FEBRUARY 1, 1884.]. 
\ 
of cereal culture to other branches of agriculture. 
The report is illustrated with sixteen double-paged 
colored charts of the United States; showing the pro- 
portional extent of cereal culture, and the relative 
yield of cereal crops per acre, and per head of popu- 
lation. 
The report upon flour-milling processes is one of 
a series upon power and machinery, which subject 
was under the general direction of Prof. W. P. Trow- 
bridge of Columbia college, New York. It treats some- 
what at length of the various milling processes and ma- 
chinery, and is freely illustrated with outline plates. 
Professor Killebrew’s report upon the culture of 
tobacco occupies not less than 286 pages. Besides 
the tables of production, and a few pages descriptive 
of the principal types of tobacco, the report consists 
of descriptions of soils, climate, methods of culture, 
curing, and marketing of tobacco. Each state is 
treated separately and very fully, which necessarily 
produces a great deal of repetition, and thereby un- 
necessarily extends the report. The concluding 
chapter consists of a treatise upon the chemistry of 
American tobaccos, by Gideon E. Moore, Ph.D. 
The manufacture of tobacco is treated by Mr. J. 
R. Dodge, now and formerly the statistician of the 
department of agriculture. Commencing with a 
history of tobacco-production in this country, he 
traces it up to the present time, sketching the origin 
and the present habitat of the different varieties. 
Proceeding then to the subject proper of the report, 
the author submits the statistics, and discusses them 
exhaustively. He next takes up the subjects of 
taxation and the revenue from this product, exports 
and imports, the commercial movement and prices, 
with which the report closes. 
The report upon cattle, sheep, and swine, by Mr. 
Clarence Gordon, is supplementary to the statistics 
upon live-stock. This report relates to live-stock 
upon ranches as distinguished from that upon farms. 
The distinction is not an easy one to draw in all cases, 
the line between ranch and farm being by no means 
a plain one; and one cannot help questioning the 
utility of attempting to separate them. ‘The report 
opens with a short chapter upon pasture and forage 
plants by Professor Brewer. The report proper fol- 
lows, each state and territory being treated separately. 
The matter relating to each consists of an historical 
sketch, a description of the pasturage areas, and the 
management of the ranch business, both in cattle 
and sheep raising and in cattle-driving. The esti- 
mates of pasture-land are in most cases undoubtedly 
very much too great; as, for instance, that four-fifths 
(50,000,000 acres) of the area of Wyoming is avail- 
able as pasture-land. The report closes with a sum- 
mary of the exports of meat and live-stock, and tables 
of the numbers of live-stock on farms and ranches. 
In its outward appearance, this volume, as well as 
those which have preceded it, is not by any means 
above criticism. The only part of the mechanical 
execution of these volumes which deserves commen- 
dation is the colored plates, which were presumably 
printed by the lithographers. It is greatly to be re- 
gretted that so important and valuable a series of 
SCIENCE. 
139 
volumes should not be dressed in a garb in better 
keeping with their intrinsic merits. 
— Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has asked authority of the 
surgeon-general of the army to compile an illustrated 
catalogue of the collection of comparative anatomy 
in the army medical museum, of which he has lately 
been placed in charge. Such a work as is intended, 
would be contained in a volume conformable in size 
with other illustrated catalogues of this institution 
that refer to the sections of surgery and medicine. 
There are contained in the section in question 
upwards of three thousand specimens. These are 
chiefly osteological in character; and the classes of 
mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish, are pretty well 
represented. The general plan of this catalogue is to 
make it a complete work of reference to the collection. 
Each of the genera of all the vertebrate classes are to 
be awarded an illustration, and the text will present 
a concise account of the anatomy cf the form treated. 
In every instance where it will be possible, the sub- 
ject, be it an osteological one or a wet preparation of 
the soft parts, is to be chosen from the museum col- 
lection; so that any person using this catalogue will 
have the actual type before him, and the one that 
was selected to illustrate the text. Special attention 
is to be paid to the anatomy of such vertebrates as 
elucidate the principal questions in human physiology 
and anatomy, and good figures and illustrations of 
such forms will invariably be presented. Again: 
the vertebrates of our own country will be the sub- 
jects chosen in each case, as far as possible. By this 
means the student and anatomist may pursue his 
studies away from the museum after he has investi- 
gated all that is to be found there in his special line 
of research, and that, too, upon similar subjects. In 
short, it is evident that such a work will constitute a 
more or less exhaustive contribution to the literature 
of vertebrate anatomy, and be of special value to all 
scientific and professional men. The army medical 
museum contains within itself unusual facilities for 
the prosecution of such a work at comparatively little 
expense; since it has its own corps of workers, includ- 
ing photographer, artist, and others. 
— Mr. Joseph Wharton of Philadelphia writes to 
the Public ledger of that city (Jan. 22) that he has 
found volcanic glassy dust in fresh, clean snow of 
recent fall. The snow, melted under cover in the 
porcelain vessel it was gathered in, showed at first no 
sediment; but after a time, and aided by a gentle 
rotatory movement which brought all to the deepest 
point, aslight deposit appeared. By pouring off most 
of the water, and evaporating the remainder, a little 
dry dust was obtained, which, even to the naked eye, 
showed, in the sunlight, tiny vitreous reflections. 
The dust weighed by estimate a hundredth of a 
grain, and showed under the microscope the char- 
acteristics of volcanic glass. It was partly irregular, 
flat, and blobby fragments, and partly filaments more 
or less contorted, which were sometimes attached 
in little wisps, and were mostly sprinkled with 
minute glass particles. Under a knife-edge, the 
filaments broke easily and cleanly. The irregular 
. 
