432 Scientific Intellagence. 
Dr. Wiley’s two volumes amply fulfill the promise of their 
title. The work which he proposes, and of which these two vol- 
umes are parts, is unique. There is certainly nothing in the 
English language which is at all similar in scope. 
The preparation of the volume on soils is beset with more diffi- 
culty than any other part is likely to be, yet here we think the 
author has succeeded in treating the subject with good judgment 
and in a way that is very helpful and suggestive. 
The origin and formation of soils and their physical proper- 
ties are discussed with sufficient fullness for the purposes of the 
analyst, and the methods which have proved best suited to the 
physical and chemical examination of soils are accurately and 
minutely described. Necessarily methods of very different accu- 
racy and value are described together, and no two authors would 
fully agree as to the material which should be received or 
rejected in a work like this. Some methods have been described, 
apparently for their historic interest, which are quite worthless 
for laboratory use. 
We doubt whether the data given in part vil regarding bac- 
teriological work will ‘‘enable the analyst to intelligently study 
the soil phenomena depending on these organisms” (the soil bac- 
teria), “and to determine the extent and character of their biolog- 
ical and chemical functions,” unless he is a bacteriologist of con- 
siderable experience, in which case the directions given would be 
quite superfluous. 
The volume on fertilizers follows the same plan as the one on 
soils, and will be found of more immediate and practical value on 
account of the increasing demand in all parts of the country for 
fertilizer analysis and control. It is a laboratory guide in this 
department, which is invaluable to analysts who have this sort 
of work to do. 
An admirable feature of both volumes, particularly acceptable 
to those who’ will use them as something more than a receipt 
book, is a full list of references to the authorities cited. E. H. J. 
OBITUARY. 
Proressor Cuartes V. Ritey, whose sudden death, due to an 
accident, was announced in our last number, was born in London, 
England, Sept. 18, 1843. He was educated first in Kngland and 
later in France and Germany, and when hardly more than a boy 
came to the United States and settled on a farm in Illinois. His 
interest in natural history and especially in Entomology, which 
he had shown very early in life, was developed here, and still 
more later when, at the age of twenty-one, he became editor 
of the Entomological Department of an agricultural paper in 
Chicago. His work here brought him into notice, and in 1868, 
when only twenty-five, he was made entomologist to the State of 
Missouri, and from that time until 1877 he carried on under these 
auspices a series of important investigations upon the insects 
