254 Scientific Intelligence. 



Eduardo Hackel. (Paris, pp. 716, 2 plates.) — About 60 pages of 

 this volume are given up to an instructive review in German, of the 

 principal feature of this tribe of grasses, and the characters which 

 the author has used in his revision. The second plate exhibits 

 graphically the supposed relations of the genera, regarded from 

 the point of view of development. In the main line of descent 

 stand Miscanthus, Erianthus, Pollinia, and farther on, in the same 

 straight line Andropogon, while there branches off from Pollinia 

 an oblique line with Ischna^um, Rottboellia, and Ophiurus. Eli- 

 onurus and Cleistachne are given off on either side ot Andropogon, 

 or, rather, its sub-genus, while Sorghum comes in the Cleistachne 

 offshoot. G. L. G. 



7. Angewandte Pflanzenanatomie • by Dr. A. Tschiech, (vol. 

 I, pp. 548.) Wien, 1889. — This work gives the principal applica- 

 tions of Vegetable Histology to the Arts, especially to Pharmacy, 

 Agriculture, and Technical Industries. The first volume confines 

 itself to a general sketch of general anatomy considered from 

 almost every point of view. The book is copiously illustrated 

 with woodcuts, many of them original, and all of remarkable 

 clearness of outline. The paper is much heavier than we usually 

 find in German books, and, in this case, it contributes greatly to 

 typographical excellence. It forms the best practical work of 

 reference for the laboratory that we have yet seen, covering all 

 the ground thoroughly in a careful survey. A second volume, 

 which is to deal with the more important drugs, fibres and the 

 like, is in preparation. This work can be unreservedly recom- 

 mended to all who have to examine the tissues of plants for any 

 purpose whatever in the arts. G. l. g. 



8. Report on the Mollusca from dredgings of the Steamer 

 "Blake" under the Supervision of Alexander Agassiz; by W. 

 H. Dall. Part II, the Gastropoda and Scaphopoda. 492 pp. 

 8vo, with 31 plates. — Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. xviii. Part 

 I was published as No. 6 of vol. xii. 



IV. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Soaping Geysers. — Mr. Arnold Hague, in a paper read 

 before the American Institute of Mining Engineers, in February 

 last, gives the results of some trials of the effect of soap in the 

 waters of geysers in hastening geyser action. The discovery with 

 regard to it was made by a Chinese laundryman at the Upper 

 Geyser Basin, who found that the soap produced an eruption in 

 every way similar to that of the ordinary working of a geyser. 

 Mr. Hague's experiments proved that geyser-action could be 

 forced in a number of ways, but most conveniently by the use of 

 soap. Lewis's concentrated lye in half-pound packages was used 

 in the trials. The more powerful geysers in general did not re- 

 spond to the influence. Old Faithful, the interval between whose 

 eruptions is about 65 minutes, or generally between 57 and 72, 

 afforded no positive results. With the Bee Hive, whose eruptions 



