Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/141

Rh Furinton, D. B. Christian Theism, its Claims and Sanctions. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 308. $1.75.

Putnam, G. P.'s Sons. The Knickerbocker Press. Pp. 20.

Richards, Mrs. Ellen H. Domestic Economy In Public Education. New York College for the Training of Teachers, 9 University Place. "Educational Monographs" Series. Bi-monthly. Pp. 30. $1 a year.

Smith, Roderick H. The Art of Speculation. Pp. 43. Business Chart, showing the Course of Business in the United States for the Last Thirty Years. New York: American Mews Company.

Smythe, G. C, M.D., Greencastle, Ind. The Hydro-Therapeutic Treatment of Typhoid Fever. Pp. 11.—Address before the Graduating Class of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons. Pp. 18.

Stark, E. D. Bimetallism and the Royal Commission. Cleveland. Ohio, "Plain Dealer." Pp. 53.

Sumichrast, F. C. Les Trois Mousquetaires, par Alexandre Dumas. Edited and annotated for use in Colleges and Schools. Boston: Ginn &. Co. Pp. 289. 80 cents.

Taylor, W. Edgar, Peru, Nebraska. Local Variations in the Color of Flying-Squirrels. Pp. 2.—Geology in our Preparatory Schools. Pp. 6.—Notes on Nebraska Birds. Pp. 4.

Terry, S. B., Independence, Mo. Natural Philosophy of Social Economy. Pp. 24.

Tuckerman, Frederick, M D., Amherst, Mass. Development of the Taste-Organs in Man. Pp. 24.

Ward, Prof. Lester F., Washington, D.C. Causes of Belief in Immortality. Pp. 9.

White, Prof. Charles A. The North American Mesozoic. Pp. 24.

White, Frances Emily, M.D. The Evolution of Morals. Pp. 20.

Whittier, F. N., M.D., Brunswick, Me. Light Gymnastics in Schools. Pp. 31.



Ancient Aboriginal Mining.—Writing on "Ancient Mining in North America," Prof. Newberry speaks, in the "American Antiquarian," of the great antiquity of the aboriginal works. The ancient copper mines on Lake Superior were abandoned not less than four hundred years ago; for the heaps of rubbish around the pits made by the ancient miners were covered with forest trees that had reached their largest size. The old mica mines of North Carolina and the quarries of serpentine in the Alleghanies showed like evidences of antiquity. Some population in the Mississippi Valley worked the oil-fields in various places. The author, visiting Titusville in 1860, when the first well had been opened, noticed pits in the ground which proved to be relics of the excavations of primeval oil-gatherers. A citizen, digging a well in one of the pits, had discovered and followed an old well, which was cribbed up with timber and contained a primitive ladder, like those which have been found in the old copper mines of Lake Superior. The cribbing had been rudely done with sticks from six to eight inches in diameter, which had been cut or split by a very dull instrument, "undoubtedly a stone hatchet." The oil was probably gathered by being skimmed from the water that collected in the bottom of the pit. Traces of a similar well were observed at Enniskillen, Canada; and depressions in the surface like those on Oil Creek were noticed at Mecca and Grafton, Ohio. Ruins of an ancient lead mine exist on the Morgan farm, near Lexington, Ky., in the form, where they have not been disturbed, of an open cut, from six to ten feet wide, "of unknown depth, and now nearly filled with rubbish. On either side of this trench the material thrown out forms ridges several feet in height, and these are everywhere overgrown by trees, many of which are as large as any found in the forests of that region." Galena has been found in many of the ancient works in Ohio, but has never been smelted, and appears to have been valued merely for its brilliancy. Dr. Newberry does not believe that the mound-builders were of the present Indian stock.

The Law's Neglect of Children.—The defects of English law in regard to the rights and claims of children are pointed out by Mary C. Tabor in the "Contemporary Review." According to Chief-Justice Cockburn, no legal obligation is imposed on the father to maintain his children except under the poor-laws, or unless his neglect shall bring him under the criminal laws. Nor is there any obligation upon him to make provision for them after his death; but, on the other hand, he can by the appointment of guardians exercise almost as absolute a control over them in other respects as if he were living. Responsibility for giving a certain degree of instruction has been imposed by the late Education Act, which the father shares as to children born in wedlock, but as to illegitimate children he is scot-free. The mother of an illegitimate child may, it is true, recover from the father a sum for maintenance, but that obligation is in law due to her only, and in no way to the child itself, which "is shut out from even the shadow of a right to a father's care." The results of so defective a system are what 