introduction. The sheets arc printed on one side only, with a liberal margin, and are not stitched. There is scarcely a village in the early-settled part of the country but has such trees, forming characteristic features of its landscape, and serving as memorials of interesting local events. Mr. Gilson photographed these trees, and collected the information about them in the first place for his own gratification; but, finding others interested, he has published a first installment of his material, and, if enough copies of this part are sold to pay expenses, other parts will follow.
Exact Phonography: A System with Connectible Stroke Vowel-Signs. By George R. Bishop. New York: the Author (at the New York Stock Exchange). Pp. 244. Price, $3.
The question of providing stroke vowel signs, which could be written in with the consonants without lifting the pen from the paper, has engaged the attention of many phonographers, but the results have so far not been encouraging, and a conviction has arisen that, however desirable this feature might be, it was impracticable in a working short-hand. Mr. Bishop has, nevertheless, undertaken the task, and has made a serious, persistent, and ingenious attempt to conquer the difficulty. The measure of his success can not be accurately given; time and practical use will be necessary to settle that; but he may fairly claim now to have shown that the obstacle was not unsurmountable. That Mr. Bishop's work should attain the ultimate solution of the problem is not to be expected; but it is certainly an approximation, and probably furnishes the basis on which the perfected scheme will rest. The greatest gain to be derived from the stroke vowel signs is in increased immediate legibility—a very important matter. This is given partly by increasing the list of alternate forms by means of which a somewhat arbitrary distinction may be effected between words that otherwise would require to be written alike and distinguished by the context, but chiefly by the ability to include a vowel which may be perfectly decisive of the word intended. The writer of the new system will frequently have the opportunity to choose whether he will sacrifice consonants or vowels; while heretofore no choice was left to him, provision having been made simply to throw out the vowels in all cases, to meet the requirement of speed. A mere consonant outline is frequently entirely devoid of suggestiveness, although perfectly unmistakable when the word to which it belongs is found. The lack of convenient vowel-signs also has probably helped to discourage the adoption of phonography as a medium of correspondence; the labor of inserting the vowels being irksome to the writer, and that imposed by their omission being still more irksome to the reader. Mr. Bishop's book is certainly worthy of attention from all who desire to become or to remain professional short-hand writers.
The Journal of Morphology. Vol. I, No. 1. September, 1887. Edited by C. O. Whitman, with the co-operation of Edward Phelps Allis, Jr. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. 226.
The establishment of a new scientific journal is a source of gratification to all who are sufficiently acquainted with the history of research in pure science to realize the assistance, both to further acquisitions and to practical applications of knowledge, which is afforded by making known the results of investigations. Accounts of the work of American zoölogists, the editor of the "Journal" remarks, are to be sought "in the various publications of the Smithsonian Institution, in voluminous reports of government commissions, in the memoirs and proceedings of societies and academies, in the bulletins and memoirs of a few universities, and in numerous periodicals devoted to the natural sciences." As no branch of science can make much progress until the care of specialists succeeds its fitful cultivation by investigators largely occupied with other subjects, so its literature is much less accessible and effective when scattered through a variety of scientific miscellanies than when concentrated in a special organ. The first number of "The Journal of Morphology" gives evidence that the previous lack of an American zoological journal, ably edited, and printed and illustrated in a liberal style, has now been well supplied. The number comprises the following seven papers: "Sphyranura Osleri, a Contribution to American Helmin-
