Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 35.djvu/438

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

"in elevating the Indian race." Many respects in which the Indians are commonly misjudged are pointed out in this volume, and a large store of material is furnished from which an intelligent opinion of these people may be formed.

The Story of Happinolande and other Legends. By Oliver Bell Bunce. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 188. Price, 25 cents.

These are nineteenth-century legends, or essays they might be called, for the embodiment of story in each case is subordinate to the thought which it contains. They are of a critical character, but far from being ill-natured or pessimistic, and are attractive in style. "The Story of Happinolande" calls attention very forcibly to the fact that the necessity of providing for our own wants is the only thing that makes us consent to supply the wants of others, and that without this necessity the industrial system of the world could not exist. In "A Millionaire's Millions" a would-be public benefactor is gradually forced to the conviction that, for improving the condition of the poor, ideas are more powerful than money, and that a stimulus to industry and economy accomplishes the beneficent purpose which almsgiving only defeats. Certain schemes and tendencies which have recently attracted public attention, especially in New York city, are also critically examined, "The City Beautiful" is an ideal, which will stimulate the reader to do his share toward realizing it; while the closing story, "John's Attic," is an ideal of a "home beautiful" adapted to moderate circumstances.

Prof. David O'Brine has published a second edition, rewritten, of A Laboratory Guide in Chemical Analysis (Wiley, $2). In its present form the book comprises, first, a chapter giving the preparation, tests, and uses of each of the reagents employed; next, a description of tests in the dry way, including those specially applicable to minerals. The tests in the wet way for the bases are then described, and there is a page on separation by electrolysis, which is followed by the methods for separating the acids. The next chapter comprises tables showing, first, the reactions of the bases, then those of the acids, with the usual reagents, which are followed by a brief summary of the leading laws and principles of chemistry. Methods for the examination of water and the detection of various poisons are given, and the closing chapter deals with general stochiometry.

The treatise on The Lixiviation of Silver-Ores with Hyposulphite Solutions, by Carl A. Stetefeldt (The Scientific Publishing Company), is offered to metallurgists as a clear, complete description of the lixiviation process in its most improved modern form. Special prominence has been accorded to the Russell process as practically standing for the lixiviation of to-day. The author deals first with the chemistry of the process, describing the chemicals used, giving the reactions of the sodium hyposulphite and the extra solutions, and telling in some detail the solubilities of metals and various compounds in sodium hyposulphite solutions. This part includes also the chemistry of the wash-water, and of sodium and calcium sulphide, and a chapter on laboratory work. In the part of the volume devoted to the practical carrying out of the process, a minute description of the arrangement of the plant is given, with detailed drawings, dimensions, and estimates of the cost of erecting and running the mill. The making of the solutions, the charging and discharging of the vats, the treatment of roasted and raw ores, and the precipitation of the metals from a lixiviation solution receive attention in turn. The closing chapter is a comparison of results of the Russell process with those of ordinary lixiviation and of amalgamation. The author reports that he has found it difficult to obtain correct statistics of the lixiviation process, but he expects to issue supplements that will place the statistics upon as sound a basis as the chemistry of the subject rests upon. The first of these supplements accompanies our copy of the work; it contains some corrections and results from the Yedras Mill, Sinaloa, Mexico.

The Elementary Biology prepared by R. J. Harvey Gibson, M. A. (Longmans, $1.75), is a text-book adapted to college students. It opens with a brief summary of the principal conclusions of physics and chemistry, dwelling especially upon those laws on which biology immediately rests. Many speculations and explanations in re-