Miscellaneous Intelligence. 245 



In December, a report was published by the Boston Society of 

 Civil Engineers, from u the Standing Committee on the Metric 

 System of Weights and Measures," urging the general adoption 

 m the system and giving various facts indicating the great prog- 

 ress which has been made in the country toward that end. 



It is expected that the metric system of weights will soon be 

 exclusively used in the Post Office Department of the country; 

 and hoped that it may be introduced into the Custom House, as 

 has been urged for some time by the American Metrological 

 Society. These are the best first steps in the change ; and when 

 once carried out, and teachers do their duty in common schools, 

 the change may become general. Compulsory for the people at 

 large it cannot be at present. 



5. Illinois Museum of Natural History. Bulletin No. 1. 76 

 pp. 8yo.— This first f'.uiletin, devoted to the Natural History of 

 Illinois, contains the following papers: A list ot' Illinois Crustacea, 

 by S. A. Forbes; The tree in Winter, by F. Brendel; Sodic 

 Pinate as a test for lime, by J. A. Sewall ;" partial catalogue of 

 }'<"■ fish s ut Illinois, by K. "W, Xflsun: on paiasitie Fungi, by 

 f. J. Unit-ill; list of the Orthoptera of Illinois, by Cyrus Thomas. 



6. Huronian rocks of the Lake Superior region described by 

 Major Brooks.— Thin sections of these rocks, for microscopic ex- 



, are prepared by R. Fuess, of Berlin, and may be 

 ' a small price. The collection contains thirty sections. 



7. Third Annual I \> , no »cr of Agricidture of 

 the State of Georgia, for 1876.— Besides various farts ..M..,-al 

 importance, this report gives analyses of marls from different 

 beds, and ah* . P. H. Mell, chemist. 



8. The A. fsical Forces; by Amedee Guil- 

 lemin-. Translated from the French by Mrs. Norman Lockyer, 

 and edited, with additions, and notes, by J. Norman Lockyer, 

 *-K.S. 742 pp. Roy. 8vo, with colored plates and illustrations. 

 London, is:;. (Maemillan A: ( o.)— This work on physics with 



8, is an example of science well 

 simplified and popularized. The editorship of Mr. Lockyer is a 

 sufficient wa: e is good The Btyle of publica- 



tion is seldom equalled for beauty in scientific works, the typo- 

 graphy, paper, and \, - hi-ingth. U-t that 

 art can accomplish. It treats, urn I he la ^ s of 

 weight," of levels, pendulums, bal w 6 * ™ u ?' 

 tarns, pumps, fire-engines, atmospheric railways, compressed-air 

 '■ l« >>- ,' .,- .. i,.; and ^iuiihu "ks t 

 under applications of the phenomena and laws of sound, of lignt^ 

 'eat, of magnetism and electricity. Under heat, the 



warming i 8 first' treated historically and practically ; then practi- 

 t points arising from the co ' ,urmn g g la 5? es > 



artificial prq.ai\" + ">" • 

 navigation, the i 



uot-air and gas-engines. The work, therefore, is not only attrac- 

 tive in apnea \i value. 



