Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 24.djvu/137

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LITERARY NOTICES.
127

money, no separate chapter being given to this latter topic. Then follow the Four Rules, and after them "Metric Measures." The next chapter is on "Common Fractions," and "Measures in Common Use" come next, after the pupils have learned the metric system, an arrangement which can not fail to impress upon the young that the English measures are as absurdly inferior to the decimal system as British money is more inconvenient than American. The examples are not of the old-fashioned imaginary kind, but "are intended to convey, incidentally, a great deal of accurate and valuable information; so that, by means of the index, the book becomes a book of reference for many physical and mathematical constants."

The Yellowstone National Park. A Manual for Tourists. By Henry J. Winser. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 96. llustrated, with Maps. Price, 40 cents.

A convenient and acceptable description of the great national Yellowstone reservation, with its mammoth hot springs, the great geyser basins, the cataracts, the canons, and other features of this land of wonders. The park is about 2,500 miles from New York by way of the Northern, and 3,000 miles by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Northern Pacific road carries, or will shortly carry, passengers directly to the park by its Yellowstone Park branch, while the Union Pacific will deliver them by 110 miles of staging from Beaver Canon. The fare to the park and back is from $155 to $165.

How can we escape Insanity? By Charles W. Page, M. D. Hartford, Conn.: Case, Lockwood & Co. Pp. 22.

The author believes that hereditary bias must be taken account of, "although it has become too popular as an excuse for results which, through ignorance or design, are often obscure," but that insanity is largely promoted by intemperance, overwork, over-study, and many over-stimulating influences of American life. The escape from it must be prepared for by proper marriages, the cultivation of temperance in all things, and by counteracting the deteriorating influences that affect us.

Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic With Experiments. By Charles Loudon Bloxam, Professor of Chemistry in King's College, London. Fifth edition. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 640. Price, $4.

Bloxam's "Chemistry" is a comprehensive text-book, intended "to give a clear and simple description of the elements and their principal compounds, and of the chemical principles involved in some of the most important branches of manufacture." The book is adapted to beginners, and the more special parts, that the general student would wish to omit, are put in small type. The promise in regard to technological subjects is well kept in treating of the extraction of the several useful metals, of glass, pottery, building materials, explosives, fuel, organic dyes, sugars, animal chemistry, etc. The volume contains a large number of cuts illustrative of the experiments introduced, and of the commercial processes described, and its table of contents is made very full, so as to afford the student a means of self-examination. This new edition "has been carefully revised, and some alterations have been made in the theoretical portion, to bring it into harmony with modern views." The volume is about equally divided between organic and inorganic chemistry.

Manual of Taxidermy. A Complete Guide in collecting and preserving Birds and Mammals. By C. J. Maynard. Illustrated. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 101. Price, $1.25.

This little book consists of directions for collecting, skinning, and mounting birds and mammals, so that they may be not only ornamental objects, but also useful for the study of natural history. The last chapter is on "Mounting Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes."

Revista de Agricultura (Review of Agriculture), Nicomedes P. De Adan, Director. August, 1883. Havana: La Propaganda Literaria. Pp. 32.

The "Review" is the monthly organ of a circle of land-owners of Cuba, and aims at the development and improvement of the agricultural resources of the island. The contents relate predominantly to the cultivation of sugar-cane and the manufacture of sugar. An article is also published on the cultivation of the eucalyptus.