Henry, M. Charles. Harmonies de Formes et de Couleurs. Paris: A. Hermann. Pp. 65.
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Howard. John R. Henry Ward Beecher: A Study. Fords, Howard & Hulbert. Pp. 161. 75 cents.
Index, American Periodical. New Haven. May, 1891. Pp. 80. 10 cents; $1 a year.
Japan, Imperial University, Tokio. Journal of the College of Science.
Keen, W. W., M. D., Philadelphia. Five Cases of Suprapubic Cystotomy. Pp. 28.
Kenyon, Ellen E. The Coming School. Cassell. Pp. 146.
Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto Cal. Circular of Information. Pp. 15.
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Mendelsohn, S., LL. D. The Criminal Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews. Baltimore: M. Curlander. Pp. 270. $2.50.
Niagara State Reservation, New York. Report of the Commissioners for 1890. Pp. 108, with Map.
North, N. Dexter, Editor. Bulletin 01 the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. Quarterly. Pp. 110. 50 cents; $2 a year.
Parker, T. Jeffery. Lessons in Elementary Biology Macmillan. Pp 408. $2.25.
Postmaster-General. Argument in Favor of Postal Savings Banks. Washington. Pp 72.
Prosser, Charles S. Geological Position of the Catskill Group. Pp 16
Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Annual Register for 1890-'91, and Scheme of Study for 1891-'92. Pp. 88.
Reeve, Charles H. The Prison Question. Chicago: Knight & Leonard. Pp 194. $1.25.
Roberts, John B., M. D., Philadelphia. Relation of Bacteria to Practical Surgery. Pp. 16.
Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Ind. Catalogue, etc., 1891. Pp 49.
Ryder, John A. The Sturgeons and Sturgeon Industries of the Eastern Coast of the United States. United States Fish Commission. Pp. 54, with Plates.
Scientific Alliance of New York. Directory. Pp. 22. 25 cents.
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Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Report. Pp.
Spontaneous Languages.—We noticed, several months ago, a deeply interesting study of the spontaneous development of language in children, by the Hon. Horatio Hale. The same phenomenon—tantamount to the creation of an original tongue—has been observed by other persons; among them, Miss Watson, of Boston; Dr. E. R. Hun, of Albany; Archdeacon Farrar (in the case of Indian children left by themselves for weeks together in Canadian villages); and by M. Taine, in his work De l'Intelligence. Mr. W. J. Stillman has recently communicated to Nature observations made by him upon his son several years ago, when he was under the care of an Italian nurse. As the child's utterances took shape it was found that he repeated certain sounds with a definite meaning, and soon coined a small vocabulary for himself, comprising words for bread, water, milk, etc. The first word distinguished was chumbhoo, for water. Then in a few weeks he began to couple the Italian words with his, and said chumboo-aqua. Little by little he dropped his own words and began speaking only Italian. Recently, when on a visit to Crete, Mr. Stillman met a boy who had formed for himself a similar language, with the same word for water as his own son had invented. Mrs. Agnes Crane cites in a later number of Nature the case of a nephew of Dr. George Gablentz, a well-known Sinologist, who, before he learned his mother-tongue, called things by names of his own invention. The constant elements were the consonants, while the vowels were varied and employed as they were deeper or higher to denote greatness or smallness. The root for round
