Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 20.djvu/580

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564
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

reports. A pica is made for the extension of the system of Government surveys over all the States—a step which political economists would deprecate, and which men of science are not disposed to believe would be of any real advantage to the cause they serve.

A Manual of Sugar Analysis: Including the Applications in General of Analytical Methods to the Sugar Industry. With an Introduction on the Chemistry of Cane-Sugar, Dextrose, Levulose, and Milk-Sugar. By J. H. Tucker, Ph. D. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 353. Price, 3.50.

This book supplies a want, there being no work in English that treats of sugar analysis, and only a few scattered and incomplete dictionary articles. Yet a great amount and variety of analytical work are required for the various interests connected with sugar, and it is not always convenient for the chemist to have to depend upon German and French treatises, numerous and good though they may be. The author, in endeavoring to fill this gap in chemical literature, has brought the matter up to the present time, and believes that he has given fuller treatment to some points than can be found elsewhere.

Book of the Black Bass: Comprising its Complete Scientific and Life History, together with a Practical Treatise on Angling and Fly-Fishing, and a Full Description of Tools, Tackle, and Implements. By James A. Henshall, M. D. Fully illustrated Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. Pp. 463. Price, $3.

The author is regarded as an authority on the black bass, and is an expert angler. He has apparently embodied in this volume all the lore on the subject, giving the color of justice to the publisher's assertion that it is the most complete and exhaustive monograph ever published upon any game-fish. The fish itself deserves the most respectful treatment, for it is a game-fish of the highest order, is pre-eminently American, inhabits the whole United States cast of the Rocky Mountains, except New England and the Atlantic waters of the Middle States, and is found also in Eastern Mexico. Its scientific treatment has hitherto been unsatisfactory, for different authors have not been able to agree as to whether there should be two or four or more species, in what the specific differences should consist, and what the names should be. The author gives one hundred and thirty-two pages to the consideration of what has been written on this subject, and adds his own views that there are two species, the large-mouthed (Micropterus salmoides) and the small-mouthed (Micropterus dolomicu), which are apt to sport into indefinite varieties. He gives his own descriptions of the fish and its habits, and fills half the volume with descriptions and suggestions respecting bass fishing tackle, and the methods of fishing.

An Artistic Treatise on the Human Figure: Containing Hints on Proportion, Color, and Composition. By Henry Warren, K. L., author of "Artistic Anatomy," etc. Edited by Susan N. Carter, Principal of the Woman's Art School, Cooper Union. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 82. Price, 50 cents.

A manual of suggestions, adapted to practical application, in one of the most important departments of art. The author seeks to point out errors in the present systems of drawing the figure—errors arising out of unconsidered conditions of placement and pose; to explain what is natural and what is merely conventional. Color and chiaro-oscûro, handling and manipulation, are touched upon. Generally, enough is attempted to set the student thinking upon the best means of economizing the time which he has at his disposal.

The Wandering Jew. By Moncure Daniel Conway, author of "Demonology and Devil Lore." New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 292. Price, $1.50.

Mr. Conway in this work considers the legend of the Wandering Jew in all the forms which it has assumed in different countries. As reasons for undertaking the work he offers: no other treatise on the same subject exists in our language; in the pamphlets that have appeared in other languages, the relations of the legend with Eastern mythology have been little considered, and its connection with Hebrew and Christian mythology almost ignored; and those studies of it which In 1 has read consider it mainly as a curiosity. "But the