careful exploration and mapping of the boundary for nearly 1,000 miles. The decision of Edward VII is printed in full in the "Bulletin of the Bureau of the American Republics" for January,

1903.

Hon. John W. Foster, at the request of President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hay, has taken charge of the presentation of the United States case in the Alaskan boundary dispute. Mr Foster will be assisted in the work by Mr Robert Lansing, who was one of the junior counsel in the Bering Sea Arbitration at Paris in 1893 and associate counsel of the United States in the Bering Sea Claims Commission of 1896. Secretary of War Root, Senator Lodge, and Senator Turner, of Washington, will represent the United States on the Commission.

"Wind Velocity and Fluctuations of Water Level on Lake Erie " is the subject of a bulletin by Prof. A. J. Henry issued by the U. S. Weather Bureau. The heavy westerly winds that sweep across Lake Erie from end to end pile the water high up in the harbor of Buffalo and leave low water in the channel at the mouth of the Detroit River at the other end of the lake. Shipping is much inconvenienced by such changes in level. Professor Henry, as a result of his study of the variations in the water level, believes that it is possible to predict extreme high water at Buffalo, so that in case of a severe seiche property-owners along the wharves could be warned in sufficient time to remove their goods. A series of diagrams show the wind velocity and water level hourly fluctuations on the lake from December 1, 1899, to November 30, 1900.

The Pittsburg Coal District. The first of the series of new maps which are being prepared by the Geological Survey in coöperation with the State of Pennsylvania, has recently appeared as the

In

Masontown-Uniontown Geologic Folio, No. 82. The area covered by this folio, which is named from two of the leading towns in the district, includes 458 square miles and lies mainly in Fayette County, although also including portions of Greene and Washington counties. The folio includes 8 maps, showing the hills, streams, roads, houses, mines, coals, geologic formations, and the details of geologic structure. addition to the maps, there are 21 largesize pages of description written by Mr. Marius R. Campbell, in which the geology of the region is described in detail. Many sections showing thicknesses and the character of the coals are given. Thomas Willing Balch, of the Philadelphia bar, will shortly have ready a monograph entitled, The Alaska Frontier. He will give in it reproductions of 28 maps, discuss the international law bearing on the boundary question, and bring out much new evidence. Mr Balch has collected his facts in Alaska, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, London, Edinburgh, and many other places.

In the London Times for December 16 and December 27, 1902, are published two long letters from Edward Whymper, the well-known mountaineer, describing some explorations he made among the Canadian Rockies in 1901 and 1902.

The Division of Hydrology, a new division, has recently been organized in the hydrographic branch of the United States Geological Survey. The work of this division will include the gathering and filing of well records of all kinds, the study of artesian and other problems relating to underground waters, and the investigation of the stratigraphy of the water-bearing and associated rocks. In addition to the gathering of statistics relating to the flow, cost, etc., of the wells, it is hoped in the future to give especial attention to the geologic feat

ures which govern or which are related in any way to the supply of water.

The division will be subdivided into two sections, the eastern and the western, the first embracing the Gulf and Mississippi River States and the States to the east, and the second embracing the remaining "reclamation" States and Territories, or those having public lands. The charge of each section has been assigned to a geologist, the western section to Mr N. H. Darton, and the eastern to Mr M. L. Fuller. The office details are in charge of Mr Fuller.

Dr Hugh M. Smith is the author of an illustrated report on the "Herring Fisheries of England, Scotland, and Holland," recently issued by the U. S. Fish Commission. The report is based on the observations made by Dr Smith during a visit in 1900 to the principal herring-fishing centers of the countries named. The herring is today a leading fish in the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, France, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. A species very similar to that of the Atlantic Ocean is found in the North Pacific Ocean, and is caught in large quantities in Japan and Alaska. In point of number of individual fish taken for market, no species exceeds the herring. The annual value of the herring fisheries is $25,250,000, representing 1,500,000,000 pounds of fish.

The Naval Hydrographic Office has issued a fourth edition of "The Navigation of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea" (volume 2), embracing the coast of the mainland from Key West, Florida, to the Orinoco River, Venezuela, with the adjacent islands, cays,

and banks.

One phase of the English interpretation of the Alaskan boundary is seen by following their proposed line in the map on page 90. Promontories belonging to the United States would be cut off from the mainland like islands, and have

no communication with each other except through foreign land or by water. In other words, the English contention would establish a series of artificial islands along the Alaskan coast. The English interpretation contradicts the intent of all boundary lines, which are designed to follow a natural and convenient dividing line.

Dr J. L. M. Curry, a member of the National Geographic Society for many years, and distinguished as a statesman, educator, and author, died in Asheville, N. C., February 12. Dr Curry was born in Georgia 78 years ago. During the years 1857 to 1861 he was a member of Congress, and from 1861 to 1865 a member of the Confederate Congress and a lieutenant colonel in the C. S. A. From 1865 to 1881 he held chairs in Howard College and Richmond College. In 1885 President Cleveland appointed. him Minister to Spain, where he represented the United States for four years. Of late years Dr Curry has been the general agent of the Peabody and Slater educational funds. He has always been closely identified with all educational movements for and in the Southern States. He was the author of several books and many articles dealing with problems of the South.

The proceedings of the Section of Geology and Geography of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for the Washington meeting, December 26-January 3, are published in Science for February 6, 1903, pp. 217-229.

The article by Hon. O. P. Austin on "Problems of the Pacific-the Commerce of the Great Ocean," published in the August, 1902, number of this Magazine, has aroused much interest in the Far East. It has been translated into Japanese and published in Tokyo, and into Russian and published at Vladivostok. It is at present being rendered in Chinese, and will soon be

read in Chinese characters by the enterprising merchants of China.

Map Sheets of New York State. Among

the latest which have come from the press of the Geological Survey are those of the Clayton and Grindstone quadrangles, which embrace portions of the State along the St Lawrence River in the vicinity of Clayton and the Thousand Islands, and those of the Ticonderoga and Mettawee quadrangles which cover sections of northeastern New York along the Vermont boundary. The Ticonderoga sheet shows the historic region at the northern end of Lake George and the southern end of Lake Champlain and includes the eastern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains and a portion of Addison County, Vt. The Mettawee sheet covers a part of Washington County, N. Y., and the rugged region in western Bennington and Rutland counties, Vt.

A Map of the Philippines is now on the press and will be issued during March press and will be issued during March by the Military Information Division of the War Department. The map includes the results of practically all explorations and surveys to the close of 1902. It is in four sheets, each sheet being 30 x 46 inches, and on the scale. of 1:800,000. The size of the entire map is thus 5 x 7 feet 8 inches.

The American Museum of Natural History has sent Dr E. O. Hovey to the Lesser Antilles to continue his studies of the volcanic disturbances on Martinique and St Vincent. Dr Hovey plans to spend at least two months on the islands. After an examination of the present condition of La Souffrière and Mont Pelée, he will visit in turn each volcanic island in the group, taking photographs of their craters and solfataras, and making collections for the Museum.

The family of S. A. Andrée, the Arctic aeronaut, have finally admitted that their last hope of his being still alive is

gone. Andrée's brother, Capt. Ernst Wilhelm Andrée, of the Swedish army, has applied to the courts to declare him dead, in order that he may obtain the small property willed him by the lost explorer.

Mr E. J. Moura, Secretary of the Geographical Society of the Pacific, announces that as the Merchants' Exchange Building will soon be torn down to give space for another structure, the Council of the Society decided to remove the library and office of the Society to other quarters. The new location is 419 California street, corner of Leidesdorff street. This is the center of the city's banking and insurance business, and convenient of access to the members, as well as to newspaper men who wish to consult charts of the U. S. Coast Survey, or desire information upon rivers, harbors, and mountain ranges. The latest maps of Alaska and the Philippines will be open to inspection. Letters and packages for the Society should be addressed to 419 California street, San Francisco, Cal.

Commander J. F. Moser, U. S. N., is the author of a report on "The Salmon and Salmon Fisheries of Alaska," the result of exhaustive investigations by the Fish Commission in 1900 and 1901. Many illustrations and maps of streams and bays accompany the text, making an exceedingly handsome and useful publication.

A. B. Alexander is the author of an illustrated bulletin issued by the U. S. Fish Commission describing the boats. and fishing methods of the natives of the South Sea Islands. The bulletin contains much that is interesting about the inhabitants of these South Pacific islands.

Commander Robert E. Peary has been elected President of the American Geographical Society of New York, succeeding the Hon. Seth Low who resigned several months ago.

Handbook of Birds of the Western

United States. By Florence Merriam Bailey. With 33 full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and over 600 illustrations. Pp. xc +512. 8 x 51⁄2 inches. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1902. $3.50 net.

Only minute study and infinite patience, added to a personal acquaintance with nature and with practically every bird described, big or little, could make this book possible. The volume cannot be too strongly commended. The person who knows nothing about birds is fascinated by the simple living descriptions, while the specialist gains a fund of information from the careful and systematic classification.

The introduction of over 90 pages includes articles on "Collecting and Preparing Birds' Nests and Eggs," by Vernon Bailey; "Bird Protection," by T. S. Palmer, local lists of birds found in different sections of the West, and a handily arranged bibliography, followed by a key to families of water birds.

The biography of each bird opens with a brief description of the principal characteristics of the bird, its plumage, size, distribution, where it builds its nest, and the color of its eggs. This is followed in every case by an account of the bird's habits and life. Mrs Vernon Bailey has a delightful style and gives a personal interest to the subjects. The following random selection is cited as an example :

"In the stillness of the high mountain forests your ear sometimes catches the thin, finely drawn pipe of the brown creeper, and if you watch patiently on the dark-shaded boles of the lofty trees you may discover the little dark-colored creature-seeming small and weak in the great solemn fir forest-creeping up the trunks, examining the cracks with microscopic care as he goes. If he feels that his work has not been done

thoroughly enough he drops back and does it over again; and when one tree has been gone over to his satisfaction, he often flies obliquely down to the bottom of another trunk and creeps patiently up that. On Mount Shasta, where the firs are decorated with yellow moss, the Sierra creeper goes around its pads when he comes to them, but works carefully over the dark lichencovered branches. Sometimes he lights upside down on the under side of a branch, and clings like a fly, but with the aid of his pointed tail well pressed against the bark."

Mr Vernon Bailey is the author of a number of the biographies, and others who helped Mrs Bailey to make the book a success are Dr C. Hart Merriam, Mr R. Ridgway, Dr A. K. Fisher, Mr E. W. Nelson, and Dr T. S. Palmer.

The Tragedy of Pelée. By George Kennan. Illustrated. Pp. 257. 51⁄2 x 8 inches. New York. The Outlook Co. 1902 $1.50 net.

Mr Kennan went to Martinique on the Dixie as the special representative of The Outlook. This volume includes his letters to that journal revised and much enlarged.

For vivid description some of the chapters in the volume are surpassed by few things in literature. In chapter IV, "In the Track of the Volcanic Hurricane," an account is given of a long interview with Ciparis, the negro criminal who imprisoned in an underground dungeon escaped the deadly blast of May 8, and whom Mr Kennan had the enterprise to hunt up and personally interview. The testimony of this man is of great importance in explaining the causes of death on May 8. Ciparis was waiting for his breakfast, when suddenly it grew very dark, and also immediately after hot air mixed with fine ashes came in through the grating

and burned him. He heard no noise, He heard no noise, saw no fire, smelled nothing "except what he thought was his own body burning." There was no smoke, and the hot air came in through the grating without any appreciable rush or blast. His clothing did not take fire, and yet his back was very severely burned under his shirt.

An interesting phenomenon noted by Mr Kennan was the stellar lightning which characterized the night eruptions. Several illustrations of this are given.

The chapter on "Causes of the Catastrophe' is worthy of a professional geologist, something that Mr Kennan does not profess to be. His belief is "that the volcanic discharge which destroyed St Pierre came from a lateral fissure near the summit of the mountain; that it did not contain any considerable amount of gas; that it did not burst into flame, and that it did not cause death by asphyxiation." The death-dealing blast, according to Mr Kennan, was composed of superheated steam charged with fine dust. weight of the dust carried by the steam depressed the blast so that it followed the slope of the mountain. The dust was hot enough to set fire to inflammable objects inside the houses, which did not catch fire from the outside, but from the inside.

The

The volume is graphically illustrated from drawings by George Varian and from photographs by the author.

The American Cotton Industry. By T. M. Young. Pp. 146. 5 x 7% 5x71⁄2 inches. London: Methuen & Co. New York: Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons. 1902. 75c. net.

The author in the spring and early summer of 1902 visited the cotton-manufacturing districts in New England and in the Southern States. He had been sent from England by the cotton manufacturers of Manchester, who desired a careful investigation and comparison of the cotton spinning and weav

ing industry in England and the United States. It has been generally known for some years that the American cotton factories were outstripping those in England. Mr Young, as a result of his study, does not think the American weaver is more intelligent or better paid than the British weaver, but that our advantage is (1) because American management is more economical of laborthat is, we do not divert a skilled man's attention and time to the small things which an unskilled man can do just as well, and (2) because the American manager is alert for the newest invention, and adopts even inventions made in England before the English manager considers them.

Year-book of the Department of Agriculture, 1901. Edited by Geo. Wm. Hill. With plates and maps. Pp. 846, 61⁄2 x 91⁄2 inches. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.

The Year-book for 1901 teems with important geographic material. The report of the Secretary takes 115 pages, and is followed by 33 articles on special topics, of which the following may be mentioned:

"The Purpose of a Soil Survey." Milton Whitney.

"Insects as Carriers and Spreaders of Disease." L. O. Howard.

The Future Demand for American Cotton." J. L. Watkins.

"The Timber Resources of Alaska." Wm. L. Hall.