Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/583

Rh now before us, English Visible Speech in Twelve Lessons (Volta Bureau, Washington, 50 cents), is intended as a first book for the use of children, foreigners, and the deaf in learning to read English. Each lesson is accompanied by cuts showing the positions of the vocal organs denoted by the new symbols introduced in that lesson, and by a page of directions for the teacher. There is also a table of vowels occurring in foreign languages. The first few reading exercises are adapted to children—most of the others to adults.

Under the title Cheerful Philosophy for Thoughtful Invalids, a little book of forty pages has been published by William H. Clarke, which is well calculated to aid those bodily afflicted in rendering their lives "less burdensome to themselves and more useful to others." While it is religious in tone it is not sanctimonious, and the practical application of its encouraging counsel is shown in several anecdotes (E. T. Clarke & Co., Reading, Mass., 50 cents).

According to the Report of the United States Life-Saving Service, the number of disasters within the scope of the service during the year 1894–’95 exceeded that of any previous year by seventy-nine. This large excess was in part due to the extension of the service, but chiefly to the conditions of weather which prevailed. The proportion of loss of life and likewise of property was smaller than in any year but one since the general extension of the service on the sea and lake coasts. The general superintendent still finds it necessary to urge upon Congress a more liberal and discriminating scale of payment for district superintendents and surfmen.

The somewhat ambiguous title of The Nursery Book denotes a guide to the multiplication of plants by Prof. L. H. Bailey, the third edition of which appears in The Gardencraft Series (Macmillan, $1). While there is a short chapter devoted to methods of sowing seeds, the book is mainly occupied with grafting, cutting, and similar processes. A special feature is the alphabetical Nursery List, telling how every plant generally known to gardeners is propagated. There are also a glossary and an index. The descriptions are illustrated with one hundred and fifty-two cuts. For this edition, the author says, "the entire volume has been thoroughly ransacked and renovated."



Agricultural Experiment Stations. Delaware College Station: The Increase of the San José Scale in Delaware during 1896.—Michigan State College: fattening Lambs; Feeding Corn Smut; Pig Feeding.—New York Station: Strawberries; Milk, Fat, and Cheese Yield.—Ohio State University: The College of Agriculture and Domestic Science.—United States Department: Bibliography of the More Important Contributions to American Economic Entomology; Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Association of Economic Entomologists; A Bacterial Disease of the Tomato, Eggplant, and Irish Potato.

Bulletins, Catalogues, Proceedings, etc. Field Columbian Museum: Annual Report of the Director.—Health, Rhode Island State Board of: Seventeenth Annual Report.—Iowa State University: Bulletin from the Laboratories of Natural History, Vol. IV, No. 1.—Labor, Bulletin of Department of, November, 1896.—Minnesota Botanical Studies: Bulletin No. 9.—Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Pp. 515-562—Peabody Education Fund: Proceedings of Trustees at Thirty-fifth Meeting—Purdue Society: Proceedings of, 1896.—Smithsonian Institution: Annual Report of the Board of Regents of, to July, 1894.—Culiu, Stewart: Mancala, the National Game of Africa.—Gray, Thomas: Smithsonian Physical Tables.—Mason, O. T.: Primitive Travel and Transportation.—McGuire, J. D.: A Study of Primitive Methods of Drilling.—Satoh, A.: The Wooden Statue of Baron II Kamou-no-Kami Naosuké, Pioneer Diplomat of Japan.—True, F. W.: A Revision of the American Moles. Wilson, Thomas: The Swastica.—Texas Academy of Science: Are we Conscious Automata?—United States Army: Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1896.—United States Fish Commission: Description of a Kew Species of Shad from Alabama; A Check List of the Fish and Fishlike Vertebrates of North and Middle America.—United States National Museum: Description of a New Genus and Four New Species of Crabs from the West Indies; Preliminary Diagnoses of New Mammals from the Mexican Border of the United States.

Education, Report of the Commissioner of, 1894–’95. Vol. I. Pp. 1152.

Farman, D. Auto-cars. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 249. $1.50.

Hutchinson, H. N. Prehistoric Man and Beast. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 298. $3.

Keasbey, L. M. The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doctrine. New York: G. P. Putnams. Pp. 621.

Kelly, Mrs. M. A. B. Short Stories of our Shy Neighbors. New York: American Book Co. Pp. 214. 50 cents.

Keyes, Charles Rollin. Bibliography of Missouri Geology. Pp. 533.

Kipling, Rudyard. The Seven Seas. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 209. 1.50.

Labor, Twelfth Annual Report of the Connecticut Bureau of. Pp. 315.

Lanessan, J. L. de. Principes de colonisation (Bibliothèque Scientifique Internationale). Paris: Félix Alcan. Pp. 283. 6 francs.

Library of the World's Best Literature (45 vols.). Vols. I and II. Edited by Charles Dudley Warner. New York: The International Society. Pp. each, 484.