Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/286

274, drawn chiefly from the printed reports of the superintendents thereof, and it concludes with an abstract of the publicschool laws of each State and Territory. A later appendix contains the report of the General Agent of Education in Alaska for the year 1886-'87. Among the subjects to which the commissioner directs attention are the purpose and condition of secondary instruction, the need to professional students of a previous liberal course of study, and the value of manual training in its influence on the mind.

geologists of America are to be congratulated that their branch of science now; has its special journal in this country. This magazine, it is announced, will be devoted to geology in its widest sense, "It will include, therefore, within the scope of its discussions and contributions all the sciences that are kindred, and that contribute by their more special investigations, to the general science of geology. It will hence serve as a medium of intelligence to the stratigrapher, the petrographer, the paleontologist, the mineralogist, the fossil botanist, the climatologist, the chemist, the physicist, the seismologist, the glacialist, the anthropologist, and the astronomer, in all those directions where their special investigations bear directly upon the constitution and history of the globe." "The "Geologist" will also make a special effort to aid the teacher of geology, both by suggesting methods of instruction, and by furnishing new facts and illustrations. It will urge co-operation and organization among geologists, and will aim to preserve and increase that general interest in geological science which supports both private and national investigations. The editors and proprietors are Prof. Samuel Calvin, Prof. Edward W. Claypole, Dr. Persifor Frazer, Prof. L. E. Hicks, E. O. Ulrich, Dr. A. Winchell, and Prof. N. H. Winchell. The first number contains six short articles, an editorial on "Geology in the Educational Struggle for Existence," and another reviewing "Irving and Chamberlin on the Lake Superior Sandstones." There are also departments for book-notices, and for personal and scientific news. It must be confessed that the "Geologist" starts out with a somewhat sectional aspect—only one of its seven editors residing east of Ohio, and only one of the six body articles in this number, that on the International Congress, dealing with anything but Western formations. The latter feature, at least, should be corrected in future numbers.

this little volume the author has presented a general view of that part of astronomy relating to the planet on which we live. The first chapter deals with methods and instruments for measuring angular space, and is followed by a chapter on the measurement of time. The rotation of the earth, the earth's revolution, and the conditions of its revolution, are successively described, and the closing chapter is devoted to such results of rotation and revolution as the succession of day and night and of the seasons, precession and nutation, etc. The style of the book is clear and popular, though without special effort to be entertaining. The author intends to follow this volume with others, dealing with other celestial bodies.

public has at least partly awakened to the dangers which the avarice of dishonest dealers in food-products is spreading around it more thickly than ever before, and it is calling upon health-officers, chemists, physicians, and the reputable dealers in these articles for protection. The special scientific knowledge needed by those who stand in this relation to the public is furnished by the present work, which is designed to be a trustworthy guide to the latest and most approved methods of detecting foreign substances in foods and beverages. The articles treated comprise the common infused drinks, dairy products, bread and bread materials, sugar, alcoholic beverages, water, spices, etc., and the tests described are both chemical and microscopical. The volume is illustrated with photomicrographic plates showing the appearance.