-'Wf™ 



734 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



valorous conduct of the colored troops; the emancipation proclamation; the re- 

 construction measures; the results of emancipation, etc., etc. All this is told in 

 earnest, faithful, truthful, forceful language which carries conviction with it and 

 gives to the reader a full conception of what the nation has gained by the late 

 war aside from the restoration and perpetuation of the Union. 



Despite a few inaccuracies of minor importance and some inelegancies of ex- 

 pression, this book will remain a monument to the author's laborious study and 

 marked ability as a writer, while to future students it will be a text-book, full, 

 reliable and accurate. The publishers have put it forth in very handsome and 

 durable shape, as it deserves. 



Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., for the year end- 

 ing June 30, i88r. Washington ; Government Printing Office, 1882. Oc- 

 tavo, pp. 1296. 



This very bulky, and inconvenient to-handle, volume contains a vast amount 

 of information, much of which has been already published in the "Monthly 

 Weather Review," and much that will be new to most readers. For instance, 

 few, we presume, are aware of the extent of the diffusion of weather forecasts, 

 warnings of anticipated frosts, floods and storms, or of the great practical bene- 

 fits derived from them by the agricultural, commercial and other industrial inter- 

 ests of the country. Most people are aware that storm signals are shown at prin- 

 cipal sea and lakeports for the benefit of shipping interests. Some may know 

 that bulletins for the benefit of farmers are distributed by telegraph and mail, but 

 very few comprehend how widely the system extends and how highly tobacco 

 and cotton growers prize these warnings received. It will doubtless be a surprise 

 to many to learn that in 1881 six thousand six hundred and seventy-two Farmers' 

 Bulletins were distributed daily, being telegraphed at i A. M. to centers of dis- 

 tribution in various portions of the United States and there printed and made 

 ready for mailing by the first trains to all points within six hours reach. The 

 Railway Bulletins, sent by cooperation of the various railways of the country with 

 the Signal Office, also cover an immense field and are of the greatest service, not 

 only to the railroad companies themselves in enabling them to prepare for storms, 

 but also to the people along their lines. Ninety-three companies, represented by 

 2937 telegraphic stations, are volunteering and gratuitously assisting in this serv- 

 ice. Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce and other commercial organiza- 

 tions throughout the country take an active interest in assisting in procuring and 

 disseminating these daily reports. The planters in the cotton region have de- 

 manded and received similar bulletins from a large number of stations all through 

 the belt; the prominent newspapers of the larger cities have found it beneficial to 

 their readers to publish the daily meteorological charts and data; the river men 

 have been furnished warnings regarding freshets, ice-gorges, etc.; the cultivators 

 of sugar-cane (as well as those of cotton and tobacco) have received frost warn- 

 ings which have enabled them to guard against injury to their crops. The orange 



