Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/142

132 ninety million miles or thereabout—the author discourses pleasantly on that luminous sphere that forms the destination of this astronomical journey.

The sun is considered as the source of light of heat, and of chemical action; its influence on living beings, on animals and plants, is commented upon. The position of the sun in the planetary world, its rotation, its physical and chemical constitution, are all studied in turn; and, finally, there are given the reasons why life is, must be, impossible upon its surface. Numerous illustrations are scattered throughout the text.

author of this history is a well-known legal writer of California, who has spent many years of industrious labor in its preparation. His purpose has been to give an account, and, at the same time, a picturesque history of the State, a popular history, adapted to the use of those who have not time to read a larger work, but who desire at the same time a comprehensive review of the subject, in which every branch is treated in due proportion to its relative importance as viewed with regard to the whole. No other State, the publishers claim, possesses so romantic a history as California, and in no work on the subject that we have observed has more effort been made with greater success to present it in a way which, while it does not lack in the essential point of accuracy, shall make the story interesting and pleasant in the reading. Beginning with the very first account of the country found in the older records, it traces the development, illustrates the progress, and shows how, step by step, the State became what it is. The old voyages, with their interesting incidents; the heroic tale of the early settlements; the labors of the missionaries, and their establishment of the missions; the lives and acts of the Spanish and American governors; the changes wrought in the condition of the country by the revolution against Spain and Spanish ideas; the growth of the civil as opposed to the ecclesiastical, and the popular as opposed to the monarchical power; the struggles of individuals and factions; and the evolution of the new State, are related in a plain, engaging style. In the present volume the first book is devoted to the stories of the early voyagers; the second book covers the period of the Jesuit mission settlements of Lower California, and closes with an account of the Indians of that region; the third book covers the period of the Franciscan missions and the beginnings of Alta California; and the other books include the history of the Spanish governors, the Northwest coast fur-trade, later Northwest coast-voyages and discoveries, overland expeditions and explorations, and the Indians of Alta California. The second volume, which will complete the work, is promised soon.

fact alone that this volume bears the imprint, "Second American from the fourth German edition," would seem to bespeak for this work a degree of merit not common to many of the numerous productions that have appeared in this field of science. A careful examination of its pages confirms this impression. Usually textbooks on this subject present but a more or less complete enumeration of facts. The different elements are considered in turn: their occurrence, modes of preparation, properties, important compounds, etc., are discussed; but little effort is made to point out the theories deduced from the observations and experiments.

In this work, however, the inductive method is followed throughout. Experiments are given and carried out, with the intention of drawing conclusions from them, and of illustrating the close relation between the results obtained and the theories founded upon them.

The introduction briefly defines the province of chemistry, refers to the principle of the indestructibility of matter, the conservation of energy, chemical energy, conditions of chemical action, chemical symbols and formulæ. The elements are classified according to the law of periodicity, this meaning simply that the properties of the