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418 well as to the south, the name had become so fixed that it was applied to the entire continent.

The conquests of Mexico and Peru are given a large share of attention, and a very vivid and interesting picture is drawn by Prof. Fiske of these first considerable conflicts between the two orders of culture of the Eastern and the Western worlds.

The author closes his account of the discovery with the story of the navigators and explorers who, for two centuries after Columbus, were busy with the detailed exploration of the great American continent.

To those familiar with Prof. Fiske's writings, it is needless to say that the work is thoroughly well done. It is drawn from original sources, and, while here and there points remain to be cleared up, we have in the present volumes in graphic and vivid form the story of the great chain of events, in their true historic proportions, which won for civilization a New World.

have the pleasure of welcoming a new scientific magazine, the first number of which appeared in England in March. It is to be primarily a record of new observations and discoveries in the field of natural history adapted to the needs of amateur investigators. "It will be our constant aim," say its conductors, "to expound and deal in a critical manner with the principal results of current research in geology and biology that appear to be of more than limited application. Original articles referring to the existing status of certain special branches of natural science, with suggestions for further development, will be a prominent feature. Periodical summaries of the latest results in the various departments are contemplated. Reviews of the more important new books will be not merely critical but also descriptive. Special attention will be given to the latest news concerning the work of all the principal societies and institutions throughout the world devoted to scientific and educational matters."

The magazine will have also a polemic tendency, for it starts with the avowed purpose of combating professionalism. "Half a century ago," it says, "scientific research was almost entirely in the hands of amateurs—independent workers, as Humboldt, Darwin, Lyell, Murchison, Hugh Miller, Waterton, and others." But a change has been wrought, mainly by the very rapidity of scientific progress. The more rigorous requirements of scientific work in recent years have operated to discourage amateurs, and hence to produce a wide gap between the scientific workers and the general public. Both science and the public have suffered in consequence; hence it is to be one of the aims of the new magazine to promote a better state of affairs.

The first number opens with a few pages of Notes and Comments, which are followed by articles dealing with Some Recent Observations upon Mimicry, by Frank E. Beddard; Deep-sea Deposits, by J. J. H. Teall (being a review of the Report on the Challenger Specimens, by John Murray and A. F. Renard); The Evolution of Fins, by A. Smith Woodward, illustrated; Some Salient Points in the Study of Mammals during 1891, by R. Lydekker, illustrated; English Lake Dwellings, by James W. Davis; Marine Snakes, by G. A. Boulenger, illustrated; The Exploration of Coral Reefs by Borings, by J. W. Gregory; Some Recent Researches on Insects and Arachnids, by G. H. Carpenter; Relationship of Sigillaria and Stigmaria, by Thomas Hick; and The Mammals of India, by R. Lydekker, illustrated. There are also review, news, and obituary departments.

of philosophy have now the promise of a well-conducted and regularly appearing magazine devoted to metaphysics and the allied subjects psychology, logic, and aesthetics. Its prospectus announces that the review "will be an open forum alike for those who increase the stock of positive data and for those who strive to see new facts in their bearings and relations, and to trace them up to their ultimate speculative implications. An equal hearing will be given to both sides of every unsettled question. The attitude of the review is nonpartisan. Writers alone will be responsible for their articles, which in all cases must be