Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/943

Rh the Great Lakes, by J. W. Spencer. The computation of the age of the river is made by the measured rate of recession of the falls during forty-eight years, and leads to the conclusion that the falls are 31,000 and the river 32,000 years old. At the estimated rate of terrestrial elevation in the Niagara district, it will require between 5,000 and 6,000 years for a sufficient rise to divert the waters of Lake Erie through the divide at Chicago, and thus end the falls. Mr. Spencer's paper has been reprinted separately. In the commissioners' report considerable space is given to an account of the efforts which they have made to protect the beauty of the falls and its surroundings from destruction through commercial enterprise. They have not as yet been able to influence the State Legislature in any effective way, and, while the water privileges on the Canadian side are a source of revenue to Canada, the American privileges are being legislated away for nothing, and, what is far worse, there seems great danger of serious injury to the natural features of the falls and the park.

A picturesque sketch of Constantinople, has been written by F. Marion Crawford and copiously illustrated by Edwin L. Weeks (Scribners, $1.50). The author finds much that is attractive in this unique city and its environs while the Turk appears to him a much better specimen of humanity than the wily Greek or Armenian will admit.

The Outline Study of United States History, prepared by Harlow Godard (Bardeen, 50 cents), consists of a list of topics extending from the discovery of America to Cleveland 's second administration, with directions for studying, lists of reference books, and reviews.

The Report of the United States Life-saving Service for 1894 presents the usual record of laborious and often heroic service. The year was one of violent tempests and many disasters, while timely warning signals were given to over two hundred vessels, a large portion of which undoubtedly would have otherwise met with destruction. An examination of this record should convince any one that the maximum pay of sixty-five dollars a month ought not to be withheld from those surfmen who are employed for more than eight months in the year. The report contains a list of life-saving medals awarded by the Secretary of the Treasury since 1874. Several names of New York policemen appear in this list, but none of those of any other city, which apparently gives support to the claim that New York's force is "the finest."

Reconstruction during the Civil War, by E. G. Scott (Houghton, $2), is a political history of the so-called period of reconstruction. The years during which the process of renewal of the former Confederate States was taking place are called in popular speech the reconstruction period, and this name refers somewhat indefinitely to the time occupied by the single term of President Johnson and the succeeding two terms of President Grant. The author begins in Revolutionary times and, roughly sketching the origin, growth, and history of the various political parties up to the time of the civil war, gives the reader a clear notion of the causes, both immediate and remote, which led up to this event. Then he takes up the proposed methods of reconstruction, and gives an account of the disagreement between Congress and the President on this question. The last five chapters contain accounts of reconstruction as carried out in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and a discussion of what constitutes a State of the American Union.

Dr. M. L. Holbrook has issued a volume on the Physical, Intellectual, and Moral Advantages of Chastity (Holbrook & Co., New York, $1), in which he exhorts his readers to live a chaste life, and depicts the beauty and nobleness of chastity with the aid of many quotations from poets and essayists. He also denies the reality of alleged disadvantages of chastity.

Weather and Disease, by A. B. MacDowall (The Graphotone Co., London, 2s. 6d.), is the title of a book on the influence of weather on health. This is a subject which has received too little attention from physicians, and yet every one knows how immediately a sudden change in the weather affects even a healthy person's spirits and bodily well-being; how much more susceptible must a broken-down, or even an only temporarily weakened system, be to such changes! The primary