The first important acquisition leading to this end was aërial respiration; the second, rapid nutrition by hot blood. And as essential to the production and preservation of these, improvements in organs of movement have been superadded to every successive type of life. Consciousness remains as the unresolvable factor in the process; as at once the measure of, and respondent to a large class of phe COOK'S BIOLOGY.-It appears that the author of this book, after finishing his theological studies, exhausted the study of biology in the course of a summer's vacation by lying on his back on "Bioplast Beach," reading Beale on the Microscope and some of the popular books of Huxley and Haeckel on the Darwinian question. This may be an excellent way to get up a course of sensational lectures for an audience of clergymen and others who wish to be amused after their Sunday toil, but until we have some evidence that the author personally made the acquaintance of the weeds, snails, and other creatures living about this romantic Bioplast Beach, and spent a number of years studying their structure, development, and classification, we fear that the book must be set down as a burlesque on biology. The title, even, is misleading. The book should more properly be dubbed Romance of Natural Theology. No naturalist will want to waste time over it, and the lay as well as the clerical reader should look with no little suspicion upon the distorted science and sensational statements scattered through its pages. The Preludes are much better to our mind than the Biology. VAUGHAN'S OSTEOLOGY AND MYOLOGY OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL.2 -An account of the skeleton and muscles of the common fowl, such as this, will prove of much use to one beginning the study of anatomy. This book is well prepared and fully illustrated, and will be of service in the laboratory. THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD FOR 1875.-This volume is of the same nature as the one issued last year, though it is larger, improved in its plan, and contains an index of new species, which will add to its value in the eye of the paleontologist. As the Boston: James 1 Biology: with Preludes on Current Events. By JOSEPH COOK. R. Osgood & Co. 12mo, pp. 325. Notes on the Osteology and Myology of the Domestic Fowl (Gallus domesticus). By VICTOR C. VAUGHAN, Ph. D. Sheehan & Co., Ann Arbor, Mich. 1876. 12mo, pp. 116. $1.50. The Geological Record for 1875. An Account of Works on Geology, Mineralogy and Palæontology, published during the year. Edited by WILLIAM WHITAKER. London: Taylor and Francis. 1877. 8vo, pp. 443. American literature in the departments of which it treats is given in the same careful, detailed way as the European, our mineralogists, geologists, and palæontologists will find in it the only annual digest of discoveries and of new works to be had in the language; and it is for their interest, perhaps, to patronize the undertaking of the editor. It is partly supported by a grant from the British Association, but still needs a larger list of subscribers for its maintenance. WINCHELL'S RECONCILIATION OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION. While there may be an occasional antagonism between scientists and theologians, due mainly, perhaps, to mutual ignorance of each other's aims and to quite different methods of study, few will admit that science and religion are at variance, for one is based upon the other. Superstition is based on ignorance. The greater our advance in science the more will crude dogmas and superstitions be eliminated from our religious conceptions. Science is only another name for human knowledge. Morality and religion rest on a scientific foundation, namely, a thorough knowledge of the laws of health, of physiology, and of psychology. The truly scientific mind has above all things a reverence for truth, and pursues knowledge for its own sake, regardless of consequences to preconceived notions or dogmas. Such a spirit will in the end serve only to strengthen the foundations of a pure morality and a true religion. The essays are by an expert in geology, and a theologian as well, and therefore the volume is an authoritative one on this absorbing theme. JOHNSON'S CYCLOPÆDIA-The fourth volume of this compact and useful cyclopædia well compares with the three that have preceded it, and the work as it now stands, from a scientific point of view at least, is quite as fresh and timely as could be desired. While the literary and biographical articles are excellent, especial stress has, as may be imagined from the names of the editors, been given to physical and natural science. Most of the zoological articles in the present volume have been contributed by Prof. Theodore Gill, though a lengthy and well illustrated article on sponges is contributed by Prof. Hyatt. Botanical articles by Profs. Gray, Goodale and Farlow, geological articles by Prof. Newberry, and palæontological articles by Prof. O. C. Marsh, attest the freshness and accuracy of the contributions, and the judgment shown by the editors in selecting the leading specialists of the country as collaborators. * Reconciliation of Science and Religion. By ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL.D. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1877. 12mo, pp. 403. Johnson's New Universal Cyclopædia: a scientific and popular treasury of useful knowledge. Illustrated with Maps, Plans and Engravings. Editors-in-chief, F. A. P. Barnard and Arnold Guyot. Complete in 4 vols. Vol. IV., 1878. A. J. Johnson & Son, New York. 8° pp. 1760. RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.-The Geological Record for 1875. An Account of Works on Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology published during the year. Edited by William Whitaker. London: Taylor & Francis. 1877, 8vo., PP. 443. The different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species. By Charles Darwin. With Illustrations. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 12 mo., pp. 352. Pollen. By M. Pakenham Edgeworth. Illustrated with 438 figures. London. Hardwicke and Bogue, 192 Piccadilly. 1877. 8vo, pp. 92. Notes on the Structure of Several Forms of Land Planarians, with a Description of Two New Genera and Several New Species, and a List of all Species at present known. By H. N. Mosely. 8vo, pp. 21. (From Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.) On Stylochus pelagicus, a New Species of Pelagic Planarian, with Notes on other Pelagic Species, on the Larval Forms of Thysanzoon, and of a Gymnosomatous Pteropod. By H. N. Mosely. 8vo, pp. 11. (From Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.) Catalogus Plantarum in Nova Cæsarea Repertarum. Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation in the State of New Jersey, etc. By Oliver R. Willis. Revised and enlarged edition. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, Chicago, and New Orleans. 8vo, pp. 88. Practical Directions for Collecting, Preserving, Transporting, Preparing, and Mounting Diatoms. By Professors A. M. Edwards, Christopher Johnston, H. L. Smith. New York: The Industrial Publication Co. 1877. 12mo, pp. 53. The Illinois State Historical Library and Natural History Museum. Circular No. 1, Springfield, Illinois. 8vo, pp. 7. Das Variiren der grösse gefärbter Blüthenhüllen und seine Wirkung auf die Naturzüchtung der Blumen. Von Dr. Herman Müller. (From Kosmos.) 8vo, PP. 14. Glacial or Ice Deposits in Boone County, Kentucky, of two Distinct and Widely Distant Periods. By George Sutton. (From the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Buffalo Meeting of 1876.) 8vo, pp. 5. The Latimer Collection of Antiquities from Porto Rico in the National Museum at Washington, D. C. By Otis T. Mason. (From the Smithsonian Report for 1876.) Washington. 1877. 8vo, pp. 23. Science Lectures at South Kensington. The Steam Engine. By F. J. Bramwell. With Illustrations. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1877. 12mo, pp. 62. 25 cents. For sale by S. E. Cassino, Salem, Massachusetts. A Review of the Birds of Connecticut, with Remarks on their Habits. By C. Hart Merriam. (From the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, iv, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 165. First Annual Report of Sapporo Agricultural College, 1877. Tokei. 8vo, pp. 146. An Examination of Types of some Recently Described Crustacea. By T. Hale Streets, M. D., and J. S. Kingsley. (From the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, vol. six. No. 7, 8, 9.) Salem. 1877. 8vo, pp. 6. Notice of a New Genus of Annelids from the Lower Silurian. By George Bird Grinnell. (From the American Journal of Science and Arts. September, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 2. On the Cambari of Northern Indiana. By Will F. Bundy. (Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences.) Philadelphia. 1877. 8vo, pp. 4. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. PP. 75. Vol. v. Topeka. 1877. Svo, Part I. 1877. S. E. Cassino, Ferns of North America. By Daniel C. Eaton. A New Order of Extinct Reptilia (Stegosauria) from the Jurassic of the Rocky Mountains. By Prof. O. C. Marsh. (Appendix to the American Journal of Science and Arts. Dec., 1877. pp. 1.) New Haven. Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians. By W. H. Jackson. Washington, 1877. Miscellaneous Publications, No. 9, of the U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden in charge. Washington, D. C. 8°, pp. 124. Paleontological Bulletin, No. 26. On some New or Little Known Reptiles and Fishes of the Cretaceous No. 3, of Kansas. By E. D. Cope. (Read before the American Philosophical Society, August 17, 1877.) 8°, pp. 20. NOTES ON THE ALPINE FLORA OF MT. SHASTA.-While looking for insects on the crater cone of Mt. Shasta, in Northern California, late in August, I hastily picked up examples of all the plants I could find at and above timber line, and at the lower edge of the limits of perpetual snow, which is said on this peak to be about 9000 feet above the sea. I was struck, though not a botanist, with the radical difference between the alpine (?) flora of Mt. Shasta and that of the Rocky Mountains and the White Mountains and the Alps of Switzerland. In the case of Mt. Shasta, which forms the northern terminus of the Sierra Nevada, the flora seemed much less alpine in its nature than was expected, and appeared to have been of local derivation from the foothills and plains below. I am indebted to Mr. Sereno Watson for naming the phænogams, to. Prof. W. G. Farlow, for identifying the lichens, while Mr. Booth kindly named the Carex. No distinctive alpine insects occurred, only a wingless locust, which was also found lower down among the firs.-A. S. Packard, Fr. Phænogams Silene grayi Watson (ized.) (in flower); Saxifraga tolmiei T. & G. (in flower); Applopappus bloomeri Gray (in flower); Senecio aureus var. borealis (in flower); Penstemon mensiesi Hook (in flower); Penstemon mensiesii var. douglasii (in flower); Elymus sitanion Schult (in flower); Polygonum shastense Brewer (in flower); Lupinus ornatus Dougl. (in flower); Bryanthus empitriformis Gray; Phlox douglasii Hook. (in flower); Erigonium morifolium T. & G. (reduced form, in flower); Erigonium pyrolafolium Hk. (in flower); Ceanothus prostratus Benth.; Sedum glandulosum Nutt; Polymonium humile Willd; Gilia pungens Benth. (in flower); Hulsea nana Gray (in flower); Pinus albicaulis. Carex-breweri Booth. Lichens-Lecanora chlorophana, Lecanora rubina var. opaca? Lecanora glaucoma? Umbilicaria rugifera Nyl., PRODUCTION OF APPLES IN "OFF" YEARS.-We have been informed by Mr. Elbridge Gerry, of Marblehead, Mass., that some twenty-five years ago the foreman of the Pickman Farm, in Salem, raised crops of apples in the "off" year, i. e., the year they usually did not bear, by simply picking off the fruit buds in the bearing years. His neighbors could never understand how he was enabled to raise a fair crop each year, until finally the secret became known. This mode of artificial selection is quite new to us, and we would like to know if it has ever been practiced before in orchards. In connection with this subject I am told by Mr. John Sears, of Danvers, Mass., that in old orchards deep ploughing, by which the roots are often torn and broken, carried on in the "even" years, will cause the young apples to fall off, so that they will bear the next year. Also picking off the apples on the young trees in the "even" years will cause the trees to produce in the "off" years. Still, adds Mr. Sears, none of these processes are perfectly sure.-A. S. Packard, Fr. BOTANICAL NEWS.-The following articles appear in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, for September 1877. J. Vesque, on the absorption of water by roots in its relation to transpiration. Sorokine, On the structure of Crocysporium torulosum (a microscopic fungus). J. Wiesner, Researches in regard to the influence of light and radiant heat upon transpiration in plants. Dehéran, A notice of the preceding memoir. Van Tighem, On the digestion of albumen. Fischer de Waldheim, On Ustilaginea and their hosts. Flora, No. 23, contains the following papers: W. Nylander, Remarks concerning gonidia and their different forms; No. 24, A. Wigand, On horn-prosenchyma; No. 25, Hugo de Vries, Concerning longitudinal epinastic (elongation of the internal surface of an organ); F. Arnold, The Musci of the French Jura; No. 26, Dr. H. Christ, Roses observed in 1876, de Thümen, South African Fungi; No. 27, Schulzer, Concerning certain Fungi; No. 28, Robert Caspary, Life of Alexander Braun. Botanische Zeitung, No. 39, Dr. O. Drude, Selected examples to explain the formation of fruit in Palmeæ (continued and illustrated by plates in No. 40); No. 40, Prof. J. Baranetsky, On diurnal periodicity in the growth of internodes in length; Oudemans, Notices respecting certain Boleti. Many critical notes by the editors conclude the number. No. 41, Rostafinski and Woronin, On Botrydium granulatum (continued in No. 42). No. 42, Dr. Karl Goebel, History of the development of the Prothallium of Gymnogramme leptophylla, Desv. A Botanical Section of the Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, consisting of about twenty members living in Salem and adjoining towns, has lately been formed there, bi-monthly meetings having been held. Dr. G. A. Perkins is Chairman, and Miss L. H. Upton, Secretary. The nature of the Spermatia is discussed by G. Murray, in Trimen's Journal of Botany, for October. |