A Glance at Books. 211 



A GLANCE AT BOOKS. 



Scientific Methods of Capital Execution. By J. Mount 

 Bleyer, M. D. J. Fitzgerald, Publisher, 24 East 4th St., New 

 York. Price, ten cents. 



Whether the capital execution of criminals is or is not a measure 

 necessary for the defense of the community may be an open ques- 

 tion : with regard to the barbarousness of the method of, doing 

 malefactors to death by strangulation, there can be but one opin- 

 ion. It is indeed a brutal, and in very many instances a bungling 

 performance. The present treatise shows how a capital sentence 

 may be executed " decently and in order," and without shocking 

 the humane sentiments of the community, by invoking the aid of 

 electricity, or by the administration of sundry chemical agents, as 

 morphia, prussic acid, chloroform, etc. In an appendix is given 

 a striking essay by Park Benjamin on Capital Punishment. 



Mineral Analysis, by Prof. G. G. Groff, price, 40 cents. 



This little work is designed as an aid to teachers and others in 

 recording the physical and chemical properties of minerals. Ad- 

 dress the author at Lewisburg, Pa., the blanks will be found very 

 useful and convenient. 



NOTES AND NEU^S. 



Chas. E. Stone, Spencer, Mass., has the honor of being the first 

 life subscriber to The West American Scientist. 



Aylmer Montgomerie intends to travel for a considerable time 

 in South America, and also proposes to become a life subscriber 

 to this magazine. 



G. W. Lichtenthaler expects to be in San Diego again this 

 winter, and to increase his fine collections of shells and algae. 



B. W. Evermann is reported as making collections at Guaymas, 

 on the east coast of the Gulf of California, and Walter Bryant as 

 also collecting on the gulf shores this season. 



A fine living example of a Mamillaria cactus from the plains of 

 Canada has been received from Mrs. Rosa Smith Eigenmann, 

 who, with her husband, is now pursuing her favorite studies at 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



COURTESY. 



How sweet and gracious, even in common speech. 

 Is that fine sense which men call courtesy; 

 Wholesome as the air and genial as the light, 

 Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers, 

 It transmutes aliens into trusting friends, 

 And gives its owner passport round the globe. 



James T. Fields. 



