1882.] Analyses of Books . 561 
- Institution to obtain particulars concerning the staff, the instru- 
ments employed, and the character of the observations made. 
For this purpose circulars were sent round to all known esta- 
blishments in America, and to many abroad, but in not a few 
instances the replies are very imperfeCt. 
There is an interesting account of an official visit by the 
officers of the Smithsonian Institution to the Luray Cavern, in 
Page County, Virginia, a cave in a compact bluish Silurian lime- 
stone, probably not more ancient than the Mammoth Cave and 
the Wyandotte. The opinion of the visitors is that there is no 
cave in the world more profusely decorated with stalactites and 
stalagmites than that at Luray. There are no pools or streams, 
and consequently no aquatic fauna. A few spiders, flies, and one 
myriapod have been found. 
The report on the progress of anthropology is exceedingly 
valuable. The reporter remarks that comparative psychology 
“ has its bitter controversial side. Between the atheistic mate- 
rialists, the agnostic materialists, and the theistic dualists there 
still exists that personal prejudice which blinds the eyes of the 
observer and confounds right thinking.” 
The volume also contains reports on the progress of astronomy, 
geology, physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology. 
