194 



KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



We clip the following from the London 

 Joiimal of Applied Science, of June i, i88l : 



"Among the American exchanges we re- 

 ceive, this (the Kansas City Review) is one 

 of the best, both for variety of the subjects 

 treated, and the excellence of the articles con- 

 tributed by many eminent writers on subjects 

 of lasting interest, instead of topics of mere 

 ephemeral importance. There are always 

 good papers on physics, geology, palseonto- 

 ology, astronomy, and ethnology. Many of 

 these we often desire to transfer to our col- 

 umns. The periodical now enters upon its 

 fifth year." 



■ We learn that the Hon. George B. Loring, 

 the newly appointed Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, will probably reinstate Prof. Riley 

 as Entomologist of that department. Such 

 an act will gratify hosts of friends, not only 

 in Missouri, where the Professor first made 

 his mark, but all over the country, where 

 his ability and zeal are well known and res- 

 pected. 



At about nine o'clock Sunday night, June 

 19, a large and brilliant meteor was seen 

 passing over this city from southwest to 

 northeast. The nucleus is described as hav- 

 ing been as large as a man's head, with a 

 very long tail of a brilliant red color. 



ITEMS FROM THE PERIODICALS. 



The article on Prehistoric Man, by Prof. 

 E. S. Morse, concluded in this number, was 

 written for the North American Review, and 

 is the most exhaustive and comprehensive ©f 

 any we have seen from any source. 



Prof. G. W. Hoss, in sending us a copy 

 of his "Memory Gems," takes occasion to 

 correct our statement of last month that the 

 Educationist is a twenty-four page magazine. 

 It is a thirty-two page magazine, and, as we 

 said before, an excellent periodical. 



Good Compatty for May has a long install- 

 ment of "In the Land of the Midnight Sun," 

 by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka, commander 



of the Franklin Search Expedition, in which 

 he begins the account of the great Arctic 

 sledge journey, the longest, both in distance 

 and time, ever attempted. It was absent 

 from its base eleven months and a half, and 

 traversed a distance of over 3,200 miles. 



The Atlantic for July contains, in addition 

 to the installments of Mr. James' and Miss 

 Phelps' serial novels, a great variety of fresh 

 and entertaining matter, including some val- 

 uable observations on Trial by Jury in Civil 

 Suits ; a picturesque sketch of travel by H. 

 H.; A dissertation on Mischief in the Middle 

 Ages ; a paper on Mythology, by Mr. John 

 Fiske ; literary criticism, poems, club gossip, 

 etc. 



The Popular Science Monthly for June com- 

 mences with an article upon Physical Educa- 

 tion, followed by an illustrated article on 

 Fruits and Seeds ; Sunstroke and some of its 

 Sequelee ; The value of our Forests ; Produc- 

 tion of Sound by Radiant Energy; Com- 

 pound Political Heads, by Herbert Spencer; 

 Degeneration, by Andrew Wilson ; The Nat- 

 ural Production of Alcohol, a translation 

 from the French ; an article from Faraday on 

 the Conception of Electricity ; Glucose and 

 Grape Sugar, — and a number of other arti- 

 cles, go to make up a most interesting and 

 popular number. D. Appleton & Co., New 

 York. 



Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine, for 

 June, 1881, has been received. A Rational 

 System of Piston Packing, by Prof. Robin- 

 son, illustrated ; The Metric System ; Sug- 

 gestions for Preventing London Smoke ; Ro" 

 man Building in England and in Italy; Ex- 

 periments on the Strength of Small Spruce 

 Beams ; Gas and Electricity as Heating 

 Agents, by Dr. Siemens ; The Effect of 

 Punching on Iron and Steel Plates ; The Op- 

 tical Dynamometer ; Capabilities of Stand- 

 ing Heat of Various Building Stones, — make 

 up one of the most interesting numbers of 

 this American Engineers' Magazine. D. Van 

 Nostrand, New York. 



