240 



SCIENCE. 



Then a segment half way to Uranus was torn away 

 entirely around the ball, and the rupture took place 

 along the chord of the arc. A section of this ring 

 would be flat inside and curved outside ; else a ring 

 lifted out of the equator quite around the sphere, whose 

 sections were circular, leaving concave walls of gas in 

 north and south latitude. Neptune would condense 

 somewhere on a line in the centre of gravity of the ring. 

 In either case the orbit of the first wcrld would be nearer 

 the sun than now. It could not have been thrown off 

 the surface, as there was not material enough ; nor from 

 the edge of the lens-shaped mass, nor frcm beneath the 

 surface of the sphere, for frcm either place the crbit 

 would not be where it is. It could not have been cast 

 off at all. Edgar L. Larkin. 



New Windsor Obs., May nth, 1881. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



The Human Body. — An Account of its Structure and 

 Activities and the Conditions of its Healthy Working. 

 By H. Newell Martin, D.Sc, M.A., M. B. Henry 

 Holt and Company, 1881. 



This book is the lourth of the " American Science 

 Series" of manuals prepared under the direction of 

 Messrs. Holt and company, and will be found of equal 

 value, as a popular guide to the subject treated, to the 

 three works which preceded it. It is a reliable work, 

 being compiled from the best authorities, and is not 

 intended for specialists, but for general readers and 

 students. 



In an age when the Physician is called upon to explain 

 to his patient, the raisen d'etre of the treatment sug- 

 gested, and even to describe the peculiar condition of the 

 organs affected, some knowledge of Human Anatomy 

 and Physiology appears essential to those who desire to 

 act as consulting physician in their own cases. 



To meet such a demand for a popular work on the 

 human body, Dr. Martin has prepared the present 

 volume, which is free from technicalities, or scientific 

 terms requiring interpretation. The reader has the ad- 

 vantage of one hundred and sixty-five excellent illustra- 

 tions, and as Dr. Martin's style of writing is both clear 

 and comprehensive, the task of the reader is an easy 

 one. 



The earlier works of this series have been reviewed in 

 "Science" and comprise the following manuals : 

 Astronomy, by Professors Simon Newcomb and Edward 

 S. Holden : Botany, by Professor C. E. Bessey : Zoology, 

 by Professor A. S. Packard, Jr. 



Osteology of Speotyto Cunicularia Var. Hy- 

 pogaea, and of Eremophila alpestris, by R. W. SCHU- 

 feldt, U. S. A. — Extracted from the Bulletin of the 

 U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey — Washing- 

 ton, Feb. nth, 1881. — Four full page illustrations. 



Abstract of Transactions of the Anthropological 

 Society of Washington, D. C, with the annual report of 

 the President. — For the year ending Jan. 20, 1880, and 

 for the second year ending January 1 8th. 1881. Pre- 

 pared by J. W. Powell. — Washington, 1881. 



The Twelfth Annual Report of the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History — Central Park, New York 

 City — Dated February 15th, 1881. 



Report of the Cruise of the U. S. Revenue Steamer 

 Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, by Capt. C. L. Hooper, U. 

 S. R. M,— November 1, 1880— Washington, 1881. 



Report of the Director of the Detroit Observatory of 

 the University of Michigan — October 1, 1879, to Janu- 

 ary 1, 1881, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1881. 



Abstract of some Paleontological Studies of the Life 

 History of Spirifer laevis H. by, Professor H. S. Will- 

 iams of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. — Reprinted 

 for American Journal Science. 



Observations on Jupiter by L. Trouvelot — Presented 

 March 9th, 1881. — Reprinted from the proceedings of 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 1 881 . 



Check List of Duplicates of Fishes from the Pacific coast 



of North America (221 Species) distributed by the 



Smithsonian Institution in behalf of the United States 



National Museum. — Prepared by David S. Jordan 



and Pierre L. Jouy. — April 13, 1881. 



Description of a new species of Squalius (Squalius 

 aliciae from Utah Lake, by Pierre Louis Jouy. 



Description of a new Gobioid Fish (Othonops eos) 

 from San Diego, Cal. by Rosa Smith. 



On a Duck new to the North American Fauna, by 

 Robert Ridgway. 



On Amazilia yucatanensis (Cabot) and A. cerviniventris, 

 Gould, by Robert Ridgway. 



Descriptions of new species of Fishes (Uranideamar- 

 ginata, Potamocottus Bendirei) and of Myctophum 

 crenulare, J. and G. — by Tarleton H. Bean. 



Notes on the Fishes of the Pacific Coast of the United 

 States by David S. Jordan and Charles H. Gil- 

 bert. 



In this paper descriptions are given of 109 species of 

 fishes known to occur along our Pacific Coast between the 

 Mexican boundary and that of British Columbia, with 

 notes on the distribution, habits, size, value, etc., of each 

 species, in advance of the publication of a general des- 

 criptive work. 



American Kindergarten Magazine.— Edited by 



Emily M. Coe, Bible House, New York. 



We have pleasure in recognizing the sterling merit of 

 this excellent little Monthly, a leading feature of which 

 appears to be an attempt to popularize science in a form 

 suitable for children. The present number contains 

 articles introducing the young readers to the best methods 

 of classification of the Animal Kingdom. The journal is 

 in its third volume, and is sold for one dollar a year. 



New Application of the Sub-products of Coal-tar. 

 — Mr. Sanders, of St. Petersburg, has succeeded in pro- 

 ducing from the heavy oils of coal-tar, a new substance 

 which, in many cases, takes the place of india-rubber with 

 advantage. It is prepared in the following manner. A 

 given weight of a mixture in equal parts of wood-oil and 

 coal-tar oil, or of coal-tar and hemp-oil, is heated for sev- 

 eral hours, at a temperature of about 318° Fahr., so as to 

 disengage the injurious substances and increase the viscos- 

 ity of the mass, until it may be drawn out in threads. A 

 second quantity, equal to the former, of linseed-oil, prefera- 

 bly thickened by boiling, is now added, and also from one- 

 twentieth to one-tenth per cent, of ozocerite with a little 

 spermaceti. In the meanwhile, the mass is kept at a uni- 

 formly high temperature for some hours, when from one- 

 fifth to one-half part of sulphur per cent, is added, after 

 which the product is moulded or otherwise worked in the 

 same manner as india-rubber. The proportions of the 

 three oils named above mav be varied so as to obtain a 

 harder or more elastic substance, as may be required. The 

 product is elastic and tenacious, standing the weather better 

 than india-rubber, and is not deteriorated by great pressure 

 or a high temperature. It is said to be specially suitable 

 for the insulation of telegraph wires, and may be employed 

 alone or mixed with india-rubber or similar resinous sub- 

 stances. 



Electrolysis. — Mr. E. F. Smith finds that a black hydra- 

 ted oxide, Ur 3 4 , is precipitated when a galvanic current 

 is passed through a solution of uranium acetate, formate, 

 or nitrate. 



