202 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 2c 



full of life in her mind, that is so deeply impressed by the wild 

 beauty of this remote province, and by the strange admixture of 

 races by which it is peopled. The authoress describes the Saxons, 

 Roumanians, and gypsies very fully, while she gives only a passing 

 glance to the Hungarians. It is probably because she became 

 more intimately acquainted with the former, and studied their cus- 

 toms and beliefs more thoroughly, that she confines herself to the 

 description of this part of Transylvanian life. The large amount 

 of interesting and valuable ethnological information collected by 

 the authoress deserves our full admiration. Customs and beliefs 

 which have survived from the ancient days of paganism or from 

 the superstitions of the middle ages offer a peculiar interest to the 

 student of the histor)' of civilization ; and the present volume con- 

 tains much that is worth a thorough study, and that will interest 

 the thoughtful reader. The descriptions of the country and of its 

 inhabitants are vivid, and made more impressive by numerous 

 illustrations, which are the more welcome, as Transylvanian scenery 

 is little known, and has not yet received much attention by artists. 



Manual of Cketnisiry. By W. SiMON. 2d ed. Philadelphia, 

 Lea Bros. & Co. 8°. 



This manual is designed to be a guide to lectures and laboratory 

 work for beginners in chemistry, and a text-book specially adapted 

 for students of pharmacy and medicine. The contents are divided 

 into seven parts. The first part treats of the fundamental proper- 

 ties of matter, extension or figure, divisibility, gravitation, and 

 porosity. In the second are considered the fundamental principles 

 of chemistry, including chemical divisibility, the laws of chemical 

 combination, the determination of atomic weights, the decomposi- 

 tion of compounds, and some general remarks regarding elements. 

 Non-metals and metals, with their combinations, are next discussed. 

 Then follow analytical chemistry and the consideration of carbon 

 compounds or organic chemistry, while the last part is devoted to 

 physiological chemistry. As a help in laboratory-work, experi- 

 ments are described which may be readily performed by students 

 with a small amount of apparatus. Professor Simon, in common 

 with other teachers, has often noticed how difficult it is for begin- 

 ners to familiarize themselves with the variously shaded colors of 

 chemicals and their re-actions ; and, in order to remove this diffi- 

 culty as far as possible, he has introduced into the manual seven 

 plates, which contain fifty-six representations of the most impor- 

 tant color-changes. The coloring is remarkably correct, and will 

 undoubtedly do much to overcome the difficulty which these plates 

 were designed to meet. The book is in other respects fairly well 

 illustrated. The typography and general make-up of the book are 

 excellent, and we have no doubt that it will meet the same favor 

 which was accorded to the first edition. 



PUBLISHERS' FALL ANNOUNCEMENTS. 

 Estes & Lauriat. 



For young people : ' Zigzag Journeys in the Antipodes,' a vol- 

 ume which takes the reader to Siam, and tells him of the interest- 

 ing animal-worship of the country ; ' The Knockabout Club in the 

 Antilles,' by F. A. Ober; and ' Hunting in the Jungle,' from ' Les 

 Animaux Sauvages,' by Warren F. Kellogg. ' The Pioneers of the 

 Alps : A Collection of Portraits of the Leading Guides of the Ober- 

 land, of the Valais, of Savoy, and of Piedmont,' by C. D. Cunning- 

 ham and Captain Abney. ' Fingers and Fortune : A Guide-Book 

 to Palmistry,' by Eveline M. Farwell. ' The Pocket Encyclopaedia,' 

 containing 1,206 columns, upwards of 25,000 references, and 

 numerous plates (published by subscription only). Editions de 

 Luxe of standard and fine art works now issuing or soon to be is- 

 sued (to subscribers only) : ' History of Greece and of the Greek 

 People, from the Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest,' by Vic- 

 tor Duruy ; and ' Birds in Nature,' by R. Bowdler Sharpe. 

 Thomas Nelson & Sons. 



' David Livingstone, the Story of his Life and Travels,' with many 

 illustrations ; ' The Emperor of Germany,' William I. : A Life 

 Sketch,' by Athol Mayhew, with 8 full-page illustrations by R. 

 Caton Woodville ; ' Little Arthur at the Zoo, and What he saw 

 there — Birds,' by Mary Seymour; 'The Story of the Niger : A 



Record of Travel and Adventure from the Days of Mungo Park to 

 the Present Time,' by Robert Richardson ; ' India, Pictorial and 

 Descriptive.' by the author of 'The Mediterranean,' illustrated 

 with 112 fine engravings; 'The Nineteenth Century; A History,' 

 by R. Mackenzie (new edition, revised and enlarged) ; in the Pen 

 and Pencil Series, ' Irish Pictures, drawn with Pen and Pencil,' by 

 Rev. Samuel Manning, LL.D., Rev. S. G. Green, D.D., and others ; 

 ' Great Authors, from Goldsmith to Wordsworth,' with biographies 

 and copious selections from their writings ; ' Great Authors, from 

 Macaulay to Browning,' with biographies and copious selections 

 from their writings. 



Frederick A. Stokes & Brother. 



' The Golden Age of Patents,' by Wallace Peck, a most amusing 

 parody on Yankee inventiveness, filled with clever skits, well illus- 

 trated by various humorous artists ; ' Oysters and Fish,' by Thomas 

 J. Murrey, a most complete and important work on the subject, 

 deemed by the author himself as one of his most valuable books, 

 and containing over 150 recipes and much interesting information 

 regarding shell-fish and fish of many kinds ; ' Eight Songs of Hor- 

 ace,' edited by George E. Vincent, a remarkable novelty, which has 

 received the most careful attention in every detail, being an attempt 

 to reproduce with all possible exactness a Roman book of the classic 

 period ; ' Favorite Birds, and What the Poets sing of Them,' edited 

 by Josephine Pollard ; ' The Game of Chess,' an entirely new 

 edition, based upon Staunton's great work, and containing all essen- 

 tial parts of it ; in the Lives of the Presidents Series, ' Grover 

 Cleveland,' by William O. Stoddard ; ' Madonnas by Old Masters,' 

 being as exact facsimiles of the originals as it is possible to make 

 by any process resulting in a copper or steel plate (the publishers 

 know of nothing of their general nature which copy the same paint- 

 ings and can compare with these valuable plates). 

 Miscellaneous. 



The ninth volume of ' Alden's Manifold Cyclopedia ' (New York, 



J. B. Alden) is out. 'Pen and Ink: Papers on Subjects of 



More or Less Importance,' by Brander Matthews, will be issued 

 shortly by Longmans, Green, & Co. It contains essays on Locker 

 and Austin Dobson, on war songs and short stories, on the anti- 

 quity of jests, and on the ethics of plagiarism, and also the first 

 serious paper yet written on the genesis and practice of the Ameri- 

 can game of poker. 'B.C. 1887' is the odd title of a volume 

 of travels in British Columbia, by the authors of ' Three in Nor- 

 way,' Messrs. Lees and Clutterbuck. to be issued this month by 

 the same publishers. Although humorous in manner and full of 

 anecdote, ' B.C. 18S7 ' is an account of a serious expedition of two 

 young Englishmen who came to America with a view to settling 



in the Dominion. D. Appleton & Co. will publish on or about 



Nov. I a new volume by Sir John Lubbock, entitled ' On the 

 Senses, Instincts, and Intelligence of Animals, with Special Refer- 

 ence to Insects.' It will form^ Vol. LXIV. of the International 

 Scientific Series. The same firm announces ' A Manual of Dec- 

 orative Composition,' for designers, decorators, architects, and 

 industrial artists, by Henri Mayeux, architect to the French Gov- 

 ernment, with nearly 300 illustrations ; ' A Dictionary of Terms in 

 Art,' elaborately illustrated ; ' Nature and Man, — Essays Scien- 

 tific and Philosophical,' by the late Dr. W. B. Carpenter, with an 

 introductory memoir by J. E. Carpenter ; and ' The Folk-Lore of 



Plants,' by T. F. Thiselton Dyer. Charles Scribner's Sons 



published last week ' Children's Stories of the Great Scientists,' 

 brief biographies of sixteen of the world's great scientists, by Miss 



H. C. Wright, with 8 full-page portraits. Harper & Brothers 



have ready ' The Boy Travellers in Australasia,' by Col. Thomas 

 W. Knox, a description of the isles of the Pacific ; and ' Shoshone 

 and other Western Wonders,' an account of sights and scenery 

 worth seeing in the Far West, by Edwards Roberts, with an intro- 

 duction by Charles Francis Adams. Messrs. Harper and Brothers 

 announce that John Morley's English Men of Letters Series, which 

 hitherto has been issued in thirty-six volumes, has now been com- 

 pressed into a People's Edition of twelve volumes. Mayor 



Hewitt's more or less cheerful face adorns the first page of Har- 

 per's Weekly for Oct. 17. The supplement is devoted to a de- 

 scription, pictorial and otherwise, of ' The United States Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey,' by Henry P.Wells. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 



