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The National Geographic Magazine 



to the New York Herald, saying : "Greatly to 

 our surprise, our candles flashed upon the per- 

 fect petrified skeleton of a man in kneeling" 

 posture, with head thrown back as if he had 

 died in agony. Several medical gentlemen have 

 examined it. * * * That it is the skeleton of 

 a man there is no doubt." My own visit was a 

 few weeks later. I wrote for the Scientific Ameri- 

 can, in a series of articles, a full description of 

 all the contents of Luray Cave. Of the skele- 

 ton I said : "In a gulch near the Imperial 

 Spring human bones are visible, including a 

 jaw with three tooth sockets, the femur, the 

 tibia, and the ribs — the latter fractured. The 

 remainder of the skeleton is concealed under 

 dripstone." I had these bones examined by 

 local physicians, who declared them to be the 

 remains of a young person, and our conclusion 

 was that the remains had been there for fully 

 500 years. On subsequent visits I observed 

 that relic-hunters had carried away such bones 

 as they could dislodge; and no doubt it would 

 tax the imagination to find now what was 

 carried away quarter of a century ago. But we 

 saw that skeleton in 1878. H. C. Hovex 



Newbury port j Mass., June 26, 1906. 



Rise of the New West. 14th volume of the 

 "American Nation Series." By Frederick 

 Jackson Turner. Maps and index. 366 pp. 

 New York and London : Harper & Bros., 

 1906. $2.00. 



For convenience in studying the history of 

 the nation from 1815 to 1830, Mr Turner di- 

 vides the country into sections — New England, 

 the middle region, the South and the West — 

 and in his review of events and conditions of 

 that period greatest attention is given to the 

 West, not so much as a separate geographical 

 section as to show what bearing its opening, 

 colonization, and growth had upon national 

 affairs. When shortly after the close of the 

 War of 1812 the new land was offered, to all 

 who might wish to purchase, at $2.00 per 

 acre, with only one-quarter of that amount as 

 first payment, settlers flocked from the East 

 and South, and the "West" began to grow, and 

 soon became a recognized power in the eco- 

 nomic and political affairs of the nation, for, 

 to quote a sentence of Mr Turner, "by its 

 competition, by its attraction for settlers, it 

 reacted on the East and gave added impulse to 

 the democratic movement in New England and 

 New York." F. M. A. 



Statesman's Year-Book for 1906. Edited by 

 J. Scott Keltie and I. P. A. Renwick. With 

 maps. Pp. 1604. 5x7 inches. New York: 

 The Macmillan Co., 1906. $3.00. 

 The most important change in the issue of 

 the Statesman's Year-Book for 1906 is the ad- 

 dition of 150 pages devoted entirely to the 

 United States, and giving the constitution and 

 government, area, population, religion, instruc- 

 tion, justice, charity, finance, defense, produc- 



tions, and industry, and books of reference re- 

 lating to each state in the Union. This addi- 

 tion will make this annual publication of much 

 greater value to Americans and is much to be 

 commended. In the American edition the in- 

 formation about the United States, 223 pages 

 in all, is placed first. One of the most valu- 

 able features of "The Statesman's Year-Book" 

 lies in the fact that its statistics are brought up 

 to January of the year of publication. The 

 results of the dissolution of the union between 

 Sweden and Norway, the conclusion of the 

 Russo-Japanese War, the upheaval in Russia, 

 the mission to Tibet, the ecclesiastical changes 

 in France, the recent election in the United 

 Kingdom, and other important events have all 

 been duly incorporated. 



There are excellent maps and diagrams 

 showing, among other things, the new Barotse- 

 land boundary; the political changes in the 

 Far East ; the tariff chart of the world ; the 

 new provinces in N. W. Canada ; the subdivis- 

 ion of Bengal ; the economic development in 

 the United States ; economic aspects of the 

 United States, and the races of Russia. 



Hints to Travellers. Ninth edition. Edited 

 by E. A. Reeves for and published by the 

 Royal Geographical Society. Two volumes. 

 Pp. 742. 5x7 inches. Illustrated. London, 

 1906. 



The Royal Geographical Society has found 

 it necessary to publish a ninth edition of "Hints 

 to Travellers," so great has been the demand 

 for this valuable work. A large amount of 

 new matter has been added, such as the more 

 recent surveys and accurate data relative to 

 heretofore unexplored regions. An introduc- 

 tory chapter on geographical surveying, suited 

 to modern requirements, and new astronomical 

 examples are given, while the forms for compu- 

 tation have been altered to give greater accuracy 

 in results. A new section on archaeology, with 

 new and important notes on anthropology, is 

 included. For those who are not familiar with 

 the work, it may be said that "Hints to Travel- 

 lers" is probably the most thorough, practical, 

 and valuable handbook of its kind ever pub- 

 lished. Volume I covers clearly every point 

 for surveys and astronomical observations and 

 illustrates the necessary instruments and their 

 adjustments. There are chapters on practical 

 astronomy, observations for time and longitude, 

 obsrvations for azimuth and error of compass, 

 and a formulae of plane and spherical trig- 

 onometry; also scales and projections of maps, 

 with many diagrams and tables. Under the 

 cover of volume I are detached maps of the 

 northern and southern constellations. Volume 

 II contains chapters on meteorol ogy and 

 climatology, with tables and charts showing 

 temperature and winds. There are sections 

 giving valuable medical information, notes on 

 natural history, photography, glacier observa- 

 tions, and mountain travel. J. O. L. 



