93 
THE SCIENTIST. 
the mechanical wo:'](l. It is already used 
for ornaments, jewehy, medal-^, cutlery, 
culinary articles, floors, pens, match- 
boxes, thimbles, etc., etc. 
Future of the Phonograph. 
The Phonograph was launched into Mis- 
souri with ''great expectat'ons," hut, oving 
either to mis-management on the part of it«: 
l:)ackers, or to the rapiJity w'.th which 
changes and improvements were made dur- 
ing its infancy, it has gradually f ided from 
view and is now only used by several persons 
in Kansas City. 
This need not be discouraging, however, 
for, if we correctly interpret the ' hand- 
writing on the wall," the luture phonograph 
will be as superior to the machine even 
of to-day, as the kodik's work excels the 
old time daguerreo-typr. '1 he revelations 
made by scie ice daring the past century are 
astonishing; to predict for the future would 
be futile. 
No one will dispute for a moment that the 
phonograph is a wonderful peace of mechan- 
ism. Its developement from the original as 
a plaything for a crowd, to a pract cal, 
every-day, labor-saving, business machine, 
has been rapid and w> nderful. The trans- 
formation wid continue and it is not for us 
to say that the time will not soon come 
when, as we speak our thoughts to the Pho- 
nograph they will not only be recorded for 
instant or future reproduction, but will, if 
such is the desire, be spelled and printed 
out lUeratum.'" 
The last wor-l of modern science on 
the existing conditio:! of our earth's cen- 
ter seems to be ju^tthis: our planet con- 
sists of a cool and fairly solid, but lighter 
crust, poised upon the top of a very rigid 
hard, and immensely hot core, which 
would be liquid and molten, but for the 
unspeakable pressure of the thick crust 
piled above it. — Grant Allen in May 
dundaiiqiuin. 
Exchang-ps and Reviews. 
Webster's International Dictionary. The 
Authentic Unabridged revised and en- 
larged. Springfield, Mass. Published 
by G. & C. Merriam & Co., 1891. 
Genuine merit is seldom eft'ected for 
any great length of time, at least by dis- 
honest competitors. The publishers of 
Webster's Dictionaiies had recently to 
contend with a so-called reprint of ^V^eb- 
ster's Unabridged. The hook in question 
being a poor copj^ of the Unabridged as 
it appeared some forty years ago, cniiM! 
poorly pi inted with poor type on poorer 
papei- and an inferior cloth binding. It 
is qnite probable that a large mnjorll}^ 
of these shoddy dictionaries hav(5 already 
fallen where they belong — in the waste- 
basket— and that the International has 
had a larger sale in consequence of the 
comparison. The first impression on ex- 
amining the new Intei-nntional is, what a 
beautiful specimen of typogi-aphical and 
book making art, and the closest scrr.tiny 
does not altei- the first imprcssioi;?, 
though it disclos3S much that is interest- 
ing concerning the manner in which this 
great book has been prepared. Jt 
is to be known as the "Revision of 1890" 
and is not by any means comp de main 
having been in the hands of a lai'ge corps 
of painstaking specialists for moi-e than 
ten years. It "embodies substantially 
tlie amplitiction and enrichment of the 
language as has been noted by a wide 
and close scrutiny." Considerable prom- 
inence being given "definitions and illus- 
trations of scientific, technological and 
zoological terms," students, teachers 
and the scientific world generally will 
find the "'Internationar' far superior to 
anything of the kind ever before pub- 
lished. "Webster's International" is a 
comprehensive popular dictionary which 
will retain the preeminence so long held 
by the Unabridged. The ripest results 
of mod<M-n philology are here embodied. 
It is a dictionary which will meet the 
