EDITORIAL NOTES. 
65 
S. E. Cassino & Co. announce a new work 
entitled " Limestones and Marbles — Their 
History and Uses"; i volume, Royal octavo, 
(handsomely illustrated), pp. 412, ^6.- o. 
We find in the Quarterly Report of the 
Kansas State Board of Agriculture, among 
other valuable papers, one by Prof. F. H. 
Snow upon •• Injurious Insects and How to 
Destroy Them." It is emiaently instrucLive 
and practical, as all of his articles are. 
Prof. H. E. Sadler, of the Kansas Slate 
Normal School, at Emporia, in renewing his 
subscription, says of the Review,'' It seems to 
me surprisingly well suited to the needs of in- 
telligent people throughout the Missouri Val- 
ley, and I omit no opportunity to say a good 
word it." 
By August 1st it is expected that the as- 
cent to the summit of Pike's Peak can be 
made upon a tramway instead of by tlie pres- 
ent laborious and dangerous horseback plan. 
The tramway will be in three sections, two 
of which, the upper and lower, will be oper- 
ated by steam engines, and the other by 
water-power. The time consumed in the 
round trip will be about three hours. 
Dr. Edwin R Heath's account of his ex- 
plorations in Bolivia was sent to the Royal 
Geographical Society, of London, where it 
was enthusiastically received. Mr. Clements 
R. Markham, late President of the Society, 
read a paper before it on April 19th in which 
he dilated largely upon Dr. Heath's report 
and gave him the highest credit for intrepid- 
ity, perseverance and the achievement of 
most important results. 
Texas may be called the land of cactus. 
One species recently sent by Prof. J. D. 
Parker from Fort McKavett to Washing- 
ton, was not contained in the Botanical 
Gardens there. One species of cactus in 
Texas bears fine berries which look and taste 
like strawberries. They sell for twelve cents 
a quart, and are a great favorite for dessert. 
One mammoth cactus several feet in diame- 
ter is covered over with fiery. red blossoms 
and looks on the prairie like a little hay- 
stjck on fire. 
ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
Subscribers to the Review can be furnished 
through this office with all the best magazines oj 
the Country and Europe, at a discount of from 
/J to 20 per cent off the retail price. 
The North Americajt Review for May con- 
tains nine articles, nearly every one of which 
discusses some topic or problem at the pres- 
ent moment prominent to the public mind. 
Senator John T. Morgan writes of "Mexico," 
and sets forth the considerations of commer- 
cial advantage and international comity which 
are rapidly bringing about a more cordial 
understanding between that country and the 
United States. The Rev. William Kirkus. 
taking occasion from Bishop McQuaid's re- 
cent vaticinations regarding the decay of 
Protestantism, makes a vigorous counter 
charge upon the papal system in an article 
entitled " The Disintegration of Romanism." 
In "Emerson and Carlyle," Edwin P. Whip- 
ple discourses with all his old-time keenness 
of psychological insight and perfection of lit- 
erary form upon the strangely diverse mental 
and moral characteristics of those two great 
thinker?. Prof. Ftlix Adler offers '' A Secu- 
lar View of Moral Training," arguing that 
the current skeptical habit of thought de- 
mands an independent system of practical 
ethics, based primarily on observation rather 
than on revelation. " Communism in Amer- 
ica," by Prof. Alexander Winchell, gives 
very forcible expression to the apprehension 
of thofe pessimistic observers of the trend of 
events in this country who thirk that they 
see in our political and social development 
all the fcigns of impending national decay. 
The other articles are " Affinities of Buddh- 
ism and Christianity," by the Rev. Dr. 
James Freeman Clarke; ''Woman as an In- 
ventor," by Matilda Joslyn Gage; "College 
Endowments," by Rossiter Johnson; and 
"Extradition," by A. G. Sedgwick, 
