June 15, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



2ST 



— The intention with which T/ie Universal Review (London, 

 Swan, Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co.; New York, International News 

 Co.) has been founded is twofold, — that of supplying a journal 

 of international character, and of making one interesting to all 

 classes of readers. The services have been obtained of some of the 

 best writers of France, Germany, and America, as well as those of 

 England. Special correspondents have been established in the chief 

 cities of the Continent, America, and the Colonies, who will supply 

 information as to the principal political, social, intellectual, and ar- 

 tistic movements therein. A considerable portion of its space will 

 be devoted to three matters which at present have almost entirely 

 disappeared from review literature, — the arts of painting, fiction, 

 and the drama. On all of these there are promised not only numer- 

 ous articles, but examples of the best original work which is being 

 done at the present time. Thus The Review will publish reproduc- 

 tions of fine pictures and drawings, ancient and modern. It will also 

 differ from its serious contemporaries by including the subject of 

 sport. The pages will be open to duly qualified correspondents, 

 in the belief that there are many men, whose opinions are of value, 

 who will welcome the opportunity of expressing their views on 

 questions of the day in a manner at once less lengthy and less for- 

 mal than is necessitated by a review article, and in a more perma- 

 nent form than is afforded by the columns of a newspaper. As to 

 the more serious political, religious, scientific, and scholarly matters, 

 which must form the backbone of any important review. The Re- 

 view will take no partisan view, and will admit opinions of every 



kind which seem to be founded upon adequate knowledge. 



Charles Scribner's Sons have published, in connection with the rail- 

 way articles appearing in Scribner's Magazine, a pretty lithographed 

 folder, entitled ' Twenty Questions and Answers about Railways.' 

 The information contained is interesting, and has been obtained 

 from well-known authorities. It can be obtained by enclosing 



stamp to the publishers. Two articles are promised in The 



Popular Science Monthly for July that are worthy of attention. 

 They are an illustrated paper on ' Safety in House-Drainage,' by 

 William E. Hoyt, S.B., in which the belief that plumbing-fixtures 

 in our houses are inevitable sources of danger is controverted, and 

 ways are shown for making them safe; and the concluding essay 



of the series on 'Darwinism and the Christian Faith.' D. 



Appleton & Co. have just gotten out the July number of 

 their Educational Notes. This is profusely illustrated, and gives 

 a most tempting summary of several of their newer educational 



books. H. Semler's 'Die Tropische Agricultur,' a handbook 



for the agriculturist and merchant, issued in parts by the Hins- 

 torff'sche Hofbuchhandlung, Wismar, Mecklenburg, has just been 

 completed. The work is of especial importance to those who give 

 their attention to the cultivation of tropical products in the United 

 States, such as oranges, lemons, cotton, maize, tobacco, sugar, etc. 

 The International News Company of New York are the American 

 agents for the work, which is complete in three large volumes. 



Messrs. Dodd, Mead, & Co., New York, have issued a new 



catalogue of rare and choice books, which they offer at discounts in 

 view of the approaching summer season. Among them we note 

 a copy of the first printed edition of ' Euclid,' the first book printed 

 with woodcut diagrams. C. N. Caspar, Milwaukee, Wis., an- 

 nounces to appear in June, Linderfelt's ' English Volapiik Diction- 

 ary.' Messrs. E. & F. N. Spon, New York, have just published 



' A System of Easy Lettering.' by J. H. Cromwell. The author 

 divides any surface he may wish to letter into squares (or parallelo- 

 grams, as the case may be) in pencil-lines ; forms the required let- 

 ters in ink or paint, and according to the style chosen ; then erases 

 the pencil-lines, and the lettering is complete. 



— Chauncey Smith says the magnitude of the commercial in- 

 terests which have been called into being by physical discoveries 

 and the devlopment of new ideas, indicates, that if the progress of 

 the past few years is to continue, if new achievements are to rival 

 those of the past, it must be by a higher education and training, 

 not of a few men, but of the many, so that no germ of talent shall 

 miss its opportunity for development and its chance for increasing 

 the powers and resources of man. 



— The Canadians themselves are ignorant of most of the vast 

 mineral riches their country contains, and comparatively indifferent 



to what they do know, so that the revelations of a recent parliamen- 

 tary committee report on the great Mackenzie basin are as unex- 

 pected there as here, according to the Engineering and Mining 

 Journal. Of the minerals of this vast region, little is known.. 

 Nothing is known of the minerals which may exist east of the Mac- 

 kenzie River and north of the Great Slave Lake. Enough is known) 

 of the western affluents of the Mackenzie, the committee thinks, to- 

 show that at the head waters of the Peace, Liard, and Peel Rivers- 

 there are from 150,000 to 200,000 square miles which may be con- 

 sidered auriferous ; while west of the Rocky Mountains there is a 

 metalliferous area, principally of gold-yielding rocks, 1,300 miles- 

 long and from 400 to 500 miles broad. Gold has been found on. 

 the west shore of Hudson Bay, silver on the Upper Liard and 

 Peace Rivers, and copper on the Copper Mine River. Iron, graph- 

 ite, ochre, brick and pottery clays, mica, gypsum, lime, sand- 

 stone, and asphaltum are also known to exist in the region. Salt 

 is found in crystals and in saline springs. The evidence submitted 

 to the committee points, in the language of the report, to the exist- 

 ence, in the Athabasca and Mackenzie valleys, of the most exten- 

 sive petroleum-field in America, if not in the world. The com- 

 mittee suggests that 40,000 square miles of this territory be for the- 

 present reserved from sale, as it is probable that in the near future 

 petroleum will rank among the chief assets of the Dominion. The- 

 committee bounds the reserved lands as follows : easterly by a line 

 drawn due north from the foot of the Cascade Rapids on Clear- 

 water River to the south shore of Athabasca Lake ; northerly hy 

 the said lake-shore and the Ouatre Fourche and Peace Rivers ;: 

 westerly by Peace River and a straight line from Peace River land- 

 ing to the western extremity of Lesser Slave Lake ; and southerly 

 by said lake, and the river discharging it, to Athabasca River andl 

 Clearwater River as far up as the source. 



— The American Engineer states that at the foundery and ma- 

 chine-shop of Albert Russell & Sons, Newburyport, Mass., a loco- 

 motive engine is being made unlike any before. It is designed tO' 

 run on the new ' bicycle railway,' which is the invention of Hon. E> 

 Moody Boynton of West Newbury. The tracks are not both laid 

 on the ground, as commonly. One is laid on the ground, and the- 

 other is laid on the under side of a framework which is above and 

 directly over the lower track. The engine and cars have wheels- 

 on the bottom, and double trucks above. In this way the whole is. 

 steadied on the rail, and cannot fall over nor off the track. It is. 

 expected that great speed will be attained on account of the com- 

 parative lightness of the train, and also because of the loss of fric- 

 tion. The idea is patented in every country in Europe as well as- 

 in the United States and other nations of the western hemisphere^ 



— For many years past the Old Colony Steamboat Company have- 

 maintained, at a large expense, an oil lantern on the summit of the 

 beacon on the southern point of Goat Island, Newport. In very 

 bad weather it has been impossible for the man charged with, 

 lighting this lamp to effect a landing at this point, and therefore 

 when the light was most needed it was frequently absent. Upon 

 the summit of the beacon there has been placed a duplex socket; 

 carrying a 32-candle power lamp, supplied by the Sawyer-Man 

 Company. This socket is so arranged that but one lamp of the 

 pair burns at a time, the second lamp switching in automatically 

 on the failure of the first. A cable one thousand two hundred feet 

 in length is carried to the mainland. The end of this cable is con- 

 nected with the distributing point of the torpedo station electric- 

 lighting plant. The whole installation was supplied by the Oko- 

 nite Company, material and work being subjected to the supervision, 

 and inspection of the officer commanding the torpedo station,^ 

 Commander C. F. Goodrich, LTnited States Navy, the Old Colony- 

 Steamboat Company paying all the bills. The beacon was first 

 lighted for experiment on Friday night, June i. This preliminary 

 test proving satisfactory, the operation of the light was definitely 

 installed on Saturday night. "The details of the installation are so- 

 complete, and the insulation of wires so high, that failure of the- 

 lamp, at least for a long time to come, may be considered as a re- 

 mote contingency. 



— The Hydrographic Office has in preparation a report relative- 

 to the storm that caused such great damage off the coast about the 



