EDITORIAL NOTES. 



385 



Outlines of Field Geology: by Prof. Geikie, 



LL.D., F. E. S. 



All of these are handsomely illustrated 

 and constitute a series of most interesting and 

 valuable coatributions to the literature of 

 popular science. We have already published 

 several extracts from some of these and shall 

 avail ourselves again of them as occasion 

 arises. 



The Mohthly Weather Eeviev^^, July, 

 1877, issued by the Signal Office, Washington, 

 D. C, depends upon all data received up to 

 the 14th August from th-e Canadian Meteor- 

 ological Service, the United States Navy, the 

 Army Post Surgeons, Voluntary Observers 

 and the United States Signal Service, and con- 

 tains classified reports and information upon 

 the following subjects, viz: Barometric pres- 

 sure, with chart; Temperature of the Air, 

 with isothermal chart; Precipitation, with 

 chart showing general distribution of rain dur- 

 ing the month; Eelative Humidity; Winds, 

 with chart ; Verifications of Predictions, with 

 detailed comparisons of the tri-daily weather 

 indications with telegraphic weather reports 

 for the succeding twenty-four hours ; Naviga- 

 tion, with chart showing highest and lowest 

 readings on river gauges for the month ; Tem 

 perature of water in rivers and harbors : At- 

 mospheric Electricity as observed at hundreds 

 of stations ; Optical Phenomena, such as solar 

 halos, lunar halos, mirage and rainbows ; Mis- 

 cellaneous Phenomena, such as the beginning 

 of harvest at numerous points, ripening of 

 fruits, blooming of flowers, flight and appear- 

 ance of insects, polar bands, sunsets, meteors, 

 earthquakes, etc. 



The most interesting features have been : 

 First, the few storms reported at sea ; second, 

 the unusually large number of tornadoes oc- 

 curring the first ten days of the month ; third, 

 the general diminution of grasshoppers and 

 locusts, and the slight amount of damage done 

 by them as compared with the several years 

 previous. This is a most interesting and val- 

 uable work, and should be made far more ac- 

 cessible to the public than at present in order 

 to accomplish a tithe of the good that it ought 

 to do. 



have branch houses in New York and Phila- 

 delphia, seem to lead all other musical estab- 

 lishments in the production of popular pieces. 

 They have recently sent us the following 

 songs : '•' The Dust of a Eose," by J. E. Fair- 

 bank; "Little Jack Frost," a piquant little 

 thing, by Mrs. Carleton, and "I Can't Sing 

 for Gold," by McCarroll, which abounds in 

 beautiful sentiments and excellent music. Al- 

 so three instrumental pieces entitled respect- 

 ively, " Little Bells," or " Gustav's Glockchen," 

 by Koelling; "The Czar's March" and "Out 

 in the Green," of which we prefer the first, al- 

 though all are sweet and attractive. 



Electrical Conduction, by E. C. Kedzie, 

 Professor of Chemistry, State Agricultural 

 College, Lansing, Mich., pp. 8. 



This little pamphlet consists of a series of 

 very ingenious and apparently satisfactory ex- 

 periments, made to test the question whether 

 electricity passes by the surface alone or 

 through the whole substance of the conductor. 

 Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, 

 having decided that galvanic electricity passes 

 through the substance and atmospheric elec- 

 tricity by the surface. Prof. Kedzie proceeded 

 to make sundry experiments which can hardly 

 be described without illustrations, but which 

 resulted in proving to his satisfaction "that 

 the conduction of electricity of whatever name 

 is through the mass of the conductor and not 

 by surface action, such as is exhibited in the 

 statical condition of electricity," which accords 

 with the belief of the mass of eminent electri- 

 cians of Europe and America. 



Oliver Ditsow & Co., of Boston, who also 



Mb. Darwin on the Fertilization of 

 Flowers, by Thomas Meehan, Phila, Pa. 



This is a critical dissertation upon Darwin's 

 "Cross and Self-fertilization in the Vegetable 

 Kingdom " and " The Fertilization of Orchids 

 by Insects," reprinted from the Penn Monthly, in 

 which the writer, from various experiments and 

 numerous observations concludes that "there 

 is infinitely more self-fertilization among flow- 

 ers than the advocates of insect agency have 

 of late years been contending for ; that cross 

 fertilization as developed to advantage by Mr. 

 Darwin's artificial experiments is an almost 

 impossible occurrence in most cases in nature, 



