February 24, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



95 



show the necessity and worth of the hypotheses advanced. 

 Throughout the inductive method of thought is predominant ; but 

 whether the impression left upon the mind of the average student 

 by the disconnected introduction of principles is broad and clear, 

 may be questionable, though the threads are, at least, left in such 

 relation that they may be easily gathered up and properly inter- 

 woven. 



Thermochemical phenomena claim very considerable attention 

 from the outset, and re-actions are discussed in the light of the law 

 of maximum work. Sometimes, indeed, as it seems, this principle 

 is forced beyond its depth, and phenomena are made to appear as 

 effects of an unvarying law, rather than as illustrations of a princi- 

 ple which has come to be regarded as of by no means universal 

 application. In the main, the spirit of the book is scientific. It is 

 full and minute in the description of processes and facts, well 

 abreast with the times, and for the most part logical and clear, 

 though occasional crudities in the use of English, and now and 

 then an actual lapse from grammatical accuracy, mar, without ex- 

 cuse in a third edition, the general effect. Such faults, though 

 rather less numerous than in the second edition, are particularly 

 noticeable just where they are most undesirable, — in the passages 

 which deal with theories and principles, — and are to be cred- 

 ited largely to the tendency of the translator to cling to the 

 literal rendering of the original rather than strive for an intelligible 

 version. We note with mingled feelings the slight — too slight — 

 improvement over the second edition in the matter of the plate of 

 spectra. 



Woman and the Commonwealth. By GEORGE Pellew. Boston, 

 Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 8°. 25 cents. 

 The pamphlet here before us is a plea for woman suffrage ; but 

 we doubt if it will have much influence in promoting its object. 

 The author is so violent a partisan, and so governed by sentiment, . 

 that what he says is more likely to repel than attract those whom 

 he wishes to convert. He goes so far as to declare that women are 

 superior to men, both intellectually and morally, and holds that 

 woman's influence in politics would be both purifying and elevat- 

 ing. He examines some of the arguments that have been adduced 

 on the other side, and answers some of them very conclusively ; but 

 his reply to others can hardly be considered satisfactory. More- 

 over, he does not notice what is to many men the chief objection 

 to woman suffrage ; namely, the danger that women would be lia- 

 ble to use their political power to enact moral reforms by law, to 

 the great detriment of politics and of morality. There are good 

 things in the pamphlet, however, and those who already agree with 

 its views will doubtless take pleasure in reading it. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The first number of The American Anthropologist has just 

 been issued. It is highly gratifying to record the establishment of 

 a journal of this scope and character, as it is a sure sign of the 

 growing interest in anthropology. The Anthropological Society of 

 Washington, under whose auspices the journal is published, must 

 be congratulated in its new enterprise, which vi^ill be highly wel- 

 comed by all students of the science of man. The papers contained 

 in the first number show that the journal will embrace all the nu- 

 merous branches of anthropology. Dr. James C. Welling contrib- 

 utes an inquirj' into the law of Malthus ; and it is significant of the 

 Washington school of anthropologists that the first paper is devoted 

 to a study in sociology. Col. F. A. Seely, who has so successfully 

 applied the methods used by the Patent Office for tracing inven- 

 tions to ethnological questions, gives a review of the development 

 of time-keeping in Greece and Rome. Dr. Frank Baker's ' An- 

 thropological Notes on the Human Hand ' deals not only with the 

 physiognomy of the hand, but also with current and ancient beliefs 

 referring to the hand. The last paper of the number is a study of 

 the Chane-abal tribe and dialect of Chiapas, by Dr. D. G. Brinton, 

 in which the learned author compares the extant relics of that lan- 

 guage, and gives it its proper place among the Maya dialects. 

 Among the articles promised for future numbers, we notice papers 

 by Maj. J. W. PoweU, ' From Barbarism to Civilization ; ' H. H. 

 Bates, ' Discontinuities in Nature's Methods ; ' and Dr. A. B. Meyer, 

 ' The Nephrite Question.' 



— A despatch from Zanzibar says that messengers from Emin 

 Pacha who passed Uganda on Nov. 17 had no news whatever from 

 Stanley, and that no news of his approach had been received in 

 Wadelai. Further, it is stated in the telegram that King Mwanga 

 has taken a friendly attitude towards Europeans. As Wadelai is 

 only twelve days distant from Uganda, it appears that Stanley had 

 not reached Emin's province in the middle of October. The next 

 mail from the Kongo, which is due towards the end of this month,, 

 will probably bring some information regarding the events at Stan- 

 ley Falls and at the mouth of the Aruvimi, which must have been 

 of some influence upon Stanley's expedition. It seems unnecessary, 

 so far, to entertain serious apprehensions as to his safety. 



— "A large circle of admirers, both English and American," 

 says the Pall Mall Gazette, " will see with pleasure that the Mur- 

 chison medal of the Geological Society is to be conferred this year 

 on Dr. J. S. Newberry of New York, the well-known professor of 

 Columbia College. Dr. Newberry, however, has been in his time 

 active, and indeed distinguished, in other matters besides geology. 

 'I remember,' writes a correspondent, ' meeting him by chance in 

 Nashville in November, 1863, when he was at the head of the 

 Western department of the Sanitary Commission, — an immense 

 organization whose business it was to dispense, for the benefit of 

 the soldiers of the Republic, great quantities of stores, consisting 

 mainly of medicines, clothing, and comforts of all sorts, subscribed 

 by enthusiastic citizens of the Northern States. Dr. Newberry 

 took me down with him from Nashville to the then seat of war, on 

 the boundary of Georgia, and I can bear witness to the workman- 

 like manner in which he administered his department, and the de- 

 votion with which he was regarded by all his assistants." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 Errors in ' The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.' 



It is an ungracious task to criticise at this late day the work of 

 Messrs. Squier and Davis, which has so long been received as the 

 standard on North American archaeology ; nevertheless I believe 

 the result will be accepted as a sufficient justification for the at- 

 tempt. 



It is stated in the text (p. 68), under the heading 'The Newark 

 Works,' that the circular structure E " is not, as has been gener- 

 ally represented, a true circle ; its form is that of an ellipse, its 

 diameters being twelve hundred and fifty feet and eleven hundred 

 and fifty feet respectively. . . . The area of the enclosure is some- 

 thing over thirty acres." 



A short calculation will make it evident that an ellipse having the 

 diameters given above will enclose only twenty-six acres. We also- 

 notice, that, notwithstanding the authors' statement in the text,, 

 their plate (XXV.), which is copied from Colonel Whittlesey's sur- 

 vey, makes the shorter diameter (Section C-D). 1,200 feet. 



A careful resurvey by the agents of the Bureau of Ethnology 

 makes the diameters 1,205 and 1,197 feet, the latter difi'ering but 

 three feet from Colonel Whittlesey's measurement. The figure is 

 therefore very nearly a true circle, the difference between the diam- 

 eters being only eight feet, instead of one hundred as given by Squier 

 and Davis. 



They also state that the circular enclosure F, which connects 

 with the Octagon, " is a true circle two thousand eight hundred and 

 eighty feet, or upwards of half a mile, in circumference." This 

 gives a diameter of but 917 feet, while the section A-B of the plate 

 makes it 1,050 feet, — measuring from the gateway to the observa- 

 tory, — a difference of one hundred and thirty-three feet between the 

 text and plate. According to the survey made by the agents of the 

 bureau, this diameter is 1,058 feet, and the one transverse to it 

 1,054 feet; the figure varying, in fact, but little from a true circle. 



It appears from these facts that the authors, although adopting" 

 Colonel Whittlesey's survey in their plate, have differed from it in 

 their text without a word of explanation, the variation in each case 

 being a blunder on their part. 



The area of the Octagon, as shown by the resurvey, is but a small 

 fraction over thirty-six acres, including the inner halves of the walls ; 

 whereas it is given on the plate as fifty acres, and in the text as 

 " something over fifty acres." 



