I884.J 
Analyses of Books. ^ 2 c 
similar to that of the shores of the Mediterranean. Nearly all 
the species which have been thoroughly studied are of a tropical 
—01 at least subtropical — nature. Their position in time is con- 
sidered to be in the later Eocene or early Miocene. 
Dr. Shufeldt, in his memoir on the “ Osteology of the Cathar- 
tidas, which are now considered to form a family distinCt from 
the vulturine Falconidae of the Eastern Hemisphere, describes 
all the American genera and species. The question whether a 
second species of condor ( Sarcoramplius ) exists, or if the speci- 
mens so named are merely immature forms of the ordinary 5. 
gryphus, is still undecided. 
Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington. Wash- 
ington : 1883. 
Among the papers which have been read before the Society is 
one on “ Recent Investigations of the Lighthouse Board on the 
Anomalies of Sound from Fog Signals.” The author exposes 
the common error that sound is always heard in all directions 
from its source according to its intensity or force, and according 
to the distance of the hearer from it. He proves, for instance, 
that a sound is sometimes inaudible when comparatively near at 
hand, and becomes distinCt when the hearer removes to a greater 
distance. Again, whilst sound is generally heard further with 
the wind than against it, yet under certain circumstances the 
reverse is the case. 
Mr. J. J. Woodward, the retiring President, read an exceed- 
ingly interesting address on “ Modern Philosophical Conceptions 
of Life.” As the subjecft of this paper will probably be consi- 
dered at length in our pages at no distant date, we shall not here 
enter upon its discussion. 
Mr. C. A. White and Mr. Antisell both conclude that on great 
plains Artesian wells have failed to be of any practical value for 
the irrigation of land. 
Mr. Elliott Coues read a paper on the “ Possibilities of Proto 
plasm,” which has also been republished under the title “ Biogen : 
a Speculation on the Origin and Nature of Life. Dr. Coues up- 
holds the existence of a special vital principle which he contends 
is the cause, not the result, of the peculiar properties of proto- 
plasm. He challenges men of Science to show what is the 
chemico-physical difference between living and dead protoplasm. 
He defines “ soul ” as that quantity of spirit which a living body 
may or does possess. “ Spirit,” again, he takes to be immaterial, 
self-conscious force, whilst life consists in the animation of 
matter by spirit. The substance of mind he terms biogen or 
