254 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



may be bound uniform with any edition of the Knight's American Mechanical 

 Dictionery, or with any Cyclopsedia or other book of reference of the usual size 

 and shape. Sold only by subscription in four sections, containing 240 pages 

 each. 



Orient Sunbeams, or From the Porte to the Pyramids; by Samuel S. Cox, 

 12 mo pp. 407, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by M. 

 H. Dickinson, $2.00. 



All of Mr. Cox's books are readable and instructive, combining humor and 

 solid information to an unusual degree, though, perhaps, not remarkable for 

 either quality. He has been a considerable traveler and has had many years of 

 literary experience, so that his volumes hit the average taste very happily ; much 

 more so than those written solely to amuse or only to inform the reader. 



From his earlier life, when he acquired the soubriquet of '' Sunset " from an 

 exceedingly glowing and fervent description of an evening sky in a daily paper, 

 where such articles were phenomenal, to the present time he has had a kind of 

 Persian tendency to sun-worship, as the titles of his books, "Winter Sunbeams," 

 " Arctic Sunbeams," " Orient Sunbeams" show. The present volume is a com- 

 panion volume to " Arctic Sunbeams," and is, in fact, a continuation of his ac- 

 count of the same trip, beginning at the Bosphorus, where the other left him, 

 and describing his journey "from the Porte to the Pyramids, by way of Palestine." 

 To use the words of the author, it takes the reader through the holy places of 

 Mohammedan, Hebrew and Christian to that land of old renown, Egypt. It 

 indulges in observations upon the present condition of the empire of Othman 

 and its principal and most interesting dependencies. Within this shining crescent 

 of travel, Ephesus, Damascus and Jerusalem are, of course, included. All this 

 is done in a skillful, piquant manner, and many of the scenes described are 

 handsomely illustrated. 



Celebrated American Caverns; by Horace C. Hovey, with maps and illustra- 

 tions. Octavo, pp, 228. Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 1882. $2.00. 



This volume will carry with it some additional interest to many of the older 

 residents of Kansas City from the fact that the author, Rev. Mr. Hovey, formerly 

 lived and preached here, but aside from any such local effect it will be received 

 with enthusiasm by all who take an interest in the wonders of nature. For 

 years past Mr. Hovey has devoted his leisure time to exploring the great Ameri- 

 can caves of Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia and New York, and the pages of 

 Scribner, Harper's Monthly the Scientific American, &c., have been illumined (so 

 to speak), with numerous articles on the Mammoth, Wyandotte and Luray caves 

 from his graphic pen. 



This handsome volume contains not only the most complete descriptions of 

 all of these that we have ever seen, but also of numerous other caverns in the 



