Sixth Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana. By E. T. Cox. Indianapolis, 1875. Pp. 287.
In this volume we have the results of the detailed survey of five counties, viz., Jefferson, Scott, Jackson, Brown, and Morgan, as also of special researches in other parts of the State. In a former number of the Monthly we gave the result of one of these special researches, viz., the discovery of a considerable bed of white porcelain clay, in Lawrence County. Another inquiry prosecuted by the State surveyors during the year 1874 had reference to the archaeology of Indiana: attention was directed to collecting stone implements and other relics of the mound-builders, and to the mapping of tumuli and walled or fortified prehistoric village-sites. Only a small portion of the State has been as yet examined, with a view to researches of this kind, yet the results attained are highly gratifying. The volume before us gives a detailed description of some very remarkable monuments of the mound-builders. One of these, built on a high bluff which overlooks the Ohio River, consists of two circular piles of stone with neck-like prolongations lying in opposite directions; greatest diameter, twenty-two feet; length, forty feet. The mounds are built of stones piled up regularly and lapped so as to break joints, but without mortar. Another curious monument is an earthwork, circular in shape, six hundred yards in circumference, ten or twelve feet wide, and at present fifteen to twenty inches above the general surface. There is a gap six to eight feet wide in the northeast part of this circular wall. Four or five other mounds are described in the work.
In the chapters devoted to the several counties, the economic geology of each receives due attention. The principal minerals of economic value found in Jackson County are building-stone, brick-clay, and ochre. In Brown County gold is found in the bed or on the bars of all the brooks that flow into Bean Blossom Creek from Indian Creek Ridge. Fine dust and minute scales may be found in the county wherever black sand and small pebbles indicate former currents of ice-water. The metal is of unusual purity, but the total product of gold in the county has not exceeded ten thousand dollars. There are numerous quarries of valuable building-stone in the county. The manganiferous iron-stone of Scott County yields an excellent quality of mill and foundery iron. There are as many as thirteen distinct seams of the ore, ranging from three inches to one foot or more in thickness, in a vertical space of twenty feet. Beyond brick-clay and building-stone, Jefferson County possesses no minerals of any considerable economic importance.
The volume contains a "Synopsis of the Fishes of Indiana," by D. S. Jordan, M. D., and a "Partial List of the Flora of Jefferson County," by John M. Coulter.
Scripture Speculations; with an Introduction on the Creation, Stars, Earth, Primitive Man, Judaism, etc. By Halsey R. Stevens. Newburg: The Author. For sale by C. P. Somerby, New York. Pp. 419. Price, $2.00.
This work may be called a running commentary on the text of the Scriptures. The author has no hesitation in expressing his opinions, but yet he does not transgress the limits of just criticism. He has no prejudices against the "sacred books," but he is unwilling that they should be reverenced without discrimination. "Faith," says he, "is excellent if founded on a noble life... We have no intention of setting at naught infinite wisdom or of treating eternal things with irreverence. The manly course for all writers is to say what they think just and true, and leave the event to God. Keeping back truth is a sin."
First Book in Arithmetic. Pp. 154. Price, 50 cents. Also, The Complete Arithmetic, Oral and Written. Pp. 498. Price, $1.40. By Daniel W. Fish, A. M. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co.
Algebraic Problems. By Joseph Ficklin, Ph. D. (same publishers). Pp. 184. Price, $1.50.
These books belong to the series known as "Robinson's Shorter Course." In paper, print, and binding, they are very attractive. The "First Book in Arithmetic" abounds in pictures, which are employed not so much for the purpose of embellishment, as in order to make plain to the infant mind the problems and operations set before it. "The
