Ago Notices of Books . LJuly, 
anhydride “ is a produCt of the respiration of animals, it is deci- 
dedly an organic produCt, and should therefore be included with 
organic compounds ” — an argument which we can scarcely admit. 
Blood receives a formula C 45 H 40 N 6 0 I5 , as though it were a definite 
chemical individual. Yeast, we learn, “uninfluences it” ( i.e ., 
gum). Human bile “ has a nauseous fragrant odour.” 
On p. 50 we have, verbatim et literatim , the following pas- 
sage : — “ Picric or trinitrophenylic acid, like any acid, forms salts 
that crystallise well. It has the odour of tar or creosote, and 
has a hot taste. It is much used as a disinfectant, rendering 
sewage, &c., inoffensive. It quickly arrests all fermentative and 
putrefactive changes, &c.” Now the chemist who knows the 
properties of picric acid will here call a halt, and, looking back, 
perceive that what is said concerning disinfecting and anti- 
putrescent properties must refer not to picric acid, but to phenol, 
of which the author has been previously speaking. But the 
student who may have no previous knowledge of picric acid and 
of phenol, and who can merely follow the grammatical construc- 
tion of the passage, will here, we submit, be led somewhat 
astray. 
Speaking of fats Mr. Clements says — “ The fat of warm- 
blooded animals is generally solid, while that of cold-blooded 
animals and fish is liquid.” Fish are generally supposed to be 
“cold-blooded animals,” but this sentence shows that our 
“ ledurer on various sciences ” is of a different opinion. He 
continues — “ The principal solid fats are butter, grease, lard, and 
suet, and the fluid animal fats are cod-liver, neats’ foot, sperm 
and whale oils.” It is curious that, of the fluid fats enumerated, 
all, save one, should be the products of warm-blooded animals. 
These peculiarities, which are not the only ones that might be 
selected on close scrutiny, show that the “ Manual of Organic 
Chemistry ” needs revision before it can be pronounced a trust- 
worthy guide. 
Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical 
Survey of the Territories . Vol. iv., No. 4, and Vol. v., No. 1. 
Washington : Government Printing-Office. 
The first of these two numbers contains an account of the fossil 
inseCts found in the Tertiary shales of the Green River, Wyoming, 
by that well-known entomologist S. H. Scudder. The collection, 
eighty species of which have been identified, is remarkable for the 
distinctly tropical aspeCt of its forms. Dr. D. S. Jordan reports 
on the collection of fishes made in Dakota and Montana by the 
indefatigable Dr. Elliott Coues ; whilst Prof. J. W. Chickering 
furnishes a catalogue of phienogamous and vascular cryptoga- 
