largely to educational themes. The contri- 

 butions will include ' The University and the Bible,' by T. T. Mun- 

 ger, a plea for the study of Christian as well as Heathen classics ; 

 ' Women Who go to College,' by Arthur Gilman ; and ' The Indus- 

 trial Idea in Education,' by Charles M. Carter. One illustrated 

 paper is on ' College Fraternities,' with pictures of twenty-eight 

 chapter-houses and society-halls at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and 

 other colleges ; and another is on ' Uppingham, an Ancient School 

 worked on Modern Ideas,' with a number of illustrations by Joseph 

 Pennell, and a portrait of the late head master, Edward Thring, 

 who is said to be, since Arnold of Rugby, the most highly esteemed 

 educator of England. There will also be several important short 

 editorial articles and ' open letters ' on different branches of the same 

 subject. Other distinctive features of the magazine, the Lincoln 

 history, Siberian papers, fiction, etc., will, however, be retained. 

 The Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company of Wor- 

 cester, Mass., has just published the sixth edition of their ' Pocket 

 Handbook of Copper and Iron Wire in Electric Transmission.' 

 The book contains a summary of information in regard to the tele- 

 graph and telephone in addition to that about wires. Van Ant- 

 werp, Bragg, & Co. have just ready ' Eclectic Physical Geography,' 

 containing 30 charts and 151 cuts and diagrams. G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons will publish immediately an edition de luxe of ' The 

 President's Message,' printed in large type, small quarto, with six- 

 teen full-page moral and graphic illustrations from original designs 

 by Thomas Nast ; also the Questions of the Day edition of the 

 same, with annotations by R. R. Bowker, which has been delayed 



for some important additional material. Cupples, Upham, & 



Co. will publish shortly a new book by W. H. H. (Adirondack) 

 Murray. It will be descriptive of the north-western side of the 

 American continent. Funk & Wagnalls have just issued in 



