lished statements of the great advantages which that section offers to immigrants. The present tract is designed to exhibit the disadvantages of the Northwest, so as to prevent attention being turned away too much from Kentucky. The labor was not necessary. The advantages of Kentucky are too real and too well known to need exaltation through the depreciation of those of other parts of the Union.
Inductive Metrology. By W. J. McGee. Pp. 8.
Following up the suggestions of Mr. Petrie's English work on the "Recovery of Ancient Measures from the Monuments," the author insists on the necessity of more numerous and accurate measurements of the works of our American prehistoric races. The prevalent belief that the mound-builders used no unit of linear measure is contradicted by the measurements given by Messrs. Squier and Davis, by Mr. Petrie's deductions from them, and by the author's investigations. Computations made on these three bases nearly agree in giving a unit corresponding to 2·140 feet or 25·68 inches, with a possible error of ·0384.
Nostrums in their Relations to the Public Health. By Albert B. Prescott, M. D., F. C. S., Professor of Applied Chemistry in the University of Michigan. Pp. 12.
Professor Prescott relates the results of the analyses made by himself and others of a considerable number of nostrums, which show that none of them contain anything new or rare, though many of them pretend to; that while many of them contain only what is at the best worthless, some contain substances that are actively injurious; that the composition of some is uncertain because it is often changed at the fancy of the proprietor; and that as a rule nostrums are better not used.
On Philadelphite (Sp. Nov.). By Henry Carvill Lewis. Pp. 16.
This paper is a description of a new mineral belonging to the vermicular group of hydrous silicates, occurring disseminated and in scales, and in seams in the hornblendic gneiss of parts of Philadelphia, which exhibits some remarkable properties.
On the Geographical Distribution of the Indigenous Plants of Europe and the Northeast United States. By Joseph F. James. Cincinnati, Ohio. Pp. 17.
The author believes that the species of plants common to Europe and America have had a common origin in the land about the north pole, and that they have migrated southward as the cold has increased in the Arctic regions; that on account of the present arrangement of isothermals some species reach in Europe a latitude higher by twenty degrees than that in which they are found in America; that the chain of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes furnishes or has furnished a highway for the dispersion of some Arctic forms over the southern hemisphere; and that the greater similarity between the floras of Europe, Northeast Asia, and Eastern America than between those of Asia and the American Pacific coast may be accounted for by reference to peculiarities of climatic conditions.
Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-saving Service for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1880. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 391. With Plates.
The record of the year covered by this report surpasses any previously made by the establishment. The service was distributed among 179 stations, of which 139 were on the Atlantic, 34 on the Lakes, and 6 on the Pacific. Three hundred disasters occurred within the scope of its operations, imperiling property to the value of $3,811,708, and the lives of 1,989 persons. Nineteen hundred and eighty of the men were saved, only nine being lost, and $2,619,807 worth of property were secured. The report gives the details of the operations and of the disasters.
The School of Life. By William Rounseville Alger. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Pp. 205. Price, 1.
An essay, the scope of which is fairly described by the general subject of the title. It relates principally to the discipline and culture which we receive from our presence in the world and its action upon us, the use we should make of the opportunities it affords, and the methods by which we may attain the best-rounded manhood.
