The authoress labors under several physiological errors, which should be pointed out. She thinks in common with the ignorant classes generally, that the orgasm is concerned in impregnation, which is well known not to be the case. She also asserts that the secretion of the testis is produced at the time it is needed for use, an idea promulgated several years ago in a silly book called Diana. This is also untrue; its elaboration requires some days, and when the gland is full the secretion makes its presence known and demands expulsion. The present book should have stated also, that the practice she recommends, which she calls "Karezza," is a most potent stimulant of the secretion in question, and does in some men produce enlargement of the prostate gland and orchitis, so that every man must be in this matter his own doctor. But one will not find logic in this book. In view of what precedes one wonders where the authoress got her degree of M. D., and who is responsible for her education. We must, however, once more commend the spirit of the book, and hope that she will be instrumental in teaching some men and women ordinary temperance. But it must be borne in mind that medical writers chiefly deal with pathological conditions, and that the persons she writes about are mostly abnormal through excess or deficiency. RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. ANDREW, WM.-Gravitation and What it is. No Ice Age. Dodgeville, 1895. From the author. ANDREWS, C. W.-The Pectoral and Pelvic Girdles of Muraenosaurus plicatus. Extr. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. S. 6, Vol. XVI, 1895. From the author. ASHLEY, G. H.-The Neocene of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Extr. Leland Stanford Jr. Univ. Pub. Geol. & Paleon., No. 1, 1895. From the Univ. BAKER, F. C.-A Naturalist in Mexico, being a visit to Cuba, Northern Yucatan and Mexico. Chicago, 1895. From the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Biological Lectures delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Holl, 1893. Boston, 1894, Ginn & Co. From Prof. C. O. Whitman. BOULENGER, G. A.-Addition to the Fauna of India (Tarbophis rhinopoma Blanf). Read before Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., Jan. 28, 1895. -Rettili e Batraci. Esplorazione del Giuba e dei suoi Affluenti compiuta del Cap. v. Bottego durante gli anni, 1892-93. Extr. Ann. Mus. Civ. Storia Nat. di Genova. S. 2, Vol. XV, 1895. From the author. BRINTON, D. G.-Report upon the Collections exhibited at the Columbian Historical Exposition. Extr. Rept. Madrid Com., 1892. Washington, 1895. -Aims of Anthropology. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. XLIV, 1895. From the author. Check-List of North American Birds prepared by a Committee of the American Ornith. Union. 2d Ed. New York, 1895. Cook, O. F.-Notes on Myriapoda from Loanda, Africa, collected by Mr. Heli Chatelaine, including a Description of a new Genus and Species. Extr. Proceeds. U. S. Natl. Mus., Vol. XVI, 1893. From the author. COOK, O. F. AND A. C. COOK.-A Monograph of Scytonotus. Y. Acad. Sci., VIII, 1895. From the authors. Extr. Ann. N. Cox, PH.-History and Present State of the Ichthyology of New Brunswick, with a Catalogue of its fresh water and Marine Fishes. From the author. St. John, N. B., 1895. CULIN, S.-Korean Games, with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan. Philadelphia, 1895. From the author. DAVENPORT, C. B.-A Preliminary Catalogue of the Processes concerned in Ontogeny. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll., Vol. XXVII, 1895. From the author. DAWSON, G. M.-Glacial Deposits of Southwestern Alberta in the Vicinity of the Rocky Mts. Extr. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 7, 1895. From the Soc. DEAN, B.-Fishes, Living and Fossil. New York and London, 1895. Macmillan and Co. From the author. DEWOLETZKY, R.-Neuere forschungen über das Gebiss der Saüger. Aus Jahresb. der k. k. Staats-Obergymnsiums in Czernowitz f. das Schuljahr, 1894-95. From the author. DUMBLE, E T.-The Soils of Texas. Extr. Trans. Texas Acad. Sci., 1895. Notes on the Texas Tertiaries, 1. c. From the author. EIMER, G. H. T.-Eine Systematische Darstellung der Abänderungen Abarten und Arten der Schwalbenschwanz-ähnlischen Formen der Gattung Papilio. Die Artbildung und Verwandtschaft bei den Schmetterlingen, II, Theil. Jena, 1895. From the author. FLORES, E.-Sulle Ossa di Mammifera in essi Rinvenute. Estr. Bol. Soc. Geol. Ital, Vol. XIV, Roma, 1895. From the author. FURBRINGER, M.-Ueber die mit dem Visceralskelet verbundenen spinalen Muslseln bei Selachiern. Abdruck Jenaisch. Zeitsschr f. Naturw., Bd. XXX, N. F., XXIII. From the author. GADOW, H. AND E. C. ABBOTT.-On the Evolution of the Vertebral Column of Fishes. Extr. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, 1895. From Prof. Gadow. GUNTHER, A.-Report on a Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians sent by Emin Pasha from Monbuttu, Upper Congo. Extr. Proceeds. Zool. Soc. London, 1888. -Report on a Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians transmitted by Mr. H. H. Johnston, C. B., from Nyassaland. Extr. Proceeds. Zool. Soc. London, 1892. -Notes on Reptiles and Frogs from Dominica, West Indies. Extr. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1888. -Notice of Reptiles and Batrachians collected in the eastern half of Tropical Africa. Extr. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1895. HEADLEY, F. W.-The Structure and Life of Birds. 1895, Macmillan and Co. From the Pub. London and New York, HOWARD, L. 0.-Revision of the Aphelininae of North America. Tech. series No. 1, U. S. Dept. Agric, Div. Entomol. Washington, 1895. From the Dept. HUTCHINSON, WM.-Handbook of Grasses. Co. From John Wanamaker's New York, 1895, Macmillan and JOHNSTON-LAVIS, H. J.-Notizie sui depositi delgi Antichi Laghi di Pianure (Napoli) e di Melfi (Basilicata). Estr. Bol. Soc. Geol. Ital., Vol. XIV, Roma, 1895. From the author. KURTZ, F.-On the Existence of the Lower Gonawanas in Argentina. Trans. Extr. Records Geol. Surv. India, Vol. XXVIII, 1895. by John Gillespie. From the author. LANDOIS, H.-Die Riesenammoniten von Seppenrade. Anis, XXIII, Jahresb. Westfälischen Prov. Vereins für Wissenschaft und Kunst Münster, 1895. From the author. LECHE, W.-Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Zahnsystems des Säugethiere, Erster Theil. Ontogenie. Stuttgart, 1895. From the author. LEVERETT, F.-On the Correlation of New York Moraines with Raised Beaches on Lake Erie. Extr. Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. L, 1895. 1895. -Soils of Illinois. Extr. Final Rept. Ill. Board World's Fair Commission, -Preglacial Valleys of the Mississippi and Tributaries. Extr. Journ. Geol., Vol. III, 1895. From the author. LEWIS, W. D.—The Adaptation of Society to its Environment. Pub. of the Amer. Acad. Political and Social Science, No. 109. No date given. From the author. MATTHEW, W. D.-The Effusive and Dyke Rocks near St. John, N. B. McGee, W. G.-The Beginning of Agriculture. Extr. Amer. Anthropol., 1895. From the author. MEYRICK, E.—A Handbook of British Lepidoptera. London and New York, 1895, Macmillan and Co. From the Publisher. MOLLIER, DR. S.-Das Cheiropterygium. Weisuaden, 1895. From the author. PILSBRY, H. A.-Catalogue of the Marine Mollusks of Japan, with Descriptions of New Species and Notes on Others collected by F. Stearns. Detroit, 1895. From the author. Report of the Biological Dept. of the New Jersey Agric. Coll. Exper. Station for the year 1893. Report of the Commission, U. S. Commission Fish and Fisheries for the year ending June 30, 1893. From the Dept. SMITH, T.-Additional Investigations concerning Infectious Swine Diseases. Bull. No. 6, 1894, U. S. Dept. Agric. From the Dept. Pt. Van Denbergh, J.-A Review of the Herpetology of Lower California. II. Batrachians. Extr. Proceeds. Cal. Acad. Sci. S. 5, Vol. V, 1895. From the author. WALCOTT, C. D.-Sixteenth Annual Report of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey for 1894--95. Extr. Sixteenth Ann. Rept. Surv. From the U. S. Geol. Survey. General Notes. MINERALOGY.1 Contact Goniometer with two Graduated Circles.-In pursuance of the idea already applied to the reflection goniometer (ref. in this journal, 1895, p. 266) Goldschmidt' has designed a contact goniometer with two graduated circles. The horizontal circle carries the support for the crystal, which can thus be rotated about a vertical axis. The vertical circle is a metallic band carrying a moveable block. Through the block a small metal rod passes radially toward the center,. and on the inner end of the rod a small plate is fixed. By movement of the crystal about its vertical axis and of the block on its arc, the plate may be brought to parallelism with any face on the upper side of the crystal, Actual contact of the plate with the crystal face is effected by sliding the rod through its block. Readings on the two circles give data for computing the position of a plane, exactly as in the case of the reflection goniometer to which reference was above made. Crystallographic Properties of the Sulphonic Acid Derivatives of Camphor.-About 17 of these compounds are mentioned by Kipping and Pope3 with much detailed information concerning the crystallograpy of several of them. As might be expected from the fact that the solutions of many of these substances exhibit the phenomenon of circular polarization, the crystals furnish examples of a number of the less common low symmetry grades. Among these are hemimorphism in the monoclinic system (sphenoidal class of Groth), sphenoidal hemihedrism in the orthorhombic system (bisphenoidal class), and probably hemihedrism in the triclinic system (pedial class). Such crystallographic studies must be of great value to stereo-chemistry. Optical Properties of Lithiophilite and Triphilite.-On these two minerals Penfield and Pratt' have based an interesting investigation of the change of optical properties due to the mutual replacement of manganese and iron in isomorphous mixture. It is found 4 1 Edited by A. C. Gill, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Zeitschr. f. Kryst., XXV, p. 321, 1895. 3 Zeitschr. f. Kryst., XXV, pp. 225–256, 1895. Am. Jour. Sci., L, pp. 387-390, Nov., 1895. that with increasing percentage of iron the index of refraction increases, while the plane of the optical axes is changed from the base (001) to the macropinacoid (100). A specimen containing 26.58% FeO shows an optical angle of 21° 53' in the basal plane for thallium light, is uniaxial for sodium light, and has an angle of 15° 3′ in the macropinacoid for lithium-a remarkably good example of orthorhombic dispersion. With 35.05% FeO the crystals are found to be negative, whereas those with less iron are optically positive. It is suggested that in the pure manganese molecule, the change may be found so great that the brachypinacoid is the plane of the optical axes. Native Sulphur in Michigan.-Scherzer reports an occurrence of sulphur a mile west of Scofield, Monroe Co., Michigan. It is found in a stratum of impure cavernous limestone about one to three feet in thickness. The pockets, varying from a fraction of an inch up to three feet in diameter, are often lined with calcite and celestite crystals with bright lustrous masses of sulphur toward the center. The removal of about an acre of this bed has yielded 100 barrels of pure sulphur. The sulphur seems to have originated from hydrogen sulphide which is abundant in the waters of the neighborhood. The hydrogen sulphide, in turn, may be a product of decomposing organic matter. Leadhillite Pseudomorphs at Granby, Mo.-The occurrence of lead hillite at Granby in the form of pseudomorphs after calcite and galena is made the subject of a note by Foote. Scalenohedrons in a chert calamine rock are composed usually of pure cerussite; more rarely the substance is found to be leadhillite. Galena cubes replaced by leadhillite were also observed. In these cases the secondary mineral is usually mixed with remnants of the original galena, producing a "gray amorphous mass." In a few specimens the leadhillite is pure. Celestite from Giershagen.-According to Arzruni and Thaddéef the axial ratio of "normal" celestite is a: b:c=.78093:1: 1.28324. The mineral from Giershagen, which appears to be chemically pure Sr SO,, has the ratio a: b:c=.77962: 1:1.28533. The mean of four determinations places the specific gravity at 3.9665. The optical angle of "normal" celestite is given as 2 V1 Na 50° 34'. This inves tigation adds another to the list of chemically pure compounds whose 5 Am. Jour. Sci., L, pp. 246-248, Sept., 1895. 6 Am. Jour. Sci., L, p. 99, August, 1895. Zeitschr. f. Kryst., XXV, pp. 38-72, 1895. = |