Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/724

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tions to the Mineralogy of the Rocky Mountains," by Whitman Cross and W. F. Hillebrand. No. 21 is "The Lignites of the Grand Sioux Reservation," and a "Report on the Region between the Grand and Moreau Rivers, Dakota," by Bailey Willis. No. 22 is "On New Cretaceous Fossils from California," by Charles A. White. No. 23 is "Observations on the Junction between the Eastern Sandstone and the Keweenaw Series on Keweenaw Point," by E. D. Irving and T. C. Chamberlin. These constitute Volume III of the "Bulletin," a volume of 498 pages, with many plates, and are sold separately at five cents each, except No. 20, the price of which is ten cents, and No. 23, fifteen cents. No. 24, which will be the beginning of Volume IV, is a "List of Marine Mollusca, comprising the Quaternary Fossils and Recent Forms from American Localities between Cape Hatteras and Cape Roque> including the Bermudas," by W. H. Dall, twenty-five cents. No. 25 is "On the Present Technical Condition of the Steel Industry in the United States," by Phineas Barnes, ten cents. No. 26 is "On Copper-Smelting," by H. M. Howe, ten cents.

An Introduction to the Study of the Constitutional and Political History of the States. By Franklin Jameson. Pp. 29. A Puritan Colony in Maryland. By Daniel R. Randall. Pp. 47. Baltimore: N. Murray. Price, 50 cents each.

These essays are, respectively, Nos. 5 and 6 of the fourth series of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science." Mr. Jameson's essay is an endeavor to illustrate the importance of the study of local political movements, from those of the town and township to those of the State, in their bearing on the constitutional development of State and national governments. In it, he notices the tendency, which is not a good one, to insert provisions respecting details, mere temporary elements, into constitutions, as tending to impair the reverence with which those charters ought to be regarded, to lower their authority, and to introduce into our governments a most undesirable instability. Mr. Randall's study relates to the history and influence of a colony of Puritans—whose first leader, the Rev. Alexander Whittaker, performed the baptismal and marriage ceremonies for Pocahontas—that was planted at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1611, and removed thence on account of persecution, and settled at the mouth of the Severn River, in Maryland, in 1649. It formed the nucleus of the democratic party in Maryland. A parallel is drawn between its history and that of Providence Plantations, in Rhode Island: "As Roger Williams was driven from the mother Commonwealth of Massachusetts for holding heretical doctrine, so Durand, the Puritan elder, was expelled from the mother colony in Virginia, to seek a new home for religious toleration. Both leaders came to lands unoccupied, save by Indians, and invited their brethren to follow. Both called the land to which they came through divine guidance, 'Providence.'"

Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences. W. H. Pratt, Recording Secretary. Vol. IV. 1882-1884. Davenport, Iowa. Pp. 358, with Six Plates. Price, paper, $4.

The present volume contains a brief synopsis of the proceedings of the Academy for the years 1882, 1883, and 1884, in which the memoirs, chiefly on subjects of botany, fossils, and archaeology, hold the prominent place, with the contributions to the museum during 1879, 1880, and 1881. Among the memoirs are several of value to the flora of Iowa, and some of value to botany, including a few carefully prepared special papers. Concerning fossils, are some descriptions of new crinoids and blastoids. In archaeology, Dr. W. J. Hoffman contributes "Remarks on Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte's Island"; Mr. William H. Holmes a monograph on "Ancient Pottery in the Mississippi Valley," the fruit of studies in the collections of the Academy's museum; and Mr. C. E. Harrison and Dr. C. H. Preston accounts of mound explorations. Mr. Putnam's paper on "Elephant Pipes and Inscribed Tablets," concerning which subjects Mr. Powell, of the United States Geological Survey, has controverted the views held and put forward by the Davenport investigators, is published as a supplement, to place on permanent record the position and arguments of the latter. The publication of Volume V of the