EDITORIAL NOTES. 



703 



iient army lopographic.il ergineers, and is 

 now about to receive the second instalment of 

 $500,000 due him. 



The next (February) number will complete 

 the first volume of theEEViEW, audit may not 

 be amiss to call attention to the fact that quite 

 a number of those who have received it regu- 

 larly during the year, are yet in arrears. 



Within the past few days a Mining and 

 Stock Exchange has been organized in this 

 city, which will soon be followed by smelting 

 and refining works, and, it is not at all improba- 

 ble by a branch of the United States mint with- 

 in a short time. 



Prof. Sinks delivered his third lec.ure up- 

 on Elocu'ion before the Leavenworth Acade- 

 my of Science, January ord, and from his 

 well known reputation for ability and scientif- 

 ic attainments as well as from the newspaper 

 reports of them, there is no doubt that they 

 are both interesting and instructive. 



The young men of the Hii^h School and 

 their associates, have recently started an attrac- 

 tive little periodical called the PhUomathean, 

 which, if kept up with the same ability man- 

 ifested in the first number, will prove an in- 

 teresting and beneficial work. 



We shall publish in our next number an ex- 

 haustive article on the subject of Meteors by 

 Prof. Broadhead, which will be illustrated with 

 engravings from photographs of some of the 

 largest and most interesting which have fallen 

 in Missouri. 



of starch particles floating in the air of the 

 room where the explosion occurred. Such ig- 

 nition of the finely powdered dust in coal 

 mines is generally recognized as one ,'ufficient 

 cause of violent explosions occurring there, and 

 we have all witnessed the same thing on a 

 smaller scale when throwing a quantity of coal 

 dust into a hot fire at our own homes ; also, in 

 the manufacture of stage lightning in theatres 

 by the burning of lycopodiam and other finely 

 powdered substances. 



At this writing, January I'ith, the weather 

 is warm and pleasant. No ice has yet been 

 harvested and cattle and other live stock have 

 continued to graze in the open pastures, while 

 but a few days since the fruit trees were bud- 

 ding forth, such annuals as Morning Glories 

 were sprouting, and the Snap Dragons of last 

 year were yet green in the flower beds. 



NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



The cause of the late disastrous explosion 

 in the candy manufactory ia New York, has 

 given rise to many explanatory theories. The 

 most satisfactory seems to us to be that which 

 attributes it to the sudden ignition of the cloud 



Since our last issue we have added to our 

 exchange list the Journal of the Franklin 

 Institute, publ shed by that body at Phila- 

 delphia. This is one of tbe oldest Scientific 

 per odicals published in the United States, and 

 has always maintained a hi;^h standing among 

 such works. f3 per annum. • 



Capt. Howgate of the U. S. Signal Service 

 has favored us witha copy of a pamphlet re- 

 cently published by him upon Polar Coloniza- 

 tion, which is descriptive of the objects and 

 purpose?, a well as the actual transactions of 

 the Preliminary Arctic expedition of 1877. We 

 shall make use of the information furnished 

 in our nest. 



The .January numbers of the various Sci- 

 entific magazines have come to hand with at 

 least their usual promptness, some retaining 

 their former well known externals, and some 

 considerably improved in appearance: aH, 

 however, fully maintaining their standards of 

 excellence : 



The Popular Science MoNTHLY,from which 

 we reprint a very interesting editorial on ''Sun 

 Spots and their Eff'ects," has a most attractive 

 table of contents, and is well worth to any 

 reader the five dollars per annum that it costs. 

 Popular Science Monthly — Supple- 

 ment — published by the same enterprising 

 house, D. Appleton & Co , New York, presents 

 monthly the choicest selections from the best 

 European scientific journals. Price $3.00 per 

 annum. 



The North American Eeview, now in 

 its C3d year, shows more brilliancy than at 

 ' almost any other period of its existence, at the 



