Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/583

Rh Henry, M. Charles. Harmonies de Formes et de Couleurs. Paris: A. Hermann. Pp. 65.

Hensoldt, Dr. H., New York. The Limits of Scientific Inquiry. Pp. 8.

Hervey, E. W. Flora of New Bedford and the Shores of Buzzard's Bay, New Bedford. Pp. 80.

Howard. John R. Henry Ward Beecher: A Study. Fords, Howard & Hulbert. Pp. 161. 75 cents.

Index, American Periodical. New Haven. May, 1891. Pp. 80. 10 cents; $1 a year.

Japan, Imperial University, Tokio. Journal of the College of Science.

Keen, W. W., M. D., Philadelphia. Five Cases of Suprapubic Cystotomy. Pp. 28.

Kenyon, Ellen E. The Coming School. Cassell. Pp. 146.

Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto Cal. Circular of Information. Pp. 15.

Macphail, J. A., M. D., Montreal. On Vivisection. Pp. 27.

Mally, F. W. The Boll Worm of Cotton. Department of Agriculture. Pp. 50.

Mendelsohn, S., LL. D. The Criminal Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews. Baltimore: M. Curlander. Pp. 270. $2.50.

Niagara State Reservation, New York. Report of the Commissioners for 1890. Pp. 108, with Map.

North, N. Dexter, Editor. Bulletin 01 the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. Quarterly. Pp. 110. 50 cents; $2 a year.

Parker, T. Jeffery. Lessons in Elementary Biology Macmillan. Pp 408. $2.25.

Postmaster-General. Argument in Favor of Postal Savings Banks. Washington. Pp 72.

Prosser, Charles S. Geological Position of the Catskill Group. Pp 16

Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Annual Register for 1890-'91, and Scheme of Study for 1891-'92. Pp. 88.

Reeve, Charles H. The Prison Question. Chicago: Knight & Leonard. Pp 194. $1.25.

Roberts, John B., M. D., Philadelphia. Relation of Bacteria to Practical Surgery. Pp. 16.

Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Ind. Catalogue, etc., 1891. Pp 49.

Ryder, John A. The Sturgeons and Sturgeon Industries of the Eastern Coast of the United States. United States Fish Commission. Pp. 54, with Plates.

Scientific Alliance of New York. Directory. Pp. 22. 25 cents.

Shufeldt, R. W., M. D. North American Kites. Pp. 6.—Classification of the Pigeons Pp. 2.—Birds from the Equus Beds of Oregon. Pp. 4.—An Instance of the Black-snake attracting Man. P. 1.—Mortuary Customs of the Navajo Indians. Pp. 4, with Plate.

Smock, John C. Report of the State Geologist of New Jersey for 1890. New Brunswick, N. J.: Irving S. Upson. Pp. 305, with Maps.

Thomas, Charles Hermon, M. D., Philadelphia. The Construction and Adaptation of Spectacle-frames. Pp. 10.

Thompson, Ernest E. The Birds of Manitoba. Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 186.

Thomson, Sir William. Popular Lectures and Addresses. Vol. III. Macmillan. Pp. 611. $2.

Thornton, William, Boston. Origin, Purpose, and Destiny of Man. Pp. 100.

Thorpe, T. E. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. Vol. II. Longmans. Pp. 714. $15.

Townsend. Clinton. Report of Results in Palo Alto Sugar-House, 1890-'91. Pp. 6.

Trelease, William. Second Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden. St. Louis. Pp. 117, with Plates.

Van Rensselaer, Mrs. J. King. Playing-cards from Japan. Pp. 2, with Plates.

Vernon-Harcourt, L. F. Achievements in Engineering. Scribners. Pp. 811. $1.75.

Ward, Lester F., Washington. The Transmission of Culture. Pp. 6. Neo-Darwinism and Neo-Lamarckism. Pp. 71.

Whiting, Harold. Experiments in Physical Measurement. Part III. Principles and Methods. Cambridge, Mass. John Wilson & Son. Pp. 824.

Whitman, C. O., and Allis, E. S., Jr., Editors. Journal of Morphology. January, 1891. Ginn & Co. Pp. 70. $3.50.

Wilcox, Walter F. The Divorce Problem. Columbia College, New York. Pp. 74.

Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Report. Pp.



Spontaneous Languages.—We noticed, several months ago, a deeply interesting study of the spontaneous development of language in children, by the Hon. Horatio Hale. The same phenomenon—tantamount to the creation of an original tongue—has been observed by other persons; among them, Miss Watson, of Boston; Dr. E. R. Hun, of Albany; Archdeacon Farrar (in the case of Indian children left by themselves for weeks together in Canadian villages); and by M. Taine, in his work De l'Intelligence. Mr. W. J. Stillman has recently communicated to Nature observations made by him upon his son several years ago, when he was under the care of an Italian nurse. As the child's utterances took shape it was found that he repeated certain sounds with a definite meaning, and soon coined a small vocabulary for himself, comprising words for bread, water, milk, etc. The first word distinguished was chumbhoo, for water. Then in a few weeks he began to couple the Italian words with his, and said chumboo-aqua. Little by little he dropped his own words and began speaking only Italian. Recently, when on a visit to Crete, Mr. Stillman met a boy who had formed for himself a similar language, with the same word for water as his own son had invented. Mrs. Agnes Crane cites in a later number of Nature the case of a nephew of Dr. George Gablentz, a well-known Sinologist, who, before he learned his mother-tongue, called things by names of his own invention. The constant elements were the consonants, while the vowels were varied and employed as they were deeper or higher to denote greatness or smallness. The root for round 