Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/584

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566
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Loomis, Eben J. An Eclipse Party in Africa. (Illustrated.) Boston: Roberts Bros. Pp. 218. $4.50.

Loew, Oscar. The Energy of Living Protoplasm. London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Pp. 115.

Matthews, Charles Thompson. The Story of Architecture. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 468. $3.

New York State Board of Charities, Annual Report of, for 1895. Pp. 541.

Niewenglowski, G. H. La Photographie et la Photochimie (Bibliothèque Scientifique Internationale). Paris: Félix Alcan. Pp. 284. 6 francs.

Perkins, Charles A. Outlines of Electricity and Magnetism. New York.: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 277. $1.10.

Photographic Annual for 1897. New York: The Scovill & Adams Co. Pp. 270.

Poulton, Edward B. Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection. New York: The Macmillan Co. Pp. 224. $1.25.

Putnam, George Haven. Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 538. $2.50.

Reprints. Mills. Wesley: Psychic Development of Young Animals. Part V (Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada).—Smith, Harlan I.: Certain Shamanistic Ceremonies among the Ojibwas (American Antiquarian, September. 1896).—Trelease, William: Botanical Opportunity (Botanical Gazette, vol. xxii).—Ward, Lester F.: The Purpose of Sociology (American Journal of Sociology, November, ]96).

Richardson and Pierce. The National Electrical Code. Chicago: 510 Royal Building. Charles A. Hewitt. Pp. 222.

Ruedebusch, Emil F. The Old and the New Ideal. Mayville, Wis.: The Author. Pp. 347. 50 cents.

Shinn, Charles Howard. The Story of the Mine. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 272. $1.50.

Spencer, Herbert. The Principles of Sociology. Vol. III. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 645. $2.

Waldo, Prank. Elementary Meteorology. New York: American Book Co. Pp. 373. $1.50.

Wright, G. F. The Ice Age in North America. (Fourth edition.) New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 648. $5.



Fragments of Science.

American Man in the Ice Age.—Very important evidence has been found during the past year of the existence of man in North America during the Ice age, or at least the latter part of it. The two chief items, coming from different parts of the country and established by the evidence of different observers working independently, are of sufficient force to make the conclusion exceedingly probable. First, we have the discovery by Mr. Volk, reported to the American Association by Prof. Wright and enlarged upon by Prof. Putnam, of argillite implements in the undisturbed glacial gravel near Trenton. The excavations, carried on during two years by Mr. Volk, in such a manner and through such formations that mistake was practically impossible, revealed a disturbed upper layer of sand and gravel, in which were implements of flint and argillite, and beneath this an undisturbed layer, compact and distinctly stratified, in which only implements of argillite were found. The opinion, reached by Prof. Wright and Prof. H. Carvill Lewis fifteen years ago, assigning this formation to "a period when the land stood one hundred and fifty feet below its present level, and when the cold waters from the melting glacier bore ice rafts which dropped their bowlders," is confirmed by Prof. Salisbury in his last New Jersey Geological Report, who holds that "it seems certain that the formation (Jamesburg) was produced during the submergence of the area which it covers," and that it has been only slightly eroded, contrary to the view of Prof. Chamberlin that the glacial deposit was an older one than this, and has suffered great erosions. The fact that only argillite implements were found in the lower stratum, while both flint and argillite are found in the layers above, contradicts the theory that they drifted down through cracks, root holes, etc., for in such drifting there could have been no selection of one kind of implements and exclusion of the other kind. The second piece of evidence was presented by Prof. E. W. Claypole, who described the finding of neolithic axes in digging a well in the blue till, twenty feet below the surface, at New London, Huron County, Ohio. The account of the workman who found the implements, given in full, describing the formations through which he passed in the digging, and confirmed by Prof. Claypole's personal inspection of the premises, is so distinct as apparently to leave no room for doubt. The circumstantial evidence sustaining his testimony is of