Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/723

Rh strewn with the ashes of the annual fires. These "dead lakes" do not contain fish, but swarm with a species of Amblystoma, and leeches and aquatic insects, and are frequented by certain kinds of birds that seem to avoid the fresher waters.

In a paper on Revised Astronomy a contribution is made to theoretical astronomy from a new base by the Rev. James W. Hanna. After twenty years of study he has come to the conclusion that all the attractive forces of organic nature are one; that connected with it is another force, equally general and important, of repulsion; and that the resisting medium of space plays a larger part in the economy of the universe than it has been accredited with. Keeping these principles in view, he finds much in received astronomical theories to be corrected, and formulates his views in thirty-eight propositions. (Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago and New York. Price, 35 cents.)

In an address on The New School of Criminal Anthropology delivered before the Anthropological Society of Washington by Dr. Robert Fletcher, the principal results of the labors of Prof. C. Lombroso, of Turin, are briefly presented, together with references to the works of other writers who are disposed to regard criminals as constituting to a greater or less extent a distinct class of the human race.

In the Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for 1890 a decided improvement is noted in military signaling. During the year the heliograph was largely used in Arizona, nearly two thousand miles of military and sea-coast telegraph lines were operated, and considerable use was made of telephones. The meteorological work included the issuing of weather and temperature forecasts, the display of storm-signals, the gauging and reporting of rivers for navigation and flood-warnings, and the publication of weather maps, hurricane reports, the Weather Crop Bulletin, and the Monthly Weather Review. The percentages of successful forecasts were 84·4 for weather and 78·7 for temperature, giving a general average of 82·6. This is excellent in view of the statement made that "the average time at the disposal of the forecast official for the discussion and formal issue of weather forecasts is forty-nine minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes more at night," and that consequently "rarely can a minute be given to the predictions for any particular State or district." The accuracy of weather and temperature predictions had increased 1·7 per cent over the previous year; that of storm-signals had remained practically the same, 67·1 per cent. The details and statistics of the above and other work of the Signal Corps are given, with many maps, in special reports that occupy the greater part of the volume.

A Report on the Cahaba Coal-field, by Joseph Squire, has been issued by the Geological Survey of Alabama. This report describes the geology of the region, the chemical composition of the coals from different parts of the field, and the methods of mining employed there. Appended to the report is an account of the Geology of the Valley Regions adjacent to the Cahaba Field, by Eugene A. Smith, the State Geologist. The volume is illustrated, and is accompanied by a folded map.

Mr. Arthur Winslow, State Geologist of Missouri, reviewing, in his Biennial Report of the Bureau of Geology and Mines, the history of the geological survey of the State in past years, finds that "its life has been very fitful. It has existed for a few years, only to be discontinued before any plan of work was completed and at the sacrifice of much of the result reached. It has been weakened by successive changes of management with accompanying changes of policy. Its trained corps of employés and its equipment for work have been lost during the interim between two periods of activity; its collections, designed to illustrate the resources of the State, have been scattered, and with it all a considerable sum of money has been expended." The present, management has spent a year in preparation, and is entering upon a systematic work. It is to be hoped that it will be left alone long enough to accomplish something of permanent value.

Parents who have never taken much thought as to what kind of schools their children go to should read by Ellen E. Kenyon (Cassell, 50 cents and $1). It is a companion to The Young Idea, by Miss Lc Row, which reveals the sad absurdities that characterize the prevalent