Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 18.djvu/864

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844
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

are for drinks of various kinds—milk with seltzer-water, with lime, with magnesia, etc., teas, broths, gruels, egg preparations, lemonade, and a long list of variously flavored "waters." When we come to the solid foods, the reader is furnished with a guide to their use by means of initials attached to the recipes. I. stands for invalid, C. for convalescent, D. for dyspeptic, G. for gouty, and E. for economical. When a dish is suitable for all these classes, all these initials are appended to it. Thus, mock pâté de foie gras is marked (I. C. D. G. E.), cauliflower (C. G.), scrambled eggs (I. C. D.), while half a dozen recipes for various salads have only the single initial (G.)

Cream is also a favorite element in many of the recipes of this book. Eggs, oysters, fruit, and vegetables abound in them; and, although the title only promises sick-room cookery, we are offered an abundance, and variety that commend the book to everybody, sick or well. Warmed-over meat is condemned, unless the digestion is perfect. One method of preparing it is given as follows: "Mince the meat fine with some pepper and salt; place a wall of well-mashed potato in a pie-dish or soup-plate; put in the minced meat, and place over it a crust of mashed potato; put in the oven till the moat is warmed through, and not one moment longer." Sandwiches are much approved. Nursery-food is carefully provided for, and excellent general directions are given concerning the serving of food to the sick. The book can not fail to be helpful to families which are seldom quite exempt from sickness or feebleness; and physicians may make it serviceable in providing a full dietary for their patients.

Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages, with Words, Phrases, and Sentences to be collected. By J. W. Powell. Second edition, with Charts. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 228, with blanks for taking Notes.

This work, published under the direction of the Bureau of Ethnography of the Smithsonian Institution, is designed to aid in the collection of data for the examination and comparison of the languages and dialects of the Indian tribes, and to direct the efforts of students among whatever tribe, so that they shall be conducted methodically, and adapted to fit a system embracing the whole subject. The first edition was published in 1877; the present edition embodies the modifications of the plan that have been suggested by the progress that has been made in the study. An alphabet has been prepared which seems to admit of the representation of all the sounds and modifications of sounds that are likely to occur without demanding the use of odd signs or going outside of the cases of a well-stocked English printing-office. A chapter is devoted to the explanation of the manners, customs, articles of dress, ornament, and use, etc., the study of which may throw light upon the main subject, and should be connected with it. This chapter contains also a synopsis of Mr. Lewis H. Morgan's work on kinship and affinity, illustrated by charts showing the relations of kinship for nine generations, and gives the substance of a paper by Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull on the best methods of studying the Indian languages. It is followed by a series of schedules embracing the various subjects of Indian thought which are to be filled up by individual students with details for vocabularies, phrases, the representation of inflections, and all other matter that may be of value in the study.

Report on the Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah. With Atlas. By C. E. Dutton, Captain of Ordnance, U. S. A. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 307.

The surveys, of which this report gives an account, were conducted, in 1875, 1876, and 1877, in connection with the surveys of Major J. W. Powell, and under his direction. The Colorado plateaus, of which the district covered by the survey is a part, extend from southern Wyoming through western Colorado and eastern Utah far into New Mexico and Arizona, and have a general elevation of about seven thousand feet above the sea, but which varies from five thousand to twelve thousand feet. The high plateaus constitute one of the most important of the several groups into which the region is divided, and occupy a belt of country extending from a point about fifteen miles east of Mount Nebo in the Wahsatch Mountains for about one hundred and seventy-five miles to