-256 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



acted positively ; containing neutral or basic 

 salts, it acted negatively." 



"I have introduced these experiments to 

 show the large quantity of electricity, \vi(h 

 which water is charged when it has a high 

 temperature, and contains a mineral mattei'. 

 It is conceded that water terrestrially heatedis 

 charged with a larger qu':intity of electricity 

 than that which has had its temperature, arti- 

 ficially raised, and upon this fact, I base, in 

 part, the curative value of thermal waters." 



Most writers on thermal springs believe 

 that their chief efficacy depends upon tempera- 

 ature, and it seems more than likely that such 

 is the case here. After three days of explora- 

 tion and entertainment by the hospitable people 

 of Hot Springs the party returned home well 

 repaid for the time given to the excursion. 



Professor Ti-ieo. G. Wormley, M. D., 

 late Professor of Cheinistry in Starlirg Medi- 

 cal College, at Columbus, Ohio, has recently 

 been elected Professor of Chemistry in the 

 University of Pennsylvania, an institution 

 where he received the degree ot M. D. less 

 than twenty-five years ago. Prof. Wormley 

 has been a most ardent and devoted student all 

 his life, and has achieved a reputation as a 

 chemist second to none in the country. His 

 principal work, upon the "Microscopy of 

 poisons," is one of the mo?t exhaustive^ trea- 

 tises ever written on toxicology, and is re- 

 garded as the standard authority on the sub- 

 ject. His accomplished wife assisted him 

 most materially in the jjreparation of this 

 work by executing with her own hands the 

 steel plates from which the beautiful engrav- 

 ings illustrating the work were reproduced, af- 

 ter all other engravers bad declined the under- 

 taking. 



Prof. Broadhead writes from Pleasant 

 Plill: An Aurora, not vfrp bright, was visible 

 here at 8:30 p. M , May 28th, extending proba- 

 bly 45° high and 60° east and west. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Dictionary of Science, comprising Astrono- 

 my, Chemistry, Dynamics, Electricity, Heat, 

 Hydrodynamics, Hydrostatics, Light, Mag- 

 netism, Mechanics, Meteorology, Pneumat- 

 ics, Sound and Statics. Preceded by an Es- 

 sav on the History of the Physical Sciences. 

 Edited by G. F. Kodwell, F. E A. S., F 

 C. S. With numerous illustrations. 694 

 pages, octavo. Philadelphia: HenryC. Lea. 



This comprehensive work is confined strict- 

 ly to the exact sciences, and forms a most com- 

 plete and useful cyclopedia of information to 

 the student and working man in every depart- 

 ment of practical knowledge. The names of 

 Proctor, Crookes, Bottomley, Guthrie, Eodwell, 



Tomlinson, Wormell, Barrett, Ileaton and At- 

 kinson, as contributors in their special branches 

 of science, is a guaranty that tiie work is pro- 

 found, accurate and exhaustive. 



The Essay upon the Plistory of the Physi- 

 cal Sciences is most interesting and valuable, 

 beginning with the Physical Science of the An- 

 cients, taking up, in turn, that of the Middle 

 Ages, that of the Sixteenth Century, the Mys- 

 tical Philosophy of the Seventeenth Century, 

 the Physical Science of the Seventeenth Cen- 

 tury, the Age of the Physical Sciences and the 

 Study of the Physical Sciences^ 



The object of the work is slated by the edi- 

 tor to be the interpretation of nature's secrets, 

 simplified and popularized, stripped as far as 

 possible of abstruse treatment and difficult for- 

 mulae, and this has been done remarkably well, 

 not only by the manner in which the various 

 subjects have been treated by the writers them- 

 selves, but by the arrangement under proper 

 heads, by frequent cross references, and by 

 breakintr subjects up into various sub-heads. 



We have already found the articles on As- 

 tronomy, Electricity and iis kindred topics, 

 and Chemistry of great use in our work, and 

 shall keep the book on our table for frequent 

 reference. 



For sale by Matt Foster & Co., $5.00. 



Annual Eeview of Science and Industry 

 for 1876. P^dited by Spencer F. Baird. 

 Harprr & Bros., New York. For sale by 

 Matt Foster & Co., $2.00. 



This most valuable work has be-", n received 

 too late for such extended notice as it deserves. 

 We can only say at present that it is the most 

 complete record of the progress of science 

 that has ever been made by any one, and is the 

 best of the whole series which Prof Baird has 

 been editing for the past six years. 



Books and Pamphlets Eeceived. — Eod- 

 well's Dictionary of Science; Annual Eecord 

 of Science and Industry for 1876; Popular 

 Science Monthly for June, 1877; Nos 2 and 3 

 of the Publications of the Cincinnati Observa- 

 tory on tlie Micrometrical Measurements of 

 Double Stqrs; Telegraphic Journal, London ; 

 Journal of Applied Science, London ; Popular 

 Science Monthly Supplements, Nos. 1 and 

 2, Appleton & Co.; Van Nostrand's Eclectic 

 Engineering Magazine, June, 1877, 96 pages, 

 octavo, $5.00 per annum; History and Trans- 

 actions of the Editors' and Publishers' Asso- 

 ciation of Missouri, for 1867 to 1876, compiled 

 hy J. W. Barrett; Catalogue of Lincoln Insti- 

 tute, Jefferson City, Mo.; Catalogue of the 

 Univer.-ity of Cincinnati, Ohio, for 1877-8; 

 The Jeweler. Silversmith and Watchmaker, 

 Philadelphia, June, 1877; Iron Age, weekly, 

 New York, May 24, 1877. 



