620 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 277. 



Nos. (1), (2), (8) Precise Leveling, in 

 Kansas and Colorado. 



No. (4) The Peruvian Arc, its relative 

 Value, etc. 



No. (5) Physical observations made in 

 connection with the Pribilof Islands Expe- 

 dition of 1897 ; in which the magnetic ir- 

 regularity on St. George Island, the sea 

 water densities in the North Pacific and 

 Bering Sea, and the determination of the 

 force of gravity on St. Paul Island, are all 

 treated. 



No. (6) A report on the Proceedings of 

 the International Geodetic Association, and 

 on Geodetic Operations in the United States; 

 comprising statements with reference to the 

 international latitude service, gravity meas- 

 ures, the figure of the earth, the Peruvian 

 arc, and the longitudes of Paris and Green- 

 wich. Under Geodetic Operations in the 

 United States are treated ; base lines, tri- 

 angulations and arcs, astronomical work, 

 miscellaneous operations, past and future 

 operations, and the work of the United 

 States Engineers. 



No. (7) The Determination of Time, 

 Longitude, Latitude, and Azimuth ; in 

 which the method of making these observa- 

 tions and computations is treated funda- 

 mentally. This paper is the fourth edition 

 of an appendix to previous Coast Survey 

 reports. It is now brought up to date, and 

 embodies the most recent knowledge on the 

 subject. A description is given of the most 

 approved practical methods developed from 

 field experience during half a century. 



No. (8) A Plane Table Manual, in which 

 are given the field methods employed with 

 this valuable and convenient instrument. 

 The subject is treated under : I. A prelimi- 

 nary statement ; II. The instruments and 

 adjustments ; and III. The field work. 

 Under the latter head the three-point prob- 

 lem is treated at length, and numerous 

 tables are given, among which may be 

 noted one for computing differences of ele- 



vation, one showing heights correspond- 

 ing to angles of elevation, and one giving 

 corrections for effect of curvature and re- 

 fraction. 



No. (9) Problems of Physiography con- 

 cerning Salinity and Temperature of the 

 Pacific Ocean — closes the report and is 

 treated in three heads : Bering Sea, Ok- 

 hotsk Sea, and the Central Pacific Ocean. 



There are 25 cuts in the body of the 

 work, besides 55 in the different appen- 

 dices. Many of these are half-tone illus- 

 trations and add materially to the value and 

 appearance of the Eeport. 



E. D. P. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Clark University, 1SS9-1899. Decennial Cele- 

 bration. Worcester, Mass. , Published by the 

 University. 1899. 4to. Pp. 566. 

 Of the three verbs to he, to do, and to know, 

 the great majority of young men unhesitatingly 

 regard the second as expressing the ultimate 

 purpose and end of life. This is, as a matter of 

 course, the idea of the practical man, who 

 knows what he wants, and does not desire to 

 want anything else. The average trustee of an 

 American college will think it a very com- 

 mendable thing for a professor to employ all 

 the time he can possibly save in making money ; 

 but if he devotes much energy to any purely 

 theoretical research, the trustees will look upon 

 him askance, as a barely respectable squanderer 

 of his opportunities. In England, this notion 

 takes a turn that really makes it a little less 

 gross ; yet being foreign, perhaps we can dis- 

 cern its error more easily than in its more fa- 

 miliar guise. Thus, Dr. Karl Pearson, in the 

 introduction to his ' Grammar of Science,' de- 

 liberately lays down the principle that no end 

 whatever is to be approved without a reason, 

 except the end of the preservation of society ; 

 and applying this rule, declares that the only 

 valid excuse for the encouragement of scientific 

 activity lies in its tending to maintain ' the 

 stability of society.' This is a truly British 

 phrase, meaning the House of Lords and vested 

 rights and all that. Only recently, we have 

 seen an American man of science and of weight 



