The second volume treats of the Arthropoda. The Crustacea, Arachnoidea, and Myriapoda are described by Kingsley, who, however, gives the credit of most of the article on spiders to Emerton's book on that group. Three small orders appear under the Hexapoda, the Dermatoptera (earwigs), the Pseudoneuroptera, and the Aphaniptera. It is certainly still an open question whether entomologists have not studied differences more than affinities in making orders for the earwigs and the fleas. The lowest orders of insects are described by Packard, the Orthoptera by Riley, the Hemiptera by Uhler, the Coleoptera by Dimmock, the Diptera by Williston, the Aphaniptera by Kingsley, the Lepidoptera by Fernald (moths) and H. Edwards (butterflies), and the Hymenoptera by Howard and Comstock. This volume is almost purely systematic. Here (largely, we may believe, on account of the subdivision of the work and the lack of a complete understanding between the different writers) much important material has been omitted. Either under the general head of Hexapoda or the different orders, a general account of insect anatomy should have been given at length. The whole subject of metamorphosis is treated only in a most bare and meagre outline, and yet there is no topic of which we could rightly expect a more full and careful treatment. its necessity or advantage to the type or class, of its probable origin, of the different intermediate grades between the two main types, and of its bearing on the question concerning the ancestral form of insects, we find no notice. Throughout this volume we miss the broad deductions and generalizations which are so interesting and important to the common reader, and which are really the aim and goal of all scientific study.

Of

If, too, the systematic study of insects is deemed the subject of greatest interest to the popular mind, the amateur student would have been greatly aided in determining his collections by tabular classifications of the families and genera. But while the reader will regret some things omitted in this volume, he will not fail to find in each section a description of the most important and interesting forms in each class and order. Each part is a thorough systematic monograph of its class.

The editors of the fifth volume had certain advantages over those of the first and second. The subject was naturally more interesting to the popular mind: it had been much more thoroughly worked by other writers, whose mistakes, at least, they could avoid. They had more space for carrying out their plans. The

class possessed a much higher degree of unity, and there were fewer editors. It will not, therefore, seem an invidious comparison if this volume, while perhaps no more accurate than the others, is pronounced the best in the general selection of material, and treatment of the subject. There is a fair amount of anatomy. The relations of the different orders and families are briefly but well noticed. It will be interesting reading for any one, and a valuable reference volume for the working zoologist. The discussion of the origin and different races of the domesticated animals is in all cases full and good. This volume, of course, cannot treat so purely of American forms as some others, but our American mammals receive their fair share of attention. The systematic arrangement of the different orders, families, and genera, and the general basis of classification, are more sharply emphasized than in any preceding vol

ume.

The point most noticeably worthy of criticism in the volume, and generally throughout the work, is the unnecessary profusion of plates and cuts. If the work were purely anatomical, they would be extremely useful, or even necessary. As it is, they add really only to the attractiveness of the work. The work is really one which all teachers should have, and which every student would find extremely useful; but it is too luxurious for those who need it most. May we not hope that the publisher will some time give us an edition not all too much condensed in the important subject-matter, but with fewer full-page plates, and generally less of the luxury usually so incompatible with the study of the working zoologist?

MAXIMS OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

THIS book is addressed, not so much to health authorities as to the general reader. Dr. Wight has embodied in it, in a popular style, the results of several years of experience as the health-officer of two large western cities. No attempt is made at a systematic plan; the many subjects pertaining to public hygiene being presented mainly in the form of aphorisms, or detached paragraphs. Legal points with reference to nuisances, contagious diseases, and offensive trades, are introduced ; the rights of citizens concerning sanitary matters are clearly and concisely set forth; and important decisions bearing upon them are cited.

Marims of public health. By 0. W. WIGHT, A.M., M.D., health-officer of Detroit. New York, Appleton, 1884. 176 p. 12°.

The author's style is entertaining, often witty, and, in his own words, "the intelligent householder who has no time, probably no inclination, for systematic studies, may read herein as he runs, and find hints that will save himself and his loved ones from unspeakable pain and sorrow."

In view of recent results of investigation concerning the comparative value of disinfectants, the author's statement as to the use of vinegar for such purposes, and also as to the value of little pinches of sulphur' burned every hour throughout a house in which are patients ill with infectious disease, is misleading. Such a procedure would only prove noxious to the inmates, without accomplishing even the slightest good. It would be far better to wait until convalescence is established, and then vacate the apartments, and proceed with thorough disinfection.

In the words of one of the best authorities on the subject, "There can be no partial disinfection of infectious material. Its infecting power is either destroyed or it is not." The same authority, Dr. Sternberg, also recommends the employment of three pounds of sulphur to every thousand cubic feet of air space, as requisite for thorough disinfection.

The chapters on small-pox, cholera, and other infectious diseases, are valuable, and set forth clearly, and in a salient manner, the importance of preventive measures.

REMSEN'S ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

IN the preparation of this work, Professor Remsen has performed valuable service for the advancement of chemical science in this country, since it will place within the reach of those who are deprived of access to the best sources of information a systematic exposition of the principles of modern organic chemistry. There has long been felt the need of a text-book in English on organic chemistry that would present in a concise form its fundamental principles according to the most recent knowledge of the subject, without entering so far upon details as to render the book too comprehensive for ordinary use. To those who are familiar with the voluminous literature of this subject, the difficulties to be encountered in the preparation of such a text-book are apparent, and they will doubtless appreciate the judicious se

An introduction to the study of the compounds of carbon; or, Organic chemistry. By IRA REMSEN. Boston, Ginn, Heath, & Co., 1885. 10+364 p., illustr. 8°.

lection of material and its systematic arrangement in this volume. The thoroughness with which structural relations of organic compounds are treated will be very serviceable to the student, especially the constitution of the aromatic hydrocarbons, including naphthalene and anthracene, and the methods employed in demonstrating the structure of their derivatives.

Certain peculiarities in the nomenclature adopted, and in the form of some of the structural symbols, will probably not find acceptance with all chemists. Yet, concerning the nomenclature of organic chemistry in general, it cannot be denied that usage is far from uniform, and there is even greater confusion in the terms employed than with inorganic compounds. Chemists do not seem inclined to accept fully the rules proposed by the late Dr. Watts, although it must be admitted in their favor that they possess at least the advantages of a system. In the structural symbols of the unsaturated compounds, including the aromatic series, it is difficult to see what is gained by departing from the usual custom of representing fully the valence of the carbon atoms by bonds. There would be little danger of misconception as regards their true significance after the careful explanations given on pp. 213, 225, and 239; and unquestionably a student gains clearer ideas of the chemical changes in passing from one homologous series to another, by writing the structure formulae in full, with the valence of the atoms concerned.

Numerous errors are noticed, few of which, however, interfere with the scientific accuracy of the work. The assertion that citric acid has not been made artificially is hardly in accordance with fact; and it is not strictly accurate to state, that, in the manufacture of acetic acid from wood, the crude distillate is neutralized with soda-ash, since, in this country at least, the acid is usually converted into the calcium salt. In the artificial preparation of alizarine, it is generally understood that this dye-stuff can be made only from anthrachinonesulphonic acid, anthrachinone-disulphonic acid giving isopurpurine or allied products.

Another important feature of this work is the introduction of occasional experiments designed to familiarize the student with compounds described in the text. This plan could doubtless be extended to excellent advantage; and there would probably be a large demand for another volume of equal size, devoted exclusively to laboratory appointments, manipulation, and experimental work in organic chemistry.

BACTERIA.

ANY work with the name of Cornil and Babes upon the titlepage demands attention, and this beautiful and complete presentation of the subject of bacteria as related to disease, particularly. In the preface the authors grant that the subject is in so transitory a state that no work of permanent value can be written upon it. Their book, however, approaches as near as may be to such a standard, and is a complete presentation of the condition of bacteriology to-day. They say, with perfect truth, that bacteriology is now a natural science of sufficient importance and completeness to take its proper place in hygiene, etiology, and pathological anatomy, both in the theoretical discussions and practical applications of these branches of medicine.

With the object in view of presenting all the researches upon the bacteria in their proper light, the authors have produced a profusely illustrated book, containing all that is known in regard to these minute organisms at the present time. The contributions to the literature of the subject are so numerous, and of such varying degrees of worth, that a careful selection had to be made. This selection has been unsparing, and, in the main, judicious; so that the whole field of what has been done which is of interest to medical practitioners and hygienists is well placed before us. The work begins with an introduction to the study of the pathogenic bacteria; and a rapid summary of the beginning and progress of discovery in this direction is given. This is of especial value to the student because of the copious references to original monographs that are made.

The development of the microscope for work of this kind, the discussions as to the specific nature of infectious diseases, and the criticisms which bacteriology has undergone, are reviewed, and this is followed by the first part of the book proper. This part is devoted to a consideration of the Schizomycetes in general. The various forms of the organisms are given and illustrated, and their methods of growth are treated at length. Fermentations are defined as they should be, - as "chemical processes undergone by substances broken up under the influence of organisms without chlorophyl, which develop and live in the liquid. which ferments."

A full account of all the instruments and

Les bactéries, et leur rôle dans l'anatomie et l'histologie pathologiques des maladies infectieuses. Par A.-V. CORNIL et V. BABES. Paris, Algan, 1885. 8+696 p., illustr., 27 pl. 8°.

materials necessary for work in the observation of bacteria, with the methods of employment, renders this part of the subject plain, while the discussion of the aniline colors conveys information not easy for the student to obtain elsewhere. The methods of culture are given in full; and Koch receives credit for the very great advances he has made in these methods.

The classifications of Cohn, Van Tieghem, and Rabenhorst are spoken of as the latest and best; and a complete list of all the pathogenic bacteria, with their main characteristics, follows.

That bone of contention,

เ the attenuation

of virus,' finds a place, and the various organisms with which experiments approaching success have been made are allowed to tell their story.

Then the lesions occurring with the presence of pathogenic bacteria occupy the authors' attention; and the modes of entrance, and disturbances of circulation and nutrition produced by them, are all placed before the reader in the plainest way.

A discussion of the experimental maladies' of Koch and others closes the first part of the work, which is followed by a complete bibliography of the important works upon bacteria in general.

The second portion of the book is devoted to the special infectious diseases; and a glance at the way in which the work has been done compels the highest praise. Beginning with chicken-cholera (choléra des poules), and ending with leprosy, the results of all the investigations upon any disease suspected to be due to a micro-organism are passed upon in the most impartial manner. This includes not only the diseases of man, but also those of animals concerning which any evidence of their bacterial origin has been offered. Space is wanting in which to give in full all the admirable characteristics of this book. The one criticism that might be made is, that it should be divided into two volumes, which would make it easier to handle. There is an atlas of twenty-seven plates, illustrating the various forms of bacteria, which is a valuable work by itself. Armed with the contents of the volume, any one would be competent to discuss the subject of bacteria in any presence; and a glance at the literature referred to in its pages will convince the most sceptical that there must be something in it.' We regret that we cannot discuss the contents more at length, but we can assure our readers who are interested in the subject of bacteriology that

they will find here stated the present condition of all the questions under this head.

NOTES AND NEWS.

THE daily papers announce that the U. S. commissioner of agriculture has established as a part of Dr. Riley's division a branch of investigation relating to economic ornithology, and has appointed Dr. C. Hart Merriam, a well-known ornithologist, and secretary of the American ornithologists' union, a special agent to take charge of this part of the work. Dr. Merriam will make his headquarters at Sing Sing, N.Y., until Oct. 1, and after that at Washington. The scope of the investigation will cover the entire field of inter-relation of birds and agriculture, particularly from the entomologist's stand-point. The inquiry will relate primarily to the food and habits of birds, but will include also the collection of data bearing on the migration and geographical distribution of North-American species. In this last inquiry the department hopes to have the co-operation of the ornithologists' union, Dr. Merriam being at the head of the union's committee on migration.

-The sixth annual meeting of the Society for the promotion of agricultural science will be held at Ann Arbor on Tuesday, Aug. 25. There will be public sessions in the forenoon and afternoon, and a business meeting in the evening. The entomological and botanical clubs of the association will also hold their meetings on Tuesday.

- The Western society for psychical research was organized at Chicago in May, and held its first meeting on Tuesday evening, June 3, at the Sherman house in that city. The president, Dr. A. Reeves Jackson, delivered an address, which has been published. Committees were appointed on thoughttransference; hypnotism, clairvoyance, and somnambulance; apparitions and haunted houses; physical phenomena; and psychopathy, "under which head attention may be given to what is popularly known under the various names of mind-cure,' 'faith-cure,' 'metaphysical treatment,' 'magnetic healing,' etc." The officers of the society are, president, Dr. A. Reeves Jackson; vice-presidents, Rev. C. G. Trusdell and Professor Rodney Welch; secretary and treasurer, J. E. Woodhead.

- The section of mechanical science (and engineering) of the American association for the advancement of science promises to have interesting sessions at the Ann-Arbor meeting. The committee on the best method of teaching mechanical engineering Prof. J. Burkitt Webb, Prof. George J. Alden, Dr. Calvin M. Woodward, and Professor Arthur Beardsley - request all who are interested to make sure of being present at the particular session to be devoted to this subject, and to come prepared to take an active part in the discussion of the same. The committee on the use and value of accurate standards, screws, surfaces, and gauges, and of systematic drawings in the modern machine-shop, - Prof. William

-

In his annual address as president of the Royal geographical society, Lord Aberdare called particular attention to a report (which is soon to be printed), by Mr. Scott Keltie, on the state of geographical education in Great Britain. According to this, it appears that the books are poor, the instruction inadequate, and the encouragement wanting in almost all schools, and particularly in schools of high grade. Geography as a class subject is not recognized by professorship or readership in the universities. On the continent, and especially in Germany, the case is very different. Twelve professorships of geography may be found in the twenty-one universities of Germany, and most of the twelve have been founded within the last twelve years. The ideal aimed at is a continuous course of geographical instruction from the youngest schoolyear up to the university. Mr. Keltie gives examples of some of the lessons which he heard, indicative of a masterly as well as a practical treatment of the subjects in hand. Lord Aberdare commended heartily this new effort of the geographical society to secure better geographical education. Toward the close of his address, he referred to the past year as full of geographical researches. "Never has the ferment among nations been so wide-spread, or prophetic of such great consequences," he remarked with reference to the operations of the French in Asia and Africa; the Russians in central Asia; the English in Afghan, on more than one border of India, on all sides of Africa, and in Oceanica; the Germans on the African coasts; and the Italians on the Red Sea. These invading hosts, he continues, have had in their trains "naturalists, ethnologists, geologists, — men trained in all the sciences which illustrate geography; ... knowledge and conquest thus march hand in hand; . . . out of the nettle danger, we pluck the flower knowledge; . . . however much we deplore the violence, we cannot be blind to the scientific results which followed upon the displacement of barbarous people by the civilized."

-It is suggested by the chairman of Section I of the American association for the advancement of science, that a subject, perhaps of principal investigation and discussion at the ensuing meeting, shall be, "The daily ration of the food of working-people in the different sections of the country. 1°. Of what does this ration now consist, and what does it cost? 2°. What proportion does the average cost of food bear to the total cost of living? 3°. What is a true or standard ration, measured by the relative proportions of proteine, fats, and carbohydrates? 4°. What are the kinds of food which contain proteine in largest proportion at the lowest relative cost? 5o. In what manner can a variety of daily rations be made up, each of which shall contain the requisite quantities of nutriment? 6°. Can a schedule of rations at low cost be presented, whereby much of the present waste of

food, or of money expended in its purchase, may be saved? 7°. In what way can information be distributed upon this subject, so as to enable working-people to use true economy in the purchase and in the preparation of food?" The attention of the chairman, Edward Atkinson, has been lately called to the great dearth of the statistics of consumption; and he has been promised the valuable aid of the chiefs of the several bureaus of statistics of labor, and of Prof. W. O. Atwater of Middletown, Conn., in making preparation for this discussion.

-Prof. Robert H. Thurston of Stevens institute, Hoboken, N.J., has accepted the post of professor of mechanical engineering, and director of Sibley college, in Cornell university, Ithaca, N. Y.

- An expedition under the auspices of the Royal geographical society of Vienna was to start in June of this year for the region of the Kongo. Its primary object is to explore the territory lying on the watershed between the Kongo and the Nile, with a view to extending the exact geographical knowledge of that region, and also to studying its natural history and ethnology, and investigating the commercial relations of the new Kongo state. A secondary object will be to obtain news of a former party of explorers, who have been for two years kept confined in the region of the upper Nile on account of the Mahdi affair. On account of the same revolt, the present party will be obliged, instead of taking the usual Nile route, to go to the mouth of the Kongo, and work up that river to the region of the intended explorations. From Stanley Pool two steamers belonging to English parties ply up the river; and the leader of the expedition, Dr. Oscar Lenz, hopes to be able to use one of these to reach a suitable point on the upper Kongo for the starting-point of his explorations. From this point on, Dr. Lenz has formed no definite plans, but will proceed according to the necessities of the occasion, knowing that the territory is as yet completely unexplored, and that every step will add to our geographical knowledge. He hopes to return in about a year and a half; and, indeed, the sum of twenty-five thousand florins, which has been raised for the expedition, will cover the expenses for no longer time than this.

-The French Academy of sciences has awarded the Institute's biennial prize of twenty thousand francs to Dr. Brown Séquard.

-The Japanese have at last, says Nature, after much hesitation, promulgated a patent law. As in America, with respect to copyright, it was argued, that, with no patent protection, the Japanese got the benefit of the inventions of the whole world. The new law appears, like many other recent Japanese laws, to be compiled from similar laws of other countries, - a clause from England here, from France there, from Germany in another place, as seemed advisable in the circumstances, The term of protection is fifteen years. "Articles that tend to disturb social tranquillity, or demoraliza customs and fashions, or are injurious to health," and medicines, cannot be patented. The inventions in art here been publicly

applied within two years; and patents will become void when the patented inventions have been imported from abroad, and sold,—an illiberal provision, which prevents the patenting of foreign inventions in Japan, unless the inventor also manufactures them in the country, and which therefore renders the new law practically useless to any but the Jap anese inventor. The fees are low, amounting to about three pounds sterling for fifteen years' protec tion, the one payment down being suflicient; while there are no annuities or annual payments for keeping the protection in force, as in many European countries. The punishments for breaches of the regulations are sufficiently severe to act as a warning against infringement.

- The organizing committee of section A of the British association has arranged for the following discussions at the Aberdeen meeting: 1°, On kinetic theories of gases; and, 2o, On the standards of white light.

-Professor Loomis's twenty-first Contribution to meteorology' (Amer. journ. science, July) returns to the discussion of the direction and velocity of movement of low-pressure areas, cyclones, which had already been treated in several earlier papers. The numerical results now attained agree closely with those already published. The average progressive velocity of cyclonic storms is given as follows: Bay of Bengal and China Sea, 8.4 miles per hour; West Indies, 13.7; Europe, 16.7; middle latitudes of Atlantic Ocean, 18.0; United States, 28.4. When this is combined with the results given in Finley's paper on storm-tracks, we find that our lake region possesses the unhappy pre-eminence of being visited by the most numerous and fastest-moving storms in the world, as far as the world is now known. Taking further account of the strong contrasts of winter temperatures between the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson-Bay region, which supply the winds in the front and in the rear of the storms, we find sufficient explanation of the frequent and violent changes of weather in our interior states. Professor Loomis examines also the degree of correspondence between the average course of storms and the mean direction of the wind. While the two are not coincident, they are evidently connected, and, as the author points out, the departures of one from the other are probably due to the control exerted on storm-tracks by rainfall, as well as to the fact that the mean direction of the wind is derived from truly superficial observations, while the course of the storm marks the path of a commotion that affects a considerable thickness of atmosphere. It is found that for the mid-Atlantic, near latitude 509 north, the average storm-path corresponds very closely with the average wind direction; but in the wester part of the Atlantic the storme turn 37 to the north or left of the wind, while in the eastern part the de viation is changed to 5.5 to the south or right of the T Hay and expadain in the effect that the sea between the occi henta bas on the direction of the winds near the shores. The ratio beteen the mean progress of storms and mean ve, al' A tie