Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/308

278 The chief features of our strange south western region—its pueblos and cliff-dwellings, its Zuñi, Navajo, and other native inhabitants, its plateaus, buttes, and canyons, and foremost of its natural features the Great Canyon of the Colorado River—have been made familiar of late by the reports of many explorers. To Major J. W. Powell belongs the credit of making the first extended exploration of the Great Canyon and the region through which it passes. This he did in the years 1869 to 1872. His report of the scientific results then obtained and a brief popular account of the exploration have been published. He has now prepared a full history of the expedition, with descriptions of the scenery, of the Indians and their customs, of the ruins and relies, and other subjects of interest in the region traversed. The volume is fully illustrated, its list of illustrations occupying more than five pages, and it is printed on heavy paper with wide margins.

Prof. W. O. Crosby's Tables for the Determination of Common Minerals, which appeared in 1887, has now reached a third and enlarged edition. In the new issue provision has been made for the more ready and accurate testing of streak, hardness, and specific gravity. Twenty-five additional species have been included with the two hundred in the original tables, supplementary tables comprising one hundred of the less common minerals have been added, and a synopsis of the classification of minerals has been inserted. These additions, the author believes, will reduce to a minimum the necessity of reference to comprehensive works.

It appears from the Sixth Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden that the course of instruction in gardening was completed by one student in 1894, and another left before the end of his course to take a position at the Pennsylvania State College. In response to many applications it was decided to admit paying pupils in addition to the six on scholarships. The Shaw School of Botany and other branches of the garden's work were carried on as usual. Appended to the report are five papers on botanical subjects, illustrated with fifty-six plates, and the volume contains also several views of attractive spots in the grounds.

The Second Annual Report of the Iowa Geological Survey embraces an account of the work done in 1893 by the survey and is accompanied by several special papers. Among the subjects specifically treated are the cretaceous and certain other deposits within the State, glacial scorings, and buried river channels. The Composition and Origin of Iowa Chalk is discussed by Samuel Calvin, the State Geologist. The geology of two counties is described by the assistant geologist, Charles R. Keyes, who has also written several of the other papers.

The Cause of Warm and Frigid Periods is discussed by C. A. M. Taber in a little book of eighty pages (Ellie, Boston). From an experience of twenty years spent in whaling voyages in early life the author has been brought to ascribe great influence to winds and the surface currents of the sea in modifying climate. He has carefully examined the extant theories concerning the glacial period, and gives his reasons for not finding any of them entirely satisfactory.

A Brief Descriptive Geography of the Empire State, by C. W. Bardeen, consists of a systematic and concise but attractive description of the natural and political features of the State of New York, sadly marred by a great lot of cheap, smudgy pictures. Teachers who have any regard for the artistic sense or the eyesight of their pupils will let this book severely alone. (Bardeen, 75 cents.)

To the series of English classics edited by A. J. George and published by D. C. Heath & Co. have been added Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration (20 cents) and Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America (30 cents). Mr. George is of the opinion that the annotating of English literature for students has often been injudiciously done. Accordingly, instead of placing a surfeit of biographical, historical, and critical material under the eyes of the pupils, he has shown where this matter may be found, thus giving them valuable intellectual exercise in getting it and preventing mental dyspepsia from bolting unmasticated facts.

M. Stanislas Meunier, of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, has been for many years engaged in the study of what he calls Comparative Geology, which he defines as having the