Physiological Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, is divided into two parts the first treating the subject theoretically, the second from the technical standpoint. Beginning with a chapter on chemical composition, the author proceeds with a discussion of the phenomena of coagulation, of milk secretion, and of the varying composition of different milks. A chapter each is devoted to woman's milk and to cow's milk, while others treat of the digestibility of milk, infant alimentation, and milk micro-organisms. The technical portion treats of milk analysis and adulteration. Under the first head is given in detail the admirable method used at the Municipal Laboratory of Paris, as well as the methods of Crandeau, Quesneville, and Adams. The various rapid methods are discussed in detail, and excellent means for the preservation of milk suggested. The book is new and a welcome addition to our literature on the subject. Dr. L. Lindet, in his work on Beer, has produced a manual valuable to all interested in Brewing, either as a scientific study or from the purely technical view. The last half of the book is devoted to the practical process of brewing, following in main the procedure adopted in France, the limitations of the book preventing a more general discussion. The first part, however, is of wide interest, treating in an attractive and scientific manner Parley, Malt, Yeast and Hops, of the processes of saccharification, and of alcoholic fermentation. A shorter preliminary chapter touches upon the legislation and statistics regarding beer. The book does not impress one as a mere compilation from more exhaustive authors, but is distinctly a treatise upon the state of the science at the present hour, and is a most convenient book for reference. These volumes form part of the Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aide-Mémoire, published under the direction of M. H. Léauté, Member of the Institute of France. This publication, which is distinguished by its practical character, is moreover scientific in its accuracy and in the authorative Delicious Drink. Horsford's Acid Phosphate with water and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. When com names which appear upon the title pages. C. P. -The American Book Company have just issued a revised edition of William Swinton's "School History of the United States," the first edition of which appeared some twenty years ago. As the author is now dead, the revision of the work has been done by the editorial department of the Company, and the history has been continued to the present time. The book is well printed, and contains many maps and illustrations. Another book from the same house is a series of "Exercises in Greek Prose Composition," based on the first four books of the Anabasis and prepared by William R. Harper, President of the University of Chicago, and Clarence F. Castle, assistant professor of Greek in the same institution. The Company have also issued two volumes of their "English Classics for Schools," one of them containing three of Emerson's essays, and the other being an edition of Matthew Arnold's "Sohrab and Rustum," with an introduction giving a sketch of his life and writings and some other matter useful to the student. EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Wants. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New WANTED. A position as teacher of Biology, by York.] an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years' experience. Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. I wish to exchange a New Model Hall Type- Exchange-The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondents interested in macro-lipidop lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Wanted to exchange-Medical books, Obstetri- diges-Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain's Anatomy, Allays the thirst, aids tion, and relieves the lassitude so common in midsummer. Navy Department. The Civil Service Commission will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudiments of analytical geometry and calculus, logaastronomy. Each applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examination will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington. in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will rithms, theory and practice of computations, and 15 to fill two vacancies in the War Department; one DRAFTSMEN WANTED. The Civil Service Commission will hold examinations on August in the position of architectual draftsman, salary $1,400, the other in the position of assistant draftsA complete set of Bulletins of U. S. Geological man, Quartermaster General's office, salary $1,200. Dr. M. H. Henry, New York, says: Survey, various reports and bulletins of surveys of The subjects of the architectural draftsman examiMissouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Alabama, Illinois, nation are letter-writing, designing specifications "When completely tired out by pro-iron ores of Minnesota, Wailes Agriculture and the assistant draftsman examination they are New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Texas; and mensuration, and knowledge of materials; of longed wakefulness and overwork, it is Geology of Mississippi (rare). To exchange for periodicals and books on Entomology or for Lepidopof the greatest value to me. As a bev-tera. Rev. John Davis, the Deanery, Little Rock, erage it possesses charms beyond anything I know of in the form of medicine." Descriptive pamphlet free. Ark. letter-writing, tracing, topographic drawing and projections. The examination will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington. For sale or exchange.-A complete set of the re- I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,150 pounds, A GRADUATE of an American Polytechnic insti- THE MODERN MALADY; or, Suf- LIGHTNING DESTROYS! ferers from 'Nerves.' An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a condition of ill-health which is increasingly Shall it be your house or a QUERY. Can any reader of Science cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small Entirely new departure in pro- conductor (one-sixteenth of an prevalent in all ranks of society. In the pound of copper? first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neurasthenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec ond part, attention is drawn to the principal tecting buildings from lightning. inch in diameter, say,) has failed causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief history of nervous exhaustion and the modes of thought suitable to this most painful and trying disease. One hundred feet of the Hodges to protect between two horizon treatment which have at various times been Patent Lightning Dispeller tal planes passing through its (made under patents of N. D. C. upper and lower ends respectiveHodges, Editor of Science) will ly? Plenty of cases have been By CYRIL BENNETT. 120, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. Send 25 Cents For a 3-months' trial subscription to be sent, prepaid, to any ad- Correspondence solicited. Agents wanted. 874 Broadway, New York City. Fact and Theory Papers found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the building is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., actions at the time when lightning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been published far and wide among electricians. I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON. NURSERY GUIDE, SUMPTION. BY GODFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. The recognized authority on the care of infants II. THE SOCIETY AND THE "FAD." Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. By First inserted June 19, 1891. No response to date. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CON. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, N. Y. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. naming this paper. CRYSTOGRAPH CO., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. Botany in Jamaica. J. E. Humphreys.. of Weeds in Grass Seeds. T. A. Williams.. 85 ! THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY; OR, SINGLE COPIES, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. USEFUL HAND-BOOKS. The Ornamental Penman's Pocketbook of Alphabets, for sign-writers, engravers, stone-cutters and draftsmen, 20 cts. A System of Easy Lettering, by Howard Cromwell, 50 cts. Practical Electrics: A Universal Handybook on Every-day Electrical Matters, 135 pp., fully illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. Notes on Design of Small Dynamo, by G. Halliday, 79 pp., with a number of plates to scale, 12mo, cloth, 85 ROUGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. $1. The Phonograph and How to Construct It, by Introduction Periodical Cicada. C. V. Riley. 86 Notes and News.. 86 The Atmosphere of Stellar Space. G. D. Liveing 87 Fish Acclimatization on the Pacific Coast. H. M. Smith. 8885 91 93 "This is a sprightly narrative of personal inci dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to 93 many of rough experiences on a frontier which is 94 rapidly receding."-Boston Transcript. 94 95 "The picture of our desolate North-western terri New Store. New Departments. Send for our "Winter Bulletin," recently issued. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lapidary Work. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, tory twenty-five years ago, in contrast with its Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York 95 civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of the writer's style, constitute the claims of his little book to present attention."-The Dial. 96 Bacteria in Hens' Eggs. C. T. McClintock. 96 97 GERMANIA A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera ture. is highly recommended by college professors and the press as "the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his 97 N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. pursuit." Its BEGINNERS' CORNER furnishes every NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shall it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? IN seeking a means of protection from lightning-discharges, we have in view two objects,-the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, It is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express It, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes It capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place; but that it exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the accomplishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to property and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was entirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.- were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be conveyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those Interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin's principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reasou for this is apparent when it is considered that the electrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum value on the surface of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on the surface of the very lightningrods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more or less insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,-"to draw the lightning," as it is so commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against lightning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, "Can an improved form be given to the rod so that it shall aid in this dissipation?" year a complete and interesting course in German grammar. $2 a year. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. Box 151, Manchester, N. H. As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conductors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house to some point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experience shows will be readily destroyed-will be readily dissipated when a discharge takes place; and it will be evident, that, so far as the electrical energy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dissipated, even if restlug against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); but in every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread on a board. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electrical energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dissipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily di-sipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect,- damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, in a letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, "Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tall of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to a clock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger than a common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whic the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lightring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendulum, down quite to the ground, the building was exceedingly rent and damaged. . . . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tail of the hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gunpowder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plastering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down the wall." One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited. Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York Citv. Littell's Living Age. THE ONLY WEEKLY ECLECTIC. 1893. 1844. "The Oldest and the Best." It selects from the whole wide field of EUROPEAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE the best articles by THE ABLEST LIVING WRITERS In every department of Literature, Science, Politics and Art. OPINIONS. "Only the best has ever filled its pages; the best thought rendered in the purest English. Nothing poor or unworthy has ever appeared in the columns of THE LIVING AGE."-The Presbyterian, Phila. "Considering its size, it is the cheapest of literary periodicals, and no collection of magazine literature is complete without this foremost of eclectics."-Educational Courant, Louisville, Ky. "It is one of the few periodicals which seem indispensable. It contains nearly all the good literature of the time."-The Churchman, New York. "The fields of fiction, biography, travel, science, poetry, criticism, and social and religious discussion all come within its domain."-Boston Journal. "To read it is itself an education in the course of modern thought and literature."- Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. Published WEEKLY at $8.00 a year, free of postage. Club Rates. For $10.15 THE LIVING AGE and SCIENCE will be sent for a year, postpaid. Rates for clubbing THE LIVING AGE with other periodicals will be sent on application. Sample copies of THE LIVING AGE, 15 cents each. Address, Architectural publication in the country. Littell & Co., 31 Bedford St., Boston, Mass. Interesting articles on architecture, Sanitation, Archæology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, BRENTANO'S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. We make a specialty of technical works in all Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. branches of science, and in all languages. Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. 1869. THE 1893. Our Paris and London branches enable us to im RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. "The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language."-The Christian Union. "We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton's Races and Peoples' to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language." -Asiatic Quarterly. "His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnology."-The Monist. "A useful and really interesting work, which deserves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America."-Brighton (Eng.) Herald. "This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can understand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity."The New York Times. "Dr. Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of narration, so that 'Races and Peoples,' avowedly a record of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stimulant to the imagination."-Philadelphia Public Ledger. "The work is indispensable to the student who requires an intelligent guide to a course of ethnographic reading."-Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACE. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. "The book is one of unusual interest and value." port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS Inter Ocean. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated mechanical journal, edited by DR. WILLIAM H. WAHL. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and from us. cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted everywhere. Address HENRI CERARD, P. O. Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. 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For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:-Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedford, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. INSTRUMENTS. 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Drawing Instruments and Ma. terials, sent free on application to Wm. T. Comstock, 23 Warren St., New York. We are apt to think, when speaking of American botany and botanists, only of those of the United States and Canada, assuming that our southern neighbors, both continental and insular, have not yet reached that stage of civilization that encourages the cultivation of the sciences. And so far as those regions are concerned which have felt the influence chiefly of Latin civilization, this is measurably true. But some of the neighboring islands have been under Anglo-Saxon rule for two centuries or more, and have felt different influences. Not, indeed, that their people, as a class, have been much affected by contact with their rulers, but in the British islands the mother country has especially fostered botanical study from an early time, and British residents have carried with them the scientific impulse. Jamaica has been a British colony for fully two hundred years, and it is now more than one hundred since its first botanic garden was established at Bath. At first privately supported, it afterward received spasmodic government support. But eventually the site was abandoned and a new location was chosen beside the Wag water and among the beautiful hills of the interior nineteen miles north of Kingston. From this time the support of the government was constant and effective, and the Castleton garden grew steadily in consequence, under competent directors sent out from England. It has now an especially notable collection of palms and orchids, besides its economic collection. Meantime the Hope Gardens, near Gordon Town, and six miles from Kingston, begun for private pleasure when the island was in the full tide of its prosperity from the profits of sugar and rum, have been taken up by the government and are destined to be the chief botanical centre of the island. This collection is newer than that at Castleton and therefore does not possess as many fine specimens and, in some other respects, does not equal it. But most of the propagating and active work of the department is now done at the Hope Gardens. As must inevitably be the case with most government establishments, the chief work of the Botanical department of Jamaica, as of other British colonies, is economic, the study of the useful plants of the colony, their propagation and products. Its work is at present ably directed by Mr. William Fawcett, F. L. S., formerly of the British Museum. A third establishment in charge of the department is the experimental Cinchona plantation far up the Blue Mountains. Here, also, is the official residence of the Director, in an almost ideal location and climate. Indeed, it is said, to quite justify the enthusiasm of an admirer, who called it "the loveliest spot in the British empire." This place, called Cinchona, can be reached only by a narrow bridle-path that runs twelve miles upward into the heart of the mountains from Gordon Town. The department issues a periodical bulletin of the results of its work. Ever since the time of Patrick Bowne and Sir Hans Sloane, the higher plants of the island have found devoted students. And among them must be specially mentioned Grisebach, whose "Flora of the British West Indies," London, 1863, remains the only hand-book of the subject. But the Thallophytes of the region have received little attention and offer a very attractive field. The wife of the present energetic governor of the island, Sir Henry Blake, some time since proposed the raising of a fund to establish a permanent marine biological laboratory as a memorial to Columbus, who landed on the island on his second voyage. The idea is an admirable one, but the project remains, so far as can be learned, in statu quo. A small and well-equipped laboratory at a suitable point on the island, open to the zoologists and botanists of the world, might be of the greatest service in affording means for the collection and preservation of the numberless tropical forms of life in which Jamaica and the surrounding waters abound. A party of zoologists from the Johns Hopkins University has this year, for the second time, established a temporary laboratory at Port Henderson on Kingston harbor; but I understand that this choice of a location has been largely governed by the presence of suitable accommodations. It will be agreed that, in determining the site for a permanent laboratory, the abundance of available vegetable, as well as animal, life should be consulted. After a somewhat careful examination of the marine flora of the easterly part of the island, as far west as St. Ann's Bay, the writer can say that several of the ports on the north side are far more favorable, botanically, than Kingston harbor. And perhaps no region is, on the whole, more favorably situated or richer in its vegetation than the neighborhood of Port Antonio. This port has more frequent communication with the United States than even Kingston, from its extensive fruit trade. And the journey from Europe to Jamaica is less monotonous and less expensive, as well as quite as quick, via the United States, as by the Royal Mail from England. Another factor of considerable importance lies in the much cooler and more healthful climate of the north side of the island, as compared with the south side. In Jamaica, then, the botanist finds evidences of past and present activity in certain lines, and the sympathy and aid of fellow workers. It is much to be hoped that he may soon be able to find, also, the laboratory facilities, which will enable him to study to the best advantage the unsolved problems of tropical vegetation. INTRODUCTION OF WEEDS IN GRASS SEED. BY THOMAS A. WILLIAMS, STATE AGR'L COLLEGE, BROOKINGS, S. D. In the course of some experiments on forage plants, which were begun last season on the Station grounds, quite a large quantity of grass and clover seed was purchased from various seedsmen, principally from Hendersons, of New York. At the time of sowing some of the packages were found to contain more or less seed of various weedy plants. The plots were watched closely, and the following plants were found to have been introduced: Cruciferae. Nasturtium palustre, (L.) D. C.; Sisymbrium officinale, (L.) Scop; Camelina sativa, (L.) Crantz; Brassica arvensis (L.) B. S. P.; Brassica alba, (L.) Gray; Brassica nigra, (L.) Koch; Brassica campestris, L.; Erysimum cheiranthoides, L.; Erysimum orientale (?) L.; Diplotaxis tenui |