February 7, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



97 



— "Laugh and Learn" is the title of a book of nursery lessons 

 and nursery games, by Jennett Humphreys, with many illustra- 

 tions. The union of simple instruction and amusement is hap- 

 pily carried out. The book will be published by Scribner & 

 Welford. 



— Under the title of "The Eeligious Aspect of Evolution," 

 Dr. James McCosli's series of lectures delivered in 1887 at the 

 Theological Seminary of the Diocese of Ohio and Kenyon College 

 will be published by the Scribners. The cliapter on "Final 

 Cause" is. entirely new. 



— Professor Frederick L. Ritter of Vassar has revised and en- 

 larged his popular history of ' 'Music in America, ' ' and the new 

 edition will be brought out soon by the Scribners. The author 

 has continued to date the history of the leading musical organiza- 

 tions and of the opera in different cities, adding about a hundi-ed 

 pages to the book. 



— Two new volumes of ' 'The Uncollected Writings of Thomas 

 De Quincey, ' ' with a preface and amiotations by James Hogg, 

 are announced by Scribner & Welford. The volumes contain 

 many entertaining essays; "Shakespeare's Text," "How to 

 Write English, ' ' ' 'The Casuisti-y of Duelling, ' ' and ' 'The Love- 

 Chai-m, ' ' being a few of the titles. 



— As a memorial of a distinguished administi-ator, and to 

 further the cause of imperial federation, Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole 

 has edited the papers of Sir George Bowen, and they will be pub- 

 lished immediately in London and New York by Longmans, 

 Green, & Co. In one of Sir George's earlier letters there is a 

 pleasant glimpse of Washington society during Grant's adminis- 

 ti'ation. 



— The ' 'Truth Seeker Annual and Freethinkei-s' Almanac' ' 

 for 1890 ('28 Lafayette Place, New York) contains, among num- 

 erous other interesting articles, an account of the inauguration 

 of the Bruno statue in Rome, by T. B. Wakeman ; some investi- 

 gations into the phenomena of Spiritualism, by E. M. Mac- 

 donald; and a history of the progress of free thought in the 

 United States during 1889. The book is handsomely illustrated. 



— Our readers will learn witli interest that the Scribners will 

 issue this month the third and fourth volumes of Heni-y Adams' s 

 ' 'History of the United States. ' ' The first two volumes treated 

 of Jefferson's fii-st administration, — 1801 to 1805; the forth- 

 coming two volumes relate to the great Democratic leader's 

 second term of office, — 1805 to 1809. The new volumes are said 

 to contain considerable new material bearing upon the Burr con- 

 spiracy and other events of the period. 



— The January number of the American Naturalist is at hand. 

 It contains, beside another instalment of E. L. Sturtevanfs 

 treatise on the ' 'History of Garden Vegetables, ' " an illustrated 

 article by J. W. Fewkes, on the habit of certain sea-urchins of 

 boring holes in the rocks to which they are attached, and a sug- 

 gestive article by R. E. C. Steams on "The Effects of Musical 

 Sounds upon Animals.' ' We note the fact that this number ap- 

 pears almost on time ; and as the present publishers, the Messrs. 

 Ferris Brothel's, of Sixth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, have 

 been sending out the numbers at the rate of two a month since 

 they assumed control, it is only fair to infer that the magazine 

 will henceforth appear on its nominal date. There are still 

 thi'ee numbers to be furnished of the year 1889; but these will 

 be printed and sent out as rapidly as possible, and in the mean 

 time the current issues for 1890 will proceed with regiilarity. 



— Tlie Publication Agency of the Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore, has just issued ' ' The Beginnings of American Na- 

 tionality," by President Small of Colby University, commencing 

 the series for 1890 of "Studies in Historical and Political 

 Science;" also "The Needs of Self -Supporting Women," by 

 Miss Clare de Graffenried of the Department of Labor, Wasliing- 

 ton, D.C., being No. 1 (for 1890) of the "Notes Supplementary 

 to the Studies in Historical and Political Science. " It is pro- 

 posed, also, to collect and publish, in a limited edition, the 

 principal literary essays and studies of Pi'ofessor Gildersleeve. 

 They will make a volume of between three hundred and four 



hundred pages. The following is a list of the titles of the essays :, 

 1. "Limits of Culture;" 3. "Classics and Colleges;" 3. "Uni- 

 versity Work in America;" 4. "Grammar and Aesthetics;" 

 5. "Legend of Venus ; 6. "Xanthippe and Socrates;" 7. "Apol- 

 lonius of Tyana;" 8. "Lucian;" 9. "The Emperor Julian;" 

 10. ' 'Platen' s Poems : " 11. ' 'Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico ; ' ' 

 12. ' 'Occasional Addresses. ' ' 



— Of the contents of The Chautauquan for February we note 

 "The Politics which Made and Umnade Rome," by President 

 C. K. Adams, LL.D. ; "The Politics of Medieval Italy," by 

 Professor Philip Van Ness Myers, A.M.; "The ArcliBeological 

 Club at Rome," by James A. Harrison, LL.D., Lit.D. ; "Life 

 in Media3val Italy," by the Rev. Alfred J. Church, M.A. ; 

 "Economic Internationalism," by Richard T. Ely, Ph.D.; 

 "Moral Teachings of Science," by Arabella B. Buckley; "The 

 Works of the Waves," by Professor N. S. Shaler; '-Traits of 

 Human Nature," by J. M. Buckley, LL.D ; "Modern English 

 Politics and Society, " by J. Ranken Towse ; ' 'How Sickness was 

 prevented at Jolnistown, ' ' by Dr. George Groff ; ' 'Trusts and 

 How to Deal with Them, ' ' by George Gunton ; and ' 'Divorce in 

 the United States," by Oliver Cornell. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The^riter^s nam& 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character,- 

 of the journal. 



Physical Fields. 



It seems probable that the articles which have appeared in 

 this journal on this subject — one by A. E. Dolbear on Dec. 

 27, and the other by N. W. Perry on Jan. 34 — are the most 

 important that have been recently written as bearing especially, 

 upon present theories in meteorology. It is of the utmost con- 

 sequence that in this complex science we lay a sure foundation 

 of fact, and never be tempted to speculations unless supported 

 in the main by observations. It is not my purpose, even if I 

 were able, to discuss the questions at issue in these papers, but 

 I wish to present what seems to me may prove a most important, 

 field for research, hoping that others may take up the matter 

 and shed light upon the problem. 



The "thermal field" is probably the easiest to comprehend. 

 We may conceive a white-hot cannon-ball in space. It radiates 

 its heat equally in all directions, and is rapidly cooled. We 

 may measure the distance to which these radiations extend. If 

 these radiations be intercepted by any body, it in turn will be 

 heated, and send back its radiations to the ball; and these ex- 

 changes will continue till a thermal equilibrium be established. 

 All orthodox theories in meteorology regard the sun as a hot 

 ball in space; that its rays impinge upon the earth, passing 

 through the atmosphere without heating it ; that this heated 

 earth sets up convection currents in the atmosphere; and, 

 finally, that all our winds and storms are primarily induced by 

 these convection currents. I believe the time is not far distant 

 when this theory will appear puerile in the extreme, and it will 

 be acknowledged that the actions produced in any locality through 

 the direct heat agency of the sun must be greatest just at the 

 time when there are no storms, and all of them combined will 

 not account for a hundredth part of the energy developed. 



The ' 'electric field' ' is the one I wish to specially notice. 

 Mr. Perry, sjjeaking of electrification, says, ' 'It is a condition 

 which is dual in its character. The negative exists because of the 

 existence of the positive, not because of propagation from one to 

 another. . . . We must regard electricity as motion ; electrifica- 

 tion, one kind of stress which is capable of producing electrical 

 vibrations ; magnetism may be another. ' ' Granting the exist- 

 ence of such a dual condition, without at present going intq 

 the question of how it can be energized or brought about, I wisl^ 

 to inquire what may be told or inferred as to the action of 

 individual electrified particles in either the positive or negative 

 portion of such a dual condition, let us say, in the atmosphere. 

 Take, for example, the electric arc. As I understand it, 

 particles of carbon are continuously carried from what is callecl 



