318 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The local committee appointed to make ar- 

 rangements for the twenty-sixth annual meeting 

 of the American Association for the Advance' 

 ment of Science, to be held at Nashville, Ten 

 nessee, August 19, has issued a circular, ex- 

 pressing the determination to spare no efforts 

 to make this the largest and most interesting 

 assemblage in the history of the Association 

 They expect to be able to furnish private enter- 

 tainment to every member of the Association 

 willing to accept it, to secure for those who pre- 

 fer it hotel accommodations at reduced rates 

 and to arrange with the railroads for the issue 

 of free return tickets, as also to provide for such 

 excursions in the vicinity as will render the 

 meeting both pleasant and profitable. The sec- 

 retary of the local committee is Professor J 

 Berrien Lindsley, and Professor N. T. Lupton 

 is chairman of the committee on receptions, 

 either of whom may be addressed at Nashville, 

 for particulars. 



The invitation of Captain Howgate 1o the 

 merchants of the large cities of the United 

 States to assist pecuniarily tn his polar expedi- 

 tion has been responded to very liberally. The 

 contributions have been so generous that he has 

 been able to procure the vessel necessary (the 

 Florence) and she will sail on the 20th of this 

 month from New London, where she is now 

 being fitted out for her voyage. The officer to 

 command her is Captain Tyson, of the merchant 

 marine. He was navigator of the Polaris, and 

 been on several polar expeditions. The Flor- 

 ence is manned mainly by Connecticut sailors. 

 She may stop at Frobisher's straits upon her 

 course, but her headquarters will be on Cum- 

 berland, where a stock of supplies will be col- 

 lected, and a score of Esquimaux with dogs and 

 sledges will be enlisted for the expedition. If 

 Congress grants an appropriation for the How- 

 gate colony, annther vessel will sail from New 

 York about July 4, 1878, and join Captain Ty- 

 son at Disco about August 5. Then they will 

 strike north. Captain Tyson recently stated 

 that he expected to stay in the frigid regions 

 until he found the North Pole. 



Besides the complimentary notices which 

 the Review has received from prominent Eastern 

 papers, euch as Popular Science Monthly, the 



American Naturalist, Harper's Weekly and 

 New Kemedies, we are highly gratified with the 

 flattering reception it has received from the 

 press of Missouri and Kansas : The Leaven- 

 worth Times, Kansas Farmer, Osage City Free 

 Press,. Chetopa Advance, Miami Republican, 

 Kansas City Journal of Commerce, Kansas City 

 Times, Post and Tribune, Price Current, Church 

 Guide, Eichmond Conservator, the St. Joseph 

 Herald, the Western Dispatch, Caldwell Senti- 

 nel, The Jewel, Fireside Guard, Brookfield 

 Gazette and Columbia Statesman have all 

 greeted it warmly, besides several others of 

 which we have heard. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



^uAL Eecoed of Science 1^ In- 

 1876, 839 pp , octavo, Edit^by 



Spencer F. Baird, and published ' 

 f arper Brothers, N. Y. For sale by " " 

 i'OSTER ct- Co, $2.00, 



As we stated in the June number of the 

 Review this is the best of the whole series 

 which Prof. Baird has been editing for the past 

 six years. The general summary of the pro- 

 gress of science and industry during the year 

 1876, occupies two hundred and thirty pages, 

 and each general subject has been written up 

 by an eminent specialist. Such an array of 

 learned and talented writers is rarely brought 

 together in one book, and their connection 

 with it, alone, assures exhaustive research and 

 the utmost accuracy of statement. 



The remainder of the book, 609 pages, is 

 principally devoted to abstracts of important 

 and valuable papers on special topics, and to 

 brief digests of the more important and useful 

 points in each. Every branch of science is 

 fully treated, and more information can be 

 gained from this Record concerning the cur- 

 rent history of these branches than from any 

 other single volume in existence. Nothing 

 equal to it is published in the world, and not 

 only is it adapted to the astronomer, geologist 

 and chemist, but to the farmer, the artisan and 

 even the housekeeper. This is shown by the 

 chapters on Agriculture, Domestic and House- 

 hold Economy and Technology, comprising 

 ninety pages, which contain information and 

 instruction of the most definite and reliable 

 character, based upon and deduced from the 

 experiments and researches of • distinguished 



