August 26, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



103 



Melting and Boiling Poinl Tables. By THOMAS Carnelley. 

 London, Harrison &; Sons. P. 



Th r issue of the second volume of Carnelley's ' Melting and 

 Boiling Point Tables ' completes the valuable compilation, which 

 now comprises more than fifty-one thousand data systematically 

 aiTanged with a view to ready reference. Beside the melting and 

 boiling points, so far as known, of individual chemical compounds, 

 organic and inorganic, and such information as is at hand concern- 

 ing their constitution, boiling-points of miscellaneous materials and 

 mixtures, freezing-points of mixtures and solutions, and vapor-ten- 

 sions of simple substances, mixed liquids, and saline solutions, are 

 included. The statement of the relation between the numbering of 

 volumes and the years of issue of the more important periodicals of 

 chemistry and physics, and an alphabetical index of the ' root-com- 

 pounds ' of carbon, are minor conveniences. The list of authorities 

 and original sources of knowledge, which really is an index to the 

 literature, is not the least important feature of the work ; and the 

 additional references to correlative information in Watts's ' Diction- 

 ary of Chemistiy,' and the Journal of the Chemical Societ)', will be 

 especially appreciated by readers whose consulting libraries are not 

 full. The work, planned so ambitiously and executed with the care 

 which is evident, forms an important contribution to the resources 

 of workers in physics and chemistry ; and the many who will make 

 use of it may very properly felicitate themselves upon the fact that 

 the author, who is of the few endowed with the aptitude and pa- 

 tience necessary to complete the undertaking satisfactorily, possessed 

 the fortitude to enter upon a course of such colossal drudgery. 



Educational Mosaics. By Thomas J. Morgan. Boston, Silver. 

 Rogers, & Co. 12°. 



This work, compiled by the principal of the Rhode Island State 

 Normal School, is a collection of extracts from a great number of 

 writers, chiefly modern, on topics connected with education. Its 

 appearance is one more sign of the great interest now taken in the 

 subject with which it deals, — an interest that seems to grow 

 greater every year. There has, indeed, been a great awakening in 

 the public mind of this country in regard to education. It is not 

 many years since our educated classes seemed to be very well 

 satisfied with the knowledge and training they possessed, and to 

 think it good enough for their successors ; while public speakers 

 and writers were never weary of proclaiming that our public schools 

 were all that could be desired, and our people the most enlightened 

 on the earth. We have learned better since those days, and have 

 become painfully aware that our higher education is by no means 

 what it should be, that the education of the masses is equally de- 

 fective, and that the methods of teaching in all our schools admit of 

 much improvement. The book before us faithfully reflects the 

 present state of the public mind and the various shades of prevalent 

 opinion. The subjects treated are necessarily very varied, yet 

 questions of present interest are given far more space than all others ; 

 and, as both sides of every controversy are given, the reader ob- 

 tains a pretty good idea of what the best thinkers on educational 

 topics are now saying. Among the subjects most largely treated 

 are the relative importance of the classics and the physical 

 sciences, the need of studying English, the necessity of moral 

 training, the higher education of women, and the improvement 

 of the methods of teaching. The controversy between the friends 

 of the classics and those of the physical sciences is naturally a 

 prominent feature of the work ; and, though the number of e.x- 

 tracts is much greater on the side of the classics, this is probably 

 due to the fact that as yet the greater number of educators are on 

 that side. The large number of extracts relating to moral education 

 show that our educators are alive to its importance ; but they show 

 also that there is much uncertainty as to how much education is to 

 be given. Indeed, the art of teaching virtue seems to be as difficult 

 and as perplexing now as it w^as in the time of Socrates. 



General Morgan's book will be of great interest, not only to prac- 

 tical teachers, but to all persons interested in education. The only 

 criticism we should be inclined to make is as to the arrangement of 

 the extracts, which is according to the alphabetical order of the au- 

 thors' names, while we should have preferred an arrangement by 

 topics. The book is one to be taken up again and again for the 



stimulating thoughts it contains ; and teachers, in particular, will 

 find it an excellent companion. 



Gilmans Historical Readers. Nos. i, 2, and 3. By ARTHtJR 

 Oilman. Chicago, Interstate Publ. Co. 16''. 



If the young people of this country are not properly educated, it 

 will not be for want of books intended for their perusal. In every 

 department of literature that is adapted to young intelligences, 

 books in great numbers may be had at low prices, and numerous 

 additions are made to the list every year. The quality of the books, 

 however, often leaves much to be desired. Indeed, the writing of 

 books for children is an art by itself, quite different in some respects 

 from that of writing for adults, and calling for special qualifications 

 in the writer. Many books intended for the young fail of their pur- 

 pose because they are dull, or because the style is obscure, or be- 

 cause they contain matters above the comprehension of juvenile 

 readers. These little books by Mr. Oilman on the study of Ameri- 

 can history are not liable to these objections. The author's style 

 is simple and clear without being undignified, his choice of topics 

 judicious, and his manner of telling his story such as can hardly 

 fail to interest youthful readers. The majority of brief histories 

 are so overloaded with details, that young readers, and indeed 

 readers of all ages, find it impossible to grasp them all, and are 

 apt to grow weary of the study. Mr. Oilman has, for the most 

 part, successfully avoided this fault, only a few of his chapters 

 being crowded with detail, and these generally for some special 

 reason. 



The first of these little readers treats of the discovery and ex- 

 ploration of the country, the second of the colonization period, 

 while the third and largest of them is devoted, to " the making of 

 the American nation." In the first volume the subject is so roman- 

 tic that children can hardly fail to take an interest in it ; and Mr. 

 Oilman has made the most of this quality of his subject, yet with- 

 out neglecting its more important aspects, so far as these are intel- 

 ligible to very young readers. The second volume presents, in the 

 main, similar characteristics, though the subject is more compli- 

 cated. The third and concluding volume is somewhat deeper in 

 thought, as well as larger in size, than either of the others. The 

 greater part of it is, of course, devoted to the Revolution and the 

 early years of the national life ; but the history is carried on in 

 brief to the end of the reconstruction period, the author holding 

 that " the making of the American nation was not completed until 

 the supremacy of the Union was acknowledged in every part of 

 the land. The young American who familiarizes himself with the 

 contents of these little books will not only have gained a good 

 general idea of the history of his country, but will have laid a good 

 foundation for a deeper and more extensive study in later years. 



The Upper Beaches and Deltas of the Glacial Lake Agassiz. 

 (U. S. Geol. Surv., Bull. No. 39.) By Warren Upham. 

 Washington, Oovernment. 8°. 



This bulletin is but an initial contribution to our knowledge of 

 Lake Agassiz. The investigation is still in progress, and the gen- 

 eral discussion of data and the eduction of conclusions are mainly 

 reserved until its completion. 



Lake Agassiz belongs in the same category with Lakes Bonne- 

 ville and Lahontan, in that it is a large extinct lake dating from the 

 close of the glacial epoch. But in its situation and origin, and the 

 cause of its extinction, it is radically different from these ancient 

 lakes of the Great Basin. The basins of the latter belong to the 

 constructive type of Davis, being due to profound oscillations of the 

 earth's crust, and these lakes owe their disappearance solely to cli- 

 matic changes resulting in the gradual predominance of evaporation 

 over precipitation. 



The basin of Lake Agassiz, on the other hand, belonged to the 

 obstructive type, owing its existence to the damming up of the Red 

 River of the North and its tributaries by the southern edge of the 

 continental ice-sheet during its gradual recession from the sources 

 of that stream to Hudson Bay ; and, although the disappearance of 

 this lake can also be traced to a climatic change, it was not a change 

 from humid to dry, but from cold to warm, the lake vanishing with 

 the icy barrier that retained it. During this retreat free drainage 

 from the melting ice could not take place, because the descent of 



