Popular Science Monthly/Volume 18/December 1880/Literary Notices

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LITERARY NOTICES.

Odontornithes: A Monograph on the Extinct Toothed Birds of North America. With Thirty-four Plates and Forty Wood-cuts. Forming Vol. VII of the Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. By Othniel Charles Marsh, Professor of Paleontology in Yale College, New Haven, Conn.

Fossil anatomy is generally regarded as one of the driest of subjects; but, when the vestiges of old bones become the keys to the history of the world and the mysteries of the universe, their study acquires an intense interest. No better exemplification of this can be found than that furnished by the author of the splendid monograph before us. Professor Marsh, as is well known, has been engaged for the last ten years in exploring the Kooky Mountain regions in search of fossils, and his enthusiasm, untiring energy, and whole-souled devotion to the work well attest the fascination there is to the scientific mind in inquiries which the mass of people are apt to regard with indifference.

Two circumstances combined to give especial and powerful interest to the investigation. The region was rich in new material for paleontological science, and the facts discovered were certain to have great significance in their bearing upon biological theory and our whole view of the economy and order of nature.

Geology tells us, in the first place, that the North American stratified rocks, over vast areas west of the Mississippi, were deposited in a continuous, tranquil way, and were so little disturbed by revolution and upheaval that the formations are found in a remarkably unbroken sequence. The geological systems follow each other regularly, so that the record is in an unusual degree complete. But, while the strata under the vast prairies remain nearly horizontal as they were left by deposit and subsidence, the beds have been denuded, and thrust up here and there so that the outcropping strata are open to examination. The maximum thickness of these formations is estimated at some seven or eight miles, and the "stratigraphical succession" is so perfect as to be most favorable for the study of the order and dependence of the extinct forms of life. Thus the field was not only fresh, but propitious for new paleontological exploration. In the second place, this interest was heightened by the crisis of biological speculation. The theory of the continuous evolution of living forms by descent with variation had got a foothold with naturalists, but evidence was sorely wanting to supply the missing links in the chains of organic succession. There was a demand for "intermediate types," and that the connecting forms predicted by the evolutionists should be forthcoming. The research had a factitious interest from these circumstances. Professor Marsh was, of course, animated by the genuine scientific motive of finding LITERARY NOTICES.

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��out the facts, whatever theories they might favor ; but he could not be insensible to the import of his labors.

Some idea of the immense value of Pro- fessor Marsh's contributions to paleontology, as well as the immense labor that they have cost, may be gathered from the fact that in the last twelve years he has enriched the museum of Yale College alone with about one thousand new species of extinct verte- brates, at least one half of which remain to be studied out and described. That which is remarkable about these collections is the excellence of their preservation, and the profusion of specimens by which it becomes possible to restore nearly completed skele- tons. Paleontologists have hitherto had to work much from fragmentary specimens ; but Professor Marsh is now enabled to re- store the extinct vertebrate forms of the Western Cretaceous beds with such fullness of detail as seriously to affect the literary treatment of the subject. His large memoirs will be confined to a few restorations, but the work in each case will be a finished con- tribution to which little can ever be added.

The present memoir on " Extinct Toothed Birds " is his first systematic publication on the Western fossils, and forms Volume VII of the " Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel," conducted by Mr. Clarence King ; and it also forms Volume I of " Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Yale College." In regard to its contents, we can not do better for our readers than to reproduce the fol- lowing extract from a notice of it in " Na- ture," by Professor Geikie, the able head of the Geological Survey for Scotland :

Among the organic wonders of which from time to time during the past decade announce- ments have appeared, none have been received with more interest than the discovery of birds with teeth, made by Professor Marsh near the end of the year 1870, in the middle Cretaceous rocks, which in Kansas and Colorado spread out eastward from the base of the Rocky Mountains. So perfect a matrix do the peculiar buff, chalky, or marly beds of the Kansas middle Cretaceous formations furnish for the preservation of or- ganic remains, that almost every bone of the skeletons of some of the birds has been recov- ered. The material for the study of their oste- ology is thus almost as ample as that for any liv- ing bird. Full advantage of this abundant store of material has been taken. The cases and cel- lars in the Peabody Museum at New Haven con- tain the remains of about fifty different individu- als of a single bird. Every bone of its skeleton,

��with the exception of one or two terminal toe- bones and the extreme point of the tail, has been recovered, and is here carefully drawn of the natural size. Never before has it been pos- sible, we believe, to reconstruct so perfectly so ancient an organism.

The volume is divided into two parts. In the first of these the detailed structure is given of the bird on which the author has bestowed the name of Hisperornis. The skeleton of this animal if extended to its full length would mea- sure about six feet from the point of the bill to the end of the tail. It must have been a typical aquatic bird, without any power of flight, but with strongly developed limbs and a long, flexible neck, whereby it was doubtless endowed with remarkable powers of diving and swimming, and of seizing the abundant fishes of the shal- low seas in which it lived. Compared with our modern birds, the two features of this ancient form which most forcibly arrest attention are the teeth and the legs. The teeth were covered with smooth enamel, terminating upward in conical pointed crowns and downward in stout fangs, closely resembling those of mosasauroid reptiles. Their mode of growth and replace- ment have been determined to have taken place in a manner very similar to that in some rep- tiles, the young tooth forming on the inner side of the fang of the tooth in use, and increasing in size, while a pit for its reception was gradually made by absorption. The old tooth, being pro- gressively undermined, was finally expelled by its successor, the number of teeth thus remain- ing unchanged. The teeth were implanted in a common alveolar groove, as in Ichthynsavrus. In the upper jaw they were confined to the max- illary and entirely absent from the pre-maxillary bone ; in the lower jaw they extended from near the anterior extremity of ther.amns along the entire upper border of the dentary bone. Mr. Marsh believes that they were held in position by cartilage which permitted some fore-and-aft movement, but on the decay of which after death the teeth readily became displaced and fell out of the jaw. This is an important fact in its bearing upon the nature of the teeth fotind on the same slab of Solenhofen limestone with the well-known Archaopteryx. These teeth, it will be remembered, were referred by Mr. Evans to the bird itself a reference fully confirmed by Mr. Marsh, who says that he at once identified the teeth as those of birds and not of fishes, and by the subsequent discovery of other remains of the bird. In Hespernrnis re- gnlis there appear to have been fourteen func- tional teeth in the maxillary bone, and thirty- three teeth in the corresponding ramus of the lowerjaw. The wings are rudimentary or abort- ed, a remnant of the hiimenis alone existing. They may have gradually diminished from dis- use until, as the power of flight ceased, the legs I and feet increased in proportion, and assumed

the massive dimensions shown in these speci-

I mens, or, as Mr. !Marsh suggests, the bird may I have been a carnivorous aquatic ostrich, never i having possessed the power of flight.but descend- ed from a reptilian ancestry, which is strongly

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��recalled by different portions of the skeleton. Amouj^r recent birds, the peculiar legs and feet of Unfiterornis find their nearest analogues in tlic Glebes of the genus Podiceps. They were admirably adapted for propulsion in water, but scarcely served for walking on land. Locomo- tion must have been entirely performed by the posterior limbs a peculiarity which distinguish- es Hesptrornis from all other aquatic birds, re- cent or fossil. Tlie tail appears to have been composed of twelve vertebra;, unique in their peculiar, widely-extended, transverse processes and depressed horizontal plowshare boue. Broad and flat, somewhat like that of the beaver, it must have been a powerful instrument in steer- ing the bird through the water.

The second part is devoted to a description of the remains which have been found of birds belonging to a second order of Odontornithes, termed Odontotornue. Uulike Hesjjerornis, they Beem to have been all of comparatively small size and to have possressed powerful wings, but very email legs and feet. From that contemporaneous form, and from all other known birds recent and fossil, they are distinguished by certain types of structure which point back to a very lowly an- cestry, lower even than the reptile. Their bones, being mostly air-filled, would enable the car- casses to float on water until, by decay or the ra- pacity of other animals, they were separated and dispersed. Hence skeletons of these flying birds are less entire than those of the massive-boned Eespeivritis. Nevertheless, the remains of no fewer than seventy-seven difi'ereut individuals have been disinterred. These are included in two well-marked genera, Ichthyornis and Apat- ornis, and were all small birds, reminding us by their strong wings and delicate legs and feet of the Terns, like which they were probably also i aquatic in habit. Besides the reptilian skull 1 and teeth, the birds of this second order were marked by thecharacterof their vertebra?, which | in their biconcave structure recall those of fishes. This is the more remarkable, as in Uesperornrs the vertebrsE are like those of modem birds. Yet these two utterly dissimilar types were con- temporaries, and their remains have been pre- served in the same strata. Mr. Marsh points out that the transition between the two verte- bral types may be traced even in the ske>eton of Tchfhyorms itself, where the third cervical vertebra presents a modification in which the ordinary avian saddle-shaped form appears as it were in the act of development from the bicon- cave ichthyic form.

This memoir and those which will suc- ceed it have a weighty interest as contribu- tions to the doctrine of organic evolution. There is no other possible way of explain- ing the numerous facts than by this theory. Professor Marsh's discoveries are new de- monstrative proofs of the law, which he has done more to confirm by these fossil revela- tions than any other living man, or all con- temporary naturalists put together.

��It remains only to add that the volume in all its elements paper, printing, draw- ing, and engraving is superb. The illus- trations, all executed in New Haven, and by the most skillful hands the world aifords, are the perfection of art. Professor Geikie pays them the following high but deserving compliment : " They are strictly and rigidly scientific diagrams, wherein every bone and part of a bono is made to stand out so clear- ly that it would not be difficult to mold a good model of the skeleton from the plates alone. And yet, with this faithfulness to the chief aim of the illustrations, there is combined an artistic finish which has made each plate a kind of finished picture." Should the series of memoirs of the Pea- body Museum of Yale College, of which this is the first, be carried out on a scale and with a thoroughness here attained, it will form one of the great scientific monuments of the century.

German Thought. By Karl Hillebrand. New York : Henry Holt & Co. 1880. Pp. 298. Price, %\.1b.

In these six lectures before the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Professor Hil- lebrand has traced in outline the rise of modern German thought and its influence in forming modern German political life. The period covered by his review is that from the Seven Years' war to the death of Goethe, but he glances briefly at the part taken by the other nations in the work of modern culture, as an indispensable pre- liminary to the subject proper. His review leads him to a consideration of the Italian Renaissance, in which Italy led the way in breaking from the thralldom of media;val tradition and authority ; the reaction against the sensuous view of life that this introduced, which in Spain was expressed by the found- ing of the Society of Jesus, and in Germany by the Reformation ; and the passing to Eng- land and Holland, and later to France, of the leadership in the thought and spirit that have made modern Europe. Though Germany held an important place in the initial move- ment, she took but little part. Professor Hil- lebrand points out, in the subsequent prog- ress of it. She had been engaged in one of the most notable struggles in history, and came out of it prostrate. The Thirty Years'

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��war not only left her in entire intellectu- al, moral, and material poverty, but it com- pletely broke the thread of her history, and threw her back full two hundred years. It was not until 1760 that she began " to react against the too absolute thought of France, and to begin the work of restoration on a sounder basis than that which Spain had tried to lay two centuries before." Her res- toration was due to two things the Prus- sian state and the Protestant religion. The one has gradually molded out of an heteroge- neous mass of petty principalities a powerful state, and the other awakened thought, and furnished the conditions in which free in- quiry could thrive. The impulse to a large intellectual life came from without, but, once given, a literature grew up which has ex- panded into a rich and varied product. It has now become national in its tone and feeling, but at first it was purely individ- ual. It is the peculiarity of German liter- ature that it arose, not, as in other coun- tries, after a coherent state had been formed, but before, while yet the nation did not ex- ist, and Germany was but a collection of petty states. It had the task not only of responding to a national spirit, but of form- ing that spirit. At first, as Germany began to recover from the prostration of its pro- tracted war, the literature was but a soulless copy of foreign models, but with time it grew to be more and more national, and un- der the impulse of the Seven Years' war it took definite form, and prepared the ground for the generations of great writers which have finally placed Germany abreast of the other foremost nations of Europe. The three generations of writers who did the great lit- erary work of Germany were those born in the sixty-five years from 1715 to 1780, and which followed each other at periods of twenty years. In the first were Klopstock, Wieland, Winckelmann, Kant, Mendelssohn, and Lessing ; the second included Herder, Voss, Klinger, Burger, Goethe, and Schiller. The third and final generation gave to Ger- many the two Schlegels and the two Ilum- boldts, Rahel, Tieck, Schleiermacher, Nie- buhr, Savignj', and Schelling. The "two schools," says Professor Ilillebrand, " which from 1825 to 1850 influenced the German mind most powerfully, the school of Hegel and that of Gervinus, only continued, devel-

VOL. XVIII. 18

��oped, summed up, applied, or contradicted the main ideas of the three preceding great generations." The period of the first two generations was the creative one, when Les- sing and Kant, Herder and Goethe and Schiller were leading German thought into new channels. The later period that of the Romanticists was essentially a reaction- ary one, a period in which the middle ages became the ideal. It was, however, a neces- sary one, and under its influence the past of Germany was brought into prominence, and this prepared the later generation for the constructive work of organizing the Ger- man state and arousing the feeling of pa- triotism essential to its success. When this task has been fully accomplished, Germany can again take up the work of intellectual progress and occupy hor place in the gen- eral movement of European thought. Pro- fessor Ilillebrand writes in a very agreeable style, and, though he is confined to a brief outline, he invests his subject with an in- terest that is sustained to the end.

��The Elementary Principles of Scientific Agriculture. By N. T. Lupton, LL. D., Professor of Chemistry in Vander- bilt University. New York : D. Apple- ton & Co. Pp. 107. Price, 50 cents.

This little primer of agriculture for the public schools had the following origin : The Legislature of Tennessee passed a law au- thorizing the Superintendent of Public In- struction and the Commissioner of Agricul- ture to procure the preparation of a suitable elementary work on agricultural science, to be used in the common schools of that State. The Commissioner selected Dr. N. T. Lupton, Professor of Chemistry in the Van- derbilt University, to prepare the book, and this little volume is the result. As our pub- lic schools are constituted, it is perhaps as good an introductory book as could be got upon the sul)jcct. It is written in a clear and easy style, with the smallest possible amount of technical scientific talk that is consistent with a rudimentary exposition of agricultural principles. After some appro- priate opening remarks on the development of scientific agriculture, the author takes up the origin, composition, and classification of soils, the composition of plants, the compo- sition and properties of the atmosphere, and

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��the sources of plant-food and how it is ob- tained. This is the most purely scientific part, as all the explanations depend upon chemistry. The author then takes up the questions of the improvement of soils, the use of manures, mineral fertilizers, rotation of crops, and the selection and care of live- stock. This is the more practical portion of the book, and is full of well-digested in- formation which should be got early into the heads of farmers' boys. There is an appendix describing a few simple experi- ments, and then the customary questions to aid the teacher in the recitations.

��Summer-Land Sketches, or Rambles in the Backwoods of Mexico and Central America. By Felix L. Oswald. With numerous Illustrations. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. Pp. 425. Price, $3.

This is a book of travel, adventure, and observation in a wild and picturesque region, upon which pen and pencil have been hith- erto but little employed. It is besides a scholarly study of the scenerj^, the natural objects, the art-works, and the habits and characters of the people that were met with, and it is full of acute reflections and an in- structive philosophy thoroughly imbued with the modern scientific spirit. Its style is, moreover, vivid, racy, crisp, and lively, so that altoirether the work mav be commend- ed to the reader as fresh, original, brilliant, and solid.

Dr. Oswald was stationed at Medellin, near Vera Cruz, in 1867, as director of a military lazaretto. Transferred afterward to the Vera Cruz City Dispensary, he lost his health, and, having got a notion that the mountains of Mexico have great sanitary claims, he resolved to go there and if pos- sible reestablish his constitution. He ram- bled about for several years, and this vol- ume is one of the results of his experience. Dr. Oswald has very decided views in regard to some of the evil tendencies of civilization, and was very happy in the great region that has not yet been invaded by the destructive agencies of civilized life.

The following extract from his introduc- tion, shadowing forth this idea, explains the production of the book, and illustrates the characteristics of the author's writing :

��In the course of the next eight years I ex- plored the highlands of Jalisco, Oaxact, Colima, and Vera Paz for the benefit of my own health or that of my employers, hut, like the Catalan farm- er, I found more than I sought. ludepeudence, in the political sense, and a healthy climate, might be found in the mountains of Scotland, and even of Old Spain ; but the new Spanish sierras can boast of a virgin soil, with primeval forests which offer a sanitarium to all who seek a refuge from the malady of our anti-nalural civilization from the old marasmus which has spread from the Syrian desert to the abandoned cotton-fields of Georgia and Alabama.

We vaunt our proficiency in the art of subju- gating Nature, but in the New World the same ambition has led to a very dear-bought victory which the countries of the East have paid with the loss of their manhood ; their wild woodlands have been tamed into deserts, and their wild freemen into slaves ; the curse of the blighted land has recoiled upon its devastators. In our eagerness to wrest the scepter from our Mother Earth, we have invaded her domain with fire and sword, and instead of increasing the interest of our heritage we have devoured the principal ; the brilliant progress of the vain god of earth la tracked by a lengthening shadow the day-star of our empire is approaching the western hori- zon.

Where shall it end? Mold, sandy loam, and sand, is Liebig's degeneration scale of treeless countries ; the American soil may pass through the same phases, and what then ? Will the sun- set in the West be followed by a new Eastern sunrise ? Shall Asia, the mother of religions, give birth to an earth-regenerating Messiah, whose gospel shall teach us to recognize the physical laws of God ? Or shall the gloaming fade into the night of the Buddhistic Nirvana, the final extinction of organic life on this plan- et ? It is not much of a consolation to think that in the latter case the nations of the higher latitudes might count upon a protracted twilight. The westward spread of the land-blight will drive the famished millions of the Old World upon our remaining woodlands, but the resources of the last oasis will probably be husbanded with Scotch canniness and Prussian systematism, and before we share the fate of the Eastern nations we may see the dawn of the bureaucratic mil- lennium, when all our fields shall be fenced in with brick walls, all rivers with irrigaiion-dikes, and all functions of our domestic life with ofli- cial laws and by-laws. My trust in the eternal mercy of Providence lets me expect another deluge before that time ; but the recuperative agencies of unaided Nature seem powerless against the greatest of all earthly evils. National and territorial marasmus are incurable diseases; the historical records of the Eastern Continents, at least, prove nothing to the contrary. The coast-lands of the Mediterranean were the plea- sure gardens of the Juventus Mundi, the Elysian Fields whose inhabitants celebrated life as a fes- tival ; and now ? Spain, southern Italy, Tur- key, Greece, and Persia have been wasted to a shadow of their former self; ghouls and afrits

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��haunt the burial-places of the north African em- pires ; and no iuvocation can break the dcath- eluniber of Asia Minor. Acorns perish in the Boil which once nourished the oaks of Baehan; outraged Nature refuses to be reconciled. With the glory of the Orbis Romanus the s^pring-time of our earth has departed, and what America mistakes for the prime of a new year is but the lingering mildness of an Indian summer.

The career whose swiftness is our national boast has led us upon a road which has never been far pursued with impunity ; the rapidity of the destruction of our tree and game production is far more unparalleled than the growth of our cities ; the misery of the Old World has not taught us to avoid its causes, and the history of its etfects will not fail to repeat itself. On the frozen shores of Lake Winnipeg and the inacces- eible heights of the central Kocky Mountains a few remnants of the old forests will probably survive ; but the great East-Americansylvaniais already doomed ; if we persist in our present course, our last timber-States, Maine, Michigan, and North Carolina, will be as bald as northern Italy in fifty years from now, and our last game will soon retreat to the festering swamps of southern Florida.

The temperate zone of America will soon be the treeless zone, with a single exception. In the sierras of southern Mexico large tracts of land still combine a generous climate with a rich arboreal vegetation. Mexico, like our own republic, has her backwoods States, but their security from the inroads of the destroyer is guaranteed by better safeguards than their re- moteness from the great commercial centers. The ruggedness of the surrounding sierras, the supposed or real scarcity of precious metals, and the independent character of the aboriginal population, all conspire to make the alturas or mountain forests as unattractive to the imperi- ous Spaniards as they are inviting to freedom- loving visitors from the North.

To my rambles and adventures in these altu- ras, to their scenic charms, their strange fauna and vegetable wonders, I have devoted this vol- ume ; but I have rarely touched upon the min- eral and agricultural resources of a region which should remain consecrate to the Hamadryads and their worshipers. The cities of the inter- vening "civilized" districts, too, I have only mentioned as wayside stations for the benefit of non-pedestrian tourists. New Spain makes no exception from the general rule that the nations of Europe have transformed their American de- pendencies after the image of their mother- countries, and only he who leaves the cities far behind can f irget that Mexico was colonized under the auspices of St. Jago and Ximenes.

This collection of " Suramer-huid Sketches" is, therefore, neither a record of a pilgrimage to the shrines and cathedrals of Spanish America, nor a bid for the patronage of Southwestern land-agencies, but rather a guide-book to one of the few remaining regions of earth that may give us an idea of the tree-land eastward in Eden which the Creator intended for the abode of maukiud. lu the terrace-lands of western

��Colima and Oaxaca, near the head-waters of the Rio Lcrma and the mountain-lakes of Jalisco, and in the lonely highlands of Vera Paz, we may yet see forests that have never been desecrated by an axe, and free fellow-creatures which have not yet learned to flee Irom man as from a fiend.

��An Elementary Treatise on Analytical Geometry, embracing Plane Geometry AND AN Introduction to Gecmetry of Three Dimensions. By Edward A. Bowser. New York : D. Van Nostrand. 1880. Pp. 287.

Professor Bowser has produced a very excellent text-book, and has successfully accomplished his object of presenting his subject in a clear and concise manner, suit- ed to the ready comprehension of the class of students for which it is designed. The demonstrations have been selected with re- gard to their being of recognized excellence, from all available sources, and when a line of proof could be simplified it has been done.

��The Minor Arts. By Charles G. Leland. London : Macmillan & Co^ 1880. Pp. 148. Price 90 cents.

The regard in which decorative work of all kinds is at present held has given a commercial value to many of those minor arts which have been heretofore viewed only in the light of accomplishments, and pursued only as a pastime. A large field of remu- nerative and agreeable employment is thus opened up to numbers of persons who could in no other way use their time and abilities to such advantage. These arts are mostly simple, and can be learned sufficiently well to enable the student to do at least passable work with a fair amount of diligence and at an inconsiderable cost. With the object of presenting such practical instruction in the use of the materials and the kind of work that can be made from them as the novice needs, in a convenient and easily accessible form, Mr. Leland has prepared the present little manual. The volume opens with a consideration of leather-work, of which there are three kinds, that known as cuir bouilli, in which the leather is softened and then molded, stamped, or otherwise shaped ; sewed leather, and sheet-leather ornaments, such as leaves, flowers, etc. Mr. Leland de- votes his attention chiefly to the first kind, which he shows is capable of producing in

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��a very simple way many elegant articles. la the chapter on porcelain-painting, the character of the pigments, the mode of draw- ing on porcelain, and the kinds of glaze pro- duced are brietiy touched upon. Simple in- structions are given in the chapter on wood- carving, as also in the one on molding in plaster and gelatine. Other chapters treat of designing and transferring patterns, sten- ciling, mosaic-work, repousse-work, and sil- ver-chasing, and some minor manufactures not in themselves of sufficient importance to be given a separate place. The volume closes with a collection of useful receipts of cements, etc.

The Textile Record of America. By James W. Nagle & John W. Eyckman. Published monthly at Philadelphia, $3 per year.

This is a handsomely printed thirty-six- page monthly journal devoted to the inter- ests of those engaged in producing textile materials and in weaving them into fabrics. The first and second numbei'S, for Septem- ber and October of this year, have varied tables of contents, and the journal promises to be very serviceable to the trade of which it is the exponent. It is under the editorial direction of Mr. Lorin Blodget, and is, like everything else published in Pennsylvaaia, thoroughly protectionist in creed. A depart- ment devoted to coloring-improvements, both in dyes and their use, is conducted by Dr. Alfred L. Kennedy.

Diseases of the Throat and Nose. By MoRELL JIackenzie, M. D. London : Vol. I. Philadelphia: Presley Blakis- ton. 1880. Pp. 570. Price, $1.

This is an American reprint of the val- uable work of Dr. Mackenzie, of London, whose long experience and extensive ac- quaintance with diseases of this class emi- nently fit him to treat of them. The work is addressed to the profession, and is, as it professes to be, a systematic treatise upon the subject. The matter of this first vol- ume is arranged under the three headings of "The Pharynx," "The Larynx," and "The Trachea." Under each the anatomy of the organ is first considered, next the instru- ments used in operating upon it, and the diseases to which it is subject, and the meth- od of treatment. The complete work will

��be in two volumes, the second treating of the diseases of the oesophagus, nasal cavi- ties, and neck. This volume is now in press, and will shortly appear.

Memoirs of the Science Department, Uni- versity OF ToKio, Japan. Vol. Ill, Part I. Peport on the Meteorology of Tokio for the Year 1819. By T. C. Menden- hall. Published by the University. Gov- ernment Printing-office. 1880. Pp. 42.

This memoir comprises the meteorologi- cal observations made at the observatory of the University of Tokio during the year 1879. The results are tabulated, and nu- merous charts show graphically the varia- tions in temperature, in barometrical read- ings, force of wind, etc. Professor Menden- hall does not consider that any general con- clusions can be drawn from observations ex- tending over such a brief period of time ; but, as they are to be continued, the data will in time be collected from which such conclusions can be safely drawn. The ob- servations of the barometer and thermome- ter were made three times a day, and those on the direction of the wind at more fre- quent intervals. They were made by Japan- ese under the direction of Professor Mcnden- hall, and every care has been taken to have them accurate. The volume is issued in excellent style, and is entirely of Japanese manufacture.

��PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

L'Annee Artistique (The Artistic Year). The Fine Arts in France and Abroad. By Victor Champier, Secretary of the Museum of Decora- tive Arts. Second Year: 1879. Paris : A. Quau- tin. 1880. Pp. 644.

Repertoire Politique et Historiqne (Political and Historical Repertory): containing a Politi- cal Review of the Year. Fourth Year : 1879. Published under the direction of M. Charles Val- fi-ambert. Doctor in Laws, Advocate of the Court of Appeals of Paris, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Paris : A. Quautin. 1880. Pp. 592.

L'Annee Archeologique (the Aicheological Year): Archeological Calendar, Centenaries, Re- view of the Year in France and Abroad. By Anthvme Saint- Paul. Year 1879. Paris: A. Quantin. 1880. Pp.340.

Susar Analysis: a Description of the Meth- ods used in estimating the Constituents. By M. Benjamin, Ph. B. Illustrated. New York. 1880. Pp. 18.

Plan of the Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System. By S. V. Clevenger, M. D. Illustrated. Chicago. 1880. Pp. 39.

The Trenton Gravel and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man. By Henry Carvill Lewis. From the " Proceedings of the Academy of Sci- ences of Philadelphia." Pp.16.

Notes on the Management of Orthopedic

�� � Cases. By V. P. Gibney, M.D. Louisville, Ky. 1880. Pp. 9.

Perinephritis: Remarks on Diagnosis and Prognosis. By V. P. Gibney, M.D. Chicago. 1380. Pp. 30.

Science Education: an Address delivered at the Commencement of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. By William Le Roy Brown, LL.D. Auburn, Ala. 1880. Pp. 16.

The Unification of Science. By Alfred Arnold. St. Augustine, Fla. 1880. Pp. 15.

On Rotting Wood. By Professor William n. Brewer, of Yale College. Read before the American Public Health Association, November 19, 1879. Pp. 3.

Culture of Sumac in Sicily, and its Preparation for Market in Europe and the United States. By William McMurtrie, Ph.D. Special Report No. 26, Department of Agriculture. Washington: Government Printing-Office. With 8 Plates. 1880. Pp. 18.

Tide Tables of the Pacific Coast of the United States. Pp. 63. Tide Tables of the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Pp. 129. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Office. Washington: Government Printing-Office. 25 cents each.

Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. Three Months ending June 30, 1880. Washington; Government Printing-Office. 1880. Pp. 92.

Medical Hints on the Production and Management of the Singing Voice. By Lennox Browne, F.R.C.S. Edin. New York: M. L. Holbrook & Co. Pp. 77. 25 cents.

The Devonian Insects of New Brunswick. By Samuel H. Scudder. Anniversary Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History. With I Plate. Boston. 1880. Pp. 41.

A Text-Book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body. By Arthur Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S. With Illustrations. Vol. I. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880. Pp. 487. $4.50.

On Slight Ailments: their Nature and Treatment. By Lionel S. Beale, M.B., F.R.S. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. 1880. Pp. 353. $1.50.

A Manual of Classical Literature. By Charles Morris. Chicago: S. R. Griggs & Co. 1880. Pp. 418. $1.75.

The Ocean as a Health Resort. By William S. Wilson, L.R.C.P. Loud. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. 1880. Pp. 260. $2.50.


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