142 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 268 



comprehension. In all of this work on alternating-current appara- 

 tus the assumption that the electro-motive force and the currents 

 follow simple sine curves is made ; and, while the error in the as- 

 sumption may or may not affect conclusions as to the types of 

 action that occur, yet it must vitiate any attempt to deduce absolute 

 values. Up to the present the subject of alternating currents has 

 been singularly barren of experiments, while quite a number of 

 problems have been solved by analytical and graphical methods. 

 It is well known that a great many effects are not taken into account 

 in the ordinary treatment, but the value of these outside effects has 

 not been determined. The full discussion of these papers has not 

 reached this side of the ocean : what has reached us is interesting 

 and important, and will be given when the rest of it arrives. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Chambers's Encyclopcedia. New ed. Vol. I. A to Beaufort. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. 8°. $3. 



The original issue of this work was completed twenty years ago, 

 and few works of the kind have enjoyed an equal popularity, or 

 rendered better service to the mass of readers. It is, of course, 

 not to be compared in elaborateness with the Britannica, the 

 articles in which are often in the form of lengthy treatises; but for 

 non-professional readers, who do not wish to make a special study 

 of the various branches of knowledge, but seek for general infor- 

 mation on all subjects that arise in reading and conversation, this 

 work has proved very valuable. The progress of events, however, 

 and the increase of knowledge in almost every branch, have neces- 

 sitated a new edition, the publication of which has now been begun. 

 Many articles have been rewritten, and others partially so, while all 

 have been subjected to a careful scrutiny by competent hands ; and 

 the result, so far as we have exainined the work, seems to be excel- 

 lent. Considerable attention has been given to American subjects, 

 the more important of which have been treated by American 

 writers ; and their articles have been copyrighted in the United 

 States by the J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia, who pub- 

 lish the encyclopaedia in this country. There is an article, however, 

 on Americanisms in language, by an Englishman, Mr. Grant Allen, 

 which contains some great mistakes. Thus, he says that " the 

 speech and writing of the uncultivated classes diverge increasingly 

 from the pure literary English standard ; " the fact being that the 

 language of the uncultivated Americans tends increasingly towards 

 the literary standard, owing to the influence of the public schools 

 and the growing taste for good reading. But most of the articles on 

 American subjects are very good. One of the most difficult tasks 

 in preparing an encyclopjedia is to allot the right proportion of 

 space to the various subjects treated, and in this respect the editors 

 of this work have been quite successful. If the remaining volumes 

 are up to the standard of the first, the encyclopaidia will deserve 

 and receive a renewal of the favor it has hitherto enjoyed. 



Familiar Animals and their Wild Kindred. By JOHN MON- 

 TEITH. Cincinnati and New York, Van Antwerp, Bragg, & 

 Co. 16°. 



The idea of presenting school-readers for youthful scholars, 

 treating of familiar topics in natural science, is not a new one, but 

 it is a thoroughly good one. The writer well remembers the per- 

 manent interest in every thing pertaining to natural history engen- 

 dered in him by the use of the Wilson series of readers in years 

 gone by. Such reading-exercises have been improved since that 

 time, however, though there is still room for improvement. In no 

 way, in the hands of a good teacher, can a child's powers and apti- 

 tude for self-observation be better stimulated than by well-prepared 

 reading-exercises treating of the familiar forms of life. The knowl- 

 edge imparted in such exercises should be accurate and comprehen- 

 sible, but scarcely less important is the manner in which it is pre- 

 sented. A description that leaves nothing for the child himself to 

 find out, no conclusions for him to draw, is of but secondary value. 

 His faculties for thinking and observing, not his memory, need the 

 most training. 



The present school-reader, for that is what it is, meets fairly well 

 these requirements, and, taking it all in all, merits commendation. 

 It is intended for children of the third-reader grade, or say from 



eight to ten years of age, and is not only interesting, but instructive 

 to them. The habits and anecdotes of the domestic and other 

 familiar animals and their wild kindred are presented in pleasing 

 shape. The material is largely adapted from known writers, or 

 drawn from such authorities as Mivart. and is reliable. The 

 engravings are good. Only mammals are treated of, and nowhere 

 is the erroneous impression corrected that the word ' animals ' is 

 synonymous with four-footed mammals. 



A Catalogue of Canadian Birds, with Notes on the Distribution 

 of Species. By Montague Ch.amberlain. St. John, J. & 

 A. McMillan. 12". 

 This is an annotated list of the birds hitherto recorded or ob- 

 served as residents or visitants of the vast and ill-explored region 

 north of the United States. It is in reality the first attempt of the 

 kind, and can only be looked upon as preliminary ;, but, though 

 only a preliminary list, it has required labor, and will be very useful 

 for future workers in Canadian ornithology, — a branch which, 

 when we consider the excellent work done by the Canadian ento- 

 mologists and botanists, has been much neglected in the Dominion. 

 Notwithstanding the future revision which this list must be subject 

 to, the author might have added to its value by tabulations after 

 the manner of Merriam's work. By counting, it is ascertained that 

 the whole number of species and sub-species recorded is nearly five 

 hundred and fifty. 



The Story of Creation, a Plain Account of Evolution. By Ed- 

 w.\RD Clodd. London and New York, Longmans, Green,. 

 &Co. 12". $1.75. 



Of book-making on evolution there is yet no end. The present 

 little work, however, presents a claim for recognition, not as an 

 exponent of new views, theories, or facts, — for, as the author very 

 naively admits, there is probably not a new idea in it, — but rather 

 as an elementary exposition, a text-book, of the subject. As such„ 

 it will hardly find a place on the shelves of either the professed 

 physicist or biologist, save as a fairly good epitome of the materials 

 and methods of evolution in its widest sense. But to him or her 

 who would not decry or accept Darwinism without some knowl- 

 edge of the subject, and that fashion is happily subsiding, the work 

 can be heartily coinmended. The author, while treating his sub- 

 ject in a scientific manner, has endeavored to make his book popu- 

 larly readable; and he has succeeded fairly well, though the com- 

 pression of so vast a subject into one small volume could hardly 

 fail to produce a text-book-like concentration that will deter the 

 mental dyspeptic. More than half the volume is made up of de- 

 scriptive matter, both physical and biological, of the earth and the 

 universe ; the remainder is explanatory of their development or 

 evolution, including man psychologically. In other words, as 

 alreadv stated, the author strives to give a brief exposition of the 

 materials and methods of evolution in its widest sense. There are 

 numerous good engravings, and the statements of fact, at least on 

 the biological side, are in general fresh and reliable. The author 

 might very properly modify the paleontological fiction of the thirty 

 by one hundred foot Jurassic monster. It has never existed, for 

 aught that is known, save in the describer's imagination : the 

 figures need reduction one-half. 



Practical Physics for Schools. Vol. I. Electricity and Magnet- 

 ism. By B. Stewart and W. W. H. Gee. New York, Mac- 

 millan. 16°. 60 cents. 



Most physicists and many teachers of physics are already famil- 

 iar with the two volumes on ' Elementary Practical Physics ' by 

 Messrs. Stewart and Gee, and nearly all will agree that they con- 

 stitute an extremely valuable contribution to the facilities now avail- 

 able for the successful prosecution of instruction in physics by lab- 

 oratory methods. The small volume now under consideration, 

 since the word ' elementary ' is omitted from its title, might be 

 assuiTied to be more pretentious in its plan and execution than the 

 others. 



The contrary is the case, however, as it is intended for a lower 

 grade of work. It is, as the titlepage has it, " for schools and the 

 junior students of colleges." 



To a considerable extent the book is an abstract, with simplifica- 

 tions, of the second volume of the other series. It is not entirely 



