d 
: 
BEJ.. Recent Literature. 621 
There are few things more trying to that great virtue, pa- 
tience, than a large public aquarium, especially in its prep- 
aration, before it is ready for the reception of animals. It is 
to this lack of patience on the part of the directors of the 
Royal Westminster Aquarium, and to their absolute refusal to 
allow me to have proper engineering assistance during its con- 
struction, and to general mismanagement, that its present con- 
fused state, and its unsatisfactory condition in every way, is due. 
On this account I resigned my post of adviser to the sociéty, as 
I found it useless to advise when advice was recklessly disre- 
garded. Aquarium work, being hydraulic engineering on a 
small scale, is essentially the work of an engineer, and not that 
of an architect, unless he is also an engineer and a mathemati- 
cian. There is for aquaria a great and important future, both 
as regards their influence on science and as pecuniary specula- 
tions, if indeed, as I much doubt, there can be any real severing 
of these two interests. Success, however, must always be the 
result of a careful study and representation of what nature does, 
and of a strict avoidance of the recent heresies to which I have 
in this communication adverted. — Popular Science Review. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Two Years mw CALIFORNIA. — This book contains apparently a 
reliable and useful account of California, its scenic and climatic features, 
its people, with hints for tourists and settlers, and a candid chapter on the 
Chinese in California. The authoress gives these people credit for a 
business sagacity, fidelity, industry, and economy which render them a 
desirable class of immigrants. By their aid, it is claimed, the natural 
Wealth of California has been advanced beyond what it would otherwise 
have been by a quarter of a century. The literary execution of the 
k is not rarely capable of improvement, but the work is the result 
of an honest attempt to impart the fruits of close observation during 
à two years’ residence in California. 
00K’s MAnuaL or THE APIARY.?— A cheap and reliable manual 
+ bee-keeping has been needed by amateurs and beginners in the art, 
here we have in print Professor Cook’s lectures on the subject, 
delivered annually to his students, forming a guide which we can unhesi- 
gly commend as sufficiently scientific and practical. The Italian 
Variety is recommended as greatly superior to the German. As regards 
the treatment of foul brood, we would inquire whether carbolic acid or 
-* Two. Years in California, By Mary Cone. With Illustrations. Chicago: S. 
"Griggs & Co, 1876. 12mo, pp. 238. $1.75. 
. ‘ , pp. 238. : i 
* Manual ofthe Apiary. By A. J. Coox. Lansing, Mich. 1876. 8vo, pp. 59. 
