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 nearer the date to which it applies than any previous statistical report issued by the commission. It might be prepared still earlier, except for the fact that the railways are dilatory in handing in their returns. The railway mileage in the United States at the date of closing the report was 176,461 miles, showing an increase during the year of 4,897½ miles, or 2·80 per cent. This rate of increase as compared with the corresponding rates for previous years shows that the railway construction of the year stood below the average of construction for the six preceding years, but was in excess of the rate for the accounting year immediately preceding. The report is a solid mass of facts and figures tabulated to a very great extent, relating to all sides of railway construction, operation, service, and finance; equipment, men employed, capitalization and valuation of property, public service, earnings and expenses, and accidents. The commissioners close the report with recommendations that express companies, owners of rolling stock, depot property, stock yards, and the like, and carriers by water, connected with railway interstate traffic, be required to make reports to the commission.

With The Play of the Planets—a mechanical chart or revolving card, on which are depicted the phases of the moon, certain planetary elements, the zodiac, and the days of the month—by the aid of the Book of the Play, one may learn to cast his horoscope. The book of which, as well as of the game, F. E. Ormsby is the author, by way of illustration casts the horoscope of "Baby Esther," who was born September 9, 1893. The work is described as "a game, amusing and instructive," and in conformity with this a number of games are given which may be played in the social circle; and it is as much for purposes of amusement as of astrology that the "play" is constructed. (Planetary Publishing Company, Chicago. Price, $1.)

Mr. Ormsby is also editor of a new monthly periodical. Planets and People, "devoted to the science of occult forces, astronomy, vibration, magnetism, life, and the mystery of worlds, suns, and systems," which is published by Ormsby & Sprague, Chicago. It will give the first half of each number to articles and sayings of leading minds and thinkers m the occult realms of investigation. while the rest will embrace plain astronomy, occult astronomy or astrology, both the heliocentric and geocentric systems, physiology, anatomy, phrenology, physiognomy, etc.

The Sixth Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University, besides the report of the director, I. P. Roberts, contains the reports of the treasurer and chemist, the botanist and arboriculturist, the cryptogamic botanist and plant pathologist, and the entomologist, agriculturist, and horticulturist, and an appendix of twelve bulletins, to which special attention is called as containing matter of prime importance. The year's investigations embraced a large amount of practical and scientific work; and the quality of the work is represented as steadily improving. A glance at the bulletins, without having time to examine them carefully, seems to confirm the director's estimate of them that they are of high scientific character, and will be exceedingly useful to the farmers.

The periodical Our Animal Friends is much more than the organ of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and publishes so much matter of varied interest relating to natural history and the ways and doings of animals, with anecdotes of animals and stories, with general information, and handsome illustrations as to make it a very attractive magazine for children and the family. The twenty-first volume—September, 1893, to August, 1894—comes to us handsomely bound and fitted to adorn equally the library shelves or the table.



Abbott, Arthur Vaughan. The Evolution of a Switch Board. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin. Pp. 32.

The Astrophysical Journal. An International Review of Spectroscopy and Astronomical Physics. Monthly. Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2, January and February, 1895. Press of the University of Chicago. Pp. 100. 50 cents. $4 a year.

Atwater, W. O. Foods; Nutritive Value and Cost. Washington: United States Department of Agriculture. Pp. 32.

Aerial Navigation, Proceedings of the International Conference on, at Chicago, August, 1893. New York: American Engineer and Railroad Journal. Pp. 429. $2.50.

Ashland Collegiate Institute, Ashland, Ky. Catalogue. Pp. 16.

Baring-Gould, S. Noémi. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 263. 50 cents.

Bedell, Frederick. On Magnetic Potential. Reprint from the Physical Review. Pp. 6. 