out, but that part of it descriptive of the apparatus is especially so. The instruments, all of which have been invented or improved by Mr. Draper, are fully illustrated and clearly described. An excellent idea of how meteorological inquiries are carried on may be obtained from the report by those interested.
Water-Color Painting. By Aaron Penley. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1879. Pp. 68. Price, 50 cents.
This little manual of water-color painting seems to have met with a very favorable reception from the public, as this is the thirty-seventh American edition, which is taken from the thirty-eighth English one. The Putnams issue the book as one of their "Popular Art Hand-Book Series," edited by Susan N. Carter, in excellent style. The book aims to instruct the student in the principles of the art, and to give such information regarding practice as to make it a valuable aid to proficiency in such work.
Protection of Forests a Necessity, by S. V. Dorien, touches a subject of most important interest to the people of the United States. It reviews the condition of the several countries in Europe, past and present, as to forests, rainfall, and fertility, with the purpose of showing what is the actual effect of forests upon the humidity of the air and on the power of the soil to absorb and retain moisture. New York: B. Westermann & Co.
Professor Levi Stockbridge, of Amherst, Massachusetts, has published a pamphlet containing an account of investigations which have been conducted at the Agricultural College Experiment Station at Amherst, on the rainfall, the percolation, and evaporation of water from the soil, the temperature of the soil and air, and the deposition of the dew on the soil and the plant. The experiments were conducted with apparatus of various designs devised with reference to the special objects sought in each and under a variety of conditions, and were made to bear on the question whether the moisture that is found in the morning on the surface of the soil and on plants is mostly derived from the air directly or from the soil.
Improved Dwellings for the Laboring Classes, the Need, and the Way to meet it on Strict Commercial Principles in New York and other Cities (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York), relates one of the most important social questions with which American cities, particularly New York, are concerned. It sketches the need of New York and the extent of it in this matter, and describes much good work that has been done in London, New York, and Brooklyn, in more than one way, for the improvement of tenement-houses and of the life of their occupants.
The Report on Magnetic Determinations in Missouri, made during the Summer of 1879, by Francis E. Nipher, Professor of Physics in Washington University, is accompanied with a map showing the declination lines so far as they have been determined, to which is added a map of the independent preliminary surveys of Professor Hinrichs in Iowa. The isogonic lines show considerable flexures which seem to bear a relation to the drainage systems of the regions.
Hampton Tracts. Cleanliness and Disinfection, by Elisha Harris, M, D., pp. 19; and Our Jewels, by Mrs. M. F. Armstrong, pp. 27. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1879. Price, 5 cents each.
The Native. Flowers and Ferns of the United States. By Thomas Meehan. Vol. II. Second Series. Parts 19 and 20. Philadelphia: The American Natural History Publishing Co.
A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by George Grove, D. C. L. Part 9. Vol. II. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1880. Price, $1.25 per part.
Report of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York on Railroad Transportation. New York. 1880. Pp. 24.
The Food of Birds. By S. A. Forbes. From "Transactions of Illinois State Horticultural Society." Vol. XIII. 1879. Pp. 57.
Historical Sketch of Henry's Contribution to the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. By William B. Taylor. Washington. 1879. Pp. 108.
Money and a Measure of Value. By John F. Smith Oak Lawn (Rhode Island) Home Publishing Co. 1880. Pp.23. Price, 10 cents.
Three Approximate Solutions of Kepler's Problem. By H. A. Howe, A. M. Cincinnati Society of Natural History. Pp. 6.
A Plea for Cold Climates in the Treatment of Consumption. By Talbot Jones, M. D. Reprint from the "New York Medical Journal." Pp. 32.
"The Oriental and Biblical Journal" Edited by Rev. Stephen D. Peer. Quarterly. Vol. 1. No. 1. January, 1880. Chicago: Jameson & Morse. Pp. 48. Price, $2 a year.
Annual Report of the Wisconsin Geological
