second, to arrange them in an order calculated to lead up by the most natural and easiest steps to a knowledge of the science; third, to make the subject fascinating by giving just enough information and suggestion to interest the experimenter, and to make him work for the knowledge to be gained. Finally, the author has aimed to make the book simple enough for the dull and slow pupil, and, by the introduction of supplementary and original work, elaborate enough for the most acute." In the analytical part the reactions are given first for each metal of a group separately, thus showing why each reagent is added, and the whole group is then treated in the same way. The value of this method will doubtless be generally admitted. All the right-hand pages of the volume are left blank for notes or memoranda; there are lists of apparatus and chemicals required, directions for making solutions, suggestions for work and note-taking, and a plan of the laboratory of the Boston English High School, where the author is instructor in chemistry. There are thirty-nine cuts of apparatus.
The Practical Inorganic Chemistry, recently prepared by Dr. G. S. Turpin, of Swansea (Macmillan, 60 cents), is a small experimental manual for beginners, which opens with laboratory exercises that might be classed as either physics or chemistry, and after some drill on setting up apparatus proceeds through a series of simple chemical experiments, including three or four in which quantitative results are required, up to systematic qualitative analysis. The exercises run to one hundred and sixteen in number, and there are sixty-one figures of apparatus
The Sublimmal Self (a part of our mind or faculty which apparently exists below the ordinary consciousness) is the chief subject considered in Part XXIX of the Proceedings of the Incorporated Society for Psychical Research. (Secretaries' offices, 19 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, W. C, London, and 5 Boylston Place, Boston, Mass.; 4s.) In preceding parts of the Proceedings, issued in 1891, 1892, and 1893, Mr. F. W. H. Myers has published seven chapters on this subject, and now in Chapters VIII and IX he continues the presentation and discussion of evidence bearing upon it. He states the general characteristic of the occurrences recorded as "to show us fragments of knowledge coming to us in obscure and often symbolical ways, and extending over a wider tract of time than any faculty known to us can be stretched to cover. On the one side there is retrocognition, or knowledge of the past, extending back beyond the reach of our ordinary memory; on the other side there is precognition, or knowledge of the future, extending onward beyond the scope of our ordinary inference." Instances of retrocognition differ from those usually classed as telepathy mainly in occurring after instead of at the time of the event. Those of precognition have been known before under the name of premonitions or warnings. A brief note in the same part states that a series of experiments tried by a committee with an Italian spiritualist medium had resulted in revealing nothing but systematic trickery. There is also a brief report of the Hypnotic Committee, a list of members, etc.
A bulletin of much practical value, on Timber, prepared by Filibert Roth, has been issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. It gives the structure and appearance of hard and soft woods, and describes their mechanical properties and the methods employed for testing them. Other characteristics dealt with in less space are weight, moisture, shrinkage in seasoning, chemical properties, durability, and decay. Directions for distinguishing the different kinds of wood are given, and there are an analytical key to the more important woods of North America and an alphabetical descriptive list of the same. The pamphlet is fully illustrated.
The Manual of Phonography prepared by Norman P. Heffley (American Book Company, $1.25) is designed especially for class use, but may be used for self-instruction. It is based on the ninth edition of Isaac Pitman's Phonography, but embodies many improvements in teaching that have been made in recent years. The book is thus described by the author: "The 'corrresponding' and 'reporting' styles have been blended into a natural and orderly method, each principle when introduced being thoroughly explained and its application illustrated by ample practice in reading and writing. . . . The num-
