March 14, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



181 



ness of The Forum Publishing Company, and the magazine enters 

 upon its ninth volume with a degree of prosperity that was not 

 expected at so early a date. ' ' 



— Garden and Forest for March 27 contains a figure of the 

 prairie rose of the South-west, from one of Mr. Faxon's best 

 drawings, with a description of it by Mr. Sereno "Watson ; and 

 an illustration of an alley of orange-trees in the Garden of the 

 Tuilleries, with some notes on the planting of the open spaces in 

 the city of Paris, In the same paper Professor Bailey discusses 

 the principles of gi-afting, and Dr. George Thurber writes in his 

 entertaining way of the so-called poisonous properties of the 

 primrose, which has been a source of in-itation to many garden- 

 ers. ' 'Garden Flowers in Midwinter, ' ' ' 'Fern Notes, ' ' and 

 ' 'Botany for Young People, ' ' are the titles of a few more of the 

 articles which help to make up an attractive and useful number. 



— In the March number of the Political Science Quarterly, 

 Professor Anson D. Morse of Amherst College examines the 

 political theories of Alexander Hamilton; Professor Edwin 

 Seligman of Columbia College traces the history of the general 

 property tax in Europe and in the United States, and shows why 

 all attempts to reach personal property have failed ; J. P. Dunn, 

 jun. , Indiana State librarian, writes strongly on ' 'The Mortgage 

 Evil in the West ; ' ' Professor Simon N. Patten of the University 

 of Pennsylvania criticises David A. Wells's "Recent Economic 

 Changes;" Irving B. Richman discusses United States citizen- 

 ship ; and Professor Frank J. Goodnow of Columbia College com- 

 pletes his description of the new Prussian system of local govern- 

 ment, in which the ideas of Stein have obtained complete ex- 

 pression. The number also contains reviews of more than twenty 

 recent political, economic, and legal publications. 



— We glean the following notes from the Publishers' Weekly : 

 Prince Jerome Napoleon is busily engaged in preparing his 

 memoirs of the Second Empire. Mrs. Humphry Ward's new 

 novel, dealing with the experiences of a successful mechanic who 

 tries many kinds of life and phases of thought, and who finally 

 joins the Elsmere brotherhood, is ready for the publisher. At 

 the time of his death, a few weeks ago, Peter Henderson, the 

 well-known seedsman, had just completed a new edition of his 

 ' 'Handbook of Plants and General Horticulture. ' ' The preface 

 which he wrote is dated in January last. This edition contains 

 a great deal of new information, and will make still more useful 

 a work which has already become a standard. The Writer, post- 

 office box 1905, Boston, Mass., has in preparation a "Directory 

 of American Writers, Editors, and Publishers." Chatto & 

 Windus have in press the first two volumes of Justin Huntly 

 McCarthy's "History of the French Revolution." It is to be in 

 four volumes, and will be published uniform with his father's 

 " History of the Four Georges." Bellamy's "Looking Back- 

 ward" passed 301,000 copies last month, and the demand is re- 

 ported to have been over 1000 a day. It is estimated that of the 

 foreign pirated editions, about 50, 000 copies have been sold in 

 England. France comes next, followed by Germany and Den- 

 mark. The Catholic Publication Society Company will soon 

 publish in pamphlet form ' 'Who was Bruno ? A Direct Answer 

 to a Plain Question, from the Latest Published Documents, ' ' by 

 Mr. John A. Moonej. It is the first book published in this coun- 

 try giving the Catholic side of the Bi-uno affair. E. P. Button 

 & Co. will publish at once ' 'To Europe on a Stretcher, ' ' an ac- 

 count of an invalid's travels, by Mrs. Clarkson Potter. T. Y. 

 Crowell & Co. announce ' 'Recollections of a Private, ' ' by War- 

 ren Lee Goss, the author of ' 'Jed. ' ' Part of these recollections 

 have already appeared in the Century Magazine. A. C. Arm- 

 strong & Son will publish a book by Professor T. W. Hunt of 

 Princeton College, entitled ' 'Studies in Literature and Style. ' ' 

 Harper & Brothers have in press ' 'Two Years in the French West 

 Indies, ' ' containing the literary results of a voyage by Lafcadio 

 Heam, the author of "Chita." The introductory chapter, en- 

 titled "A Midsummer Trip to the Tropics," consists of notes 

 taken on a voyage of nearly three thousand miles, and the re- 

 mainder of the book is devoted to sketches of life on the island of 

 Martinique, describing the manners, customs, and characteristic 

 types of the island. An appendix to the volume gives some 



Creole melodies. The book is illusti-ated. The Cassell Publish- 

 ing Company have just ready "Australian Poets, 1788-1888," 

 being a selection of poems upon all subjects written in Australia 

 and New Zealand during the first century of the British coloniza- 

 tion, with brief notes on their authors and an inti-oduction by 

 Patchett Martin, edited by Douglas B. W. Sladen of Melbourne, 

 Austi-alia; and "Star-Land," by Sir Robert S. Ball, based on 

 notes and recollections of the lectures delivered to children at the 

 Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1881 and 1887, which makes 

 a readable book on astronomy for young people. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



Supposed Aboriginal Fish-Weirs in Naaman's Creek, near 

 Claymont, Del. 



In reply to the letters of Messrs. Haynes and Peet in your 

 issue of Feb. 28, I have to say that it is evident that Professor 

 Haynes was misled by the version of my letter published in the 

 American Antiquarian of November, 1887 (vol. ix. No. 6) 

 and did not receive my letter suggesting that the remains in 

 question were fish-weirs until too late for use in his work 

 executed for "The Narrative and Critical History of America." 

 It seems to me, however, that I might have received an earlier 

 notice of the contemplated work; but. as the reason why is 

 given by Professor Haynes, we will let the matter rest there. 

 A footnote in my letter to Science, published Feb. 14, 1890, 

 p. 117, explains why the term "station" was used. It does 

 not seem to me that the term "pile-structures" ought to 

 suggest "pile-dwellings." The term "pile-structures" was 

 adopted at Professor Putnam's suggestion, as we deemed it 

 best to designate them in this way until investigations upon 

 the spot were finished. "Stake-ends," "log-ends," or "post- 

 ends" would have served equally well for the same purpose. 



In answer to Mr. Peet's remarks, I desire to say that I have 

 no intention of withdrawing from my position hitherto taken, 

 and call upon him to prove that I ever wrote any such letter 

 as that which is the subject of this interchange of civilities. 

 It is evident that the comparison which he makes in Science 

 of Feb. 28, 1890, is but a reveision to the account already dis- 

 approved by me, and denoupced as erroneous. 



I desire here to make a correction in my last letter to Science, 

 published Feb. 14, 1890; viz., on p. 116, second column, sixth 

 line from the bottom, "(1877)" should read "(1887)". 



HiLBORNE T. CeESSON. 

 Philadelphia, March 1, 



The June Drought in the Rocky Mountain Region. 



In your notice of the meteorological observations on Pike's 

 Peak, in Science for Feb. 21, are the folowing statements: — 



"A very decided secondary minimum [of precipitation] 

 occurs in June. . . . The June minimum appears very remark- 

 able, but its authenticity seems assured in view of the fact 

 that at Colorado Springs, at the base of the mountain, and at 

 Denver, nearly 80 miles to the northward, similar rainfall 

 conditions obtain." 



The occurrence of a minimum of precipitation during June 

 can be affirmed not only of the country near Pike's Peak, but 

 also of a large part of the Rocky Mountain region, also of the 

 Great Plains and the Great Basin. It is one of the most con- 

 stant meteorological epochs of the region in question. It marks 

 a decided change in the character of the storms. During 

 April and May most of the precipitation falls from stratus or 

 cumulo-stratus clouds being driven up the slopes of the plains 

 and mountains, and such storms often cover a large part of 

 Colorado simultaneously. These storms end in late May or 

 early June as cold rains or with hail and snow on the moun- 

 tains. From the 6th to the 10th of June there is usually a 

 frost among the foot-hills, and this sometimes descends on to 

 the plains to 5,000 feet or even lower. Then for some weeks 

 the general temperature is cool and delightful, gradually rising 

 till early in July, when the summer storms begin. These are 

 local thunder-storms of the ordinary type. 



