Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/870

850 the erection of stations for the triangulation running south from Chicago, and water-level observations on the lakes. Progress has also been made on the survey of the Mississippi River. The longitudes and latitudes of Louisiana, Missouri, Rock Island, Illinois, and Red Wing, Minnesota, have been determined. Several of the coast charts of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and charts of the Mississippi south of Memphis, have been completed. Among the important facts noticed is the observation of sand-waves in the Mississippi at Helena, which in water from thirteen to thirty feet deep are moving down the river at an average rate of eighteen feet a day. They had an average length, counting from crest to crest, of about three hundred and thirty feet, an extreme length of about five hundred feet, and an average height of about five feet and an extreme height of eight feet from valley to crest. The existence of sand waves of so large dimensions, and moving with such a velocity, does not seem to have been observed before on the lower Mississippi.

object of this publication is to keep microscopists informed of what is going on that is of particular interest to them. It contains a list of microscopical societies in the United States and of a few foreign societies, and the names, alphabetically arranged, of manufacturers and dealers in microscopes, objects, apparatus, etc., in the United States and Europe, with other practical information.

magazine was begun with the purpose of presenting original articles of value both to the specialist and the agriculturist on the subject of North American insects and notices of current entomological literature. The articles in the ten numbers before us show the results of careful research, present new facts, and are many of them well illustrated.

is India-rubber combined with camphor and vulcanized by sulphur. It was invented by Henry Gerner, and is offered as a new product to supplant the common soft and hard vulcanized India-rubber, over which it is claimed to possess many points of superiority. These points are set forth, and the process of manufacture is described, in the pamphlet.

object of this magazine is to give the results of the latest researches in all the Oriental lands and in the countries of classical history. It is intended also to embrace many subjects of a more general character, such as the manners and customs of all nations, their traditions, mythologies, religious notions, language, and literature. In the present number, Professor T. O. Paine describes two Osirids of ancient Egypt owned by persons in the United States; and, in an article on "The Antiquity of Sacred Writings in the Valley of the Euphrates," Mr. O. D. Miller seeks to prove that the materials of the Book of Genesis were derived through Abraham from the same originals whence the oldest Chaldean writings came.

title gives as clear an idea of the character of this book as can be gained from a fuller description. The historical sketch is ample and satisfactory. The travelers' descriptions date from Charlevoix, in 1721, are favorable and unfavorable, and are quoted from a host of authors of various nationalities. They are followed by a chapter on the poetical associations, and by notices of the camp-meeting parks, geology, names, and other features of the islands.