Mémoire sur le Fer Natif du Groenland, et sur la Dolerite qui le renferme. (Memorandum on the Native Iron of Greenland and on the Dolerite which incloses it.) By J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Ky. From the "Annales de Chimie et de Physique," Fifth Series, vol. xvi., 1879. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
Professor NordenskJöld found in Greenland during his expedition of 1870 considerable masses of native iron inclosed in the dolerite rocks of Ovifak, in the Island of Diseo. Several authors have regarded the metal as of meteoric origin, but Messrs. Johnstrup and Steenstrup, of Copenhagen, have expressed a different opinion, and M. Daubrée, of Paris, is in doubt. The present treatise describes the special studies of the author upon different specimens of the iron, and the conclusions he has derived from them. The iron is found inclosed in solid blocks in the mass of the dolerite. It is of different degrees of purity, some of the specimens being malleable and containing from 80 to 93 per cent, of metal, and others composed of the oxide, or of iron mixed with dolerite. From careful analyses of the specimens and an investigation of their constituents and surroundings, Mr. Smith comes to the conclusion that the iron can not be of meteoric origin, but is of terrestrial production, and originated in the secondary age.
Die Entwicklung des Menschen-geschlechtes. (The Development of the Human Race.) By Dr. Adelrich Steinach, of New York. Basel, Switzerland: Benno Schwabe.
This volume, though it has been the first to appear, is intended to be the second part of a work on the system of organic development. It considers the subject from the Darwinian but not from the materialistic point of view. It first regards man in his place in the world, in the mechanical and teleological aspect, afterward as related to the animals and as related to the individuals of his own species. Under the last head are given discussions of the differences among men and the manner in which they are formed, the hereditability of character and race-features, and the conditions and relations under which the propagation and spread of the race are carried on. The question of the unity of the species is considered as pertinent to this point. The place of man in time forms a second division of the subject; under it are discussed the origin of the race and the light thrown upon it by the earliest relics that have been discovered, and the centers from which the different families have spread. The development of intelligence is treated of in a third division, as related to culture, language, and civilization, the last head including the three subdivisions of development in religious and moral views and regulations, the development of social life and usages, and industrial and scientific efforts. The plan of the work is systematic, the method of treatment and the style are plain and straightforward, the thoughts are richly illustrated with citations of facts, and the manner is modest.
Das Bier und seine Bereitung einst und jetzt. Freie Zymotechnische Studien. (Beer and its Manufacture formerly and now. Free Zymotechnic Studies.) By Hans von der Planitz. Munich: R. Oldenbourg.
The author of this monograph is a young man who received a part of his education in the United States, and has since been associated in scientific and practical operations in connection with brewing works in Germany. He has intended to give all that is known respecting beer, and has embodied in his not very large pamphlet a great amount of historical, technical, and statistical information. He traces the history of beer from ancient Egypt, where it appears to have been first mentioned, to Greece; and discusses the theory that it was carried to western Europe through Armenia, Scythia, and the Celtic and Teutonic migrations. The extent and condition of the manufacture and trade in the middle ages and the usages of the time in respect to them next come under view, after which we are brought down to the present, with its carefully studied processes and the recognition of beer as a staple article of production and consumption in nearly all countries. In this department the fruits of scientific studies are reviewed, the arguments for and against the use of beer are mentioned, and the place it occupies in the economy of the industrial and commercial world is defined. The statistical information is full and de-
