Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 35.djvu/733

Rh the Bureau of Ethnology, the field work includes mound explorations, explorations in ancient and modern stone villages, and general field studies in institutions, linguistics, etc.; the office work has consisted largely in giving literary form to the results of the field work. The operations of the Geological Survey and the Fish Commission are presented in brief summaries. The summaries and "occasional papers" in the appendix include ten papers relating to anthropology; an article on "Certain Parasites, Commensals, and Domiciliaires in the Pearl Oysters," by R. E. C. Stearns; "Time Reckoning in the Twentieth Century," by Sandford Fleming; and a "Report on Astronomical Observations," by George H. Boehmer.

aim of this manual is to present processes which are trustworthy and practicable, without any useless matter. Certain processes which have long held prominent places are not admitted to this volume, for instance, the soap test for hardness, which is rejected on the authority of Hehner, who has declared it inaccurate, and has devised the method here presented. The colorimetric tests for nitrates and nitrites are described to the exclusion of the processes heretofore in use. Besides the descriptions of analytical operations, the text includes a chapter on the interpretation of results, dealing with the action of water on lead, living organisms in water, identification of the source of water, and the purification of drinking and boiler waters. Tables of various analytical data are appended, there are several pictures of apparatus, and a number of sheets of labels accompany the volume.

indicated by its title, this work is adapted to students of some maturity. The first subject taken up in it is "Organography," the organs being divided into those of vegetation and those of reproduction. In describing the organs something is told of their functions, although a short division of the volume is devoted to "Vegetable Physiology," after "Vegetable Histology," which is the second subject treated. Appended to the chapters on histology are directions for the use of the microscope and accessory apparatus. Suggestions for laboratory work follow each chapter in these three divisions of the book. The fourth and closing part is occupied with "Vegetable Taxonomy," ending with a brief account of the succession of plants in geologic time. The text is illustrated by nearly six hundred cuts, largely from drawings by the author, and a glossary of botanical terms is appended. The volume is somewhat marred by typographical errors.

In the Introduction to Sawyer's Bible, the Rev. Leicester A. Sawyer, of Whitesboro, N. Y., in view of a new translation in course of publication by him, sets forth his views respecting the character, authenticity, date, and purpose of the several books of Scripture. He holds that if the prodigies and miracles of both Testaments are explained in the light of modern science, and if the judgment of the ancients is tested by the laws of evidence ruling in the courts, they will be found "to have been attested only by incompetent witnesses, and by proofs that are entirely sophistical"; and claims that his work will show many of the supposed facts to have been fictions, and of the prophecies to have been written and antedated after the event had occurred. He finds many errors which the late revision has failed to correct, but concerning which he expects to contribute to the formation of right views; and hopes also that his scheme may be adapted to facilitate more successful Bible study than has been generally possible hitherto by readers of English Bibles.

Vol. IX of the Observations of the National Argentine Observatory covers the work done during the year 1876, which was directed by Juan M. Thorne, in the absence of Dr. Benjamin A. Gould. The volume contains 18,021 determinations of the positions of southern stars.

No. V of Vol. XVIII of the Annals of Harvard College Observatory records the observations of the total eclipse of the sun,